Read Online Skin and Bones by Franklin W. Dixon - Free Book Online

file cabinet.”
    â€œMaybe they’re there,” Frank said, “maybe not.”
    Cody raced to the file cabinet and pulled open the second drawer. After rummaging noisily around the file folders, he turned back to face the others.
    â€œThey’re gone,” he said, his face drawn into a tight scowl. “Whoever trashed my office Monday night must have pocketed them!”
    Joe opened the owner’s manual and showedCody the small brass chain. “Do these look familiar?”
    â€œYeah, that’s them,” Cody said.
    â€œWe’ll give them to your dad,” Frank said. “Maybe he can get some prints off them.”
    â€œDidn’t you say the driver wore gloves?” Cody asked.
    â€œYes,” Joe said. “But you never know. He—or she—might have touched them sometime with bare fingers. It won’t hurt to run a test.” He slipped the owner’s manual back into his jacket pocket.
    â€œOkay, let’s go,” Frank said. He and Joe piled the boxes on a couple of dollies.
    â€œCody’s really down,” Frank said as they worked. “Losing the beetle colony is a pretty low blow. We’ve got to find out who’s doing this. His business can’t stand much more trouble.”
    When they got outside, Joe stopped Frank for a minute to talk. They sat on a bench outside Skin & Bones. “Hey, Frank, are you sure you’re okay?” Joe asked, looking at Frank’s ankle. “Maybe you should see a doctor.”
    â€œI’m fine,” Frank said. “It’s just a little sore. And it looks like Mike Brando moves to the top of our suspect list—with at least one accomplice. Remember—if he’s behind the attacks on Cody,he had to have an accomplice while he was in prison.”
    â€œAnd you and I were attacked in separate areas of the city at the same time by two different people,” Joe said.
    â€œThat means we’ve also been branded as targets,” Frank said.
    Joe showed Frank the ski cap he had found in the windmill and the small cardboard disk that had fallen out of it.
    â€œThat looks familiar,” Frank said. “Cody had a disk like that in his desk drawer, but it had a different number printed across the center.”
    â€œWhat is it?” Joe asked.
    â€œIt’s a tag for a locker at his mailing station. He gets so many weird packages—some of them really large—so he has many of them delivered to a mailing station over on Larkin. They rent him a refrigerated locker there. The number on the front of the tag is the locker number; the number on the back is the combination to the locker padlock.”
    â€œGood,” Joe said. “Something else to check. We’re finally getting somewhere.”
    â€œFirst, let’s get this stuff next door,” Frank said. “Jennifer’s waiting for it.”
    â€œBefore we leave, I want to take another look around Cody’s roof,” Joe said as they pushed the dolliesup the sidewalk. “I didn’t get enough time to do a good search. I’d like to have a little more to go on than that scrap of mirror.”
    Frank and Joe took the Skin & Bones merchandise into Reflections. Then Joe excused himself so he could pay a return visit to Cody’s roof while it was still light.
    Meanwhile, Jennifer took Frank on a quick tour of the club. The ceiling of the large room was draped in black, with occasional bursts of tiny red twinkle lights. The large room was divided into small cubicles.
    â€œEach cubicle will have a separate scary scene,” Jennifer explained.
    â€œThis is quite a place,” Frank said.
    â€œI inherited it from my grandmother about a year ago,” Jennifer said. “What you see is just the beginning. I’m expanding it big-time. I want to add a restaurant, an outdoor café... maybe a small theater. I’d like to see this neighborhood move from basically retail shops to