Read Online Tagged for Terror by Franklin W. Dixon - Free Book Online Page B

house had been painted recently, and rows of bright flowers lined the side of the house and walkway leading to the front door. Frank wasn't surprised to see Danny's pickup truck parked down near the barn.
    They found Danny fixing an old tractor. "I figured somebody would come looking for me," he told them. "But I didn't think it would be you. What are you doing here?"
    "We want to help you," Joe replied.
    "Tell us everything you know about the luggage theft operation," Frank said.
    Danny's expression hardened. "I never stole a single piece of luggage."
    "But you know people who did," Frank prodded.
    Danny fixed his eyes on the ground. "I wasn't sure until yesterday. When Ted bailed me out, he admitted that he was responsible for that stuff that the police found in the apartment."
    Joe stared at him. "He told you that he planted the jewelry and the silver tags?"
    Danny nodded. "And he was the one who knocked you out, Frank."
    Joe frowned. "Why would Ted go to all the trouble to frame you and then bail you out?"
    Danny shrugged. "Ted's not really bad. He just got in too deep with some bad people. It was all a game to him until I got arrested. When he realized I might get convicted and sent to prison, he tried to undo the damage."
    "You mean he went to the police and confessed?" Frank responded.
    "Ted?" Danny laughed. "No, he's probably halfway to Mexico by now. He promised to write a letter clearing me. That's about the best I can hope for." Danny smiled. "You must think I'm a real dumb country boy."
    "No," Frank said. "I think you're a pretty smart guy, and the smart thing to do is go back to Atlanta and tell the police what you know."
    "What do you think this is?" Bob Briggs bellowed when Frank and Joe showed up very late for their shift. "Some kind of vacation resort?"
    "Sorry," Joe said. "We ran into a little traffic." He left out the minor detail about the small detour that took them almost two hundred miles out of the way.
    "It won't happen again," Frank assured the foreman.
    Briggs scowled. "If we weren't already shorthanded, I'd fire you on the spot. I added some guys from the other shifts, but you two had better pull more than your weight if you want to keep your jobs. And I expect you to work overtime to make up some of the time you missed this morning," he added.
    Joe forced himself to smile. "No problem, boss."
    After four hours of nonstop lifting and loading, Joe decided that it was, in fact, a fairly major problem. At the end of their regular shift, he wanted to find a place to lie down and go to sleep for about a day. He had to settle for a ten-minute break.
    Joe trudged into the employee lounge with his brother. He had just gotten a. soda from one of the vending machines when Gina walked in.
    "I just heard about what happened to Danny," she said as she sat down at the table with Frank and Joe. "Arrested for stealing luggage! I can't believe it."
    "Neither can we," Joe replied.
    Frank shot a warning look at his brother. "Have you seen Ted Nance lately?" he asked Gina. "He didn't show up for work yesterday or today, and he didn't call in sick."
    "I hope he's okay," Gina said.
    "I hope he's still in the country," Joe muttered. Frank kicked his brother's shin under the table.
    Gina's eyes widened. "Do you think that Ted was involved in the luggage theft ring with Danny?"
    "What do you think?" Frank responded.
    Gina shrugged. "I never thought about it until now. Everybody knew Danny was desperate for money for college. But all Ted has to do is sit back and wait for his father to cool off, and then he'll have enough money to do whatever he wants. Why would he steal luggage?"
    "Good question," Frank said. He turned to his brother. "Time to get back to work."
    Joe was a little perturbed at Frank's tight-lipped routine every time they saw Gina, but he didn't get a chance to bring up the subject. Bob Briggs hollered for them to hurry up and join a crew that was loading bags into a waiting jumbo jet.
    The work was simple,