Read Online The Clue in the Embers by Franklin W. Dixon - Free Book Online Page A

to do?” Chet asked.
    â€œTrail him!” Frank replied in a low voice. Keeping a safe distance behind, the boys followed the man as he strode down the block. They stopped when he entered a hardware store.
    â€œListen, Chet,” Frank said quickly. “He won’t recognize you. Drift over to the store and see what’s going on.”
    Frank ducked behind a large tree as his pal pretended to be looking at the display in the store window. Soon Chet hurried back excitedly.
    â€œHe’s buying a window shade and some brackets!” he reported. “And I heard the clerk call him Mr. Valez.”
    â€œWatch it!” warned Frank, equally excited, as he saw Valez step outside the store. The man glanced in both directions, then started back toward the apartment house.
    Frank asked Chet to return to the store and see what he could learn about Valez from the clerk. “I’m going to follow him!” he said, still keeping his eyes glued on the man.
    â€œWhere shall I meet you?” Chet asked.
    â€œOn the corner of the crosstown avenue,” Frank replied. “Explain to Joe and Tony if you arrive before I do.”
    They parted and Frank hurried after the suspect. The man turned into the apartment-house entrance. He paused to open a mailbox, then disappeared into the foyer.
    â€œHe certainly seems to live here,” thought Frank, wondering where the man had been when Sergeant Murphy had investigated the place. Then he headed toward the avenue to join his friends.
    â€œWe’ve been waiting half an hour and nothing to report,” said Joe. “How about you?”
    Tony and Joe listened wide-eyed to Frank’s tale of discovering the suspect at the apartment house. His account was interrupted by the arrival of Chet.
    â€œYour friend is the superintendent of the building,” he said, “and has been for years. He’s never had a mustache and the clerk told me he’s well thought of in the neighborhood. His name is Eduardo Valez!”
    â€œI still think there’s a connection between him and the blowgun guy,” Frank said. “He looks just like him. And Valez is the name of the fellow who threatened Tony. It can’t all be coincidence!”
    Joe nodded thoughtfully. “Perhaps Eduardo wears a fake mustache as a disguise, or”—and his eyes brightened—“he may have a mustached twin who’s the real villain!”
    â€œThat’s a possibility!” cried Tony. “The twin might have hidden in his brother’s apartment while the police were searching the building.”
    â€œIt’s a far-fetched theory,” Frank said. “But possible. Let’s go home and talk this over with Dad.”
    â€œSorry, fellows, but I promised to get back to the farm,” Chet said.
    Tony declared that he would like nothing better than to continue work on the case, but he was due to drive a truck for the Prito Construction Company the rest of the afternoon.
    Frank and Joe went home and told Mr. Hardy of their latest adventure.
    Immediately their father called his assistant Sam Radley and asked him to watch the building. When he had hung up, he said to the boys, “I’m going to check with the Immigration Service and see what I can find out about Valez. Meanwhile, I think you both should go and question him.”
    Eduardo Valez proved to be friendly when the boys told him they were detectives. His basement apartment was attractively furnished and on the mantel stood several carved figures.
    â€œAre these wooden statues from your country?” Joe asked with interest. “They’re beautiful!”
    Without a moment’s pause Valez replied, “Yes, they come from Guatemala. They’re made of the best grade of mahogany,” he added proudly.
    Frank and Joe had the same thought. Some of the telltale ashes were of Central American mahogany. Had Valez left the burning embers?
    Frank decided to pursue the