071 Real Horror by Franklin W. Dixon

Author:Franklin W. Dixon [Dixon, Franklin W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: hbfiles
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Frank threw himself sideways, rolling as he hit the floor. He snugged up against the sales counter, shielding his head from the books raining down on him.

The last couple of volumes thumped to the ground, stirring up tiny puffs of dust. Frank raised his head over the counter. “Joe?”

“Over here.” Joe pulled himself out from under a display table of mystery novels. The table had been rocked by the deadly avalanche but had remained upright.

Joe brushed back his tousled hair. “Let’s get ‘em,” he said with fire in his eyes.

Rushing outside, the Hardys saw Carl Ramsey standing alone in the back parking lot. As Joe started across the blacktop, he heard the roar of a car engine. With its tires squealing, Ramsey’s old convertible fishtailed into the lot. The passenger door popped open, and Carl jumped in beside his father. Trailing a stream of exhaust, the convertible raced away.

“Come on!” Joe cried. “Let’s go out front and get the van.”

Frank watched as the convertible bucked onto the road, narrowly avoiding a collision. “Let them go,” he said.

“Let them go?” Joe exclaimed. “We can catch that piece of junk!”

“I know we can,” Frank said. “But Ramsey won’t talk to us now, no matter what. So why chase him? We’ve got better things to do.”

“Like what?” Joe asked, frustrated.

“I thought I’d shop for a new book.”

“Shop?” Joe said. “Now?”

Frank grinned. Turning, he walked back inside the bookstore.

Then Joe understood—^Ramsey had left the store open and unlocked. It was the perfect opportunity to search for any clues he might have left behind. “I’m right behind you!” he called.

Back inside, they found that the building was still deserted. Frank bolted the front door and put a Closed sign in the window. “We’ll leave through the back,” he said.

From the other side of the shop, Joe whistled softly. “Look at this.”

Joe was standing in a comer of the store, facing a display of horror novels. The centerpiece of the display was a rack that held nothing but used copies of Deke Ramsey books. A hand-lettered sign above the rack promised that a new Deke Ramsey novel would be out soon.

Joe was flipping through a volume when Frank joined him. “Ramsey’s last book came out almost four years ago,” Joe said.

“I wonder what he’s been doing since then,” Frank said. “It’s kind of sad, really. Did you notice there’s not one novel by Mark Stevens here?”

“That’s no surprise.”

Frank walked over to a wooden desk and opened the top drawer. Inside, he found a small silver picture frame.

“What’s that?” Joe asked.

Frank picked up the picture. “It looks like an old photograph.”

Joe took the picture. In the photograph a dark-haired Deke Ramsey had his arm around a smiling woman. A boy and a girl were standing in front of them. Ramsey and the children shared the same startlingly gray eyes.

“Looks like a family photo,” Joe said.

Frank’s reply was cut off by a loud shriek that echoed throughout the shop. “What have you done to my store?” a voice demanded.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.