Trouble at the Arcade Read Online Free PDF Page A

here and when Mr. Fun announced that the money was missing,” Joe said.
    â€œThat’s not very specific,” said Frank. “We were here for a while before he came out and said that. Maybe we should go ask Mr. Fun about when the cash actually disappeared.”
    They headed for the office. But when they got close to the door, they heard the sound of yelling.
    â€œYikes,” Joe whispered. “Sounds like Mr. Fun’s still yelling at Darryl.”
    â€œIt’s not my fault!” Darryl was yelling inside the office. “The stupid box was already half broken!”
    Frank was still creeping closer. The door was standing partway open, and when he looked inside he gasped. “Look!” he exclaimed.
    Joe came closer too. “Whoa!” he whispered.
    Frank nodded. The wooden cash box they’d seen earlier wasn’t on the table anymore. It was lying on the floor, smashed to smithereens!

8
A New Suspect
    Check it out,” Joe whispered. He kicked at a chunk of wood on the floor by his foot. “There are even pieces of that box way out here in the hall.”
    Frank nodded. “But why would someone bother to smash the box? It was wide open. All the thief had to do was grab the cash.”
    â€œMaybe the thief accidentally knocked over the box while he was running away,” Joe guessed.“It was pretty old, so it might have gotten smashed up just hitting the floor.”
    Just then there came the sound of stomping feet. A second later Darryl charged out through the door. He almost ran into the Hardys.
    â€œGet out of my way!” he yelled. Then he stormed off down the hallway.
    Joe peered into the office. Mr. Fun was sitting on the edge of the table.
    â€œWhat is it?” he said when he saw the boys. “Did you come to tell me you found my money?”
    â€œNo,” Joe said. “We were just wondering something. When exactly did you find out the money was missing?”
    Mr. Fun frowned. “When do you think?” he snapped. “It was about two seconds before I started yelling that the money was missing!”
    Joe glanced over at Frank. They could bothtell that Mr. Fun wasn’t in a very good mood.

    They ducked back out into the hall. “Should we go talk to Darryl?” Frank suggested. “Maybe he can tell us exactly when he left the office earlier.”
    Joe had a feeling Darryl was in just as bad a mood as his father. But he nodded. “Let’s go find him.”
    That turned out to be harder than theyexpected. Darryl wasn’t anywhere in the arcade. But the Hardys finally spotted him in the bumper car arena. The other riders had left by now, and Darryl was the only one out on the floor. He was driving a bright purple bumper car around, smashing it into the parked cars as hard as he could.
    â€œHey, Darryl!” Joe called out. “Can we talk to you?”
    Darryl didn’t even look up. He just spun the purple car around and drove it straight toward the wall. It bounced off and crashed into another parked car.
    â€œI guess he’s not in a talkative mood,” said Frank in a low voice. “Maybe we should wait.”
    â€œI have a better idea.” There were two bumper cars parked along the wall right by where they were standing. Joe vaulted over the wall and jumped into one of them. “Come on!” he told Frank. “Ifwe can catch up to him, maybe he’ll talk to us.”
    Frank didn’t look too sure. But he shrugged and jumped over into the other car.
    Darryl looked over when he heard them coming. “Hey,” he snapped. “This ride costs five tickets, you know. You can’t just jump over the wall like that.”
    â€œWe’ll pay your dad back later,” Frank said. “Right now we want to talk to you.”
    â€œI don’t feel like talking. I feel like doing this.” Darryl leaned over the steering wheel and drove straight towardFrank’s bumper car.