Trouble at the Arcade Read Online Free PDF Page B

didn’t have time before I left.”
    Joe’s eyes widened. He jumped the rest of the way out of his bumper car. “Aha!” he cried. “It was Mimi—she must have seen that money under the desk and taken it!”

9
Lost and Found
    It didn’t take long to find Mimi. She was in the arcade with Chet. The contest was still stopped, but a lot of kids were playing the different games. Chet was playing pinball while Mimi sucked on her lollipop nearby.
    â€œHi,” said Chet when Frank and Joe raced up. “Where have you guys been?”
    Joe didn’t bother to answer. “Hey, Mimi,” he said. “You didn’t really find those tickets on the floor, did you? You found a bunch of money.”
    â€œHuh?” Chet looked confused. He turned away from his game. “What are you talking about?”
    Mimi scrunched up her face. Her cheeks went red. “I might have found some money,” she said. “But don’t worry, I returned it to its rightful owner.”
    â€œWhat?” Chet squawked.
    Frank leaned closer to Mimi. “What rightful owner?”
    â€œI don’t know his name.” Mimi started playing with her bracelets. “He said he lost it. And then he gave me a big reward. I think he might be a secret prince or something.”
    â€œThat’s not what you said earlier, Mimi!” Chet exclaimed.
    Frank and Joe traded a look. It was no surprise that Mimi’s story had changed. She was always making things up and exaggerating. Usually it washarmless stuff, like pretending her dolls talked to her. Or that she was a princess. But this was different.
    â€œSo what did you do with the rest of the money?” Joe demanded. “Even all those prizes couldn’t have used up more than a little of it.”
    Chet grabbed her by the arm. “Let’s see in your pockets,” he ordered his sister.

    â€œWait,” Frank told them both. He’d just thought of something. “The Prize Pavilion doesn’t take cash. Mimi had to use tickets to buy her prizes. And Darryl said he hadn’t sold her any tickets.”
    â€œDuh!” said Mimi with a frown. “That was my reward, dummy. That secret prince guy gave me a whole bunch of tickets! Don’t you know anything?”
    She stomped away. Chet raced after her.
    â€œStop!” he called. “You’re supposed to stay with me from now on, remember?”
    The Hardys watched them go. “Do you think Mimi’s telling the truth?” Frank asked.
    â€œWho knows?” Joe said. “But if she is, it sounds like someone tricked her into giving him that money.”
    â€œIt would have to be someone with a lot of tickets.”
    â€œYeah. And you know who had access to lots of tickets?” Joe tapped his fingers on the pinball machine. “Darryl. Maybe he didn’t get that cash from some mystery lady after all. Maybe he stole it himself!”
    â€œMaybe.” Frank wasn’t too sure. “But if that’s true, why would he walk right up to his father, waving the cash around? Besides, there are tons of other people here with plenty of tickets. Like Adam, for one.”
    â€œBut if he took the money, where is it now?” Joe said. “His pockets were empty, remember?”
    Frank nodded. That part was bothering him, too. “Maybe he hid the cash somewhere to pick up later.”
    Joe looked dubious. “I guess it’s possible,” he said. “Adam’s always up to no good.” He sighed. “I thought solving this crime would be easy. But it’s not.”
    â€œLet’s think about what Dad would do next,” said Frank. He thought for a second. “He’d probably say to look for alibis.”
    â€œYou mean figure out where everybody was at the time of the crime?”
    â€œYeah. That will help us figure out who
might
have done it and who
couldn’t
have done it.” Frank pulled out his list