One False Step (8 page)

“Where's your father tonight?” Frank asked Elisabeth.

“Oh, he's around, just checking on the last-minute details,” Elisabeth said. “Why?”

“We just wanted to compliment him on Aérocirque,” Joe said. He motioned to the crowd. “I don't mean to sound crass, but this is bringing in a lot of money.”

“Well, not as much as you might think,” Elisabeth said. “The expenses are huge. Acrobats, helicopters, pilots, stadium fees, insurance.” She shook her head. “He'll be lucky if he breaks even.”

Elisabeth suddenly looked away as if she was
thinking of something else, so neither Frank nor Joe continued the discussion.

After several minutes of chitchat with Heather and Alice—who Frank thought must be great actresses considering that they didn't really want to be with Elisabeth—the public address system crackled. An announcer said, “We wish to apologize, but High-Wire Troupe D will not be performing tonight.”

Joe felt as though somebody had slugged him. He looked over at Frank and nodded.

“Heather and Alice gave me and Joe a tour of historic Philadelphia this afternoon,” Frank said, “and just as we were leaving, we thought we saw you.”

Elisabeth blinked, gave Heather and Alice a funny look, then turned back to Frank. “Well, yes, I was doing the same thing for some of the acrobats,” she said. “They're interested in American history too.”

“High-Wire Troupe D?” Joe asked.

It was clear to Frank that Elisabeth was getting uncomfortable.

“Well, as a matter of fact, yes, and it's probably all my fault that they're not here tonight, because I insisted they have one of our famous Philly cheese steak sandwiches,” Elisabeth said, “The place where we went was, well . . . kind of a greasy spoon. Their stomachs probably aren't used to that.”

Frank looked down the aisle and saw Mario headed in their direction. He stood up. “I just thought of something that Joe and I need to talk to Mario about,” he said. He turned to Heather and Alice. “Could you make sure these three,” he pointed to Chet, Matt, and Tony, “get back to the Zettarella's?”

“Of course,” Alice said.

“It'll be our pleasure!” Heather added.

“Where are you going?” Elisabeth asked.

Joe could hear the concern in her voice. “I hope we're going to solve a mystery,” he said.

The Hardy boys hurried down the aisle to intercept Mario.

When they reached him, Joe said, “We need to head downtown!”

“Why? What's wrong?” Mario said.

“High-Wire Troupe D isn't performing tonight,” Frank said. “That's the troupe Elisabeth was with downtown this afternoon.”

“They weren't looking at the historic sights,” Joe said. “Frank and I think they were casing some of the high-rise apartment buildings.”

“
What?”
Mario said.

“We'll tell you all about it on the way downtown,” Frank said.

The three of them raced toward gate forty-two. Mario radioed the police officer he had talked to earlier and told him to have the van running.
Within minutes, they were out of the stadium parking lot and heading back downtown. The traffic was heavier tonight, but Mario expertly maneuvered the van through it all.

When they finally reached downtown, Mario said, “Do you remember exactly where you were when you saw the acrobats looking up at the high-rise apartments?”

“I think so,” Frank said.

“Wasn't it just past Benjamin Franklin's grave?” Joe said.

“Yes, it was, Joe—you're right,” Frank said. “Hurry—we don't have much time!”

Mario made a couple of turns, drove back north for several blocks, then said, “Does this look familiar?”

Frank and Joe stuck their heads out the van's windows and scanned the skyline.

“Over there!” Joe said. “I'm sure of it.”

“I think he's right, Mario,” Frank agreed. “Let's head down that street.”

Mario made a U-turn and headed toward a couple of high-rise apartment buildings that were across the street from each other. A half block away, he parked the van and the three of them got out.

“Do you have any binoculars?” Joe asked.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Mario said. “Did you see something suspicious?”

“Not yet,” Joe said.

Mario handed him the binoculars, and Joe looked at the top apartments on the high-rise to his left.

“Joe! Wrong one!” Frank said. “I think there's something hanging from the railing of one of those balconies on the other apartment building!”

Joe moved the binoculars toward where Frank was pointing. “You're right!” he said. “Here, Mario, take a look!”

Mario adjusted the binoculars and looked. “I see a grappling hook. There's a long rope dangling from it.” Mario handed the binoculars back to Joe. “Count the floors. I'm calling for backup. If we're lucky, we've got a robbery in progress.”

After Mario was off the phone, he said, “I don't want to wait. I'll need your help, boys, but I want you to stay behind me until I know exactly what's happening, okay?”

“Okay,” Frank said. “We've done this before—we understand.”

With Mario leading the way, they raced toward the entrance to the apartment building. Mario showed the doorman his identification.

“I think there's a robbery taking place on the forty-seventh floor,” he said. “We need to—”

“Impossible,” the doorman said, interrupting and moving to block their way. “This building has the best security in the city, and there's no way—”

This time Mario interrupted with, “If you don't move right now and show me the elevator to the forty-seventh floor, then I'll take you downtown and bust you for impeding this investigation.”

“Yes, sir,” the doorman said, “but I honestly—”

“Show us the elevator!” Mario shouted.

When they reached the bank of elevators that would take them to the forty-seventh floor, Mario said, “Do these elevators open into the foyers of the apartments?”

“No, sir,” the doorman said. “They open into hallways. There are four apartments on each floor.”

“Are any of the tenants inside their apartments on that floor?” Mario asked.

“No, sir,” the doorman said. “They're all at the Aérocirque show.”

Joe nodded at Frank. “That figures,” he said.

“Let me have your pass key,” Mario said.

The doorman reluctantly handed it to him. “I'm only supposed to use this in an emergency,” he said.

“This
is
an emergency,” Frank said.

“In just a few minutes, this place is going to be covered with police officers,” Mario said, “so you need to be prepared.”

“Yes, sir,” the doorman said.

The elevator arrived in seconds, and soon Mario, Frank, and Joe were on the forty-seventh floor. They carefully stepped out into the corridor.

“There are two apartments on each side of the
building,” Mario said. “The rope was dangling from the balcony of one of the apartments on the street side.”

“That means it's either 4701 or 4702,” Joe said.

“Let's try 4701 first, but we need to be very careful,” Mario said. “Make sure you guys stay behind me.”

Using the pass key, Mario slowly opened the door to 4701. “Police!” he shouted. “Stay where you are!”

After they had waited in silence for several seconds, Joe said, “It looks like it's 4702.”

The plush carpet of the corridor masked their footsteps as they hurried toward the next apartment.

Mario inserted the pass key and slowly opened the door. There was no one in the second apartment either.

“I have a feeling that the rope dangling from the balcony means the thieves had to leave in a hurry,” Frank said.

Joe nodded. “Which means that somebody tipped them off that we were coming,” he said.

As Mario, Frank, and Joe headed toward the balcony, Mario said, “Would you care to venture a guess as to who's behind this?”

“I have a feeling it's all connected to some of the acrobats in Aérocirque,” Frank said.

“Maybe it's not just
some
of them, Frank,” Joe said. “It could be
all
of them.”

“I think I agree with Joe, Frank,” Mario said.

“That would be a major crime operation, but I guess it would make sense, given that each night there's a troupe of acrobats that don't perform,” Frank said.

“Well, we know now that we were right about what made all those scratches on the balconies,”
Joe said. “That grappling hook and that rope are pretty much a dead giveaway.”

Mario nodded. “The evidence technicians will check everything out,” he said, “but I doubt if there's anything here that will tie Aérocirque to the robberies.”

“While we're waiting for them, let me tell you about another one of my theories,” Frank said. He pointed to the apartment building across the street. “I think that somehow the thieves shoot the rope from the top of an apartment building across the street and tightrope walk to the empty apartment.”

“That's a little far-fetched, isn't it, Frank?” Mario said. “Wouldn't people see them?”

“Think about it, Mario. Who goes around looking up in the sky all the time?” Frank said. “People are so busy hurrying to wherever it is they're going that they seldom look
around
, much less
up
. Anyway, the thieves do it at night. That makes it less likely they'll be seen.”

“Frank's theory makes a lot of sense, Mario,” Joe said.

“Well, I guess that means you still believe they reached the top of the other apartment building by helicopter,” Mario said.

“Maybe not the apartment building itself, but a building nearby,” Frank said. “Just look around you. There are helicopters flying all over the night
skies of Philadelphia. Police. Radio and television personnel. Doctors. People don't pay attention anymore.”

“If they happen to hear a helicopter that's a little louder than usual, they probably just think something's going on nearby,” Joe added. “Unfortunately, people don't want to get involved in anything that doesn't immediately concern them anymore, so they ignore it.”

“Why don't they land on top of the apartment building?” Mario asked.

“Maybe they don't want to take a chance on the
one
person in the apartment building who would get curious about the noise,” Frank said. “They land on office buildings, where there are fewer people around at night.”

Just then some midtown detectives arrived, along with the evidence technicians.

Frank and Joe followed Mario back into the living room. “It's all yours, guys. I can almost assure you that you won't find anything inside the apartment,” Mario said, “but there's a grappling hook and a rope attached to it out on the balcony, which I want to see if you can connect to Aérocirque.”

“That flying circus that's in town?” one of the evidence technicians said. “You're kidding me.”

“No, I'm not,” Mario said. “Come on, boys,” he said to Frank and Joe. “We have some plans to make.”

When they reached the lobby they passed the owner of the apartment, who was demanding that the police let him and his wife in immediately.

“It won't be long, sir,” one of the officers was saying. “It's important that we look for evidence to help solve this crime spree.”

The front doors closed on Frank and Joe before they could hear what the apartment owner said.

After they climbed back into the van and started heading out of downtown Philadelphia toward Mario's house, he said, “I have an idea. It could be dangerous, but my officers and I will be with you all the way, and I think it's the only way we're going to catch these guys.”

“Let's hear it,” Joe said. “We've been in dangerous situations before.”

“Yeah, it's nothing new,” Frank agreed.

“Tomorrow night is Aérocirque's last performance,” Mario said. “There's only one troupe that has performed every night: the Masked High-Wire Troupe. Something tells me they'll be the ones to rob an apartment building tomorrow night.”

“Oh, yeah!” Frank said. “They're the guys who never take off their masks when they're around the other acrobats.”

“Right. They belong to some sort of cult that makes them use masks,” Mario said. “None of the other acrobats have ever seen their faces.”

“Where do we fit in?” Joe asked.

“Well, every troupe is at the stadium until right before the circus begins,” Mario said. “The one troupe that doesn't perform leaves just after it's announced that someone has taken ill.”

Frank and Joe nodded.

“So, if my officers and I can slip you boys into the troupe as they're leaving, then you can be in on the robbery,” Mario said. “We'll have you wired, so we'll know where you are every minute.”

“You expect us to walk one of the wires?” Joe asked.

Mario shook his head. “Absolutely not, Joe,” he said. “Two of the acrobats are always the anchors during the performance. They never walk the wire.”

“You're sure?” Frank said.

“I'm sure,” Mario said. “They're there to help the walkers back onto the platform.”

“So you think these two anchor acrobats stay on the roof of the building opposite the apartment being robbed, sort of like lookouts for the guys walking the rope?” Joe said.

Mario sighed. “I guess it does sound kind of farfetched,” he finally said. “Let's just forget it and see if we can think of a more sensible solution.”

“No, Mario, this doesn't sound far-fetched at all,” Frank said. “In fact, it sounds brilliant. And Joe and I could certainly handle the detective work required.”