Skin and Bones (7 page)

“Whoa, that was close,” Joe said when they'd finished. “It's a pretty big coincidence—you getting pushed out of the cable car and Brando appearing a few minutes later.” He batted at another fly buzzing around his head. “Is there a door open somewhere?”

“Must be,” Frank said, swatting at his own fly. “We seem to be sharing our meal with unexpected guests.”

“No!” Cody yelled suddenly. He sprang up from his chair so fast that it fell over behind him.

Joe looked at Cody, then at Frank. Then he more closely studied the three small bugs crawling across the kitchen table. When he moved his hand, the bugs
took to the air, joining a few others circling the counter.

Joe leaped up from his chair and headed for the stairs. Frank and Cody followed close behind. As they sprinted up to the lab, they were greeted by small swarms of flying insects.

The lab door was ajar. Joe pushed it open to see what looked like a scene from a horror movie.

The door to Bug Central stood open. Swarms of dermestid beetles darted from spot to spot, looking for leftover flesh on the bones and skins that were Cody's current lab projects. Uneven lines of small hairy caterpillars looped across the floor, inched up table legs, and hung from bookshelves.

8 The Clue in the Claw

There were bugs crawling and swarming everywhere.

“I'll get the door,” Frank said.

“Yeah, close it. We can contain as many as possible in here for now. But it's really too late,” Cody said sadly. “I'll have to call the fumigator. All my colonies are lost.”

They left the lab, closing the door behind them. Cody went to the first floor to send the salesclerk home and close up the shop. Then he went back to his office to call the fumigator. Frank and Joe checked the doors and windows for signs of a break-in. The back door of the office looked as if it had been jimmied.

“Guys, you have to help me out,” Cody said when he came back to the kitchen. “I have to stay here until
the fumigator arrives. But I told Jennifer Payton I'd bring over the stuff for her haunted house today. Can you take it over for me? You've got to get out of here, anyway.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “Dad's car is fixed, and he had the van delivered for you. I saw it parked around the corner. Just take it whenever you want. I'm going to have to stick around here until the fumigator's finished gassing the place. I'll call you later at Dad's.”

“Is this going to be some sort of plague unleashed on the city of San Francisco?” Joe asked.

“No, actually dermestid beetles are common in households all over North America,” Cody said. “Just not in concentrated colonies in such large numbers. People aren't aware of them because they're so small. But now that mine have busted out of Bug Central, I've got to get them cleaned out. If I don't, they'll ruin my clothes, furniture, everything.”

“They didn't just bust out,” Joe said.

“No, they didn't,” Cody said through clenched teeth. “Someone let them out.”

“We were all at your dad's last night and didn't get back here till this afternoon,” Frank pointed out. “Plenty of time to do the damage here.”

“If Mike Brando was driving that green car this morning, it means he knew we were at Dad's,” Cody said. “He could have known we were there last night, too, and broken in here then. He knew all about the bugs. I'd shown them to him when he was my broker.”

Cody showed the Hardys a stack of boxes. Inside were the bones and other spooky specimens he had set aside to lend to Jennifer for her haunted house. “Thanks for taking these over,” he said, his voice low. “See you later. Don't tell Dad about the bugs. I want to tell him myself.”

“Before we go, I want to get this key thing figured out,” Joe said. “Whoever stole your car had a key, Cody. How many sets of keys to your SUV?”

“My regular set, which was in the car when you took it over, Joe,” Cody answered. “And an extra set in my file cabinet.”

“Maybe they're there,” Frank said, “maybe not.”

Cody raced to the file cabinet and pulled open the second drawer. After rummaging noisily around the file folders, he turned back to face the others.

“They're gone,” he said, his face drawn into a tight scowl. “Whoever trashed my office Monday night must have pocketed them!”

Joe opened the owner's manual and showed
Cody the small brass chain. “Do these look familiar?”

“Yeah, that's them,” Cody said.

“We'll give them to your dad,” Frank said. “Maybe he can get some prints off them.”

“Didn't you say the driver wore gloves?” Cody asked.

“Yes,” Joe said. “But you never know. He—or she—might have touched them sometime with bare fingers. It won't hurt to run a test.” He slipped the owner's manual back into his jacket pocket.

“Okay, let's go,” Frank said. He and Joe piled the boxes on a couple of dollies.

“Cody's really down,” Frank said as they worked. “Losing the beetle colony is a pretty low blow. We've got to find out who's doing this. His business can't stand much more trouble.”

When they got outside, Joe stopped Frank for a minute to talk. They sat on a bench outside Skin & Bones. “Hey, Frank, are you sure you're okay?” Joe asked, looking at Frank's ankle. “Maybe
you
should see a doctor.”

“I'm fine,” Frank said. “It's just a little sore. And it looks like Mike Brando moves to the top of our suspect list—with at least one accomplice. Remember—if he's behind the attacks on Cody,
he had to have an accomplice while he was in prison.”

“And you and I were attacked in separate areas of the city at the same time by two different people,” Joe said.

“That means we've also been branded as targets,” Frank said.

Joe showed Frank the ski cap he had found in the windmill and the small cardboard disk that had fallen out of it.

“That looks familiar,” Frank said. “Cody had a disk like that in his desk drawer, but it had a different number printed across the center.”

“What is it?” Joe asked.

“It's a tag for a locker at his mailing station. He gets so many weird packages—some of them really large—so he has many of them delivered to a mailing station over on Larkin. They rent him a refrigerated locker there. The number on the front of the tag is the locker number; the number on the back is the combination to the locker padlock.”

“Good,” Joe said. “Something else to check. We're finally getting somewhere.”

“First, let's get this stuff next door,” Frank said. “Jennifer's waiting for it.”

“Before we leave, I want to take another look around Cody's roof,” Joe said as they pushed the dollies
up the sidewalk. “I didn't get enough time to do a good search. I'd like to have a little more to go on than that scrap of mirror.”

Frank and Joe took the Skin & Bones merchandise into Reflections. Then Joe excused himself so he could pay a return visit to Cody's roof while it was still light.

Meanwhile, Jennifer took Frank on a quick tour of the club. The ceiling of the large room was draped in black, with occasional bursts of tiny red twinkle lights. The large room was divided into small cubicles.

“Each cubicle will have a separate scary scene,” Jennifer explained.

“This is quite a place,” Frank said.

“I inherited it from my grandmother about a year ago,” Jennifer said. “What you see is just the beginning. I'm expanding it big-time. I want to add a restaurant, an outdoor café... maybe a small theater. I'd like to see this neighborhood move from basically retail shops to more of an entertainment area. You know... theaters, music and comedy clubs, restaurants.”

Jennifer piled costumes on to Frank's outstretched arms. “I need to take care of some things,” she announced. “Here are the outfits for all of you. We've
got a short dress rehearsal Thursday evening and a party for all the volunteers afterward. Will you and the others come early and help me set up?”

“That'd be fun,” Frank said. “See you then. Before I go, may I use your phone?”

“Sure,” Jennifer said. “There's one in my office in the far corner.

Frank sat behind Jennifer's desk and checked the phone number for the mailing station Cody had mentioned. He dialed the number, and while he waited, he looked at the display of photographs on Jennifer's wall. She's a sports and fitness fanatic, he thought to himself. There were photos of Jennifer dressed in every conceivable sports uniform and receiving certificates and awards for every conceivable competition.

The taped recording told him that the mail stations were closed until seven o'clock the next morning. The room with private mailboxes and lockers was open twenty-four hours.

Joe was walking in as Frank was walking out. “Did you find anything?” Frank asked his brother as they got into Sergeant Chang's van.

“No,” Joe said. “Nothing.”

On the way back to Sergeant Chang's, Frank and Joe continued to compare notes. “I know I was
pushed off that cable car,” Frank said. “I can't prove it—but I felt two strong hands on my back.”

“It can't be just a coincidence that Mike Brando was nearby,” Joe pointed out.

“I might not have been the target,” Frank said. “He could have been following Cody and meant to push him. Just when he started to shove, he could have been jostled, lost his balance, and I was the one in the street.”

“How about the guy on the windmill deck?” Frank asked. “We're pretty sure it's the same guy who was driving the green car, right?”

“Seems likely,” Joe agreed. “The car was parked right there.”

“Could it be the same guy who kicked you on the roof?”

“I didn't get much of an idea about the one on the roof,” Joe reminded him. “First he was crouching, then I was bent over, then he was gone. Actually, it's pretty much the same thing with the guy on the windmill deck. His back was to me most of the time. Then when he turned around, I was distracted by the danger facing Deb.”

Frank told Joe about calling the mailing station. “We should get on that,” he said. “That could lead to something.”

“So how does the club look?” Joe asked. “Is it going to be pretty scary?”

“It's going to be cool. The kids should love it.” Frank told Joe about Jennifer's plans for the neighborhood.

“Does Cody know about this?”

“He hasn't mentioned anything to me,” Frank said.

“It doesn't sound like his shop will fit the image she has in mind.”

The house was empty when they arrived at Sergeant Chang's. He had left them a note saying he wouldn't be home until later and to help themselves to anything in the kitchen. He also mentioned that a package had been left for them.

The bulky bundle lay on the table next to the note. It was wrapped in brown paper and tied with strong cord. There was no return name or address—just the delivery service stamp and the word
Hardys
typed on a small label taped to the brown paper.

Frank cut the string and pulled back the paper. Inside lay a deep wooden box with a sliding lid. Carefully, Frank slid the top of the box to one end and lifted it out of the groove. Pale yellow tissue paper concealed a lumpy package. Cautiously, Frank peeled the tissue off a gruesome sight.

“Whoa, it's some kind of a claw!” Joe said, his voice
hushed. An animal foot covered with long black hair lay on the paper. Projecting out from the top were very long gray nails which hooked around and under the hairy claw.

Joe pulled a piece of paper from under the claw. The message was neatly typed from a computer printer: “Stop following me or the next package of bones might be yours.”

9 A Bloody Visit

Cautiously, using the tissue paper as a shield, Frank picked the hairy claw up out of the deep wooden box and examined it. There were no tags or identifying labels attached to the grisly object.

“I'm calling Cody,” Joe said, reaching for the phone. Cody picked up after the first ring.

Joe quickly told Cody about the package.

“It's an anteater claw,” Cody said, his voice sounding as if his jaw were clamped shut. Joe could tell he was furious. “Probably the one from the zoo packages that were stolen from me!”

“Here's something,” Frank called to Joe. Carefully, he pulled back the hair from the underside of the claw. A tattoo marked the skin beneath the hair. “Ask
Cody if this means anything,” Frank said. Then he read the tattoo. “X-3-7-C2.”

Joe repeated the tattooed numbers to Cody.

“Just a second,” Cody said through the phone receiver. “Let me check my order sheet.”

Joe could hear paper rustling, and then Cody returned to the phone. “Yes,” Cody said. “That's one of the anteater claws I picked up Monday. But how come he sent it to
you
and not me?”

“Don't forget, the driver of the green car followed us from your dad's,” Joe pointed out. “So he's probably been staking the place out. He must know we're staying here and we're friends of yours.”

“Mike Brando knows who my father is,” Cody offered. “He could definitely be behind all this.”

“Is he wondering why we got the package?” Frank asked. Joe nodded.

“Somebody's obviously been staking out your place, too,” Frank called out, loud enough for Cody to hear. “He or she could have seen us coming and going. If the driver of the green car sent the package, it could be a warning after his run-in with Joe this afternoon.”

“Man, we've got to get this guy,” Cody said in Joe's ear.

“How are the beetles?” Joe asked. “Did the fumigator come yet?”

“The beetles are making their way from Bug Central to Bug Heaven,” Cody said. “Did you get things set up with Jennifer okay?”