Free The Curse of the Ancient Emerald by Franklin W. Dixon

The town hall door’s been cracked open.”
    We jogged along the street that led to the town hall. The building was fronted by a large square of grass that was used for pet shows and art fairs.
    But directly opposite the town hall, on the other side of the street, was Bayport police headquarters. I could see cops from here, walking into the station and heading out into squad cars to start their evening patrols.
    I felt my stomach do a little somersault. “Frank, this is crazy. If we get caught, there’s no way to prove we’re not trying to steal anything.”
    â€œI know,” Frank said grimly. “But we can’t let this creep get away with another theft. If we don’t stop him, who will?”
    I couldn’t argue there. Dad had taught us to do the right thing no matter what—and this definitely qualified.
    I glanced up at the town hall as we skirted around the side of the redbrick building. Five floors, all windows dark. We found Amber and Chet waiting in the back.
    We were all dressed in black, but whereas Chet, Frank, and I looked like troublemakers, Amber looked like she’d stepped off a movie set. She wore a charcoal-gray hoodie over her black shirt, but she somehow managed to make it seem cool.
    â€œWe parked a couple of blocks away,” Frank told them as I pulled the last two masks from my pockets.
    â€œDracula or Frankenstein?” I asked. “Sorry, it’s all the store had left.”
    â€œDracula! Cool!” whispered Amber, snatching the Dracula mask even as Chet was starting to make a grab for it. “Sorry, Chet,” she said. “You snooze, you lose. Hey, do we get to keep the masks?”
    â€œUh . . . sure. All yours.”
    â€œAwesome!” Amber pulled on her mask. “I vant to suck your blood!” she whispered, hands raised into claws as she turned toward Chet.
    â€œHey, cut that out,” said Chet, skipping out of reach. He put on the Frankenstein mask while Frank and I did the same with ours.
    â€œOkay,” said Frank. “Everyone ready? Joe, you have the camera?”
    I patted my pocket.
    â€œGood. Let’s go.”
    I took out the camera and flicked open the LCD panel. The screen lit up with a green phosphorescence as the night vision picked out the others heading into the town hall. I focused the camera down at the door’s lock as I passed. The wood around the edge was splintered. It had clearly been forced open—which meant the Phantom must have disbanded the alarm system already. I felt a twinge of annoyance. He had said eleven o’clock. How were we supposed to catch him if he didn’t play by his own rules?
    Which, I supposed, was the whole point. It wasn’t as if he wanted to get caught, no matter how much of a game he thought this was.
    The back door opened into a kitchen with two huge ovens and a few industrial fridges. The kitchen led into a dark hall with offices on either side. I could see light up ahead, filtering in through the front windows of the building.
    We crept forward, stopping before we arrived at the entrance hall. The building actually used to be an old house, some kind of mansion built by the founder of Bayport in the eighteenth century, so it was big and creaky.
    We waited and listened. I used the camera to get a good look into the entrance hall, using it like I would night-vision goggles. I took in wooden floorboards, an information wall showcasing the sights of Bayport, tables with flyers on them, a little kiosk where the receptionist worked, and a flight of stairs leading up to the next floor.
    After a minute or so, Frank led the way into the entrance hall. We moved slowly to the stairs.
    â€œWalk close to the wall,” Frank hissed. “Less chance of the stairs creaking there.”
    My brother the professional burglar. I’d have to ask him how he knew that.
    I pointed the camera at the second floor, just to make sure the Phantom