Free The Clue in the Embers by Franklin W. Dixon Page B

little pleasure in the meal. The shock of the explosion and the narrow escape of Chet and Iola from serious injury had caused them all to lose their appetites.
    â€œEven I don’t feel hungry,” Chet lamented. “We should have eaten on the way out here.”
    Iola phoned Len to come and get them.
    â€œAt least,” Frank said, smiling, “we had fun here before the explosion.”
    Early the following day Mr. Hardy and his sons drove across town to question Eduardo Valez.
    â€œGood morning,” the superintendent said affably as the boys introduced their father. “Come right in.”
    â€œMr. Valez, you’d better tell us the truth this time!” the detective said as they entered the apartment.
    â€œWh-what do you mean?” the man replied. The detective told in detail the happenings at the amusement park. As he unfolded the account of the explosion and the narrow escape of the young people, Valez’s face whitened.
    â€œI—I am not the man you are searching for,” he said slowly. Looking at Joe and Frank, he said, “I am sorry I did not tell you the truth at first. Now I will explain.”
    â€œThank you,” Mr. Hardy said. “Go ahead.”
    â€œThe man with the black mustache,” Mr. Valez continued with a pained expression, “is my brother. He is the—what you call—black sheep of our family. Six of us children and he is the only one to break the law.”
    â€œWhat is his name?” Mr. Hardy asked.
    â€œLuis.”
    â€œWhere is he now?” Frank asked.
    â€œI do not know, but he was staying with me for a short time.”
    â€œWhich explains the mustache mystery,” Joe remarked to Frank.
    â€œLuis sneaked into this country,” Valez went on. “He promised me the day before yesterday he would return to Guatemala at once, so I did not turn him over to the authorities when they came here asking about a mustached man. Luis left here while I was on an errand at the hardware store.”
    â€œBuying brackets,” Joe murmured.
    â€œDid you say something about brackets?” Valez asked quickly.
    â€œYes. We found a bracket in the remains of the fire,” Joe replied.
    â€œThat is what I went to the hardware store to get,” Mr. Valez added. “There was a bracket missing from one of my apartments. So I had to buy another. And I got a new shade while I was there. Luis must have taken the old bracket.”
    The superintendent went on to tell Mr. Hardy and the boys that he was astonished to learn that his brother had become a suspect in a case of violence. “I thought Luis had come to the United States to get away from some little trouble at home. He said it blew over, so he was going back. Always I have defended my brother,” said Eduardo, clenching his fists, “but now I see I can no longer do this.”
    â€œIs there anything else you think we should know?” Mr. Hardy asked.
    â€œMaybe this is not important,” Valez replied, “but a couple of small mahogany objects disappeared too. Luis might have them with him.”
    The Hardys quizzed the superintendent about the possibility of a connection between mahogany and any Guatemalan superstitions. Valez explained that among certain people in Central America there was one such superstition, adding, “It’s said if a person sends the ashes of a piece of native mahogany to his enemy, that man will be rendered powerless to harm the sender!”
    Frank frowned. “That’s a very strange idea.” Valez could give the Hardys no further information, so the detective and his sons thanked the superintendent and left. On the sidewalk, Frank and Joe speculated on the mysterious piles of warning embers and ashes.
    â€œLuis must have burned some of his brother’s mahogany pieces,” Frank stated.
    â€œBut why the chicken bones?” asked Joe. “Unless,” he added thoughtfully, “he