Free Trial and Terror by Franklin W. Dixon Page B

pocket. Every now and then, the Hardys found it necessary to pick a lock, and this was one of those times, Joe figured. After a little fiddling, Joe managed to get the door open.
    The hallway was dimly lit, and the walls were in need of a paint job. Joe climbed several sets of steps and came finally to the door of apartment 4F.
    Joe knocked. After getting no answer, he picked the lock on the door. Then he stepped into the apartment’s living room and relocked the door.
    Joe thought the place was surprisingly neat and well decorated. Posters of movies and plays hung on the walls, and some top-of-the-line audio and video equipment rested on the shelves of an entertainment center.
    Joe heard a click. He froze and listened. Was someone in the apartment? There seemed to beanother room or two he had not yet checked. Then Joe was aware of a low, whirring sound.
    After a look at the entertainment center, Joe realized the VCR had just switched on. John Q. must have preset it to tape a program, Joe figured. Wondering what the program was, Joe pushed a button on the cable box, and the television lit up.
    Suddenly Joe was face-to-face with Karen Lee.
    She was on TV, wearing a nurse’s uniform and telling a worried-looking woman that her little son was going to be all right. Joe realized John had preset the recorder to videotape the day’s episode of Lee’s soap opera, Days of Destiny.
    Joe watched the show briefly. At this moment, he realized, Karen Lee was coming into millions of homes all over the country. The scary part was, she had no control over who got to know her and develop feelings for her. If a crazy person wanted to watch her every day, that person was free to do so.
    After turning off the TV, Joe noticed the floor was covered with a gray carpet. He pulled a few fibers and put them inside his wallet.
    Joe heard another click. He thought some other gadget must have switched on or off, but he could not figure out what it was. Then he realized the sound had come from the front door. It was the sound of a key turning in a lock.
    Someone was about to enter the apartment.

10 The Face on the Screen
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    All Joe had time to do was duck behind a sofa.
    Crouched in hiding, Joe heard the door open. Then he heard shoes moving across the gray carpet.
    A moment later, there was a click, and the television came on. It was Days of Destiny again, and Joe heard Karen Lee discussing some medical situation with a doctor.
    Joe stole a peek around the side of the sofa. He was shocked by whom he saw. It was the clean-cut young man Joe had thought was a reporter. He was standing right in front of the TV, the light from the screen reflecting in his wire-rimmed glasses.
    Joe realized this was John Q. He was at the trial not as a reporter but because he wanted towatch Karen Lee in person. That’s also why he was standing across the street from her apartment building. Joe had just assumed he was a reporter.
    â€œHi,” the young man spoke. “How are you?”
    At first Joe thought John Q. might be talking to him, but he was still facing the screen. Then Joe realized John Q. was talking to Karen Lee on TV as if she were actually in the room.
    â€œOh, I’m not too bad,” John Q. told the screen version of Lee. “Sorry I had to leave the trial today, but they needed me to come in to work at the video store a little early. You looked awfully beautiful in there. It’s all I can do to stop myself from going up and talking to you. But maybe I will someday. Who knows? Since things didn’t work out with Nick, maybe they’ll work out with me.”
    Maybe he’s the one, Joe thought. He was seeing that John Q. might indeed be crazy enough to have staged the murder attempt on Karen Lee. He felt a sudden thrill, the kind he usually got when closing in on a criminal.
    Then John Q. took off his ski vest and walked into another room. Joe briefly considered sticking around to watch more, but he decided