Free Club Dread by Carolyn Keene Page B

be wearing your ID badges. I think we went over that in your staff orientation, did we not?” Matthias was getting worked up. His words were very precise, like a teacher’s when he is upset and trying not to let it show.
    â€œChill out,” Joe said. “I’ve got mine in my pocket.”
    â€œYou do?” said Matthias. “Let’s see it.”
    Joe fumbled through his pockets and came up empty-handed. He said something about forgetting to take it out of his uniform. Matthias started railing on him again about how important it was that they carry their IDs at all times. For an “old friend,” he didn’t seem to like Joe and Frank very much.
    â€œWe were just leaving,” I said to Matthias. “Would you like my chair?” It was weird having him toweringover all of us, looking so angry. At least if he was sitting down, it wouldn’t be quite so uncomfortable.
    Frank and Joe seemed embarrassed, even though it wasn’t their fault Matthias was behaving so rudely.
    â€œOh,” he said, looking only at George. He seemed to suddenly remember we were here. He ran his hand through his hair, trying to smooth it back into place. “You’re leaving? I hope you enjoyed the tour yesterday. I’d love to get to take you out again while you’re here.”
    â€œMaybe,” said George coolly. Frank and Joe were friends of hers, and as much as Matthias might be cute, she wouldn’t tolerate anyone yelling at them.
    â€œI was thinking maybe this evening, if you don’t have any plans, we could go to the beach, or out for dinner?”
    â€œActually, Bess and I have plans tonight,” George said, linking her arm through Bess’s. “But thanks for the offer.”
    With that, we left.

CHAPTER 11
    FRANK
MARCO POLOVITCH
    Once Nancy, Bess, and George left, Matthias really got down to business. The business of chewing us out, that is.
    â€œWhere were you last night, Joe? I find it incredibly irresponsible that you would leave your assigned post in the middle of an investigation.”
    Matthias made it sound like Joe had left a stakeout, or something else important, not just a sink full of dishes.
    â€œI had something bad, man. I was puking everywhere. You wouldn’t have wanted me to stay in that kitchen.” Joe tried his best to look sick, but it was pretty clear Matthias wasn’t buying it. “It must have been one of those twenty-four-hour bugs. Maybe food poisoning or something.” He coughed a little, for good measure.
    I tossed him an eye roll.
    â€œI am beginning to doubt how serious you two are about solving this crime. I’ve got to say, I was expecting more from the two of you. Everyone says you’re the golden boys of ATAC.”
    â€œWhat?” Joe said. “That’s crazy. We’re just agents like anyone else.” Joe realized he was starting to get loud, and pulled his chair in closer. It wouldn’t be good for the entire restaurant to hear that we were secret agents.
    Sure, our dad had started ATAC, but we never received any special treatment because of it. If I didn’t know better, I would have said Matthias sounded… jealous . He must have been really nervous about this case. I guess it meant a lot more to him, since he’d been working down here for so long.
    Maybe we were wrong to keep what we had learned from him—he might have been annoying, but he was still a fellow ATAC agent, and we needed to do our best to work with him. I decided to tell him what had actually happened last night.
    â€œLook, Matthias, the truth is—”
    â€œI’m really growing tired of your excuses,” Matthias said. “From now on, I’d appreciate it if you two would follow my orders. Perhaps we could really get somewhere then. Now go get your staff IDs.”
    Ohhhh-kay. Maybe I didn’t need to tell him anything after all.
    Joe was practically shaking with anger, and I put