Free Deadfall by Franklin W Dixon Page B

lighter at this counter a hundred times. It's a real keepsake, this is." She smiled at Callie. "He'll appreciate getting it back."
    "Uh, do you know where we might find him?" Frank asked.
    A wry smile appeared on Peg Robbins's lips. "I have a very good idea," she said smugly. "Though I'm not sure I should tell."
    "Of course you should," Callie said, coaxing her.
    Peg hesitated only one more second before she leaned her elbows on the counter and whispered to them. "Well, don't tell them I told you," she said. "But with poor Buster Owens out of the picture, I'd bet the store that Mike's over at Millie Owens's right now."
    "Millie Owens?" Joe said, surprised.
    Meg nodded importantly. "I happen to know that Mike's been smitten with that girl since high school. For years he's been after her to marry him. But her dad wouldn't hear of it, and he was Mike's boss. Now, though. Buster's no longer in the way."
    Peg straightened up, smoothed her apron over her dress, and glanced guiltily toward her husband. "Now," she said in a much louder voice, "how about some of my famous blackberry pie?"
    "Turn left here," Callie said from the passenger seat of the jeep as Joe steered down a dark

    THE HARDY BOYS CASEFILES
    mountain road. She held Frank's pocket penlight close to the paper on which she'd scrawled Peg Robbins's directions to Millie's house.
    ''Just a couple of miles more," she said. 'Then a right at the Owenses' mailbox, and Millie's house is about half a mile farther on."
    "Boy, the Owenses really like their privacy," Frank remarked from the backseat as the jeep made its way through the deepening gloom. A few minutes later he added, "Look. I see lights through the trees."
    "We're in luck," Callie observed. "Millie must be home."
    The dirt road suddenly dipped as it went around a sharp comer, and Joe lost sight of the house. But as he drove out of the dip, he heard the sounds of angry shouting.
    "Do you hear that?" he asked Callie. "It sounds like two people fighting."
    Callie rolled down her window to hear better. The shouts came again. Then Joe heard a scream.
    "Did you hear what 1 heard?" Joe asked Callie.
    She was staring at the house, her eyes wide. "Step on it, Joe!" she yelled. "Millie's in trouble!"

    Chapter
    10
    Instinctively Joe's foot slammed down on the accelerator. The jeep flew the final fifty yards to the Owenses' home. Frank caught a quick glimpse of thinning trees and a sprawling ranch house. Joe braked the jeep to a grinding halt beside a rusty pickup parked at the end of the drive.
    Frank jumped out onto the lawn.
    '*The scream came from the house," Callie said, running toward the house with Joe following. "See? The front door's open."
    Light glowed through the curtains covering a picture window at the front of the house. Frank could see two figures silhouetted against the curtains. One was tall and clearly female; the other was somewhat shorter, stockier, and male.
    "Stay away from me!" Frank heard a female

    THE HARDY BOYS CA5EFILES
    voice cry as he raced to the front door. "I told you, Mike, it's over between us!''
    ''But, Millie, I did it for you!"
    Frank recognized Mike Stavisky's voice. As he reached the door, he saw Mike's silhouette advance toward the woman's. She backed away and screamed again.
    "All right, that's enough!" Frank shouted, bursting through the open doorway, Joe and Gallic right behind him.
    Mike Stavisky stared at the teenagers in open-mouthed amazement. The tall, plain-faced woman who'd been arguing with him was speechless, too. Her resemblance to Buster Owens left no doubt that she was his daughter, Millie.
    "Clear off!" Stavisky finally growled, his face above the beard and mustache a bright red. "This is none of your business!"
    "We're making it our business, friend," Joe said, moving closer. "We could hear Ms. Owens scream all the way out in the driveway."
    "I'm okay." Millie clutched a handkerchief as though she wanted to tear it to pieces. Frank noticed that the room in which they were