Shore Road Mystery by Franklin W. Dixon

Shore Road Mystery by Franklin W. Dixon

The Hardy boys, Frank and Joe, were driving down Shore Road and they heard a report about a stolen car. Frank and Joe raced towards the scene and saw the stolen car. Suddenly, a big red produce truck came right into the middle of the road. The boys had to slam on their brakes. They crashed into a fence and were dazed but not hurt The driver came out of the truck and said he was sorry. Frank thought something was fishy about the guy. They both went home and tried not to let their mother see all their cuts and bruises.

The next morning a man named Jack Dodd called and told the Hardy's to come quickly. The police were looking for someone who had stolen a car. The police thought they found their man. They found Jack Dodd's fishing rod in the trunk of one of the stolen cars. Jack told the police that he had not put it there and that he was being set up. The cops handcuffed Jack and his father and took them down to headquarters. Later on the police chief came to the Hardy's home telling them that the Dodd's had taken off in their station wagon. The Hardy's had known the Dodd's for a very long time and it just didn't seen like them to break the law.

The Hardy boys went back into their secret fort in the garage to think about things. They asked themselves if anyone had ever held a grudge against the Dodd's. Then they thought of Ray Slagel. He was the man that the Dodd's hired but had done such a poor job with their farming equipment that they had to fire him. They decided to check out the area where most of the cars were being stolen, Shore Road. They stumbled upon a local homeless man, a friend of the Hardy's, named Scratch. Scratch said that he had seen a man that looked like the photo of Slagel that they showed him. He was pulling out of the woods with a nice looking car. That night they went back and were thinking of better ways to check the area. Frank thought of calling Larry Dillion a pilot and long time friend of the Hardy's. He agreed with their thoughts so far on the case and said he'd pick them up at eight. Their friend Chet Morton was riding with them. After they were in the air about twenty minutes they started to hear gun shots. Finally they figured out the shots were being fired at them After a long and exciting day they finally arrived home and went to bed. In the middle of the night they heard that another car was being stolen and was heading up Shore Road. The Hardy's decided to take chase because they were far enough ahead of Shore Road to catch up to the car. Sure enough, they saw the tan sedan driving along the road with no police behind him. What puzzled the Hardy's is that the car pulled right into the city of Bayport. Joe got out the binoculars and saw that the man was Ray Slagel. Slagel must have seen the Hardy boys because he started to get into the car and head back up Shore Road. The Hardy's were in pursuit when a whole herd of cattle came out into the middle of the road. It was the same place where they were stopped last time and it was the same man who was driving the red produce truck "Something just wasn't right about that place and person." Frank said while leaving the scene. As the Hardy's were driving back to their homes that night they saw a huge net coming from Shore Road Cliff to the bottom of the cliff. On this "spider-net" they saw a man dressed in