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The Mystery Deepens · The Tower Treasure

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  Chapter nineteen of The Tower Treasure by Franklin W. Dixon. This LibriVox recording
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  is in the public domain. Chapter nineteen, The Mystery Deepens. Fenton Hardy
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  was dumbfounded when his sons returned to him with the news that the loot had
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  been found in neither the old tower nor the new So implicitly had he believed
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  in the dying confession of Red Jackly, that he had not even bothered to
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  join in the search, preferring to let his sons have the satisfaction of recovering
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  the stolen goods that he was positive were hidden in the old tower. And
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  you're sure you searched the place thoroughly, he asked, for the third time,
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  every inch of it. There was nothing in the old tower. No
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  one had been there in weeks, answered Frank, How could you tell by
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  the dust It hadn't been disturbed. There wasn't a footprint of any kind,
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  But you searched anyway. We went through the tower from top to bottom.
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  Frank replied, it wasn't any use. No one had been there, So
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  then we thought Jacklie might have been mistaken, and that he had left the
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  stuff in the other tower. An applegate let you search that as well,
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  and Fenton Hardy's eyes twinkled. Not until we had told him our reasons.
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  We told him about Jackie, and then he became enthusiastic and even helped us
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  in the search. But we didn't find anything, strange, muttered the detective.
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  I know Jacklie wasn't lying. He had nothing to gain by deceiving me,
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  absolutely nothing. He was in real earnest. If ever a man was
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  I hid it in the old tower. Those were his words. He would
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  have told more if he had been able. And what could he mean?
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  But the old tower of Tower mansion? Why should he be so careful to
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  say the old tower? Every one knows the mansion has two towers, the
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  old and the new. Of course, it may be that we didn't search
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  thoroughly enough. Joe said, the stuff may be hidden in the flooring or
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  behind the walls. That's the only solution I can think of, replied Finton
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  Hardy. I'm not satisfied yet that the loot isn't there. I'm going to
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  get in touch with Applegate and ask permission for a real thorough search of both
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  towers. It's to his interest as well as mine. Applegate thinks possibly jackly
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  hid the stuff, all right, but that Robinson found it and sold it,
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  said Frank. He hinted that he was of the opinion that Robinson was
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  in league with the thief. It does look rather bad, mister Hardy admitted,
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  one couldn't blame Applegate very much for thinking Robinson found the stuff after it
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  was hidden and made away with it. Robinson wouldn't do that, cried Joe.
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  He's too honest. I don't think he would do it either. But
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  sometimes if a man is in need of money and temptation is placed in his
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  way, he gives in. I'd hate to believe that of Robinson, but
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  if that stuff isn't found in the tower, I'll have to admit that it
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  looks very much as if he were mixed up in it. The interview with
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  their father left the Hardy boys feeling far from cheerful, for they saw that
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  mister Robinson was now more deeply involved in the affair than on the face of
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  it. Circumstances seemed to be against the caretaker just the same, said Frank,
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  as the boys left the house and went down the street. I don't
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  believe Jackie ever hid the stuff in the tower. If he had ever so
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  much as opened the tower door, he would have left some marks in the
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  dust and we would have seen them. So I don't believe Robinson came along
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  later and got the loot. As we saw the dust in the tower hadn't
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  been disturbed in weeks. Why there was even dust on the door knob when
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  mister Applegate let us in. Then why would Jacklie say he hid the stuff
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  there? Exclaimed Frank, puzzled, don't ask me, I'm just as much
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  in the dark as you are. When the boys reached the business section of
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  the city, they found that already Jackallye's confession had become common property. People
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  were discussing the deathbed confession on the street corners, and newsboys were busy selling
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  copies of papers in which the story of the criminal's last statement was featured on
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  the front page under black headlines. Policemen Con Riley was ambling along Main Street
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  in the morning sunshine, swinging his club with the air of a man without
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  a care in the world. When he saw the boys, he frowned,
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  for there was no love lost between the Hardys and the Bayport Police Department.
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  Well, he grunted, I hear you got the stuff back? I wish
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  we had said, Frank, what said the constable brightening up at once?
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  You didn't get it. I thought it set in the paper this morning that
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  this fellow Jackallye told where he had hidden it. He did, and you
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  can't find it. Ho ho, Conriley indulged in a hearty laugh. What
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  a fine detective your father is. Didn't Jackalie say the stuff was hidden in
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  the old tower? What more does he want? Our father didn't search for
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  the stuff, retorted Frank. We did, and it wasn't there. Jackie
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  must have made a mistake. It wasn't there, exclaimed Riley in high delight.
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  That's a good one. That's the best I've heard in years. He
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  chuckled exceedingly and slapped his knee. Jacklee put a good one over on your
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  father that time. Ho ho oh, The stuff wasn't there. Riley wiped
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  the tears from his eyes and went on his way, trying to laugh and
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  at the same time retain his dignity as an officer of the law. The
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  joke, he decided, was too good to keep, so as he proceeded
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  back toward the police station, there to edify chief colleague and Chief Detective smuff
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  with the tail. He buttonholed various passers by and poured the story into their
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  willing ears. It was not long before the iron had spread throughout the city
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  with that swiftness peculiar to stories spread by word of mouth, and in the
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  telling the story was exaggerated, the net effect being that Fenton Hardy was made
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  to look ridiculous by believing a false confession. Highly colored accounts of the boy's
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  search of the old tower quickly spread, and throughout the day they were subjected
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  to many caustic and sarcastic inquiries on the part of friends and acquaintances alike.
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  They took all these remarks in good part, although they did not enjoy their
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  sudden prominence. Never mind, said Frank, we'll show them yet. I
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  hope they find that stuff when they search the towers again, added Joe.
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  Then the people will have to eat crow. It'll be our turn to laugh,
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  yes, agreed Frank, but just now our laughter seems to be in
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  a far distant future. When they returned home, they found that Fenton Hardy
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  had been busy in the meantime and had convinced herd applegate that a thorough search
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  of the Towers would be advisable. True, he had not accomplished this without
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  a great deal of opposition on the part of Adelia, and without misgivings on
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  the part of heard Applegate himself, who had by that time come to the
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  conclusion that Robinson had indeed been mixed up in the affair all along. In
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  this conviction, he was sustained by Chief Colleague, who had paid a call
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  at the Applegate's home as soon as Colleague had told him of the vain search
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  of the Towers. The Chief says, Robinson is behind it, and I'm
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  beginning to think he's right, said Applegate. But how about the confession,
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  mister Hardy asked. The Chief says, that's all a blind Jacklelye did it
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  to protect Robinson. They were both working to get I know what looks bad
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  for Robinson, but I don't think it would hurt to give the Towers another
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  thorough search. I was the one who heard Jackie make the confession, and
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  I don't believe he was lying. I believe he was trying to tell me
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  all he knew. Maybe maybe I think he was too smart for you,
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  mister Hardy, and everybody else thinks so too. It was all a hoax.
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  I'll believe that after I've searched the towers inside and out, well,
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  go ahead, go as far as you like, but I don't think you'll
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  find that treasure. With that, mister Hardy was content. He made preparations
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  for a search of the towers, although Adelia Applegate flatly declared that a detective
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  was making a laughing stock of her and her brother, and that if the
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  nonsense continued she would leave Tower Mansion forever and carry out her oft expressed intention
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  of going to one of the South Sea islands as a missionary, in spite
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  of the protestations of the worthy lady. However, the search was carried out.
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  The old Tower was visited first, and for the greater part of the
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  following morning, the place was searched from top to bottom. Even the floors
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  were torn up in places in the quest for some secret hiding place in which
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  Jaccklie might have left the loute. But although Fenton Hardy, accompanied by the
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  boys and heard Applegate, who soon became infected with the dogged enthusiasm of the
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  others and lent every assistance in his power, hunted throughout the old tower in
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  every conceivable place, the missing jewels and bonds were never recovered. Nothing left
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  but to search the new Tower, mister Hardy commented briefly when the search was
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  over, and throughout the whole afternoon, the New Tower was the scene of
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  a search that was as thorough as it was fruitless. Walls and partitions were
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  tapped, floors were sounded, Furniture was minutely examined. Not an inch of
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  space escaped the minute scrutiny of the detective and his helpers. But as the
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  search wore on and the loot still evaded discovery, the chagrin of Fenton Hardy
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  deepened, and heard Applegate finally lost his temper. A hoax, he declared,
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  a hoax from start to finish. The man was in earnest. The
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  detective insisted, then where is the stuff? Someone else may have found it.
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  That's the only explanation I can think of. Who else could have taken
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  it? But Robinson to this, mister Hardy was silent. In spite of
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  his knowledge of and liking for the man. He was beginning to suspect that
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  the caretaker may have had a hand in the affair after all, Either that
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  or Jackalie simply told that yarn to shield, Robinson, declared Applegate. I'm
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  not going to give up this search yet, said mister Hardy patiently. Perhaps
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  the loot was hidden somewhere about the grounds. So the grounds of Tower Mansion,
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  particularly in the vicinity of the two towers, were thoroughly searched. The
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  shrubbery was inspected, but to no avail. The search continued until sundown,
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  and by that time Adelia Applegate was pale with wrath for the place. As
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  she expressed, it had been turned upside down. Heard. Applegate was outspoken
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  in his rage and disappointment, while Fenton Hardy was deeply chagrined. As for
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  the boys, although they had expected that the additional search would be without success,
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  they shared their father's bewilderment. I can't understand it, admitted the detective.
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  I could have sworn that Jackally was in earnest when he made that confession.
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  He knew he was near death and that he had nothing to gain by
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  concealment. I can't understand it at all. And there the mystery remained deeper
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  than it had ever been. End of Chapter nineteen