Castle Fear by Franklin W. Dixon Read Free Book Online Page B

handed it over.
    Picking up the nearest phone, Joe called the magazine. "I'm a member of Mr. Jed Shannon's staff, and I've got a problem," he said into the receiver. "Mr. Shannon received a telephone message while he was at your offices earlier. He was supposed to take some notes - and lost them."
    Joe worked very hard to make his voice sound sincere. "Worst of all, he doesn't remember the caller's name. So if - oh, you're the one who took the call. Do you remember the name - Dickens? Bert Dickens? Great. Thanks a million." Putting the phone down, he glanced over at Berman.
    "Means nothing to me." The agent gave them a baffled shrug.
    Frank was already digging out the telephone directory. "Here it is. Bert Dickens - and he lists himself as a private inquiry agent."
    Joe had a grim smile on his face. "Looks like Jed didn't think we were good enough for this job." He looked hard at Berman. "Did he hire himself another detective?"
    "If he did, he sure didn't tell me about it. But Jed's been very upset about this Jillian. And he did mention that he thought you were a little young."
    "He's not that much older than we are himself," Joe pointed out.
    "Acting and detecting are two different things," Berman said.
    Joe gestured to the phone book, still in his brother's hand. "So do we give our friend Dickens a call?"
    Frank shook his head. "I think this calls for a personal interview.'
    ***
    The address in the phone book was in East London. To get there from Jed Shannon's town house, the easiest route was by way of the London Underground.
    "Hey, Frank," Joe whispered after they'd gotten their tickets, "how far underground do these trains run?"
    Two sets of escalators later they had finally reached the station platform. Frank thought the arriving train looked a little old-fashioned. It actually had a wooden floor. But it was surprisingly quiet - and very clean.
    They switched trains after two stops, then rode on for what seemed like forever until they'd reached almost the other end of London.
    Coming out of the station, they found themselves under gray skies in a quiet neighborhood of four-story brick buildings. Frank whipped out his pocket map of London and started off for the local main street.
    "There - there it is," he said.
    His brother, however, dug in his feet and began tugging on Frank's arm.
    Frank gave him a look. "We don't have the time, Joe."
    "I didn't have much lunch, since Karen and I cut it short to go hunting for you." He tried to look very sincere. "It seems to me, Frank, that fate is taking a hand. I mean, why else would this private eye have his office right over this fish-and-chips restaurant?"
    They had stopped under the awning of the fast-food restaurant, the only dry spot on the rainy street. Joe was looking longingly through the window at the fried fish and french fries. Frank was trying to move him along.
    "Let's go, Joe. This detective may know something about where Jed is."
    "Okay, okay." Joe followed his brother to the stairway that led up to the second floor of the sooty old building. "I'll try to curb my hunger."
    Frank decided that Bert Dickens wasn't enjoying much more success than Ian Fisher-Stone. The hand-lettered sign on the back of the index card held up with thumbtacks was an indication.
    They headed up a steep stairway paneled with old, dark wood. It was also dimly lit and smelled strongly of stale oil from the fish-and-chips shop below.
    "And yet another missing person," Joe remarked as they climbed upward.
    "Jed may not be missing. It could be that he just decided to take off and look for Jillian on his own."
    "I don't much like the idea of somebody we're trying to help sneaking off to get another detective behind our backs."
    Frank shrugged. "He's impatient, and he's got lots of money. He probably figures the more detectives, the better. Sort of like doctors, when you get a second opinion."
    They reached the second floor, opened a door, and entered a long hallway lined with office doors.
    "This