Bug-Napped

by Franklin W. Dixon

  “What do you think, Frank?” Joe asked. “Don’t we know that dog?”

  THE HARDY BOYS—and YOU!

  CAN YOU SOLVE THE MYSTERY of the missing stag beetle? Grab a piece of paper and write down your answers. Or just turn the page to find out!

  Frank and Joe ruled out Leif Bloomquist, Carl the Critter Curator, and their friend Phil Cohen. Can you think of anyone else who might have taken Izumi?

  When Izumi is missing, the brothers suspect he was bug-napped. Why couldn’t Izumi have crawled away from the Hardys’ doorstep?

  Joe spots Mr. Sniff’s picture on the side of a truck. If Mr. Sniff is a bedbug sniffer, why would he be a clue to the missing beetle?

  Bug Hug

  “Mr. Sniff is Lester’s dog,” Frank said. “But what’s his picture doing on that truck?”

  “And how can Mr. Sniff be Lester’s dog,” Joe wondered, “and Stan the exterminator’s dog too?”

  The boys found Stan at the back of the truck, busy removing equipment.

  “Could you please tell us about Mr. Sniff?” asked Frank.

  Stan smiled and said, “Mr. Sniff was the best. He didn’t just sniff bedbugs, but cockroaches, silverfish, beetles—”

  “Beetles?” Frank and Joe chorused.

  “Mr. Sniff could sniff a beetle five blocks away,” Stan said proudly. “He’s retired now, so we have a new bug sniffer.”

  Stan whistled, and a mixed-breed dog jumped out of the truck. “Meet Louise,” he said. “She’s new but learning fast!”

  “If Mr. Sniff isn’t working anymore, where did he go?” Joe asked.

  “He’s living with a nice family here in Bayport,” Stan said. “They have a kid named Chester… Fester… Lester! Yeah, Lester, that’s his name!”

  Frank and Joe traded a satisfied look. The dog on the truck was Lester’s!

  Stan closed and locked the back of his truck. He said goodbye to Frank and Joe, picked up his equipment, then walked with Louise to a nearby house.

  “Mr. Sniff was helping Lester with his Tadpole Scout scavenger hunt,” Joe told Frank excitedly. “Maybe it was a bug scavenger hunt!”

  “Mr. Sniff is a bug sniffer,” Frank said. “Remember how he jumped up on Leif at the Earth Day Festival?”

  “Yeah,” said Joe. “We thought he sniffed out Leif’s plant, but I’ll bet he was sniffing the jar of bugs in his pocket!”

  “Do you think Mr. Sniff had anything to do with Izumi’s disappearance?” Frank asked.

  “Lester lives next door,” Joe said. “He could have walked by our house and Mr. Sniff sniffed Izumi on our doorstep!”

  “Mr. Sniff could have led Lester straight to Izumi,” Frank added. “And if Lester needed a beetle for his scavenger hunt—”

  “He might have taken him!” Joe cut in. “Frank, our who could be Lester!”

  Frank and Joe were about to hurry to Lester’s house when two kids wearing Tadpole Scout uniforms walked by them.

  “Hey, guys?” Joe called to them. “The Tadpole Scouts just had a scavenger hunt, right?”

  “Yup,” one scout said as they paused in front of Frank and Joe.

  “What kind of scavenger hunt was it?” asked Joe.

  The other scout pulled a paper out of his pocket. He held it up and said, “See for yourself.”

  The brothers stared wide-eyed at a list of six bugs. It was a bug scavenger hunt, and the last one on the list was—

  “A beetle!” Frank said.

  “We’re late,” said the scout, folding his list. “Can we go to our meeting now?”

  “As long as you take us with you!” said Frank with a smile.

  He and Joe followed the scouts to Bay Street. The meeting was held in a big room above a shoe store. Once inside, the brothers checked out the kids. Most of them were at the snack table, drinking juice and eating chips. Only one scout sat in a chair, a big plastic bin on his lap. It was Lester!

  “Hi, Lester,” Frank said as he and Joe approached their neighbor.

  “You’re not Tadpole Scouts,” Lester said. “What are you doing here?”

  “We want to see what’s in that container you’re holding,” said Joe. “Could it be bugs?”

  Lester blinked rapidly, then murmured, “Maybe.”

  “Whatever’s in there, Lester, can we just peek?” Frank asked.

  “No,” said Lester, hugging the bin close to him. “Step away from my bugs—I mean, stuff!”

  “So you do have bugs in there!” Joe said as he grabbed the edge of the bin. “Is one of them the beetle from our doorstep?”

  Lester stood up to get a stronger grip. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he insisted.

  “Then let us look,” Joe said, giving another tug.

  “Joe, don’t pull so hard at that,” Frank warned him, “It might—”

  PLUNK!! The bin dropped to the floor, and the lid popped off. Bugs of all kinds crawled out, scurrying everywhere!

  “Bugs on the loose!” another Tadpole Scout shouted.

  “Keep them away from the chips and dip!” someone else cried.

  Lester glared at Joe. “See what you did?” he demanded. “It took Mr. Sniff and me days to catch those things!”

  The Tadpole Scout leader hurried over to Lester. “Are those your bugs?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Lester admitted. “They’re for the scavenger hunt.”

  “Lester, you didn’t have to catch the bugs for the scavenger hunt,” the scout leader explained. “All you had to do was take pictures of them!”

  To prove it, the scouts held up pictures of bugs!

  “Pictures?” Lester groaned. “Now you tell me!”

  Frank turned to Joe and said, “We have to look for Izumi!”

  The brothers ran around the room, looking for Izumi among the scattering bugs. They found a ladybug, grasshopper, even a spider, but no beetle. Until…

  Hssss… hssss… hssss.

  Joe froze in his tracks. That was the same noise that had kept him awake the other night!

  Frank was searching through a closet for bugs while Joe followed the hissing noise. It brought him to the snack table, where he spotted a big beetle. It was slowly crawling onto the chip-and-dip set!

  Joe stepped closer to the table. The beetle was black and shiny and looked like it was wearing a samurai helmet.

  “Frank!” Joe exclaimed, picking up the bug. “I think I found him!”

  Frank hurried over to Joe and the beetle.

  “He looks like Izumi,” said Frank. “But is he?”

  “There’s only one person here who can tell us,” Joe said. He held the beetle gently as he and Frank walked back to Lester.

  “Lester, did you take this beetle off our doorstep?” Frank asked him.

  “We just want to know the truth,” said Joe. “And aren’t all Tadpole Scouts supposed to be honest?”

  Lester gave his troop leader a sideways glance. “I guess,” he sighed.

  “So?” Frank asked. “Did you take Izumi or not?”

  “I borrowed him!” Lester insisted. “Mr. Sniff found the beetle at your house Saturday morning. I was going to keep him until after I got my bug badge today.”

  The frazzled scout leader raced over to toss more bugs into Lester’s bin. “Give the beetle back, Lester,” he said. “You earned your bug badge for the scavenger hunt!”

  “I did? Yes!” Lester cheered. He turned to the brothers and said, “Izumi’s tank is in my room if you want to come get it.”

  “You bet we do!” Frank said, looking at the clock on the wall. “Aki will be at our house in half an hour!”

  Lester left the scoutmaster and his troop trying to catch the rest of the bugs and followed the Hardys outside. They hurried back to the Lopez house, where Lester returned Izumi’s tank.

  “Home sweet home, Izumi!” Joe said after placing him into his tank and closing the lid. “Now let’s get you back to Aki!”

  Aki was already waiting on the Hardys’ doorstep when Frank and Jo
e reached their house. “Hey, guys,” he said as he waved them over. “Where’s Izumi?”

  Joe grinned and pulled the tank out from under his arm. He held it up and sang, “Ta-daaa!”

  “Izumi!” Aki exclaimed. He took the tank from Joe and hugged it to his chest. He took off the lid and lifted his beetle from the tank. “He looks happy… but why does he smell like barbecue potato chips?”

  “Sorry, Aki,” Frank sighed. “I know we made a lot of excuses, but Izumi was kind of… lost.”

  “Lost—and found!” Joe declared.

  Aki smiled, glad to have his pet back. “When Izumi wasn’t lost,” he asked, “did he bring you good luck?”

  “Not sure about that,” Joe told Aki. “But I think he brought us a new friend.”

  * * *

  That night Joe was happy to write the last two Ws in the clue book. Who was Lester—right next door. Why was to win the Tadpole Scouts scavenger hunt and his bug badge.

  “Maybe we should have a bug as a pet, Frank,” Joe said, looking up from the clue book.

  “As long as it doesn’t bite,” said Frank.

  “There’s only one bug that can bite us,” Joe said with a grin. “The detective bug!”

  With that he wrote in big letters: CASE CLOSED!

  More from this Series

  Sea Life Secrets

  Book 12

  The Video Game Bandit

  Book 1

  The Missing Playbook

  Book 2

  Water-Ski Wipeout

  Book 3

  Talent Show Tricks

  Book 4

  Scavenger Hunt Heist

  Book 5

  About the Author and Illustrator

  Franklin W. Dixon is the author of the ever-popular Hardy Boys series of books.

  Santy Gutiérrez resides in the seaside city of La Coruña, Spain. He has won awards such as the Best Spanish Young Editorial Cartoonist and Best Galician Caricaturist, among others.

  Aladdin

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids

  www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Franklin-W-Dixon

  www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Santy-Gutiérrez

  Don’t miss any of the cases in the Hardy Boys Clue Book series!

  #1: The Video Game Bandit

  #2: The Missing Playbook

  #3: Water-Ski Wipeout

  #4: Talent Show Tricks

  #5: Scavenger Hunt Heist

  #6: A Skateboard Cat-astrophe

  #7: The Pirate Ghost

  #8: The Time Warp Wonder

  #9: Who Let the Frogs Out?

  #10: The Great Pumpkin Smash

  Coming Soon

  #12: Sea Life Secrets

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  First Aladdin hardcover edition April 2020

  Text copyright © 2020 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Illustrations copyright © 2020 by Santy Gutiérrez

  Also available in an Aladdin paperback edition.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN and related logo are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  THE HARDY BOYS and colophons are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  HARDY BOYS CLUE BOOK and colophons are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Series designed by Karina Granda

  Jacket designed by Tiara Iandiorio

  Jacket illustrations copyright © 2020 by Santy Gutiérrez

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Dixon, Franklin W., author. | Gutiérrez, Santy, illustrator.

  Title: Bug-napped! / by Franklin W. Dixon ; illustrated by Gutiérrez.

  Description: First Aladdin hardcover/paperback edition. | New York : Aladdin, [2019] | Series: Hardy boys clue book ; 11 | Summary: “Detective brothers Frank and Joe search for a very special beetle”—Provided by publisher. | Identifiers: LCCN 2019003754 (print) | LCCN 2019006266 (eBook) | ISBN 9781534431287 (eBook) | ISBN 9781534431263 (pbk) | ISBN 9781534431270 (hardcover)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Lost and found possessions—Fiction. |

  Beetles—Fiction. | Brothers—Fiction. | Mystery and detective stories.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.D644 (eBook) | LCC PZ7.D644 Bug 2020 (print) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019003754