Blood Money by Franklin W. Dixon Page B

Johnson's eyes were shut, and Frank couldn't tell if he was alive or not. Frank struggled to his feet and backed out of the burning office, dragging Johnson under his arms.
    Joe was rushing down the hall toward Mrs. Hunter's office, carrying two small fire extinguishers. Behind Joe, next to the entrance to the stairwell, Frank could see Emily Moran sitting with Mrs. Hunter, who was now conscious and talking.
    "Forget it!" Frank yelled to his brother. "It's out of control! Just get out of here!"
    Joe dropped the extinguishers and gave Frank a hand with Mr. Johnson as the first of the fire fighters were arriving.
    ***
    A half hour later the blaze was under control, and both Johnson and Mrs. Hunter were conscious and being attended to by emergency personnel.
    "They'll be fine," one technician assured Joe. "We just want to take them to the hospital to make sure there's no real harm done."
    The EMS technicians stepped in front of Joe and lifted Johnson's stretcher.
    "I'll go with them to the hospital," Emily volunteered, climbing into the ambulance.
    Joe and Frank silently watched as the ambulance drove away. "We've got to find out who's doing this," Joe said angrily.
    Frank shook his head. "I know who did it - well, the fire, anyway." He told Joe about Carew's two thugs.
    Joe snapped his fingers. "Before he died, Delaney told Carew that Emily was trying to have the will nullified. If Carew didn't want that to happen, he might try to kill Johnson. Come on, let's find out what he's up to."
    "Wait a minute, Joe," Frank said. "I don't think it would be too smart to go charging into Carew's office by ourselves."
    "Who said anything about charging into his office?" Joe grinned. "I've got an idea."
    "So do I," Frank said.
    ***
    "That's right," Carew said, putting his feet up on the desk. "You can deal directly with my boys from now on - not Delaney's." He listened to whoever was on the other end of the line and laughed. "Don't worry. Moran's lawyer had an unexpected visit from the fire department today." Carew laughed. "I'll talk to you later. So long."
    He hung up the phone and leaned back, taking a long, satisfied draw on his cigar.
    From the skylight twenty feet directly above him, Frank was disconnecting the contact microphone they'd used to listen in on Moran's conversation. He turned to Joe.
    "It was him," Frank said to his brother, who was sitting next to him, rubbing his hands together to keep warm. At Joe's suggestion, they'd sneaked back into the old Schickelman building and onto the roof over Cosmos to eavesdrop on Carew.
    "And listen to this. Not only did Carew have his thugs start that fire so Johnson would never be able to challenge Moran's will in a court of law, he also thinks the fire destroyed some very special business contracts Moran had. He's going to take away Moran's territory without having to fire a shot."
    "All right," Joe said. "That solves one mystery. But what about the murders and the attack on Chief Peterson?"
    Joe was cut off by a crunching sound directly behind him - the sound of someone stepping on rooftop gravel.
    Both boys turned.
    Terry and the bouncer from Cosmos were standing there, guns raised.
    "I wouldn't be too concerned about those murders right now, if I were you," Terry said. "You've got problems of your own - like how you plan on staying alive."

Chapter 15
    "You kids must think I'm dumb," Carew said. "Somebody took a shot through my skylight, and I'm going to leave it unguarded after that? Give me a break."
    "I guess that it was kind of stupid of us," Joe agreed. He and Frank had been marched into Carew's office, where they were now standing, side by side, in front of Carew's desk. "Maybe as stupid as you were to leave that skylight unguarded in the first place."
    "Hey!" Terry said, moving toward them. "You keep a civil tongue in your head, or I'll - "
    "No, no, Terry, it's all right," Carew raised a hand, and his employee backed off. "I'll chalk up that outburst to his youth."
    "Of course,