Nightmare in Angel City by Franklin W. Dixon Page B

sat back and gazed at her, almost blank-faced. "He wanted to kill me."
    There was still no reaction from Bates. "I hope you're not making this up," he said. Then he shrugged. "I'll tell my men to watch out for such a man." His phone rang. Bates pardoned himself and answered it.
    "What'd you say that for?" Frank whispered to Callie. "Did you see his face?" she whispered back. ; "He didn't know what I was talking about. He never heard of Patch." Frank frowned. "Or he's a good actor." Bates hung up the phone and stood up. "I have an appointment. You'll have to leave the lot immediately, and please don't come back." He opened the office door and signaled Callie and the Hardys out. In the outer office Bates told his ' secretary, "Call security and have them escorted off the lot." He went back into his office and closed the door. [ Frank looked down at the secretary's desk as he passed it. "Distract her for a second," he quietly told Callie.
    "Excuse me," Callie asked the secretary,' 'but is there a — " She paused to glance at Frank and Joe in embarrassment, then leaned close to the secretary and said in hushed tones, "Could we go into the corner? I hate talking about this in front of boys."
    The secretary stared at Callie in silence, then abruptly stood and walked to the corner. As her back turned, Frank reached down and slipped a small card and envelope off the desk and into his pocket. In the corner Callie giggled nervously. The secretary flashed her an impatient frown, then marched back to her desk, drew a key from a drawer, and handed it to Callie.
    Callie vanished out the office door and returned just in time to meet the security guards, who ushered the three of them to the front gate of the studios. They waited in silence for a bus.
    On the bus Callie said, "What was all that about?"
    Frank produced the card and read it aloud. " 'You and a guest are invited to a party at the home of Mr. Stuart Bates.'"
    "We're going to a party?" Joe said. "Great."
    "Callie and I are going," Frank replied. "At least through the front door. You can get in any way you can."
    "Frank, we can't go there," said Callie. "He'll recognize us."
    "He'll have to see us first. We'll just stay out of his way," Frank explained. "I've got a hunch his house can tell us a lot if we push a little. Joe, do you still have the videotape?"
    Joe pulled the cassette from under his shirt and handed it to Frank.
    "We're probably barking up the wrong tree," Callie said. "I don't think Bates knew anything. He certainly didn't act guilty."
    "Don't forget," said Joe, "nothing's what it looks like in that place. It's all smoke and illusion. Why should Bates be any different?"
    "Besides," Frank said, "if Bates doesn't have any interest in us, what's that man doing here?"
    , He jerked his head toward a man sitting across the aisle and several rows back. The man was short and blond, in his forties, reading a newspaper. He paid no attention to the Hardys. Callie stole a furtive glance. "I've never seen him before."
    "He came out of the studio about the time we got on the bus," Frank said. "He rushed on at the last moment. I think Bates is having him follow us. That's why the security guards took so long to get to the office, to give this guy time to get after us."
    "You could be wrong," Joe said. "He looks harmless enough."
    "There's an easy way to find out," Frank said. He stood up, and Joe and Callie stood up with him. Together they moved to the front door of the bus. The short man folded his paper and casually moved to the back door. The bus stopped and the doors opened. Callie and the Hardys got off in front, and the man got off in back, but at the last moment, Frank, Joe, and Callie climbed back on. The bus pulled away, leaving the short man at the stop, angrily throwing his paper on the ground.
    "That answers that question," Frank said as he sat down again. To Callie he said, "Can you 'duplicate tapes at UCLA?"
    "Sure."
    "Then that's where we're going," he said, smiling.