Boardwalk Bust by Franklin W. Dixon

wasn’t thinking straight right then. See, the whole point of the martial arts is to fight with your mind. Not your emotions.
    And Joe gets really emotional sometimes. Especially when he’s been sucker-punched in the eye. He can get really
angry
.
    And who could blame him for being caught off guard? I mean, here we’d just saved this little girl’s life. We thought high fives and pats on the back were in order—not the hard time this rockhead lifeguard was giving us.
    I could see that Joe was furious. He shook off the pain and squared his body toward his attacker. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s see you try that again, now that I’m ready for you.”
    The lifeguard was happy to oblige.
    But this time Joe was too quick for him. He ducked out of the way, and at the same time grabbed the guy’s arm and helped it along in the direction it was already going.
    Then Joe gave a slight yank. The poor slob flipped in midair and came down hard on the sand. The fallen lifeguard muttered something filthy and cracked his knuckles, getting ready for another attack.
    â€œLeave him alone!” one of our blond friends yelled. She stepped right between them. “Those two guys are heroes, you jerk. You should be thanking them!”
    â€œYeah!” our other friend said. Several others in the tight circle surrounding us agreed.
    â€œLay off!”
    â€œPut a sock in it!”
    â€œHey!” the lifeguard yelled, brushing the sand off himself. “Everybody back off! I’m in charge here, and what I say goes!”
    â€œActually, what
I
say goes.”
    Everyone turned to see where the booming voice had come from. There stood Bump Rankowski—
Mayor
Bump Rankowski.
    â€œOh, hi, Mr. Mayor,” the lifeguard said, suddenly looking a whole lot smaller and weaker.
    â€œWhat’s going on here?” Bump demanded.
    â€œUm, these two guys disobeyed my orders to clear the water.”
    â€œAnd why’d you order the water cleared?”
    â€œShark spotting, sir,” the lifeguard explained.
    â€œThere was no shark, Bump,” Joe interrupted. “It was just this surfboard’s fin, sticking out of the water. And this little girl was drowning.”
    The little girl was sitting up by now, with her head tucked between her knees. She coughed every few seconds, but it was easy to see she was going to be all right.
    Her mother had found us all by then and was kneeling down, brushing the damp hair out of her daughter’s face.
    â€œMy baby,” she kept saying. “My baby … I just went back to our room for a minute. But I could have lost you!”
    Well, yeah. Who leaves their little girl on the beach alone for as long as she did?
    â€œWhat’s your name, son?” Bump asked the lifeguard.
    â€œUm, Chuck. Chuck Fatone, sir.”
    â€œChuck Fatone, hmm? I’m gonna remember your name, son,” Bump said, shaking a finger at him. “I’d better not hear it again, unless it’s to say you saved somebody’s life. Understand?”
    Fatone gave Joe and me a murderous look before turning back to the mayor. “Yessir,” he said, his mouth twisted into a bitter sneer.
----
    SUSPECT PROFILE
    Name: Charles “Chuck” Fatone, aka “Chuckie”
    Hometown: Trenton, New Jersey
    Physical description: Age 22, 6′3″, 220 lbs. of solid muscle, movie-star suntan, blond, buzz-cut hair, perpetual angry expression on his face.
    Occupation: Lifeguard
    Background: Grew up tough, got tougher. Likes bodybuilding, being a lifeguard, impressing girls in bikinis. Doesn’t like anybody getting in his way. Never married. Never will be. Children? No way.
    Suspicious behavior: Not acting faster to save drowning child. Picking a fight with Joe. Just being a generally nasty guy.
    Suspected of: Jewel theft, maybe? Bad things (like burglaries) are generally done by bad guys (like Chuckie).
    Possible motives: Greed. Rats