The Secret of the Old Mill by Franklin W. Dixon Page A

construction supply yard where Tony worked during the summer. “Today I went to the bank, just before it closed, to deposit the cash and checks we took in this week,” he said. “The teller discovered that one of the bills was a counterfeit!”
    â€œA twenty-dollar bill?” Frank guessed.
    â€œYes. How’d you know?”
    The Hardys related Chet’s experience. Tony’s dark brows drew together. “I’d like to get my hands on the guy making the stuff!” he said angrily.
    â€œSo would we!” Joe stated.
    The Hardys learned that the head teller had told Tony he would make a report to the Bayport police and turn the bill over to the Secret Service. “Did he explain how he could tell that the bill was a fake?” Frank asked.
    â€œYes,” replied Tony, and from his description, the Hardys were sure that the bill had come from the same batch as the one passed to Chet.
    â€œThink back, Tony,” Frank urged. “Have you any idea who gave it to you—or your father?”
    Tony looked doubtful. “Three days’ trade—pretty hard to remember. Of course, we know most of the customers. I did ask Mike, our yardman, who helps with sales. He mentioned one purchaser he didn’t know.”
    Frank, eager for any possible lead, carefully questioned Tony. The Hardys learned that three days before, just at closing time, a faded green panel truck had driven into the Prito supply yard. “Mike remembers there were no markings on the truck—as if the name might have been painted out.”
    â€œWho was in it?” Joe prompted.
    â€œA young boy—about fourteen—was with the driver. Mike says they bought about fifty dollars’ worth of old bricks and lumber. The boy paid him in assorted bills. One was a twenty. Our other cash customers had given smaller bills.”
    â€œWhat did the driver look like?” Frank probed.
    â€œMike said he didn’t notice—the fellow stayed behind the wheel. There was a last-minute rush at the yard, so the boy and Mike piled the stuff into the back of the truck. Then the driver gave the boy money to pay the bill.”
    Frank and Joe wondered the same thing: Had the man driving the truck passed the bogus bill deliberately? If so, was he the one who had fooled Chet? “It seems funny he’d go to so much trouble to dump one phony twenty-dollar bill,” Joe said.
    Frank agreed and added, “Besides, what would a person in league with counterfeiters want with a pile of old bricks and lumber?”
    He turned to Tony. “Did Mike notice anything in particular about the boy?”
    â€œHe was tall and thin. Mike thinks he was wearing a striped shirt.”
    Frank and Joe exchanged glances. “Could be Ken Blake!” Joe declared. Briefly, the Hardys explained their first encounter with the boy.
    â€œHe might have been helping pick up the load for Elekton,” Frank reasoned. “But why would a modern plant want secondhand building material? And why wouldn’t they have the purchase billed to them?”
    â€œWhat’s more,” his brother put in, “why didn’t the driver get out and help with the loading? Unless, perhaps, he wanted to stay out of sight as much as possible.”
    â€œToo bad Mike didn’t notice the truck’s license number,” Tony said. “Naturally he had no reason to at the time.”
    â€œWas there anything unusual about the truck besides the fact it wasn’t marked?” Frank asked his chum.
    Tony thought for a moment. “Mike did say there was a bike in the back. He had to move it out of the way.”
    â€œKen rides one,” Joe remarked.
    â€œWell, Dad will be glad if you two pick up any clues to these counterfeiters,” Tony said. “He’s hopping mad at being cheated, and Mike feels sore about it.”
    â€œWe’ll keep our eyes open for that green truck,” Frank assured him.