Max and Luke, Junior Detectives (m+/mm) The Case of the Elderly Leech

[cj2125]

The Case of Graham Manor

An hour away drive from the suburban town of Hempborough, lay the city of Franklin. At the heart of the city lay Graham Memorial Park. A large green space designed for the citizen’s recreation. Tonight, the usually quiet park was filled with people in attendance for the East Pentecostal Reformed Church’s annual concert to raise funds for their various projects. Several families and guests from the city and surrounding towns’ congregations gathered around the Shell, ready for a three-hour concert of the best classical and church music the volunteer orchestra could offer.

While the adults sat on the folding chairs to listen the concert, kids weren’t expected to endure the three-hour event, at least those whose parents didn’t force to, instead they would take the chance to run around and enjoy the park’s facilities. The only rule was to stay near the esplanade and don’t venture too far away, specially not towards the old Graham Manor.

Graham Manor was the house of the land’s original owners. After their last heir donated the land to the city, the authorities repurposed the Victorian building, the first floor was turned into a small visitor center while the top floor housed the park and recreation offices, despite its mundane use, there were still rumor of boarded up rooms and hidden treasures among the local youth.

It was those rumors that compelled two youths to sneak away from the adults and head to investigate the house. The two sneaked through the dark grounds, increasing their pace up the hill until they reached the main house. “I’m going to need a light!” one kid whispered his friend, the second grunted something and pulled out his phone using it to light the keyhole

The two boys weren’t really dressed for sneaking into old house, with the formality of the event, Luke’s parents insisted they dressed properly for it. Hence Luke was wearing a pair of khaki pants, a green short-sleeved shirt with a blue tie. His friend, Max, wore a pair of black pants, a white shirt with a blue tie. Although he had agreed to accompany Luke and his parents to the event, his real interest was never the music but the old mansion and its secrets.

“Do you even know how to pick up locks?” the dark-haired boy asked, Max gave him a sheepish smile

“I’ve seen some YouTube videos…”

“That’s a no…” Max had convinced Luke to accompany him to check the manor. Luke reluctantly agreed with the whole intention of keeping his friend out of trouble. After all, Luke probably was the only kid who would have enjoyed the concert! “Too bad! Well, let’s go back to the concert…” he tried to turn around but Max grabbed his arm

“Come on Luke! Do you think a door will stop the Max and Luke, Junior Detectives?”

“I told you not to call us that!” he complained yet remained with Max “For the record, I won’t break a window to get in so either you find a way of unlocking this door or we go back to my parents!”

“Okay! Geez! You need more faith in my abilities man!” Max smirked and leaned closer to the lock, trying to figure out how to break it. He grabbed the handle and turned it over. With a click, the door opened “Ta Da!”
“What the… how did you do that?”

“I told you I was a professional!” Max smiled, completely oblivious to the fact that the door had been unlocked. The proud boy pushed the wooden door open and stepped aside for Luke to go inside “After you my friend”
Luke gave him a nervous smile, the only reason he indulged Max’s fantasy was because he didn’t expect him to open that freaking door! It was too late to go back though so he reluctantly stepped inside, using his phone as a flashlight

“Maybe we should turn on a light… this thing is eating my battery” he pointed

“And have everyone figure we are here?” Max grinned with a spark on his eyes “Running out of batteries its part of the adventure!” The two kids made their way across the main hall. Past some creepy wax figures depicting the city’s founders, weird paintings and old trinkets, nothing that they couldn’t see during opening hours although in the darkness the foreboding factor greatly increased

“I really don’t like this” Luke muttered examining the blank face of a wax woman

“We are safe… unless those figures are cursed and will come to live to cover us in hot wax and forced us to join their exhibit…”

“That’s not funny!” Luke whimpered walking forwards “I really have a bad feeling about… EEEKKK!” He jumped forwards the moment he felt a cold, wax-like hand touch the back of his neck. He turned around and saw Max chuckling while holding a wax hand

“You are an idiot!” Luke growled punching Max’s arm while his friend kept laughing “Wait… did you break a figure?”

“Nah, I found it on the floor, must have fallen off this morning” Max smiled waving the hand at him

“Grrr… just leave it down! I want to get out of here as soon as possible!”

The two friends made their way past the rest of the exhibits until they reached an open door labeled “employees only” this time it was Max who lead the way, climbing the wooden stairs until they reached the top floor

“Awww! These sucks!” Max complained upon finding out how disappointingly normal the offices were. The gothic architecture had been covered up by drywall and fake ceilings, the wooden floors were hidden under a grey carpet and across the hall he could see a copy machine, a water tank and some file shelves. Really less impressive than he expected

“Well, these are offices, what you expected?” Luke smiled patting his dejected friend’s back “Now, can we go?”

“No! There might still be a secret passage!” Max exclaimed and kept walking forwards, followed by a reluctant Luke

“Frankly Max, I don’t see the point if…” when they turned a corner, the boys stopped on their tracks. Ahead of them, a light came from one of the offices “There’s someone in here!” Luke hissed grasping Max’s shirt

“They might be fellow treasure hunters… or a really dedicated public worker”

“That’s not the issue!” Luke whispered “We aren’t supposed to be here!” he really didn’t want to have a criminal record at 13!

“But what if they found a treasure?”

“They definitely didn’t find a treasure!”

“There’s one way to find it!” Max winked and before Luke could stop it Max was sneaking towards the door. The boy hesitated for a moment, seriously considering leaving Max on his own, before cursing the meaning of friendship and going after him. The closer the got, they louder the voices could be hear. The door was open so Max and Luke crouched down and peeked inside.

Two guys were standing in the middle of the office, the tallest one, a lean guy with black spiky hair a several pimples on his face leaned against a bookshelf while his friend, a larger guy with short brown hair was busy trying to open a metal box. The didn’t look that old, high school seniors at best and judging by the formal clothes they were wearing probably were supposed to be attending the concert in the park below.

“I thought you knew how to open locks!” the lean guy, whom Max decided to name Steve since he had the face of a Steve (please don’t ask Max how is the face of a Steve) asked his partner

“I saw a YouTube video!” the guy Max named Bruce, grunted while struggling with the box “I didn’t have issues with the main door, did I?”

Luke stepped back leaning against the wall and covered his mouth “This is bad” Max muttered while frowning, Luke had to agree with him, how did he not see the clues? “I thought I opened that door…”

“That’s the issue here?” Luke glared at Max

“Yeah” he shrugged “This is great! We ran into a crime in process!” he whispered excited “Just picture it! Max and Luke, junior detectives caught a pair of teenage robbers!”

“I told you not to call us that!” Luke grunted “And forget it! This is way out of our league!”

“They don’t seem dangerous” Max pointed “And it’s not like we have to fight them, just call the police and they’ll do the job” he was interrupted by voices coming from inside

“Yes!” apparently Bruce had managed to open the box, pouring its contents, stacks of bills on the table “There might be 50 grands here!” he exclaimed

“Alright, let’s get the money and get the hell out of here!” Steve replied shoving the bills into his pockets. Max and Luke exchanged concerned looks

“You thinking what I think?” Max whispered, Luke nodded “I’ll create a distraction to buy us time, you call the police!”

“What? That’s not what I was thinking! I was thinking that we get out of here before…Max! Oh flummerty!” Luke whined as Max rushed head first into action. The boy burst into the room holding his phone as if it were a gun
“Don’t move!” he shouted, the older thieves froze for a moment, clearly not expecting any visitor but when they realized it was just a little kid, they burst out laughing “You think it’s funny?” Max’s ears turned bright pink, he expected a little bit of respect from them! “You’ve been caught red handed stealing from the city! That is a major crime!”

“The toddler is right…” Steve smiled raising his hands “You caught us, what now?”

“Ummm… stay where you are while I call the police?” even Max knew how pointless it was, Steve and Bruce exchanged looks and took a step forward

“No”

“Ummm… please?” Max asked with a high-pitched voice, perhaps jumping on them hadn’t been the best idea “Don’t…make me use force?” the teens burst out laughing once more, Max had to concede he was in quite a pickle, but it was alright, he only needed to make time until the police arrived, Luke should be dialing 911 at this exact moment

“Look what I caught!” a voice came from behind, a third teenager, this one larger than the other two with black hair in a buzzcut walked in holding a struggling Luke “Caught him just as he was trying to make a phone call!”

“Of course, there were more of them…” Max grunted, mentally facepalming himself. Luke only let a few grunts, not because he lacked anything to say but because Bob, as Max called the third one, had his arm around Luke’s neck greatly diminishing his ability to breath, the poor kid was already turning purple

“What do we do with them?” asked Bruce glaring at the intruders, Luke was desperately punching his arm

“Hold them down” Steve smiled “I saw some ropes in the janitor’s closet” Max and Luke’s eyes opened wide; without a second thought, Max bolted to the door but he didn’t get too far before Bruce tackled him to the ground. The poor boy was crushed by 200 pounds of pure muscle. At that moment, he greatly emphasized with football players.

“Geoff me!” he grunted less because of his desire to escape and more because his lungs were being crushed. Bruce pushed his knee between Max’s shoulder blades to keep him pinned down and grabbed his wrists, pulling them behind his back “You’ll never get away with this!” Max shouted squirming under the gorilla

“Keep him down!” Steve yelled, Max felt the ropes lashing around his wrist. Meanwhile, Bob let go of Luke’s neck in order to pin him down. The small boy let out a long gasp, grateful to be able to breathe again.

“This isn’t necessary!” Luke yelled while Bob twisted his arms behind his back “You’ll just add kidnapping to your list of crimes!”

“We’ll get out of this and tell the cops!” Max snarled

“Pff! You don’t even know our names!” Steve laughed and tightened the ropes around Max’s wrists making the boy wince

“Ummm… Steve, Bruce and Bob?” everyone, even Luke, stopped what they were doing and gave Max a baffled look “…it’s just a guess?” Max added with a sheepish smile

“Well, you do have a Steve face” Bruce pointed and he and Bob started laughing

“What? No, I don’t!” “Steve” turned red “And that’s not our names! Now let’s finish with them!”

Despite their best efforts to fight back, both kids ended sitting on the floor, sitting back to back and with their own ties tied between their teeth “GGHHMMM!” Max shouted glaring at their captors, behind him, Luke furiously grunted and kicked the floor with his bound feet.

“Well boys, a pleasure having business with you but we have to go now” said Steve counting the bills they had stolen and ignoring the angry glares the kids shoot at them “Don’t worry, I’m sure someone’ll find you when they open the office…on Monday!”

“NHHH!” both kids screamed shaking their heads, neither of them intended to spend the whole weekend trapped in that office!

“See yah toddlers!” Bob waved at them and the three walked out of the office, turning off the lights on their way out. Max rested his back against Luke and tried to asses their situation. They were sitting back to back on the middle of the room, their hands were tied behind them and the ropes went around their torsos so picking each other knots would be impossible. Their ankles were tied together with their own belts and their ties were being used as a gag. There was nobody else in that place that they were aware that Luke’s parents wouldn’t probably be looking for them for the next two hours or more.

“Fiz is yeh faulz” Luke grunted, fortunately the ties didn’t make for good gags and the boys had been smart enough to keep it a secret from the high schoolers.

“Ghelax, we’ll gez ouz of Fiz” Max smiled resting his head on Luke’s shoulder

“How?” that was a good question. They needed to get out of those ropes! Since picking the knots wasn’t an option, their only way out was to cut the ropes! Max started looking around, trying to find his way on the darkness. They were in an office so probably there were scissor they could use, of course they would need to somehow reach the drawers, open them and look through each of them. Perhaps if they toppled the desk…

“Ze closez!” Luke exclaimed nudging Max

“Mmphh?”

“Ze janifoh closez!” of course! If those jerks found ropes there, perhaps there were sharp object they could use! Max’s smile vanished though when he saw the door ahead of him; they would have to get there in the first place!
It took them several grunts and shoves to finally get into the same page but eventually, the boys managed to coordinate a course of action. Max straightened his legs, planting his feet on the ground and tried to pull their bodies while Luke bend his knees, planted his feet and pushed. Slowly they managed to literally drag their butts towards the door, grunting and panting all the way until Max’s feet touched the glass panels of the door.
The boy smiled and leaned against Luke’s back, taking a moment to recover his breath “How agh we gonha ofen ze zoof?” Luke asked while panting, a few drops of sweat had already formed around the boy’s foreheads.
Max’s smiled disappeared as he heard Luke’s question… a good question indeed. The door was closed you see, and even though it was probably unlocked, they still needed to reach the handle to open it. “Mayfe we can zfan uf?” After exchanging a few muffled opinions, they managed to agreed in a course of action

“One…” Max and Luke flexed their legs

“Zwo…” they pressed their backs against each other

“Zhee!” both boys pushed at the same time, using each other’s backs as support. Slowly their butts were lifted from the ground and their bodies gained height. Max bit down the tie and looked at the handle ahead of him, so close…! Then something wrong happened, he felt his body tilting to the right. He let out a nervous gasp and tried to counterbalance their bodies pushing to the left, unfortunately he underestimated his strength and soon the boys were tilting in that direction unable to stop.

“MMPHHHH!” the boys finally collapsed, painfully landing on their sides. Max closed his eyes letting a frustrated grunt while Luke angrily struggled behind him; a little bit of drool ran down his chin. To make matters worse, the ropes were starting to hurt them. Unlike their usual harmless games, the seniors had tied the ropes too tight, making them dig into their wrists. With all the struggle they seem to have gone even tighter; Max’s arms were getting num and the rope was burning his skin around his arms and chest.

“We haz zo geh ouh of hef!” Luke cried and arched his back trying to loosen the ropes, it only managed to tightened them around their chests even more. Max nodded and tried to focus, he tried to remember all those kid detective adventures he had read, how the boys would always end up tied by the villain yet they always found a way to escape. There was always a pocket knife, a pair of scissors, a sharp rock, a piece of glass…

“Ze ghah!” Max exclaimed looking at the door. While the frame was made of wood, it had large panels of opaque glass on it; Max quickly told Luke his idea, the kid voiced his reluctant agreement mainly because there wasn’t any better plan. Max focused on the door ahead of them and pulled his knees against his chest, after a deep breath, he jerked his legs forwards, smashing his feet against the glass. In an instant, the surface broke into pieces

“Gof ih!” Max exclaimed

“Yehhh!” Luke smiled and patted his palm; the closet thinks they could achieve for a high five. It took them a few more grunts and tugs to scoop towards a piece of glass but finally Max managed to carefully pick a large shard.
It took them a full ten minutes before Max managed to cut the ropes binding their wrist together. Both kids started frantically writhing and squirming the ropes off their bodies until they were able to pull their arms in front and sit up

“That was awesome!” Max laughed pulling his gag off. The two didn’t look very well, their hairs were disheveled, their shirts were untucked and stained with sweat and, in Luke’s case, missing the top two buttons and there were deep red marks around their wrists and the corners of their mouths. In Max’s opinion, they looked like two kidnapped kids should look like and he loved it!

“Are you serious?” Luke exclaimed glaring at Max “We’ve been tied up for a fricking hour!” he added looking at his phone “And we had to break city property to get out!” he pointed at the broken door

“I know! Wasn’t it fun? The junior detectives escaped their first trap!” Max bounced with joy

“Stop calling us that!” Luke rolled his eyes throwing his wet tie to the ground

“Come on Luke, look at me in the eyes and tell me it wasn’t fun!”

“Fun? My arms hurt, I’ve got bruises on my wrists, my tie is ruined, I’m all sweaty, my parents will kill me...” he gave his friend a quick glance and his frown relaxed “But yeah, I’ll admit it was fun” he smiled and playfully punched Max’s arm “Too bad we didn’t catch the bad guys”

“Meh, we can tell the cops” Max shrugged “Steve’s real name was Terry Scott so we have that lead” Luke looked at his friend dumfounded

“How did you know?”

“I saw him when we arrived with your parents, a woman referred to his dad as Mr. Scott and when he was tying me up I noticed a tag on the back of his shirt that said Terry” he said nonchalantly. Needless to say, Luke was really impressed

“Maybe you aren’t so useless after all”

“Yeah I’m not so…HEY!” Max punched Luke’s arm while his friend laughed “Anyway, let’s get out of here and get the cops, it’s time to let those jerks know what happens when you mess with the Junior Detectives!” he stood up with a broad grin… and his pants fell down

“Maybe the junior detective would like to put is belt on first” Max smiled sheepishly and put his pants back up, adjusting them with his belt; he gave his friend a huge grin and confidently walked outside whistling a happy tune, acting as if he hadn’t been trapped in an office for the last hour and a half.

[Chris12]

It was said in your last story you don't repeat yourself a lot and that again became apparent. I must say I never imagined to read Luke and Max get nabbed by buglers and its awesome.

[LK3869]

I'm on cloud nine ! A true blue junior detective story. Hated to be disguised in a shirt and tie too but you made good use of the ties
Hope some day you'll make a big .pdf with all those stories available somewhere...

[MaxRoper]

Wonderful! Boy detectives captured, tied up, and gagged with their own neckties. What's not to like?

[Xtc]

Good one.

[DeeperThanRed]

Max can't get enough of peril situations, can he? This was really fun, thanks.

[Veracity]

This was an incredibly fun little story. I love boy detective stories. Takes me back to my misspent youth with The Hardy Boys and The Three Investigators. Well done.

[alkaid_]

Fantastic!

awesome story!

[Jason Toddman]

Reads vaguely like the Brixton Brothers novels but doesn't require quite as much suspension of disbelief. :mrgreen

It was said in your last story you don't repeat yourself a lot and that again became apparent. I must say I never imagined to read Luke and Max get nabbed by buglers and its awesome.

Buglers?! Who played a bugle in this story?
Sorry; couldn't resist the dig.

[fratboydanny]

Really well done [mention]cj2125[/mention]! Like was said by [mention]Veracity[/mention], this reminded me of The Hardy Boys or The Three Detectives. I would read the trap chapters in each book over and over. I hope we will get to read more about these two junior detectives.

[cj2125]

Thanks for the comments. Glad you all liked these story. As many of you pointed, it was inspired by the kid detective books and shows I used to watch.

[mention]Jason Toddman[/mention] I’ve never heard of the Brixton Brothers until you mentioned it. I checked the first book and immediately saw the similarities with my own story, in fact it gave me more ideas for the kids’ adventures, so thanks for drawing my attention to it!

Now I’m planning to continuing this stories but I would like for the mods (specially [mention]chadmc90[/mention]) to clarify something: I understand there is a rule about adult/child stories. I am perfectly willing to abide to it by having them face teenagers or even other kids. But given that there is so much crimes a teen can commit without breaking the suspension of disbelief, I was wondering if it would be okay for some stories to involve adults (smugglers, kidnappers, etc)?

[Jason Toddman]

Now I’m planning to continuing this stories but I would like for the mods (specially @chadmc90) to clarify something: I understand there is a rule about adult/child stories. I am perfectly willing to abide to it by having them face teenagers or even other kids. But given that there is so much crimes a teen can commit without breaking the suspension of disbelief, I was wondering if it would be okay for some stories to involve adults (smugglers, kidnappers, etc)?

It's up to [mention]chadmc90[/mention] of course, but personally i feel that any situation that can be shown on tv or a general audience comic book should be allowed here as well. Iow if it's free of any kind of arousal or sexual content it should be permitted. But again chad is the one who makes the final decision on that. i'm just putting in my two cents' worth.I agree that this perhaps needs some clarification in the rules as other people also have questions along these lines.

[chadmc90]

Now I’m planning to continuing this stories but I would like for the mods (specially @chadmc90) to clarify something: I understand there is a rule about adult/child stories. I am perfectly willing to abide to it by having them face teenagers or even other kids. But given that there is so much crimes a teen can commit without breaking the suspension of disbelief, I was wondering if it would be okay for some stories to involve adults (smugglers, kidnappers, etc)?

It's up to @chadmc90 of course, but personally i feel that any situation that can be shown on tv or a general audience comic book should be allowed here as well. Iow if it's free of any kind of arousal or sexual content it should be permitted. But again chad is the one who makes the final decision on that. i'm just putting in my two cents' worth.I agree that this perhaps needs some clarification in the rules as other people also have questions along these lines.

I feel that way too, but at the same time I'd rather not have attention brought to this board. I dont think the admins and i ever came to a consensus on what policy we wanted for this, so i guess its understandable why theres still confusion. Let me re read over the rules again to try and clarify things.

[Jason Toddman]

I feel that way too, but at the same time I'd rather not have attention brought to this board. I dont think the admins and i ever came to a consensus on what policy we wanted for this, so i guess its understandable why theres still confusion. Let me re read over the rules again to try and clarify things.

I can understand your concerns, but how banning situations you can find frequently in comic books and cartoons from stories but not from artwork doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me. Especially since the artwork is far more likely to even be noticed than story content.
Perhaps an easy to spot disclaimer that we don't condone people (or at least adults?) tying up kids in real life would help?
Also, realistically, did it ever cause any problems at the old site? if so i am unaware of this. So why would here be different?

[MisterMistoffelees]

It may be just me, but as someone who's written a few girl-detective stories in a similar vein, I don't see any problems with this style. Jason carries the point; if these situations can be shown on over-the-air TV, it surely wouldn't be offensive here. Of course, you never know where the bluenoses will show up, either, so I can understand cj's concerns. As for me, I'd like to see Max and Luke expand their business, and have a few more stories of their adventures!

[cj2125]

Well, hello everyone! Finally got to write a sequel to this story! Hope you like it!



The Case of the Elderly Leech

“So… this is your modus operandi? Go around the country scamming old ladies out of their money?” the fourteen-year old red headed boy brandished the pile of fake driver’s licenses and passports that he had extracted from the yellow envelope “So who are you? Edward Robinson?” he read through the IDs “Cromwell? Pines?”

“Oh my!” the old man bemoaned “Max… I’m not sure what are you talking about. I know we didn’t start on the right foot but breaking into my hotel room? And going through my belongings? What would Sarah say about this”

“Keep grandma out!” Max roared “The gig is up Ed! I met with Adela Sartini, remember her? Or what about Karen Laurens? They are all willing to testify how you scammed them!” Max was going to make him pay for ever trying to scam his grandmother! “You seduced these old ladies and then ran away with their money! Your sick grandson? I know it was a stock photo! Your job in the factory? I called and they’ve never met you!” he was particularly proud of his job as a detective! He singlehandedly cracked the case against the Elderly Leech an awesome name for this criminal no matter what Luke says! The only thing that bothered him was that his best friend and detective partner Luke wasn’t there to share his triumph. He was still bitter about the fact that Luke refused to go believe his theory about Ed!

Max smirked. He didn’t expect the old man to come back so early but he still felt confident in the success of his mission! He wasn’t particularly strong but he was sure he could take down that decrepit man if a brawl ensued. “Face it! Once I give these to the police your days will be numbered!”

To his surprise, the old man merely smiled “Congratulations Maxwell” Max hated being called that! “I must admit I’m impressed that you managed to find out about my scheme. But you missed something very important...”

“And what would that be?” the man grinned and pulled out a gun, aiming it at Max; the boy immediately deflated and reluctantly raised his hands “Oh… you had a gun”


Max sat on a metal chair glaring at his captor “You’ll never get way with this…! Whatever you plan on getting away with!” he yelled while the old man used a handy roll of duct tape to bind the boy’s wrist behind his back. The man laughed and kept wrapping more tape around his chest, pulling at his white t-shirt.

Max started getting worried as he felt the tape tightening with each round, further constraining his body to the chair. He knew he was in trouble! He didn’t see a way of getting out without a tool to cut the tape! He regretted not bringing along a knife, classis beginner’s mistake! “My friends know I’m here!” he told the man hoping to talk his way out of this tight spot “If I don’t report soon they’ll call the police!”

“Kid… you are terrible liar!” still aiming his gun at Max, the old man crouched in front and started taping his legs together, not bothering to spare any tape, going all the way from his ankles up to his knees, taping his feet to the bottom of the chair in the process. Not satisfied with it, he started wrapping the tape over Mike’s black shorts, pressing his thighs to the seat.

“You are only adding more time to your sentence! You’ll go down for fraud AND kidnapping!” Max was starting to get more desperate as his prospects of escaping seem to vanish “Just let me go! It’s not too late to mphhh!” his last weapon, his voice, was taken away from him when the man started wrapping more tape around his lower head; Max felt his lips being pushed against his teeth and his cheek bulge under the tape. This man clearly didn’t hold any consideration for his comfort!

“Well kid, we have a problem here. Perhaps you can help me with it given that you are so smart!” the man sat on the bed looking at the bound sleuth. “Since you’ve been so close to ruining everything, I can’t let you go. You know too much”

“Mphhh!” Max shook his head wishing that his mouth was free so he could assure the man of his ignorance; of course he would go to the police as soon as he could but getting out of there alive seemed to be his first priority!
“If I were younger I could lock you in my trunk, drive you to another state and leave you by the road but alas, I’m too old to carry you around” he lamented. For a moment Max felt relieved that this fate was not to fall upon him but he realized that something worse might happened to him. “So I’m afraid I’ll have to get rid of you in a far messier way” he sighed and got up, slowly making his way to the curtain.

Max craned his neck trying to see what he was doing, he watched as he grabbed the curtain cord and give it a sharp tug, dislodging it from the rest of the curtains. He wrapped both ends around his hands and tensed the cord.
“MPHHHH!” Mike yelled and struggled with all his might, his only hope was for the tape to rip off but that didn’t seem even close to happening! While the man got neared him, Max tried to think of all the stories he had read, all the movies he had watched; the detectives always got out! They talked their way out… well Max was gagged! They cut the ropes… he didn’t have any tool! They kicked their captors and fought with their hands tied… he couldn’t even move his stupid legs!

The old man stood behind him and lowered the cord past his face until it reached his neck’s height. Max whimpered and leaned his head backwards, trying to get as far from the rope as he could but it was a pointless endeavor and soon he could feel the rope touching his neck

“MPPHHH!” he yelled now really panicking, he cursed the day he decided to become a stupid detective! He was only a kid! Why did he even thought he could pull this off!

A knock on the door interrupted the scene. Max’s first instinct was to scream at the top of his lungs but the man was faster and pressed his hand over the boy’s mouth

“Who’s there?” he yelled, after a short pause, a meek voice was heard

“Sorry to disturb you Mr. Robinson… there’s a call for you on the lobby. They say it’s urgent!”

The old man grunted under his breath and dropped the cord “Be there in a minute!” he turned to Max and ruffled his hair “I guess you’ve got a few more minutes to live” he smirked and headed for the door “Don’t bother screaming, nobody will hear you” he announced and walked into the corridor, closing the door behind him.
The moment the man closed the door, Max set to work. His close brush with death had only renewed his determination to make it out alive! He had a few more minutes but he was confident that’s all that he needed! He would escape, get the police and finally prove to everyone that Max was a real detective!

With this new confidence, he jerked against the tape… and nothing happened! He jerked again but the tape was too tight! Max wasn’t giving up though! If he couldn’t rip the tape he would have to get out of the room and call for help on the corridor outside! He planted his feet on the ground and pulled forwards… moving barely an inch.
Progress! He smiled happily bouncing on his seat and jerked forwards again, moving another inch. Suddenly the bathroom door opened and a dark-haired teenager of Max’s age emerged holding his phone on one hand.

Max’s eyes opened wide as he saw the boy dressed in jean, a black t-shirt and dark red open shirt step outside, give a quick look around and rushed to Max “Don’t worry! I’ve got you!”

What was Luke was doing here?

Luke gave the tape a quick look and smirked, pulling a swiss army knife from his pocket. Max had never been happier in his life!

“We have little time!” said Luke effortlessly cutting the tape from Max’s legs, then he moved to his chest, cutting the tape pinning him against the chair, all the while keeping his phone close to his ear. “He hanged up! Time to go!” Luke exclaimed helping Max pull his arms over the backrest

The two boys ran towards the door when Max remembered something important “Mphhh!” he exclaimed stopping abruptly

“What?” Luke asked turning around. His friend motioned towards the envelope on the desk “Really?” Luke get an exasperated grunt and quickly grabbed the envelope with the fake IDs. The two boys had made it out of the room, one with his hands still tied, when they heard a gunshot. Both froze for a moment but the bullet seemed to have missed them. The looked to the end of the corridor and saw the old man running towards them. Luke and Max exchanged horrified looks and started running the opposite way. Thankfully there were two pair of staircases, one on each end of the building so they had a way out.

Another gunshot was heard and the lightbulb above them exploded, sending glass over their heads “He is shooting us!” Luke yelled panicked “he is actually shooting at us!”

The two boys turned to their right and dove into the staircase just as a bullet buzzed past where Max had been standing. They ran as fast as they could, practically jumping the steps. Max’s mind was working at full speed, trying to think of a way out. The motel’s balcony overlooked the parking lot so if they tried to make it to the street the old man would have plenty of opportunities to test his aim.

“Fhllhw mm!” Max yelled jerking towards the back of the building, Luke didn’t need to think it twice to follow him. The boys turned the corner and ran into a dead end but Max already had a plan

“No way!” Luke grimaced when Max bumped his body against the large trash container. Max rolled his eyes jerked his head towards the container “Ughh... fine! But only because we are about to die!” he opened the lid and helped Max climb inside, then he followed suit

“Gross, gross, gross, gross” he kept whispering as he sat inside, trying not to touch any trash bag and close the lid.
Inside, the boys remained quiet. Luke sat on an empty spot on the floor, clutching his chest and straightened his back, trying to have the minimal physical contact with his surroundings, Max had less qualms and plopped against a bag. The remained quiet trying to hear what was happening out. Suddenly someone hit the container, Luke had to cover his mouth to drown his gaps. Thankfully whoever did it seem to give up, after waiting a few more minutes in dead silence, Luke finally dared to lift the lid and take a peek outside

“Coast is clear” the two boys let out sighs of relief. Luke pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight, lighting both of their faces: Pale and sweaty but visibly relieved. They looked at each other, a smile creeping up their faces that turned into a full laughter.

“We did it!” Luke beamed

“Wm dnd Hmt!” Max replied bouncing on a trash bag

Finally, Luke was able to use his blade to cut the tape around Max’s mouth “Sorry buddy, but there’s no easy way to do this” Max nodded and closed his eyes, the moment the tape ripped his hair he let out a soft whimper
“Never get used to that” he muttered and shook his head. “But seriously Luke, what are you doing here?”

“The same as you” Luke explained while Max turned around so he could finally cut his wrists free “I went to investigate his room when I heard someone trying to open the door, I hid in the bathroom but it was you! I was about to come out when Ed arrived” Luke explained and ripped the tape off Max’s skin “I knew I had to get him out of the room, so I called the motel and asked for him”

“You’re a genius!” Max exclaimed

“I know!” Luke smirked and pushed the lid open. Both friends made their way out, sirens could be heard in the distance

“Did you call the cops?”

“No, but I guess someone must have done it. He did chase us shooting his gun all over the place” Luke pointed “we only have to wait for them to show up and give them the evidence!” he added dangling the envelope

“Wait! There’s something I don’t get! You said I was exaggerating and he wasn’t a criminal! Then why did you come here?” Luke blushed a little bit

“I might have been wrong. After you left I took another look at the facts we had gathered and it seemed really suspicious to me, so…”

“You followed your gut?” Max grinned, Luke closed his eyes and nodded “Yay! We are an awesome team!” Max exclaimed pulling his arm over Luke’s shoulders and pulling him closer “Do you know what that means?”

“Please don’t say it!” Luke begged

“MAX AND LUKE, JUNIOR DETECTIVES ARE BACK!”

Luke closed his eyes and took a deep breath “Max, please let me go, you smell like trash!”

“You smell like trash too my friend, you smell like trash too”

[Chris12]

Ah the guys have been absent for quite a long time. Its quite a neat little return. Turns out they're versatile enough to work for an actual detective story with an actual villain too. Nice to see Max's wit hasn't dulled much.

[FelixSH]

I didn't realize how much I missed these two until now. You still got it, cj, your stories are still a joy. I'm always impressed how easy it seems for you to write in a fun way, with characters that talk like real kids. Or at least how I assume kids would talk in English. Actually, your writing style reminds me of Chris12, who also wrote some of my favourite stories of the old forum.

One of my favourite sentences:

“I told you I was a professional!” Max smiled, completely oblivious to the fact that the door had been unlocked.

Also enjoyed the fact that everyone was dressed up in the first story, I do have a weakness for that. Alsoalso, it's really nice how all your stories are different. Even here, the two parts have quite a different tone to them.

But enough of my blabbering. It was nice to find something new from you.

[Stiletto Amore]

These stories are an absolute joy! Kudos!