Mystery of the Midnight Dog (2 page)

“I guess the ghost isn’t out today,” Lainey said.

They walked on, up one street and down another. People said hello as they passed and many people knew Kate Frances by name.

“Do you know everybody in Elbow Bend?” Henry asked Kate Frances.

She shook her head. “Not everybody,” she said. “But people say hello to everyone here. They’re just friendly, I guess.”

She smiled and nodded at a woman who was walking by, frowning as she stared at the houses. The woman wore dark glasses, red lipstick, and a big straw hat to protect her from the sun.

“Hello,” Kate Frances said.

The woman’s dark glasses turned toward Kate Frances. She frowned harder. “Do I know you?” the woman asked.

“No. I was just saying hi,” said Kate Frances.

“Oh,” said the woman. She turned away and kept walking.

“I guess not
everybody’s
friendly,” Henry teased.

Kate Frances laughed. “I guess not,” she said.

They paused at a corner while a bus rolled by. People were leaning out the windows of the bus, taking photographs, while a man’s voice droned through a loudspeaker inside. Kate Frances nodded toward the bus and added with a mischievous smile, “I don’t know all the tourists who come through town.”

“How
do
you know so many people?” asked Jessie.

“I’ve been coming to Elbow Bend every summer since I was a little girl to visit my grandmother, Jessie. That’s how I first got interested in ghost stories and folktales, I think. I just loved listening to the grown-ups swap tall tales,” Kate Frances said.

“Tall tales?” asked Violet.

“Stories that are just so outrageous they can’t be true,” said Kate Frances. She stopped. “Now, there’s a house with a good tall tale about it.”

“Tell it,” begged Benny.

“Well, during the full moon in the summer, some say, you can hear the sound of a garden party, right over there behind that wall all covered with jasmine. But if you push open the gate and go inside, the sound stops and nothing is there. Close the gate and come back outside and listen ... and in a few minutes you’ll hear soft laughter and the clinking of glasses.”

“Ohhhh,” Violet breathed.

“Why? Are they ghosts? Where do they come from?” asked Henry.

“Some people say it’s an engagement party for the oldest daughter of the family that lived there long ago. Her fiancé went to war after that and never came back and she died of a broken heart, saying that party was the last happy day she ever had,” Kate Frances said, folding her hands over her heart dramatically.

“How sad,” said softhearted Violet.

Watch gave a sharp bark.

Lainey looked down and then over at Kate Frances. “Watch says don’t forget the ghost dog story.”

“Ghost dog? Where does the ghost dog live?” asked Benny.

“Oh, the ghost dog doesn’t live anywhere. That’s a common ghost story out in the country—here, and in other parts of the world,” said Kate Frances. “Sometimes it appears trotting alongside your carriage ... or these days your car or your bike ... to warn you of danger.

“The story goes,” Kate Frances continued, “that once upon a time, a little dog just showed up in town and made himself at home in the shade of the bench next to the courthouse door. No one knew where he came from or whom he belonged to. He was friendly and several people tried to adopt him, but he wasn’t interested. So they fed him and petted him and took care of him as much as he would let them.

“Anyway, he watched the people come and go as if he were waiting for someone, but no one knew who or why. They did know that every once in a while the little dog would stand up and bark—just one sharp bark—at someone who was going into a trial. And when he did, that person was always found guilty. People started calling the little dog ‘Judge’ and the name stuck.

“Then one day Judge jumped up and started barking like crazy, running around the courthouse and jumping up at the windows. People came running out to see what was wrong, and just about then, the whole building collapsed.

“Well, Judge had saved everyone’s life. Somehow, he’d known that building would fall. But when everyone remembered what he’d done and tried to find him to reward him, he was gone. He’d just disappeared. No one ever saw him again. ...

“Except ...”

Violet pressed her hands to her cheeks. “Except
when?”
she breathed.

“Except when something terrible is going to happen. Then Judge comes back, waiting and watching and barking and howling to try to warn people. And woe to anyone who doesn’t listen to the Ghost Dog of Elbow Bend.”

Applause broke out.

The Aldens turned in surprise. They had been so interested in the story that Kate Frances was telling, they hadn’t even noticed that a small crowd of people had also stopped to listen. Several of them were tourists, with cameras around their necks.

“That was just wonderful,” a large man with a big camera said. “May I take your photograph?”

“Sure,” said Benny.

“Me, too, me, too,” several other people said. Cameras clicked. One man even had a video camera trained on them. Kate Frances laughed.

“Wasn’t that wonderful, Elizabeth?” a young woman said to the older woman standing next to her. It was the woman in the dark glasses, red lipstick, and big hat.

The woman turned up a corner of her mouth. It
might
have been a smile. “I’m hot,” she complained. Then, almost reluctantly, she said to Kate Frances, “That wasn’t bad. You could almost be a writer.”

“Thanks,” said Kate Frances as the group began to wander away.

The younger woman smiled. “Elizabeth should know!” she said brightly.

“Come on. Let’s get out of the sun,” the woman named Elizabeth muttered.

The group on the sidewalk broke up and people drifted away. Henry looked at his wristwatch. “Wow,” he said, “almost time for supper.”

“We’d better head back,” said Kate Frances.

By the time they got back to Mrs. Wade’s house, the evening shadows of the trees had grown long and the sun was almost down. Grandfather Alden was setting the wooden table inside the screened porch.

Soon dinner was on the table and Watch was eating a bowl of dog food nearby.

“Fried chicken,” said Grandfather. “If it tastes as good as it smelled while you were cooking it, Sally, it will be delicious.”

“It is,” mumbled Benny who’d already reached for a drumstick and taken a big bite.

While they ate, they talked about everything they’d seen that day.

“When I grow up I’m going to have a purple house just like the pink one,” Violet said.

“But it won’t be just like the pink one if it is purple,” Henry teased her gently.

“When I grow up, I’m going to move to Elbow Bend and eat dinner just like this every day,” Benny said.

“Well, we don’t eat like this every day, Benny,” said Mrs. Wade. “But I’m glad you like my cooking.” She looked pleased.

Watch finished his meal and walked to the edge of the porch. He pressed his nose against the screen. He tilted his head as if he were listening to something that no one else could hear.

“This town has lots of stories in it. But no mysteries so far,” Jessie said. “Not real mysteries, anyway.”

“You like mystery stories?” Lainey asked.

“Oh, yes,” said Jessie. “We like to solve them.”

“Solve them?” Lainey looked a bit surprised.

“Sure. We’ve solved lots of mysteries,” Henry said. “Even one with a singing ghost.”

Kate Frances laughed. “Well, with all the ghost stories people tell around here, maybe a mystery will turn up yet.”

Just then, Watch gave one short, sharp bark, then threw back his head and let out a long howl.

Everyone at the table froze.

Then Benny dropped his fork, pushed back his chair, and hurried over to the small dog. “What’s wrong, boy?” he asked.

In answer, Watch howled louder.

“Watch?” said Jessie. “Are you okay?”

Then, as quickly as he had begun, Watch stopped howling. But the fur on his back stayed up and he kept his nose pressed against the screen for a long moment.

Benny wrapped his arms around Watch’s neck. Watch turned his head and licked Benny’s cheek.

Looking up at everyone at the table, Benny said, “I know what Watch saw. He saw the ghost dog!”

“Benny! You know there is no such thing as a ghost. Or a ghost dog,” Jessie said.

Violet didn’t say anything. She stared out at the darkness and the fireflies, half expecting to see a ghost dog float by.

“Watch could have been howling at anything,” Henry said. “An owl hooting that we couldn’t hear. Or a siren far away.”

“Come have dessert, Benny,” Grandfather said. “I’m sure the reason Watch howled is as simple as a hooting owl. No ghosts.”

Benny looked through the screen at the night, but he didn’t see anything. Whatever had caused Watch to howl had stopped—or gone away.

Later that night Benny and Watch came into Henry’s room. Benny who was wearing his pajamas, rubbed his eyes and yawned. Henry looked up from his book.

Benny said, “Watch and I came to say good night.”

“Good night,” said Henry. “And remember, I’m just across the hall if you get scared or anything.”

“Scared?” Benny said. “I’m never scared. Only, maybe, a little worried sometimes.”

Henry smiled at his younger brother. “Well, if you get a little worried, just call me. I’ll be right here.”

“Okay,” said Benny. “And if you’re worried about the ghost dog, don’t be. Watch will protect us.”

“There isn’t a ghost dog, Benny. That’s just a story,” Henry said.

Benny looked as if he might want to argue with Henry. But all he said was, “Good night.”

“Good night,” said Henry.

When Benny stepped into the hall, he saw Lainey, who motioned for him to follow her. “Come on,” she said. “We’ll help the ghost dog pay Henry a visit.”

“How?” asked Benny.

“With an old Halloween mask I found in the closet in my room. It’s a basset hound mask.”

“You mean, play a joke on him?” ask Benny.

“Yep,” said Lainey.

A few minutes later, wearing the dog mask, Benny walked back down the hall. When he reached the door, Lainey turned off the hall light.

No light showed under Henry’s door. Benny wondered if his older brother was already asleep.

If he was, Benny and Lainey were about to awaken him!

“Scratch on the door a little, like a dog, but softly,” Lainey told Benny.

Benny scratched on a lower panel of the door. As he did, Lainey let out a soft moan.

Benny thought he heard a sound from Henry’s room.

He scratched again. Lainey let out a low howl that sounded pretty scary to Benny.

“What? Who’s there?” Henry’s voice sounded as if he had been asleep.

Lainey howled once more.

The light in Henry’s room came on. He threw open the door. Lainey howled again, and Benny did, too.

Henry jumped back. Then he realized who it was.

“Benny! Lainey!” he exclaimed.

“No, it’s the ghost dog,” said Lainey, turning on the hall light. She and Benny began to laugh.

Henry shook his head, grinning. “You almost fooled me. Almost.”

Benny threw his arms around his brother. “Good night,” he said again. “We promise not to let the ghost dog wake you up anymore!”

Henry rolled his eyes. “I’ll count on it. Good night.”

“That was a pretty good joke,” Benny said.

He went into his room and got into bed. Benny put his flashlight by his bed, just in case, then turned out the light and pulled the sheet up to his chin. He stared at the darkness. Was that a ghostly white shape by the window?

He clicked on the flashlight.

No, it was just a vase of white flowers.

Benny yawned. A moment later he was sound asleep.

Violet blinked and sat up in her bed. What had awakened her?

She glanced at the clock by her bed. It was midnight, exactly.

Just as she realized how late it was, Violet heard a low-sounding howl float through her open window. And then another. And another.

The ghost dog,
Violet thought and grabbed the covers to pull them up around her.

Then another howl, much closer, made her gasp.

It was coming from inside the house!

Violet dropped the covers, grabbed for her robe, and ran out of her room. She just missed crashing into Jessie, who was running out of her room, too.

They heard the howl again.

“Benny’s room,” Jessie cried. “Hurry!”

Henry bolted out of his room and joined them. He threw open the door of Benny’s room and switched on the light.

Benny was kneeling at the window seat, holding Watch’s collar. He turned toward them. “The ghost dog!” he cried. “It’s here!”

Just then, Watch threw back his head and let out another long howl. It made the hair on Violet’s neck stand up, almost like the hair on Watch’s neck.

More howls from nearby yards and houses joined Watch’s.

And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the howling died away.

Now the night was perfectly still. Not even the crickets sang.