The Ghostly Mystery (4 page)

Authors: David A. Adler

BOOK: The Ghostly Mystery

4.09Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly were out of the train station. They were walking toward the line when the man in the suit saw them.

“There you are,” he said. “I tried to save your place in line. But the line kept moving. Then it was my turn to buy tickets. I couldn’t hold your place any longer.”

Aunt Molly turned. She looked at the long line of people still waiting to buy tickets.

Cam whispered to Eric, “I have to find those magazines.”

“Do we have to go to the end of the line?” Aunt Molly asked.

“Yes,” the man said softly. “I’m sorry.”

Aunt Molly took Cam’s and Eric’s hands.

“You have to stay with me. I don’t want to lose you again.”

Aunt Molly held on to Cam’s and Eric’s hands. She led them to the end of the line. As they walked, Cam looked for the magazines.

“Ah!”

Someone in line screamed.

“Ah! Ah!”

Other people screamed.

“I hope it’s not another ghost,” Aunt Molly said.

It wasn’t. Triceratops Pops, the singing group, was walking toward the concert hall. And they were wearing their dinosaur costumes.

They waved. They stopped and spoke to some of the people waiting in line. Some fans held out papers, and the Triceratops Pops singers signed them.

Fans ran from the line. They held out more papers and CDs to be signed. Soon a large crowd of people had gathered.

“Smile,” someone shouted. “I’m taking your picture.”

“Sing something,” another fan called out.

“We have to go now,” one of the singers said. “We have to rehearse. But we hope to see you all at the concert.”

Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly watched the T-Pops singers walk into the concert hall. The fans returned to their places in line.

Then Cam and Eric saw Officer Kent and Officer Feldman come out of the train station. The officers went to the ticket booth.

“I have to find something,” Cam said to Aunt Molly.

“I don’t want to lose you again,” Aunt Molly told Cam.

“I lost a shoe in Tel Aviv,” Aunt Molly said. “It was hard to walk with only one shoe. I don’t like to lose things.”

“I’m not a shoe,” Cam said. “I just have to look for something. I’ll be right back. I promise.

“Me, too,” Eric said.

Cam and Eric went to where the old man had fallen. Eric found a sheet of lined paper. There was some writing on it. He gave it to Cam.

Cam looked at the paper.

“‘Milk. Coffee. Orange juice. Toilet paper.’ This is a shopping list.” She put the paper in her pocket. “I’m keeping it as evidence.”

Then Eric found two copies of
Picture News
magazine. He showed them to Cam.

Cam said,
“Click,”
and looked at a picture she had in her head.

“These are the ones the man dropped,” Cam said, as she opened her eyes. “And look here.” Cam pointed to a small white rectangle in the corner of one magazine. “Here’s his name and address.”

“Let me see that,” Eric said.

Cam gave him the magazines. On the cover of each magazine was a label with the name “Mr. Peter Dowe,” followed by an address.

“We just have to go to this address,” Cam said, and pointed to the labels. “That’s where we’ll find the old man and the ghost.”

Chapter Eight

We’re not going to a thief’s house,” Eric said. ”That ghost has a gun! We’re going to the police.”

Cam and Eric went to the ticket booth. The police officers were there. They were talking with Sally. They asked her if she remembered anything else that might help them catch the thieves.

Officer Kent was very tall. Cam tugged on his sleeve and said, “I can help. This is the thief.”

Cam gave Officer Kent one of the Picture
News
magazines.

Officer Kent and Officer Feldman looked at the magazine. A picture of the president of the United States was on the cover.

“You think the president dressed up as a ghost and stole the money!” Officer Kent said. “That’s silly!”

Officer Feldman told Cam, “I saw him on the news this morning. He’s in Washington.”

“Not him,” Cam said. She pointed to the white rectangle. “Him!”

Eric told the police officers about Cam’s amazing memory. Then he told them about the old man, the shopping lists, and the magazines.

“Maybe these magazines were stolen,” Officer Kent said.

Officer Feldman said, “And maybe they weren’t. Maybe this thief left us his name and address. Let’s find out.”

Cam tugged on Officer Kent’s sleeve again.

“Can we go along?” Cam asked.

Officer Kent looked at Officer Feldman.

“Maybe she can help us identify the thieves,” Officer Feldman said.

Eric said, “Cam has an amazing memory. She’s good at identifying people.”

Cam and Eric walked with the police officers to their car. Officer Feldman opened the back door. Cam and Eric got in.

Officer Kent spoke into the car telephone. He told someone at the station where they were going. He asked that other police cars meet them there. Then he turned on the flashing lights.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

It was Aunt Molly. She was knocking on the windshield.

“Let them out! Let them out!” she yelled. “They’re just innocent children!”

Cam said, “She’s my aunt Molly.”

Officer Kent opened the back door. “Get in,” he told Aunt Molly.

“I’m innocent, too,” Aunt Molly said. “I work for an airline.”

Eric explained to Aunt Molly why they were riding with the police. Aunt Molly smiled and got in.

“I travel a lot,” Aunt Molly said. “But this is the first time I’ll be traveling in a police car.”

Officer Feldman turned and said, “Put on your seat belts.”

Officer Kent drove quickly. He went through red lights. People in other cars moved aside to let them pass.

As they sped through traffic, Cam and Eric smiled and waved to people they passed.

Officer Kent stopped the car in front of Peter Dowe’s house. Police officers in three other police cars were already there.

“You wait here,” Officer Feldman told Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly. “These thieves might be dangerous.”

Chapter Nine

Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly watched the police surround the house. Officer Feldman knocked on the front door. Officer Kent and two other police officers were with him.

They waited.

Officer Feldman knocked again.

A man opened the door. Cam looked at him. She blinked her eyes and said,
“Click.
”

The four police officers went into the house.

Cam closed her eyes and said,
“Click”
again.

“That’s him,” Cam said. Her eyes were still closed. “He’s the man I ran up to in the train station. He had bushy eyebrows when he pretended to have a heart attack, but not when I saw him later. Those eyebrows must have been part of the disguise.”

Cam opened her eyes. She watched the police officers lead the man and woman out of the house. They led the couple to one of the other police cars.

Officers Kent and Feldman came back to their car.

“They confessed,” Officer Feldman told Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly. “They returned the money.”

Officer Kent smiled. “Peter Dowe and his wife were surprised when we knocked on their door. ‘How did you find us?’ they asked. I told them we had the help of a smart young girl with an amazing memory.”

“I helped, too,” Eric said.

“Yes, you did,” Officer Kent said.

Officer Kent drove Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly back to the concert hall. The line outside the ticket booth was gone. In the window was a sign that said SOLD OUT.

“Oh, my,” Aunt Molly said. “We won’t get tickets to the Triceratops Pops concert.”

“Oh, yes, you will,” Officer Feldman said.

Officer Feldman knocked on the door to the concert hall. When the door was opened, he led Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly inside.

The Triceratops Pops singers were on stage. They were rehearsing. Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly sat in the front row and listened.

Officers Kent and Feldman spoke with Sally. Then she walked onto the stage. The music stopped. Sally spoke with Big Pop, the leader of the singing group.

Big Pop took a large envelope from his music stand. He came over to Cam and Eric. He took three autographed pictures of the band from the envelope. Then he took out three concert tickets.

“We save these for our friends,” Big Pop said. He gave the pictures and tickets to Cam. “Thank you for catching the thieves.”

“I helped,” Eric told Big Pop.

The other band members and Sally all came off the stage to meet Cam, Eric, Aunt Molly, and the two police officers. Cam looked at everyone.