The Haunted Hotel (6 page)

His wife had gone from happy to sad. “No wonder they told us not to talk to Mr. Linkletter about the movie. There never
was
one!”

Her husband shook his head. “All they wanted was the hotel—and we helped them get it!”

“I feel terrible,” Mrs. Jeffers said. She turned to her husband. “Todd, isn’t there anything we can do?”

Mr. Jeffers looked at the kids. “Do you think it’s too late?” he asked. “Have they actually sold the hotel yet?”

Dink glanced at the clock over the counter. “They’re signing the papers at noon,” he said. “But I think I know how you can get rid of Eatch, Rail, and Roock and save the hotel at the same time!”

“This wig itches!” Josh complained. He, Dink, and Ruth Rose were hiding behind the desk in the hotel lobby.

Josh was dressed as the ghost, complete with wig, robe, and makeup.

“It won’t be long now,” Dink said, glancing at the clock. It was almost noon!

“Eatch, Rail, and Roock had better
hurry up,” Josh said. “I’m gonna suffocate in this dumb dress!”

From where he was hiding, Dink could see the rest of the lobby. Mr. Linkletter was sitting on the sofa with his aunt and uncle.

On the other side of the lobby, Mr. and Mrs. Jeffers were playing cards with Linda Gomez, the reporter from the
Green Lawn Gazette
. Next to her sat a man with a camera.

“What if they don’t come?” Ruth Rose whispered.

Dink smiled and pointed at the front door. “I think they just did!”

Three men walked into the lobby. One was tall, one was medium, and one was short and round. Each was dressed in a dark suit, white shirt, and blue tie.

“They look like three penguins!” Josh said.

Mr. Linkletter hurried over to the
men, then led them back to his aunt and uncle.

The tall man shook hands with Mr. Spivets. “I am Fletcher Eatch,” he said.

“I am Randolph Rail,” the medium-sized man said, sticking out his hand.

“And I am Miles Roock,” the short man said, shaking hands in turn.

Mr. Spivets nodded at the men. “Have you brought the papers?” he asked.

Fletcher Eatch beamed. “We certainly have!” he said. He handed Mr. Spivets an important-looking document.

Randolph Rail removed an envelope from his briefcase. “And here’s the check.”

Miles Roock whipped a gold pen out
of his pocket. “All we need is your signature, Mr. Spivets,” he said.

Mr. Spivets looked sadly at his wife. Then he took the pen and started to sign the document.

Just then Mr. and Mrs. Jeffers walked up.

“Look, Todd!” Mrs. Jeffers said. “It’s the movie producers!”

“What a surprise,” her husband said. “We were just talking about the movie you’re going to film here in the hotel!”

Mr. Spivets paused. “What’s this about a movie?” he asked suspiciously.

“Um…” began Fletcher Eatch.

“Well…” started Randolph Rail.

“W-we can explain!” said Miles Roock.

“There’s no need to explain,” said Linda Gomez. She stood up and walked toward the men. “I’m a reporter from
the
Green Lawn Gazette
. Tomorrow my column will tell the whole town how you tried to trick these people into selling their hotel!”

The three men stared at Linda, then at the Jefferses. Finally their eyes landed on Mr. and Mrs. Spivets.

Fletcher Eatch turned pink.

Randolph Rail went white.

Miles Roock turned purple. There was dead silence in the Shangri-la lobby.

And then a ghost in a spiky white wig floated up from behind the desk.
“Go hooome,”
it moaned in a creepy voice.
“Go home before it’s toooo laaatel”

Everyone in the lobby—except Eatch, Rail, and Roock—started to laugh.

“I guess I won’t be needing this,” Mr. Spivets said. He ripped the document he was holding into pieces.

“W-what are you doing!” Fletcher Eatch spluttered.

“You agreed to sell this hotel!” Randolph Rail said.

“You can’t back out of a deal with Eatch, Rail, and Roock!” said Miles Roock.

Mrs. Spivets stood up next to her husband.

“Eatch, Rail, and Roock?” she said. “You should rearrange the letters in
your names to Cheat, Liar, and Crook!”

“And now,” Mr. Spivets said, “I think it’s time for you gentlemen to leave.”

Without another word, Mr. Link-letter escorted the three men to the front door.

The man with the camera followed,
snapping one picture after another.

Everyone cheered. Flo Spivets cheered the loudest.

Mrs. Jeffers turned back to Mr. and Mrs. Spivets. “My husband and I are so sorry for what we did,” she said. “Can you ever forgive us?”

“Of course we can, dear,” Mrs. Spivets said.

“In fact,” said Mr. Spivets, “you were such good ghosts, we’d like to invite you to do it again! One weekend a month, we’d like you to put on a ‘Shangri-la Mystery’ for our guests. What do you think?”

“That’s a great idea,” Mr. Jeffers said. “We can get some of our actor friends to help!”

The photographer snapped pictures of the Jefferses and the Spivetses.

“Wait till my readers hear about this!” Linda Gomez said, writing it all down on her pad.

Then Mr. Spivets turned to Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. “And speaking of mysteries, I want to thank our three super sleuths!”

He pulled three envelopes out of his pocket. “From the bottom of our hearts, Mrs. Spivets and I thank you,” he said. He handed the envelopes to the kids. “Please open these before you go to bed.”

The photographer snapped a picture as the kids blushed.

“Be sure to mention their names in the column,” Mrs. Spivets said to Linda Gomez.

“My pleasure,” Linda said. “Now, how about a few more pictures of the three kids?”

Dink and Ruth Rose looked into the camera and smiled.

“Wait!” Josh said, struggling out of the ghost costume. “I don’t want my picture in the paper with this wig and dress on!”

*   *   *

Later that night, the kids met in Dink’s living room.

Dink was holding Loretta in his lap. She was nibbling on one of his shirt buttons.

Josh pulled out the envelope Mr. Spivets had given him. “Can we open these now?” he asked.

“He said before we go to bed, Josh,” Dink said.

“This
is
before we go to bed!”

“Josh is right!” Ruth Rose said. “I’m dying to know what’s in mine. Let’s open them on the count of three, okay? One, two, three!”

“Oh golly, my great-aunt Molly!” Josh said. “Three plane tickets to Florida!”

Ruth Rose held up the contents of her envelope. “And three passes to Disney World!”

Dink gulped when he saw what was in his envelope. He pulled out three fifty-dollar bills and a note:

Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose jumped up and did a triple high-five.

Loretta crawled off the sofa. No one was looking, so she started chewing one of the fifty-dollar bills.