The Pike River Phantom (12 page)

“We were just wondering about our granddaughter,” Grandpa explained. “She's the Sunbonnet Queen this year, and her grandmother would like to make sure she got here okay and found where she's supposed to be.”

“Saw her myself, Mrs. Hocking.” The young officer peered in at Grandma Lou. “Just a few minutes back. She's up on her float and ready to go.”

Grandma looked relieved. “Well, that's fine then,” she said. “If you have a chance to talk to her, please tell her we'll be waiting for her in the park when the parade ends.” The officer touched his cap and swung back onto his motorcycle.

“I'm going to get out here and watch the parade start,” Charlie said. “I'll take some pictures.”

“That's a wonderful idea, dear.” Grandma beamed at him. “You tell Rachel to be sure to stay up on the float long enough for us to see her. Grandpa and I can take turns leaving the hotdog stand for a few minutes.”

“Tell her she looks better than the Rose Queen ever did,” his father shouted gaily.

“Right.” Charlie hurried down the street before they could think of more messages. He was trying hard to stay cool, and yet the closer he came to the square, the more certain he was that he should never have let Rachel leave the house alone this morning.

The sidewalk became almost impassable. Charlie said hello to a half-dozen people who had bought his candy bars. “We've come to see your band in action,” one customer told him. Charlie felt proud, even though he'd never heard the Pike River Middle School band perform himself.

The musicians, all looking hot and self-conscious in their purple-and-gold uniforms, were gathered on the corner when he reached the square. Beyond them a fire truck and a shiny red convertible were being maneuvered into line. The first float, a froth of white crepe paper topped by a big blue book, waited at the next corner. Red lettering on the book's cover urged everyone to READ ABOUT AMERICA. Around the sides of the float, boys and girls sat with open books on their laps.

Where was the Sunbonnet Queen's float? It would probably be close to the end of the parade, Charlie reasoned, since it was the most important. He edged his way through the crowd, looking for a brown dress and sunbonnet among the bright summer shirts and shorts.

“Hey there, Charlie. Don't forget next Saturday!” Jake Fisher leaned from the cab of his pickup to wave. The sides of the battered truck were fringed with short lengths of red, white, and blue crepe paper, and a roughly lettered sign announced
I'D RATHER BE SWIMMING!
The truck bed was filled to overflowing with boys in swimming trunks. One of them stood on a box in the center, arms extended, as if he were about to dive. While Charlie watched, the other boys pulled him down and a new “diver” scrambled into position.

Charlie waved back and hurried on. Behind him, the Middle School band began “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” The parade was under way. He began to run, darting between couples and around families, until someone stepped squarely in his path and he had to stop.

“Charlie, dear, aren't you proud of your cousin?” It was Mrs. Koch, her round face shining. “I want to thank you for humoring an old lady last week,” she chattered on. “I wouldn't have had a moment's rest if you and Rachel hadn't come to my rescue that night.”

“That's okay.” Charlie tried to sidestep around her, but Mrs. Koch wasn't ready to let him go. “I've already thanked Rachel,” she said. “And guess what! We had our picture taken together this morning. We may be on the front page of the newspaper tomorrow—the Sunbonnet Queen and an old settler, or something like that.”

Charlie stopped trying to escape. “You talked to Rachel? Just now?”

“Not much more than an hour ago,” Mrs. Koch assured him. “She was here bright and early, and the paper took lots of pictures. She looks adorable in her costume.”

An hour ago. She was all right an hour ago
.

“Where is she now?” Charlie asked as casually as possible. “I want to shoot some pictures before the parade starts.”

Mrs. Koch motioned toward the far side of the square. “Over there somewhere. You'll know the float when you see it, dear—a little log cabin on a hill. The queen always stands in the door of the cabin and waves to the crowd. As if she's waving to her pioneer family working in the fields, you see.” Mrs. Koch looked pleased with that idea. “But you'll have to hurry if you want a picture before the parade leaves the square. I saw Rachel standing up there in the doorway while I was helping my Merrill with his lodge float. He's in the parade, too,” she added proudly.

Charlie said good-bye and broke into a run. The town hall shut off his view of the other side of the square, but there were concrete paths cutting across the expanse of lawn and trees, and he followed one of these.

The parade was definitely moving now, floats and groups of marchers coming in off the side streets and settling into place. There were cheers and bursts of applause at each float. Charlie thought of his dream: bands, flags, floats—but no sunshine here, and no fog.

Maybe, he told himself, he was getting excited for nothing. Mrs. Koch had talked to Rachel, been photographed with her. She and the policeman had both seen her up on the float. If there had been a disturbance—if, for example, a dark-haired stranger had tried to drag Rachel off the float—Mrs. Koch would have known about it.

Charlie emerged from under the trees on the far side of the town hall just as another band began playing. The high-school musicians, dressed in red and black, were to his left. Charlie decided they didn't sound any better than
his
band, and their uniforms weren't as nice.

He threaded his way along the curb, and suddenly, right in front of him, he saw the little log cabin balanced on a hilltop. The hill was covered with a green-grass carpet, and there was an old-fashioned well halfway down the slope. In the doorway of the cabin the Sunbonnet Queen stood waving to her admirers.
THE PIKE RIVER SUNBONNET QUEEN
was lettered on a sign at the foot of the hill. Another sign proclaimed
OUR OUTSTANDING TEENAGE CITIZEN
.

Charlie realized he'd been holding his breath. He stepped back onto the sidewalk and followed the queen's float as it crept forward. It was all right, he told himself. Everything was all right.

The float picked up speed, and Charlie moved faster. Rachel knew what a queen should do, he thought. She was waving graciously, turning from side to side to greet her subjects.

But why didn't she raise her head and smile at people? The big sunbonnet hid her face completely. Charlie narrowed his eyes and stared at the slim figure. There was something else—something peculiar. Maybe it was the height of the float, but his cousin seemed taller than usual, more wide-shouldered.

He pushed through the crowds in front of him and dashed out into the street, ignoring the angry exclamations that followed him. He wanted to get to the front of the queen's float.

“What do you think you're doing?” a man's voice shouted angrily. “Get back on the sidewalk!” Charlie glanced over his shoulder and saw a policeman striding toward him. It was the younger of the two policemen who had answered the call to Mrs. Fisher's house; his expression said he recognized Charlie Hocking, troublemaker, and wasn't going to put up with any nonsense.

Hastily, Charlie raised his camera and pointed it almost straight up. He was so close to the front of the float that he could see under the brim of the sunbonnet.

“I said get back!” A hand grasped his shoulder roughly and pushed him away. “Stay out of the street!” the policeman ordered. “Take your pictures from the sidewalk like everybody else!”

Charlie leaned against a corner mailbox. “Wait,” he gasped, but the policeman was already striding away.

There was nobody he could ask for help. Nobody who wouldn't think he was crazy if he tried to explain why he was more frightened at this minute than he'd ever been in his life. He could hardly take in the truth himself—that it had been Katya Torin, her child face transformed by triumph, who had smiled down at him from the doorway of the little log cabin.

CHAPTER 16

Once, years ago, Aunt Laura had taken Charlie to the beach, where he and another boy, a stranger, had run races. He remembered the way the soft sand clutched at their feet, slowing them down. He had the same feeling now; he couldn't run fast enough, no matter how he tried.

He had to find Grandpa Will; the shock of seeing Katya had blown every other thought from his mind. Grandpa would know what to do. He could stop the parade. Confront the phantom. Nothing could be done to help Rachel till he found Grandpa and—this was the maybe-impossible part—convinced him that there really was a Katya.

He broad-jumped over two little boys crouched on the sidewalk and passed Jake Fisher's truck. The swimmers were taking turns climbing onto the box in the center of the truck bed and pretending to dive off, to the cheers of the crowd. Up ahead, he saw the purple and gold of the Middle School band.

As he reached it, the parade halted. A rickety, overloaded truck had edged around the barriers, and now it was stalled in the middle of the intersection. Charlie pushed his way through the jeering crowd and darted across the street.

Beyond the band the sidewalk became a little less crowded. But even if he didn't follow the winding parade route, the park was a half-mile away. Charlie's heart sank at the thought. When he got there, he would have to find the hotdog stand. He'd have to talk to his grandfather without scaring Grandma into hysterics. It was all going to take
forever
, and he had a dreadful feeling that he had no time at all.

“Whoa, boy!” A hand grasped Charlie's sleeve and held on. He looked up and saw his father. “What's the rush, kid? You won't find a better place to watch the parade than right here.”

Charlie blinked sweat from his eyes. His father wore a crazy straw hat with a red, white, and blue band. A bright red helium balloon was tied to his wrist.

“I don't want to watch the parade! I have to find Grandpa!”

A shadow passed across John's face and was gone. “He's at the hotdog stand way on the other side of the park. Busy as a pup with a new bone and loving it.” He studied Charlie's face. “What's wrong?”

“Rachel's gone!”

Charlie hadn't meant to say it. He was going to tell Grandpa, nobody else. The words had tumbled out by themselves.

“What do you mean, she's gone? Isn't she on her float?”

Charlie shook his head. “She's gone, I said! Someone else is on the float in her place!” He saw his father's look of disbelief.

“What are you talking about?” John demanded harshly.

“I saw her—a ghost!” Charlie choked on the word. There was no way to say it without sounding ridiculous. “Go ahead and laugh—I don't care! There
is
a ghost. Her name is Katya, and she's on the float in place of Rachel!”

John pushed his straw hat to the back of his head. “Aw, come on, Charlie. Make sense. Is this a joke? I like fun but—”

“It's not a joke!” Charlie tried without success to escape from his father's grasp. “I have to find Grandpa!”

“No, you don't. Whatever you were going to tell him, you can tell me. I mean it, Charlie.”

“OKAY, THEN!” Charlie was close to tears. Seconds were flying by. He had to tell someone.

He began to talk. Katya Torin—how she kept changing, how she'd threatened Rachel—he raced through the strange things that had happened at the old house in the woods. Then he repeated what Mrs. Koch had told them about the long-ago contest when Grandma Lou had won and Katya had lost.

“Mrs. Koch says she died in an insane asylum just a few months ago,” he finished breathlessly. “Now she's come back. You can believe it or not, but I know it's true. She still wants to be the Sunbonnet Queen, and this time she's done it. She's up there on the queen's float—
and I have to find Rachel!
”

John opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. He looked down the street. The purple and gold of the Middle School band still hadn't moved. “That's the wildest story I ever heard,” he said finally.

“I knew you wouldn't believe me,” Charlie muttered. “I knew that.”

John mopped his forehead, and the red balloon bobbed foolishly. “Didn't say I don't believe you. But you have to admit, it's a pretty wild story.” He frowned. “Could Rachel have gone out to that house by herself this morning? Is there any reason she'd do that?”

Something inside Charlie grew very still. He realized that this was what he'd been worrying about ever since he'd looked through the viewfinder of his camera and seen Katya. Rachel had been terrified when the ghost-girl drove them from the house, but she'd felt sorry for Katya, too. Was it possible that she'd decided to try to talk to Katya, maybe calm her down and avoid a painful scene like the one that had almost spoiled Grandma Lou's day as queen fifty-some years ago?

“Mrs. Koch said she had her picture taken with Rachel in the square,” Charlie said uncertainly. “How could she be there and out at the house at the same time?”

“When was the picture taken? Just before the parade started moving?”

Charlie tried to recall exactly what Mrs Koch said. “Earlier. About an hour before. The newspaper took a whole bunch of shots.… But she told me she saw Rachel up on the float, too. And that policeman—”

“They saw
someone
,” John said slowly, “just the way you did, Charlie. But between the picture-taking and the time when everyone was getting in their places for the parade, Rachel would have had about an hour to kill. She might have thought she'd have plenty of time to hop on her bike and go out to the house, make peace with Katya, and get back again.”

“Only she didn't come back,” Charlie groaned. “The phantom took her place.” He could see that it was exactly the kind of thing Rachel would do. Being afraid would only make her more determined.