“What just happened to the Duke’s Dogs sign?” Jessie said.
“I don’t know,” said Henry. “But I’m sure Mr. Duke isn’t happy.”
“Look, there he is now,” said Violet. “He just walked through the front gate.”
Mr. Duke wasn’t just unhappy—he was angry. The children watched as he marched up the center aisle of the drive-in theater. “Flick!” he yelled. “What’s all this about?”
Uncle Flick came out of his office scratching his head. “What’s all what about?” he replied.
“My sign!” barked Mr. Duke. “I know you always hated that sign. So you cut the power to it, didn’t you? You broke it!”
“I did not!” Uncle Flick said sharply. “I’ve been here in the office all along! “
“Then maybe that nephew of yours did it,” Duke said. “I’ve seen him sneaking around the theater after hours!”
“Joey has every right to be on my property,” Uncle Flick growled.
“But not on mine! I promise I’ll get to the bottom of this!” Mr. Duke shouted. He turned around and marched back towards his hot dog stand.
“Can you believe that?” Jessie said. “Mr. Duke thinks someone here broke the sign!”
“Maybe it was just an accident,” said Violet. But even she didn’t think it could be an accident. None of the Aldens did. Suddenly they heard a voice behind them.
“What happened?” It was Joey Fletcher.
“Weren’t you just at work at the snack bar?” Henry asked him.
“Nah, I was on break,” Joey said. He shuffled past them and walked back towards the snack bar.
The Aldens all looked at each other. They were all thinking the same thing: if Joey wasn’t at his job when the sign went dark, then where was he?
The children waited until the second movie was over. The moment the lights came back up, they ran over to Dan Brinker’s car. This time he was there. He waved and got out of the car to talk to them.
“Hello, kids!” Dan said. “Did you like Pirate Spy?”
“We sure did,” said Benny. “My favorite part was when the captain found the buried treasure chest.”
“And he found the gold coins!” said Dan. “I loved that part! I love movies! It’s been quite a night!”
“Actually,” Henry said. “We want to hear about last night. And the ghost.”
Dan Brinker’s face went pale.
“There have been a lot of pranks here at the theater lately,” Jessie said. “Do you think the ghost could have been another trick?”
“You mean … someone wants to make the theater seem haunted?” said Dan Brinker. “Why … yes. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“We’re just trying to figure out who is causing problems at the theater,” said Jessie.
“We solve mysteries,” said Benny. “And we’re good at them!”
“Well, if you ask me,” Dan said in a low voice, “I think that Mr. Duke is up to no good. Maybe he’s causing all the trouble. He sure doesn’t like Uncle Flick.”
“Thank you,” said Jessie. She was writing things down in her notebook. “That’s very helpful.”
“Would you like some popcorn, Mr. Brinker?” Benny asked. He held out his bag. He remembered how much the car salesman had liked popcorn the night before.
“I would love some—” Dan said. He started to reach for the bag but stopped himself. “—but I’d better not.” He kept his hands in his pockets.
Benny wondered why a man who loved popcorn as much as he did could turn it down. Jessie saw, and wondered, too.
“Maybe his hands are just dirty,” she explained to Benny, as they walked back to their car.
“Bye, kids!” Dan Brinker called after them. “Good luck solving the mystery.”
There was plenty for the children to talk about at bedtime.
“Do you think what Dan Brinker said about Mr. Duke is true?” Violet asked her sister and brothers. “Do you think he’s causing the problems?”
“I don’t know,” said Henry. “The problem that happened tonight was with his sign. Whoever was playing a prank played it on him.”
“There are so many things going on right now!” Jessie said. “Uncle Flick and Mr. Duke don’t like each other. Amy and Joey are always in the wrong places at the wrong times. And then we have to figure out where this ghost is coming from.”
“I think the ghost comes from the haunted house,” Benny said.
“What on earth are you talking about, Benny?” Violet said. “What haunted house?”
“I mean, a haunted house,” Benny replied. “Just a haunted house somewhere. Because that’s where ghosts live.” He wanted to tell them about something he’d seen in the storage shed. But he knew he couldn’t, since he wasn’t supposed to look in the shed in the first place.
“Benny, what have we told you about ghosts?” Henry said. “There’s no such thing. Right, Jessie?”
But Jessie wasn’t listening. She was looking at something out the window of their guest room. Her eyes were getting wider and wider.
“There’s … there’s something out there,” she said. “Something walking around.”
“What?” cried Violet. “Where?” She rushed to the window where Jessie was seated. There was another window next to it and Henry and Benny pressed their faces against the glass to peer out.
“It’s over by the fence next to the screen,” said Jessie. “Do you see it?”
The other three Aldens looked where Jessie had told them. They all saw an eerie figure all in white walking along the fence. The figure seemed to walk and float at the same time.
“It’s the ghost!” Benny said, amazed.
“What should we do?” Violet asked.
“Let’s tell Uncle Flick!” Jessie said.
A few moments later they were all hurrying down the front steps of the Fletcher house. They ran across the lot towards the front of the theater.
“Wait a minute,” Uncle Flick called. He went to the side of the house and opened a metal box that hung on the wall. He flipped some switches. The lights over the theater lot came on.
The children stopped running and looked around under the bright light. Uncle Flick and Grandfather joined them. Watch ran up, too, and barked at all the excitement.
“The person I saw was right over here,” said Jessie, pointing to the fence near the screen. “I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman.”
“I saw the person, too,” said Henry. “But as soon as the lights came on, he—or she—disappeared!”
“I know it’s not a ghost,” said Violet. “But it sure looked like one.”
Uncle Flick nodded. “There’s definitely something strange happening around here. Your grandfather tells me you children solve mysteries, is that right?”
“Yes, sir,” Henry replied. “And we’d like to look around and see if there’s any sign of the person who was just here.”
“In the morning, that is,” said Jessie. “It’s much too late at night now.” The children looked up at the moon. Even though it was not a cold night, they all felt a little bit of a chill.
The next day, the children searched all around the corner of the theater lot where they had seen the ghostly figure. Henry had hoped there would be footprints, but the ground was too dusty and dry.
“At least there’s no litter on the ground either,” Violet said. “Jessie and I did a good job yesterday.”
This made Jessie remember something else.
“You know, I saw something odd over behind the screen yesterday. Some kind of bundle.”
“A ghost costume?” Benny said.
“Actually, I don’t know what it was,” Jessie said. “I meant to ask Uncle Flick about it.” She walked around the screen and went behind it. The other children followed. “Whatever it was, it’s gone now,” said Jessie.
“We should still look around here anyway,” said Henry.
“It’s boring back here,” said Benny. He had gone over to one of the two rusty metal ladders that went up the back of the screen. He grabbed one of the rungs and began to play like a monkey.
Jessie frowned. “Benny, that ladder’s not a jungle gym. Come help us search the ground for clues instead.”
“Aw, okay,” Benny muttered. He let go of the ladder. He sat down and found an old white balloon scrap and played with that instead. He stretched and pulled it.
“Hey, look,” Violet pointed out. “There are car tire tracks back here. But there’s no road or driveway.”
“That’s interesting,” said Henry. “But there wasn’t a car back here last night. Look where it was parked. If it were here last night, we would have seen it when Uncle Flick turned the lights on.”
“I guess you’re right,” Violet said with a sigh. “I wonder why someone would park a car back here, though.”
“Whatever the reason,” Jessie said, “It probably has nothing to do with the ghost.”
She shook her head sadly. The others knew how she felt. Sometimes, mysteries about ghosts were the hardest mysteries to solve. |