GHOSTLY TERM AT TREBIZON

by Anne Digby

  'Oh, that's popped up again, has it?' she smiled.

  They raced back and scolded Lizzy.

  'You've been attracting some horrible old stray round here,' said Margot. 'That's what you've been doing!'

  'And it really frightened Rebecca last night!'

  'And I'm confiscating this plate,' said Rebecca, picking it up.

  'Have you told on me?' asked Lizzy, white-faced.

  'No,' said Rebecca. 'But if you ever put out a scrap more cat food on your window-sill at night, we'll report you to Mrs Barry and that's a promise.'

  The six walked slowly back upstairs.

  They were feeling subdued now, even Mara.

  When they reached their floor they walked along to Rebecca's cubicle and went into a huddle there. Rebecca kicked off her shoes and threw herself on the bed.

  'My arm's aching,' she said. 'Well,' she added heavily, 'that's solved the mystery of the cat, hasn't it?'

  'But where does that leave us?' asked Sue, her brow deeply furrowed.

  Margot picked up the big toy dog, idly. Elf looked at the chocolates.

  'I won all that stuff at the disco,' said Rebecca, with a nod. 'Open one of the boxes, Elf. It'll help us to think.'

  They munched away at the chocolates, thoughtfully.

  'I'll tell you exactly where it leaves us,' said Tish, putting it into words at last. 'Somebody dressed up as "the schoolmaster" last night, the dear old ghost. Rebecca saw them when she came in. I thought you sounded a bit off when you said goodnight, Rebeck! Dressed up as a ghost to give Rebecca a fright. Waited till everyone was asleep and then let the cat in.'

  'Worse than that,' said Elf unhappily. 'They didn't just let it in. They picked it up and threw it over into Rebecca's cubicle to give her the fright of her life.'

  'Yes,' said Rebecca. 'It was chucked at me all right.'

  'Who would do a thing like that?' asked Mara in distress. 'Oh, what a charming practical joke! Poor Rebecca.'

  'Somebody's got a very peculiar sense of humour if you ask me,' said Elf, in deep puzzlement.

  'Or else somebody's really got it in for me,' said Rebecca uneasily. She bit her lip. 'I think I'd almost rather have the ghost. I don't know which is worse.'

  'What did the figure look like?' asked Tish, rather intensely. 'It couldn't possibly have been your friend Cliff?'

  'Oh, no, Tish. No. He's a funster all right, but scaring people's not his line, I'm quite sure. Besides, I saw him go off. And where would he have got that gown from or whatever it was? And besides again, Cliff's short –'

  'Was the person tall, then?' asked Tish quickly. 'The person who brought the cat in with them?'

  'Yes. About as tall as . . . well, Robbie,' Rebecca said, 'but I've just realized something. They didn't bring the cat in with them. The cat was on the roof. I saw its eyes! It was peering in through the skylight when the person was already in here.'

  'What would the cat be on the roof for?' asked Mara inconsequentially.

  'Looking for birds, I expect,' said Margot.

  But Tish was walking out of the cubicle, followed by Sue. She sounded impatient.

  'Come on, you lot, Rebecca can rest for a bit. We've got to find out who this joker is – we'd better start looking for clues. The sooner the better.'

  She seemed to be rather on edge.

  As Rebecca lolled on her bed, back resting against the pillows, deep in thought, Aba stopped by to say hello.

  'Hiya,' said the Nigerian girl, looking pleased. 'I've just had a peep at Tish's coursework. I make all my answers the same as hers so I guess I'm doing all right! Now I can go and have a swim with a clear conscience.'

  'I must have a look myself later on,' remembered Rebecca, 'and try and find out about vectors. Has to be in tomorrow, doesn't it.'

  'What's all the excitement about, anyway?' asked Aba, nodding in the direction of the fire escape. Rebecca's five friends were out there, swarming up and down the metal treads, hunting around on the ground as well. 'What's going on?'

  'Just ghostbusting,' said Rebecca.

  'Ghostbusting?'

  'Looking for clues,' said Rebecca wearily. She played the whole thing down. 'Some silly fool's latched on to that ghost business. Played a trick last night. Let that stray cat in. Didn't you hear me scream? Anyway, they want to find out who.'

  'You not helping?' smiled Aba, as she left.

  'No, I'm just trying to think,' replied Rebecca.

  She'd been thinking hard.

  Sue came to see her soon after, waving a narrow ribbon of blue streamer.

  'This anything, Rebeck?'

  'Afraid not. That was in my hair last night, from the disco. Sue –'

  Rebecca looked around to make sure they were alone, and then whispered:

  'Tish is wondering if it could have been Robbie, isn't she?'

  Sue looked down at the floor, silent, lips pursed – and Rebecca knew that she'd guessed correctly.

  'Well, what do you think, Sue?'

  Sue shrugged.

  'How was the Garth disco, anyway?' Rebecca persisted. 'Did Robbie show up?'

  'For about five minutes, that's all. He's not on good form lately, is he? Justy says he's working too hard. And he's fed up about his car being finished. And he's fed up about your arm –'

  '– and about me going to the disco with Cliff?' questioned Rebecca.

  'Yes, Justy said he was jealous,' admitted Sue, doubtfully. 'And he does know about the ghost business and about your seeing the cat . . .'

  'So what's the verdict, Sue?'

  'I'd say it was pretty unbelievable.'

  Rebecca sighed with relief.

  'Exactly. So would I,' said Rebecca, with an unpleasant feeling in the pit of her stomach at the very thought of it. 'So just tell Tish that from me, would you –?'

  She broke off as Elf suddenly appeared, waving her arms excitedly.

  'Quick, Sue! Margot's found something, we think it's a clue. On the fire escape! And along the garden path as well. Quick -'

  They raced off. Rebecca leapt off her bed.

  'Wait for me!' she cried. She fumbled to find her shoes, which had disappeared under the bed somewhere. Oh, blow her shoes!

  She ran out of her cubicle barefoot and rushed out on to the balcony to see what was happening.

  ELEVEN

  CULPRIT NUMBER ONE . . .

  'What is it? What have you found?' Rebecca called down. They were near the bottom of the fire escape, huddled round one of the metal treads. Sue had gone down on one knee, to examine it. 'Let me see!'

  She descended the clanking staircase.

  'It's tiny drops of blood, Rebeck!' announced Sue. She pointed towards the tread. 'Look!'

  Screwing up her nose, Rebecca pushed closer and looked. Sure enough, there were spots on the step that looked like blood! 'Ugh!' she said.

  Margot stood at the foot of the fire escape, pointing down the garden. A little white path wound its way through the garden, past Mrs Barrington's washing line and clothes prop, to the gate at the end.

  'There's more down there, along the path!' Margot explained to Rebecca. 'Just some tiny drops, near Mrs Barry's washing line.'

  'Blood!' exclaimed Rebecca. She sat down on one of the steps. 'Of course!'

  'Of course what?' demanded Tish urgently.

  They all gathered round.

  'That cry I heard last night!' Rebecca realized. 'An awful cry of pain – just before the cat yowled like a banshee and came sailing over the top of my cubie –' She clapped her hands in realization. 'The cat attacked them. Must have done! That was why they cried out. They'd been scratched!'

  'Really torn, I should think!' said Elf, shuddering as she looked at the tiny drops of blood. 'They'll have an awful deep scratch by the look of this. Serves them right!'

  'We must get on the trail!' said Mara. 'Where does the path lead? After it goes through the gate?'

  'Across to the trees,' said Sue. 'Where Rebecca saw the joker standing in the first place. They obviou
sly just headed back the way they'd come.'

  'Anyway,' said Margot practically, 'the trail peters out by Mrs Barry's washing line. They must have stopped bleeding by then.'

  'Just as well or they'd need a blood transfusion by this morning!' exclaimed Elf. Tish just looked glum and remained silent.

  'The real clue,' Rebecca was saying thoughtfully, "is our ghost'll have a livid scratch on their hands or arms or somewhere, not very easy to hide, that.'

  'Sue, go and ring Justy!' Tish suddenly blurted out. 'Ring him and ask him if –'

  'I certainly will not!' flared Sue, her eyes glittering like daggers at Tish from behind her spectacles. 'He'd think I'd gone mad.'

  The other three stared at them in surprise – what was all this about? But Rebecca's thoughts were racing. Robbie wouldn't have played that horrible trick. Robbie wouldn't be the person with the scratch. She'd never ever believe that. But who – who –?

  'The path doesn't lead straight to the trees,' she said, thinking out loud. 'It goes past Norris House first . . .'

  There was something bothering her, something she'd heard that seemed to connect with this, but she couldn't quite place it. Mara got there first.

  'The cotton wool!' she cried. 'Remember? The cotton wool was missing from the first-aid box, that was what Melissa Parker said!'

  'Good point, Mara,' said Elf. 'I wonder if there could be anything in that.'

  'Let's find out!' exclaimed Tish. She jumped down the last three steps of the fire escape, suddenly exuberant again. 'Let's go over to Norris and see who pinched it and why!'

  'Wait for me, I'll get my shoes!' cried Rebecca, hurtling back up the fire escape. 'I'm coming with you!'

  But led by Tish the others were already charging down the garden path on their way to Norris.

  By the time Rebecca got over to the neighbouring boarding house and investigated the hall, they'd vanished. A group of Third Year girls was gathered round the first-aid box, which was kept under the stairs, chattering excitedly. Amongst them was Melissa Parker.

  'Where've they gone?' asked Rebecca. 'The others?'

  'Have you come about the cotton wool, too? Somebody did filch it from the box!' said Melissa, full of importance. 'So I was right. And when they came and put it back, they'd nearly used it all and there wasn't enough left for my collage . . .'

  'Who came and put it back?' Rebecca interrupted impatiently. 'And where've my friends gone?'

  'That room along there,' said another girl, pointing down the corridor. 'The one at the end.'

  'Thanks!' jerked Rebecca and rushed off.

  'What's this all about anyway?' Melissa called out.

  But Rebecca had already reached the room at the end of the corridor. The door was ajar. She could hear Tish's raised voice – and Mara's.

  Slowly she pushed open the door.

  The occupant of the room sat at her work table, which was covered in school books, half-completed maths coursework and various piles of paper. The others were all gathered round her, angry, accusing. A wodge of cotton wool lay on the window-sill, next to a bottle of iodine. Rebecca's eyes went straight to the back of the girl's hand, which was stained with iodine.

  On the back of the hand were two livid scratches.

  'You!' said Rebecca, stunned. 'You!'

  It was a red-faced and miserable Roberta Jones.

  'Look at this, Rebecca!' cried Mara. She was waving some sheets of paper. 'Photocopies! That's what she was doing last night! She crept in and copied Tish's coursework on my new machine! She was going to put all Tish's answers in her own booklet.'

  That odd little swishing sound Rebecca had heard last night. It had been the photocopy machine!

  'Stupid, isn't it?' snorted Tish. But she looked almost relieved.

  Rebecca's mouth opened and then closed again.

  'Honestly, Bert. Sneaking around our floor at night!' said Margot angrily. 'Throwing that cat at Rebecca and giving her the fright of her life, just to save yourself from being found out!'

  'I didn't mean to give Rebecca a fright!' protested the large girl, tears brimming up in her eyes. 'I just happened to see the cat on my way out. Then I thought if I picked it up and put it on the big table next to the copy machine, you'd all think it was the cat you'd heard making a noise!'

  'Then what happened?' asked Rebecca, at last finding her voice.

  'When I picked it up, it was wild – savage! Its claws went right into my skin – look!' She held up her hand. 'I was terrified – I thought it'd go for my face as well. So I just hurled it high in the air, to get it away from me! I didn't mean it to go over the top of your cubie, Rebecca!' She turned to her, pleadingly. 'I never meant to give you a fright! I never even thought about that ghost business. That was only a joke or something, wasn't it? It never entered my head –'

  They were all silent for a moment, digesting this. Then –

  'Rubbish!' exploded Sue. 'Never entered your head? You dressed up as the ghost before you came in!'

  'I – I– did not –' protested Roberta.

  'Yes, you did. Rebecca saw you. Earlier! Was that a precaution? In case any of us woke up while you were using the copier? To make sure none of us would recognize you? Just be frightened out of our wits instead?'

  'Stop it!' gasped Roberta. 'What on earth are you talking about?'

  'You know perfectly well what Sue's talking about, Robert,' said Tish angrily. 'OK, so you were desperate about your maths – but to plan it all so carefully! With such cunning. Quite happy to scare people rather than be found out. You always did like dressing up! Where did you get the schoolmaster's gown from?'

  'Schoolmaster's gown –?' frowned Roberta.

  'Yes,' chimed in Margot. 'And –'

  But Rebecca cut her short.

  'Hadn't we better give Roberta a chance to speak?' she asked quietly.

  'Thank you!' said Roberta. She was looking very indignant now. She took a deep breath. 'I don't know what you're talking about. What gown?' She looked straight at Tish. 'I did not plan everything out carefully. That's the last thing I did! I sat here in my room till gone midnight last night, getting more and more depressed about my maths. I just decided on the spur of the moment! I got my mini-torch and sneaked across to your fire escape in my pyjamas. I guessed the door might be open. I knew Tish would just have left her coursework lying on the big table for everyone to look at if they wanted to! I crept up one lunch hour and looked at the last lot when I was stuck! So I didn't see what harm . . .'

  Tish looked disconcerted. It was obvious that Roberta was telling the truth. She glanced at Rebecca.

  'Well, you saw the "ghost", Rebeck. What do you think?'

  Roberta Jones scraped her chair back and stood up and faced Rebecca.

  'Well. Was it me or wasn't it?'

  Rebecca looked her up and down. Although Roberta was tall and her face quite boyish looking if she tied her hair back, Rebecca was quite sure about it. She had been for some minutes.

  'No,' she sighed. 'It wasn't you, Robert. It definitely was not you over by the sycamore trees. It must have been somebody else.'

  'Thank you,' replied the other girl, with as much dignity as she could muster. She sat down again.

  They all fell silent. A cloud crossed Tish's face.

  She rummaged round on Roberta's table and collected up all the photocopied sheets, one by one. It covered most of her maths coursework.

  'Well, I wouldn't waste your time with these, if I were you,' she said bad-temperedly. 'We're going back to Court now. I'll take these back with me if you don't mind. What a stupid waste of time! You could have asked me for some help, couldn't you? Just copying out my work parrot-fashion would be really asking for trouble. You'd have looked such a fool when you had your oral! Miss Holt would have been furious! She'd have ended up not giving you any grade at all!'

  'I've already realized that,' said Roberta miserably, 'now I've had a good look at it. That's why I haven't copied anything in.'

  She stared sul
lenly at the stinging scratches on the back of her hand.

  'Anyway – I don't want to he a vet any more, so what does it matter.'

  'Thank goodness for that,' said Sue drily, as they all marched out of the room.

  TWELVE

  . . . AND CULPRIT NUMBER TWO

  So who was the ghost? Who was the person that Rebecca had seen? It hung like a shadow over the morning. And Tish wasn't much help, either.

  'My brother's a real embarrassment to me, that's all I can say. I'd stick with Cliff, if I were you, Rebeck.'

  They'd all gone for a swim except Rebecca and now they were back, drinking tea on the balcony, discussing things. There was a watery autumn sun. The leaves were fluttering off the sycamore trees, just beyond Norris there. Tish was convinced that the person Rebecca had seen there in the moonlight, so briefly, must have been Robbie. Spying on her, because she'd been to the disco with Cliff.

  'What – dressed up as a ghost?' Rebecca said scornfully. 'Don't be silly.'

  'Oh, no, not that!' replied Tish. 'You must have made a mistake about that. I expect he had his coat flung over his shoulders, just loose. The way he does. You said you only caught a glimpse.'

  'Yes,' said Rebecca. It was true that Robbie often slung his coat round his shoulders, rather than put it on properly. Was that what he'd done? Walked morosely through the night from Garth College, his coat slung round his shoulders to keep the rain off. Decided to get a look at Cliff perhaps? The very thought made her furious. But when she closed her eyes and pictured in her mind the mysterious figure she'd seen, it didn't seem right. 'No, Tish,' she said. 'I don't think it was Robbie. It better not have been.'

  'He has been working pretty hard,' pondered Sue, uneasily. 'Maybe getting moody about things. You know how Justy was, last term.'

  Sue had never even entertained the trick idea. But this was looking slightly more believable.

  'That is not a good excuse!' said Mara firmly. 'Jealousy is a very bad thing. And, in any case, he would have a nerve. Remember Ingrid!'

  'Am I ever likely to forget her?' said Rebecca, with a rueful smile. And she thought: Robbie jealous? Spying on me? Yes, that certainly would be a nerve. But I can't believe it . . . I won't. I won't think about it any more.