Ghost Town Mystery

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  Henry quickly gathered their lunch trash so they could follow him. “Why are we always running uphill?” he said, laughing as they caught up with their little brother.

  Even Benny was tired. “I don’t think I’ll ever find the end of this rainbow!” He sank down on a log.

  The others gratefully collapsed around him.

  “I’m warm,” Violet remarked.

  “So am I,” Henry said.

  “No, I mean, I feel warm air.” She put her arm out. “Stick your hand out there.”

  Henry put out his arm. “You’re right. I do feel warm air. Where is it coming from?” He explored the stony outcropping and found a hole between two rocks. Warm air drifted from the hole.

  “It’s a cave,” said Jessie, peering inside.

  “I’m going in,” Henry declared. “I have to find out about this air.”

  Violet was concerned. “Be careful, Henry.”

  “I will,” he promised, wiggling his legs, then his body, through the hole.

  The others gathered anxiously at the mouth of the cave.

  “What do you see?” Benny called.

  Silence.

  Then Henry’s voice echoed, “There are pools of water that are warm like baths! This is so neat!”

  “Maybe you should come out now, Henry,” said Jessie.

  Seconds later, Henry’s head and shoulders popped through the rocks. “You should see those steamy pools.”

  As they left the cave area to head home, the children discovered more small pools hidden among the rocks. The water was warm, as Henry had said. They took off their shoes and socks and soaked their feet.

  “This feels great,” Jessie said. “My feet were tired, but now I feel I could hike for ten miles!”

  “Please,” Henry protested. “Let’s not! In fact, we should be getting back.”

  After putting their shoes and socks on again, the children struck off down the mountain.

  Suddenly they heard a crashing sound. Something was thrashing in the woods!

  Jessie stared at Henry. “Is it a bear?” Bears lived in the Rockies.

  They flew down the trail. This time even Benny was scared.

  After they had run well past the thrashing noise, Henry stopped.

  “What is it?” panted Violet.

  “We’re lost again. This is the trail to Old Gert’s cabin,” he said regretfully. “Sorry, guys.”

  Jessie said, “I don’t think Old Gert is so bad. Mrs. Harrington makes her sound worse than she really is.”

  “She doesn’t like anyone on her land,” said Violet.

  “We aren’t moving in,” said Jessie. “We’re just asking for directions. The last time we stumbled on the trail home. But Gert must know a better way.”

  Benny was game. “Let’s go see her!”

  They reached the cabin shortly This time Benny strode up to the door and knocked.

  The huge woman opened the door. When she saw Benny, she said, “What do you want? I thought I told you kids to keep off my land.”

  “We’re lost again, Miss Gert,” said Benny. “Can you tell us how to get to Eagles Nest? We don’t want to see the ghost!”

  “What ghost?” asked Old Gert, softening her tone slightly. Today she wore a blue plaid shirt over her jeans. Her belt was a piece of rope.

  “The ghost of Tincup. Rose Payne,” Violet explained. “We’ve seen her!”

  The old woman snorted. “Is Adele Harrington still dragging out that old tall tale?”

  “You mean there isn’t any ghost?” asked Jessie. In her heart, she knew ghosts didn’t exist, but the Lady in Gray was so mysterious. And they had seen her.

  “You see,” Henry added, “our grandfather owns Tincup and the land around it now.”

  “Is that right?” Gert seemed suddenly interested. “What’s he planning to do with the land?”

  “We don’t know,” Benny answered. “Another man wants to buy it from him. And he’s not even scared of the ghost!”

  Gert leaned against the doorway. “Let me tell you kids something. If you’re so keen on the story of Rose and Duncan Payne, forget about the ghost.”

  “Forget about her?” repeated Violet.

  “Yes,” said Gert with emphasis. “Remember the descendants of Rose and Duncan. That might be the answer to your mystery.”

  “Who — ” Jessie began, but the old woman pointed toward a grove of evergreens.

  “Go through those trees,” Gert directed. “The shortcut to Eagles Nest is on the other side.”

  Henry knew they had worn out their welcome. “Thanks very much,” he said.

  “One more thing,” Gert called out to them.

  The Aldens turned around.

  “I’ve never met your grandfather, but please tell him for me that this land is home to many animals and birds.” Her booming voice dropped. “And me. My land borders his. People should just ... let us be.”

  “We’ll tell him,” Violet promised. Once again, she had that odd feeling about Old Gert. What was it?

  As the children walked through the cool stand of trees, they talked about Gert’s clue to the mystery.

  “Who are the descendants of Rose and Duncan Payne?” Jessie asked, trying to recall the details of the story Mrs. Harrington told them the first night.

  Violet knew. “They had one daughter. Her name was Seraphina. And Rose was supposed to be beautiful, with blue eyes and long black hair.”

  “Her daughter could have looked like her,” said Henry. “And probably her children, if she had any.”

  The idea came to the kids at once.

  “Marianne!” Violet cried. “She has blue eyes and long black hair. And she’s really pretty. Is it possible she’s related to Rose and Duncan Payne?”

  Benny frowned. “Then wouldn’t Mrs. Harrington be related to the ghost, too? She’s Marianne’s mother.”

  “Not necessarily” Henry said. “Mr. Harrington could be related to Seraphina. He married Mrs. Harrington, but she isn’t related to the Paynes. But their child, Marianne, is.”

  “This is so confusing!” Jessie exclaimed. “Ghosts and mountain women and property ... will we ever untangle this mixed-up mystery?”

  “Gert seemed awfully worried about Grandfather selling the land to Victor Lacey,” said Violet. “I wonder if she’s afraid of Mr. Lacey making trouble for her.”

  “I can’t imagine that lady being afraid of anybody” said Benny, making them laugh.

  “The only way we’ll solve this case,” Jessie said, speaking for them all, “is to track down the ghost.”

  CHAPTER 9

  The Ghost Hunt

  The rest of the way back to the motel, the children figured out a plan. They would go alone into Tincup, just before sunset, and track down the Lady in Gray. This time she wouldn’t get away.

  “I’m nervous,” Violet admitted. She couldn’t forget the sight of the yellowed, wrinkled face she had seen leering through the slatted door.

  “Me, too,” Henry said. “The ghost is very lifelike. But we know it isn’t real.”

  Jessie nodded in agreement. “We have to catch her — or him. It’s the only way to find out what’s going on here. If Grandfather decides to sell the land to Victor Lacey he could be making a big mistake. We have to do this for Grandfather.”

  “What will we do with the ghost when we catch it?” Benny asked, his eyes round. A ghost hunt sounded neat, but he was also frightened.

  “It’ll be okay,” Violet reassured her little brother.

  “We’re the Aldens and we make a great team!” said Jessie, sounding like a cheerleader. “Let some old ghost try to get away from us!”

  Benny giggled, feeling better.

  At Eagles Nest, they found Grandfather and Mr. Lacey in deep conversation in the sitting area of the dining hall. Lunch was about to be served.

  Grandfather waved them over. “Mr. Lacey and I have been talking about the land. I’m wondering if anyone will ever visit there. Or if we’ll really use i
t. I’m thinking of selling it to Mr. Lacey.”

  Benny stared at Grandfather, his hunger forgotten. “You’re going to sell the town? How can I be mayor and fire chief and police chief?”

  “Oh, Benny,” Mr. Lacey said enticingly. “You don’t want to be in charge of a rundown old town.”

  “Lunch!” Mrs. Harrington called to the guests.

  Jessie was amazed to see Corey Browne carry a huge bowl of soup from the kitchen. Marianne followed him with a large basket of bread. He looked at her as he set down the bowl, spilling the soup a little. Jessie could tell Corey was head over heels for Marianne Harrington. And for once, she wasn’t acting like she couldn’t stand him. Did Corey finally win her over?

  Jessie dipped her spoon into her soup. Yuck. It was like dishwater with a few soggy carrots floating around. She broke off a hunk of stale bread to dunk in the thin soup. Like Benny, she was tired of the awful food.

  “Excellent soup!” Victor praised Mrs. Harrington, scraping his bowl. “I’ll have seconds, if you have enough.”

  “Oh, there’s plenty,” said Mrs. Harrington. “By the way, dinner will be late tonight. The power is off again.”

  Violet noticed a mysterious glance pass between Victor Lacey and the owner as she ladled more watery soup into his bowl. Something strange was going on, but she didn’t have time to think about it now.

  “Grandfather,” she announced. “Is it okay if we go down to Tincup? We know the way. And it’s not that far to walk. We’ve gotten pretty used to hiking.”

  “We’ll be careful,” added Henry. “We won’t go into any of the buildings. We just want to walk through the town.”

  He crossed his fingers under the table. This was an important part of their plan. Everyone in Eagles Nest had to know they were going to Tincup. And Grandfather had to give his permission.

  “Well ... ” James Alden hesitated. “You are responsible children. I trust you. If you leave early and promise to be back well before dark, it’ll be fine.”

  “We will,” said Benny. The first part of their plan had worked!

  The children prepared for the hike immediately after lunch. Jessie packed snacks and bottles of water that Grandfather had brought back from his second trip to Beaverton.

  “We can eat on the way,” she told the others. “That soup wouldn’t give a chipmunk strength.”

  As they walked behind the dining hall, they noticed the gray metal panel was hanging open.

  “The fuse box!” exclaimed Henry. He looked inside. Sure enough, one of the fuses was missing. “I bet that goes to the electricity.”

  “Now we know Mrs. Harrington turns off the phones and power on purpose,” said Benny.

  “We’d better hurry,” Violet said. “We don’t have the Jeep to ride in and we must be in Tincup by sunset.”

  Although that seemed like a lot of time, lunch had been late and they had to pack for the hike. It was after two-thirty when the Aldens set off on the potholed road.

  The day was clear but very warm. Before they had walked far, the children were glad Jessie had told them to put on short-sleeved T-shirts and shorts. Stout walking shoes prevented twisted ankles and sore feet.

  Soon they were panting as they climbed the steep mountain.

  “I wish we had the Jeep,” Jessie said. “It was bouncy, but it got us to the trail a lot quicker!”

  “I like walking,” Benny said. As always, he had the most energy. “You can see the plants and birds this way.”

  Jessie checked her watch. Almost three-thirty. They had been walking for nearly an hour and they hadn’t reached the end of the road yet. She had forgotten how long the road was.

  Suddenly Violet stumbled and cracked her knee on a rock.

  “It’s nothing,” she told Henry, who gently felt the swelling.

  “You might get a bruise,” he said. “Maybe we should stop. Walking on it could make it worse.”

  “I’m okay,” Violet insisted. Her knee hurt only a little. She couldn’t let the others and Grandfather down.

  “Are you sure?” asked Jessie, concerned. Of them all, Violet tended to be the most quiet.

  Violet smiled gamely. “Positive.”

  The children slowed their pace so Violet could keep up. It was after five when they reached the end of the potholed road.

  “Here’s the old wagon trail,” Benny said.

  It took them another thirty minutes to walk down the twisting road. By now, Violet’s knee had stopped hurting, but they still took it easy.

  When they reached Tincup, the children stared at one another. As bravely as they had talked on the hike, their fears were back.

  “We’re all scared,” Jessie said. “But this is for Grandfather, If he doesn’t know the truth, he could be making a mistake. And we owe it to Gert to save the land.”

  “Jessie’s right,” said Violet. She drew in a deep breath. “The sun is nearly over the canyon. Let’s go catch the ghost.”

  “It’s not a real ghost,” Henry said firmly. But he was as nervous as the others. Saying there were no ghosts and seeing one were two different things.

  Together, the Aldens entered the silent ghost town. The wind had risen again, kicking tumbleweeds ahead of them. A loose shingle shrieked.

  They decided to wait for full sunset by the dance hall, where Violet had seen the old crone’s face.

  The sun dropped in a lazy arc till it touched the craggy ledge of the canyon.

  And then they saw her.

  She appeared from nowhere, gliding into the dusty street in her tattered gray dress, the gray shawl draped about her shoulders.

  The Aldens stood rooted for a few seconds. Then Henry shouted, “Okay, guys. Let’s move!”

  They ran then, with Jessie in the lead.

  Jessie stared at the figure ahead of her. The Lady in Gray didn’t speed up or act as if she heard pounding feet behind her.

  But Jessie didn’t see any shoes sticking out from under the hem of the gray dress. Was this Rose Payne, walking toward the sunset to meet her husband as she’d done for so many years? But she couldn’t let such thoughts take over. She had to catch this ghost.

  Sprinting, Jessie pulled away from the others. She was beside the Lady in Gray now. The figure turned her face sharply away from Jessie.

  Swallowing her fear, Jessie grabbed one thin arm and yanked the figure around.

  Amazed, she gasped at the yellowed, wrinkled face surrounded by wisps of scraggly gray hair. The yellowed hand Jessie grasped felt horrible, but she didn’t let go.

  Instead she reached up and pulled off the gray wig. The yellowed crone mask came off with it.

  She found herself staring into the startled blue eyes of Marianne Harrington.

  “You!” Jessie accused. “You’re the ghost!”

  The others ran up.

  “It’s Marianne!” Violet said. “She’s the Lady in Gray!”

  Pulling off the fake rubber hands, Marianne began to cry.

  At that moment, Victor Lacey blasted through the rickety swinging doors of the dance hall.

  “All right, you kids!” he said menacingly. “I knew you were trouble the minute I laid eyes on you. Now I’ll have to fix you but good!”

  Before the children had a chance to be frightened by his threat, a second voice boomed from the dry goods store.

  “You’ll do nothing of the sort, you little weasel!”

  Benny hopped up and down. “It’s Gert!”

  It was indeed Old Gert. She loomed in the center of the road, her booted feet spread wide apart. No one was going anywhere without dealing with her.

  “You leave these children alone,” she told Victor. “The jig is up. I’m on to your little game.”

  “So are we,” said Henry. “But we needed to bring the ‘ghost’ out in the open first.”

  Suddenly Violet figured out the missing piece that had been bothering her. They were on the wrong track! Marianne Harrington wasn’t the descendant of Rose and Duncan Payne.

 
Old Gert was!

  CHAPTER 10

  Benny’s Gift

  Violet drew in a breath. It all fit. Old Gert had the brightest blue eyes Violet had ever seen. And Gert’s iron-gray hair had probably once been long and black.

  “You’re related to Rose and Duncan,” she said to Gert.

  The blue eyes twinkled. “I wondered when you’d guess! Yes, I’m Seraphina’s granddaughter. I was born back East, where Seraphina married. My father, her son, also stayed in the East. But when we visited out here, I knew where I belonged. I came out here as soon as I finished school.”

  At that moment, a roaring sound made them all turn toward the top of the old wagon road above. The Jeep, which Marianne had had fixed, screeched to a stop. Grandfather, Corey Browne, and Mrs. Harrington hopped out. They wasted no time hiking down the wagon road into Tincup.

  Grandfather strode over to the children. “Are you okay? I was worried when you didn’t come back for supper.”

  “Grandfather!” Benny exclaimed. “You can’t sell our town! We know the truth!”

  “They don’t know anything!” Victor Lacey blurted. “Who’d listen to a bunch of kids, anyway?”

  “I would.” James Alden crossed his arms over his chest.

  Marianne Harrington was still crying. She sobbed on Corey’s shoulder.

  Victor threw her a disgusted look. “Oh, for Pete’s sake, stop sniveling! If you hadn’t messed things up, we could have pulled it off.”

  “I think you’ve bullied enough people,” said Old Gert. “Why don’t you come clean, Lacey.”

  But Victor wasn’t about to confess that easily “Those kids are so smart — let them tell what they think I’ve done.”

  “Go ahead,” James Alden encouraged his grandchildren.

  Henry began, “From the beginning, things didn’t add up. First, Eagles Nest isn’t what it claims to be.”

  “I do my best,” said Mrs. Harrington.

  “You try to drive people away,” Henry told her. “You deliberately made the food awful and pulled the fuse that works the electricity. You unplugged the phone wires, too.”

  “That’s not true!” Mrs. Harrington argued.

  “It is true,” Grandfather said, backing up Henry. “I’ve never stayed in a place with such lousy service. Even Mr. Williams left.”