They tried again and again. Henry tried to see over the top of the hedges, but in the dark it was impossible to make out the shape of the maze. The mansion’s lights shone over the hedges, but no matter how they tried to reach the old hotel, they always ran into a prickly, dense hedge.
Eventually they ended up in another dead end.
“I think we’re going in circles,” Jessie said. They sat down to catch their breaths. From the hotel, they could hear the distant voices of guests. Henry checked his watch.
“It’s already 11:57,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll make it in time.”
He was right. A few minutes later, they heard the distant sound of a pipe organ playing, followed by the frightened cries of the guests. The grand opening party was over early, as the guests rushed out. The Lost Composer had struck again.
THE END
TO FOLLOW A DIFFERENT PATH, GO TO PAGE 90.
RETURN TO THE HOTEL
“I think we’d better get back inside,” Henry said. “It’s so dark, and if we get lost in this maze, we’re not going to be able to help anyone solve the mystery. The jingling will have to wait.”
Violet led the way back through the hedge maze. She had a good memory and was confident she knew how to get back to the hotel. The others followed. The jingling faded.
“Benny’s right. It really did sound like keys,” Henry said as they followed Violet.
“If the Lost Composer were stealing people’s things and putting them in a secret chest, it would make sense if they had a set of keys,” Jessie agreed.
Violet stopped and held a hand out.
“Shh,” she whispered, holding a finger to her lips. “I think someone’s in the maze with us!”
They all lowered their voices and listened. They could hear the sounds of footsteps shuffling somewhere in the maze. It was getting closer! The Aldens crouched and held their breaths as the footsteps came right up on the other side of the hedge.
“Clara,” said a voice in a low hiss. “Clara!”
Jessie turned to Henry and silently mouthed, “Who’s Clara?”
Henry shrugged.
The voice whispered the name a few more times then grumbled. The footsteps stomped off into the maze.
“Whoever that was is headed toward the exit,” Violet said.
“Do you think it was the person who was watching us by the shed?” Benny asked. “The person who wants the keys to the treasure chest?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t hear any jingling,” Jessie said. “Let’s go.”
Violet nodded and looked left, then right. She remembered this place!
“This way!” she said, and she turned right. After a few twists and turns, the hedge maze opened, and they could see the main garden against the side of the hotel.
“We’re free!” said Benny.
Someone else was heading from the garden to the hotel. In the dark, it was hard to make out his face, but it was definitely a young man.
“That’s the person who was calling for Clara,” Violet said.
“I think it’s Eddie Gardner!” said Henry.
They followed the man back to the main entrance of the hotel. The lampposts on the front driveway and the warm light coming from inside the lobby was welcoming, especially after being in a maze in the dark. Hotel guests were talking on the steps and in the lobby. It seemed like everything was going well, at least for now. It wasn’t midnight yet!
“It is Eddie,” Jessie said when the light fell on the man’s face. He glanced back. When he noticed they were following him, he scowled and hurried inside.
“Look at his shoes,” Violet said. Eddie’s shoes had spots of gray mud on them. The mud was the same gray color as the mud she and Henry had seen in the basement.
“Yeah, but look at ours,” Benny said.
Their shoes were muddy too. It was from walking in the hedge maze.
“I wonder what he was doing out there,” Jessie said. “Besides calling for Clara, whoever that is. Do you think he was spying on us, to see if we had the mystery keys?”
“Now is our chance to find out,” Henry said. “If we talk to him, we can tell him we know it was him in the secret room. Then he might admit to being the one who followed us into the maze…and being the one who wrote that letter to Juliette.”
“But what about Clara?” Jessie asked.
“And we didn’t hear the jingling sound when we saw him in the maze,” Violet added.
Benny sighed. “Every time we learn something new, I just think of new questions! My head’s spinning!” he said.
“You’re right,” Henry said. “It doesn’t all add up. But we’ve got to make a decision soon. It’s almost midnight!”
IF THE ALDENS CONFRONT EDDIE GARDNER, GO TO PAGE 103.
IF THE ALDENS PAUSE TO WRITE OUT WHAT THEY KNOW, GO TO PAGE 111.
CONFRONTING MR. GARDNER
The Aldens hurried through the lobby after Eddie.
“There you children are!” a voice called. The voice belonged to Juliette. She came out of the crowd just as Eddie Gardner disappeared in the other direction. “What’s going on? It’s almost midnight. Have you figured out who sent that message?”
“We’re pretty sure it was Eddie Gardner,” Henry said. He nodded in the direction Eddie had gone. “He just ran that way.”
“It’s almost midnight,” Violet said. “He must be on his way to do whatever he’s been planning if he doesn’t get the keys!”
“Not if we stop him,” Juliette said. “All right. Let’s go talk to him together. I’d love to put an end to this ghost nonsense once and for all.”
The Aldens went with Juliette as she followed Eddie. The lobby was so crowded with guests that he hadn’t been able to get very far. They caught up with him just as he headed up the grand staircase toward the second floor.
“Eddie!” Juliette called. “Wait a minute. I’d like to speak with you.”
Eddie paused when he heard Juliette.
“Sorry, I don’t have time right now. I’ve lost something, and I need to get back to my room,” he said.
They joined him on the second-floor landing, where they could speak without being overheard by the guests. Eddie scowled, looking back and forth between the Aldens and Juliette.
“What’s this about?” he asked.
“We know you were just in the hedge maze,” Henry said.
Eddie’s eyes went wide.
“I—I was in the hedge maze, yes, but what’s wrong with that? It’s part of the grounds. I was just trying to get some fresh air!”
“And we’re pretty sure you were in the secret room connected to Room 222, as well,” Jessie continued.
“We also know about the treasure chest in the garden shed,” said Benny. “We’re not going to give you the keys, and we’re not going to let you ruin the grand opening either!”
Eddie shook his head, confused.
“Wait—what keys are you talking about? There’s a treasure chest in the garden shed? I don’t know what you mean.”
“The message!” Juliette said. “You don’t remember what you wrote? ‘Bring my keys to Room 222, or I won’t rest until everyone is gone.’ I’d think you of all people would want your father’s building recognized by the historical committee.”
Eddie frowned deeply.
“I admit it—I did something I shouldn’t have. I…I snuck my father’s cat, Clara, into the hotel.”
“Clara is a cat?” Jessie asked. “Is she black, with long fur?”
“Yes, have you seen her? She also has a little bell on her collar. I heard her out in the maze, so I went after her.”
“The cat I saw in the mirror!” Benny said.
“Yes. My father named her after Clara Schumann, a famous composer. I got her after my father passed away. She lived in the hotel as a kitten, so I thought tonight it would be nice to visit when it reopened. But then I found out Juliette changed the rules so pets weren’t allowed. I was keeping her in Room 222, but when she hea
rd you in the hallway, she jumped and escaped out the window. And I went into the secret room.”
Eddie ran his hand over his forehead, worried.
“I’ve spent all evening trying to find her,” he said. “I’m really worried. But I didn’t leave any creepy note, and I don’t know anything about mysterious keys or a chest in the shed. I promise.”
“There’s a secret room in the hotel?” asked Juliette.
The children had forgotten to mention that to Juliette. “Yes, you can open a door to it by knocking one of the books on the shelf in Room 222,” Violet said.
“And the food elevator goes all the way up there!” Benny added.
“He means the dumbwaiter,” Jessie explained. “Eddie, did you go down the dumbwaiter tonight when we found the secret room?”
Eddie sighed and nodded. “The room was my father’s private study,” he said. “The truth is, I came here tonight to try to find out why my father lost the hotel. I wasn’t very close with him, but the building has been in our family for a long time. I just couldn’t understand why it had closed. So when I heard someone else had bought it and was reopening it, I came to meet you and try to learn more about what happened before my father passed away.”
Juliette sighed. “Eddie, you could have asked. The hotel failed because of all the ghost stories and bad reviews. Guests couldn’t sleep because they said they heard the organ in the lobby playing all night. When their items went missing and the hotel manager couldn’t find anything in the lost and found, your father was accused of stealing.”
“I didn’t know any of that…” Eddie trailed off, tilting his head. Then he let out a big sigh. “Oh no. I wonder if the organ was my father playing late at night. Do you remember that keyboard in his study? It controls the organ in the lobby.”
Benny gasped. “So it wasn’t the Lost Composer at all!”
“The Lost Composer?” exclaimed Eddie. “Is that the name of a ghost?”
“Yes! The Lost Composer scared guests and stole items,” Violet said. “At least, those are the rumors. Now we know that the organ playing was just your father practicing late at night.”
“But what about the missing items?”
Jessie asked. Eddie shook his head. “My father would never steal from guests. I didn’t know him very well, but I know he wasn’t a thief.”
“I’m getting worried,” Juliette said. “If Eddie isn’t the one who wrote the message about the keys, then who was? It’s almost—”
Before Juliette could finish, the clock in the lobby rang. It was midnight. The guests who were enjoying the party quieted to listen to the clock tolling the time. But when the last chime tolled, the lights began to flicker.
“Oh no,” Juliette said.
“What’s happening?” Eddie asked.
All the lamps and ceiling lights went on and off, and the guests started to murmur. Suddenly gusts of steam burst out of the radiators, filling the lobby with a hazy glow. Finally the lights shut off altogether. The lobby was completely dark.
Organ music started to play loudly.
The guests started to panic. Someone screamed with fright.
But Eddie noticed something. “The music isn’t even coming from the organ,” he said. “It looks like it’s coming from that old-fashioned record player over there. Someone must have just switched off the power to the lights and turned on the power to that record player!”
“We’ve got to stop them,” Henry said. “They’re scaring the guests!”
It was too late. Guests were hurrying out of the dark lobby. Without any lights on, and with the panic caused by the organ music, it was hard to get anyone’s attention. Grandfather found the children on the stairs.
“What’s going on?” he called.
Juliette had given up trying to call the guests back inside. She watched the last four guests, the historical committee, leave. They didn’t look scared of the organ playing or the radiators blowing steam. They didn’t even seem afraid of the dark. Still, from their faces, it was clear they weren’t impressed.
“You should get your electric box and boiler fixed,” said one of the women. “This could be a safety hazard.”
“It’s very unprofessional to have these kind of issues during opening night,” said another.
Juliette sighed and sat down on the stairs.
“So much for the historical landmark registry,” she said.
THE END
TO FOLLOW A DIFFERENT PATH, GO TO PAGE 102.
LISTING THE FACTS
“Let’s not jump to any conclusions,” Jessie said. “I think it’ll be smarter if we write down everything we know. Some things still don’t make sense. We wouldn’t want to accuse someone if we’re not sure they did something wrong.”
“Good idea, Jessie,” Henry said. “Do you have your notebook?”
“I left it with our things in Juliette’s office,” said Jessie. “Let’s go there where it’s quiet. But we should hurry. It’s going to be midnight soon!”
The four children walked calmly through the lobby. Guests chatted and ate fancy snacks. The children even passed Alex and Anita, who had changed into fancy clothes and were pouring sparkling drinks into polished crystal glasses.
When they got to Juliette’s office, they shut the door so it was just the four of them. It was nice to have some quiet to focus on their task. Jessie took out her notebook.
“All right, let’s see. What do we know so far?” she asked.
“Whoever wrote the note to Juliette wants the keys to the treasure chest in the shed,” Benny said. “And they’re going to pretend to be a ghost and scare everyone if Juliette doesn’t do what they want!”
“And the chest is full of things that are probably stolen,” Violet added. “Stolen by the ghost known as the Lost Composer.”
Jessie nodded and wrote down the things that Benny and Violet said.
“The keys to the chest were on the old key ring Juliette had when she took over the hotel,” Henry said. “She didn’t know what the keys went to. But this means that whoever wants the keys knows about the chest and what was in it, and also knows about the hotel from before Juliette took over.”
“Right,” Jessie said. “That rules out everybody who works here today.”
“What about the secret room, the mirror, and the cat?” Benny asked.
“I think Eddie Gardner brought a cat into the hotel,” Violet said. “He was mad about the no-pets rule, and we saw his duffel bag move. Since we know now that the cat you saw in the mirror wasn’t a ghost and was actually a real cat, my guess is that he brought a cat to the hotel and is hiding it in that secret room.”
“Eddie’s father did own the hotel,” Henry agreed. “If anyone knew about the secret room above Room 222, it would be him. And if he brought a cat and had to hide it somewhere, that would be a good place.”
“Do you think he brought the cat to scare people?” Benny asked.
Jessie sighed. “He might have, and he might know about the chest in the garden shed too. But what I don’t understand is why he would want to ruin the night. The building belonged to his family. Even if he wanted the keys to the chest, why would he risk scaring away the historical committee when they’re visiting?”
“He must have been doing something else in the maze,” Benny said. “He was calling for Clara. If he wanted to spy on us, he wouldn’t have been making all that noise.”
The four of them read the notes Jessie had taken.
“Who else might know about the chest and the keys, and also be willing to scare away the historical committee?” Henry asked.
“We forgot to write down some other clues,” Violet said. “Henry, remember the mud we saw in the boiler room, and the wrench? Like someone was doing something to the boiler?”
“Yes,” said Henry. “We saw the same mud on the maintenance man’s boots.”
“And then we all got muddy going in the hedge maze,” Benny said.
Henry nodded. “Yes, but all that m
eans is that Sebastian was probably out in the maze too. And that he may have gone down to the boiler room. The mud down there was wet, so whoever tracked it in had done it recently. When we met Eddie this afternoon, he didn’t have any mud on his shoes.”
“Why would Sebastian do this?” Violet asked.
“He lost his job when the hotel was closed,” Jessie said. “And I suppose being a maintenance man, it would be easy to get in and out of guest rooms. If Sebastian were the Lost Composer from the ghost stories and stole all those things, he could be trying to get them out of that locked chest.”
“It was a lot of money,” said Benny. “But do you think Eddie could be the Lost Composer?”
“Hmmm.” Henry thought about that and what they knew about Eddie. “Since the hotel belonged to his father and he probably knows about the building’s secrets, it’s possible he could use that to scare people and get into their rooms. But that was also a long time ago. He would have been very young, maybe Benny’s age.”
“Woooooo!” Benny said, waving his hands. “I’m the Lost Composer! Woooo!”
They laughed. It was a funny to imagine Benny as a ghost.
Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny reviewed Jessie’s notes.
“Well, we have two suspects,” Henry said. “Eddie Gardner and Sebastian, the maintenance man. It’s almost midnight, so we need to make a decision and tell Juliette before the clock strikes twelve. What do you think?”
IF THE ALDENS CONFRONT EDDIE GARDNER, GO TO PAGE 103.
IF THE ALDENS CONFRONT SEBASTIAN THE MAINTENANCE MAN, GO TO PAGE 117.
CONFRONTING THE MAINTENANCE MAN
The Aldens hurried back to the lobby.
“There goes Eddie,” Violet said. They looked to the grand staircase, where Eddie was hurrying up to the second floor. He looked upset, wringing his hands as if he were very worried.
“Let’s tell Juliette we think Sebastian is behind the message,” Henry said.
They found Juliette chatting with Grandfather near the grand staircase. She was fidgeting with her necklace and sighed with relief when she saw the children.
Midnight at the Haunted Hotel Page 6