Radio Mystery (7 page)

“I can’t write very well,” Benny said. “But I can staple the pages together.”

Frances smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Benny. You five are lifesavers.”

They sat down at the table in the break-room and got to work. Because Frances had just written the script, she remembered most of it. She told the story while Jessie, Violet, and Henry copied it down. Gwen wrote the sound effects directions.

It was almost dinnertime before they finished. Avery put on a prerecorded program, changed into his running clothes, and put his work clothes in the closet. “Is everything ready for tomorrow?” he asked as the Aldens walked by the sound booth.

“Yup,” Henry said. “The final script is great.”

“Good,” said Avery. He picked up his duffel bag and headed for the door.

Frances came in with her raincoat over one arm. “I just spoke with Jocelyn. She and Mr. Alden and Earl Biggs are all coming to tomorrow’s broadcast.”

Avery paused. “If nothing goes wrong with the show, maybe Earl won’t cancel his advertising.”

“Tomorrow’s show
must
go right,” Violet said.

Frances opened the lobby door. “Avery, do you need a ride?”

“No, thanks,” he said. “I’m going running as always.”

Frances turned to the Aldens and Gwen. “Jocelyn asked me to tell you you’ll be eating dinner late tonight. She suggested that you stop by the diner for a snack.”

“Sounds good to me,” Benny said. “I ate ages ago.”

Henry grinned. “It wasn’t
that
long ago. But I could go for some ice cream.”

They followed Frances outside and said good-bye as she climbed into her rusty old car. “When I’m rich and famous in Hollywood,” she declared, “I’ll buy a brand-new car.” She waved and smiled. “See you tomorrow!”

The diner was nearly empty when the children walked in.

DeeDee motioned them over to a large booth and signaled that she would be with them in a minute.

“Time is running out. We only have
one day
to solve this mystery,” Henry reminded the others.

“None of our suspects has a strong motive,” Violet said. “We’ve ruled out Gwen. Yes, you were a suspect until tonight.”

“That leaves Frances, Avery, and Earl,” said Jessie. “I think Frances is the most suspicious. She wants to write a movie script, and she could be playing the ghost to help her with her story.”

“But she seems to like the kids’ show she’s writing,” Henry pointed out. “Why would she sabotage it?”

“Frances and Avery are both key suspects,” Violet said. “They both have keys to the station and they’re around every day. Either one of them could be stealing stuff to sell for the money.”

“But then they’d be out of a job,” Henry pointed out. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“That leaves Earl,” said Gwen. “He keeps telling Gran he’s going to cancel his account.”

Jessie had been thinking. “I don’t believe he will,” she said, “or he would have done it by now. I think Earl says that to get your grandmother’s attention. Remember, he really likes her.”

“Jessie’s right,” Violet put in. “Earl keeps coming into the station to try to talk to her. I think he just uses his advertisements as an excuse to be there.”

“Boy,” said Gwen admiringly. “You guys are good.”

An idea slowly formed in Violet’s mind. “You know,” she said, “maybe we should think more about the old mystery.”

Benny frowned. “What old mystery?”

“The one about Daphne Owens,” Jessie said. “She’s supposed to be the ghost. What
really
happened to her? She didn’t vanish into thin air.”

“If she moved to another town, maybe we can find her — you know, by looking in phone books or something,” Gwen said, pulling napkins from the dispenser.

“She’d be hard to find,” Henry put in. “She might have gotten married and changed her last name.”

“She could be anywhere,” Benny said glumly.

DeeDee came over with her order pad. She wore pink and yellow ribbons in a bow at her neck. “What would you like tonight?”

“Your ribbons are pretty,” Gwen complimented.

DeeDee touched the bow. “Thank you. I’ve been wearing ribbons every day since I was your age. My hair was long then, like yours. I always wore it in a ponytail tied with a ribbon. After I left my hometown and got married, I cut my hair. But I still wear ribbons.”

As Violet listened to DeeDee, she thought about the other person in Deer Crossing who always wore a ribbon in her ponytail — the girl in the photographs at the station: Daphne Owens. She remembered the talent scout remark DeeDee had made. Who else was so interested in talent scouts?
It can’t be,
Violet thought. But somehow it made sense.

“DeeDee!” she exclaimed. “You’re Daphne Owens!”

The others looked at Violet in surprise.

DeeDee nearly dropped her pad and pencil. “What did you say?”

“I said, you’re Daphne Owens,” said Violet. “You’ve changed your name. But it’s you.”

“Well, I’ll be —” DeeDee gave her bark of a laugh. “I never thought anybody would figure it out. Too bad. It was such fun, working in the radio station again with everyone thinking I was a ghost. My little joke.”

“So is Rhoads your married name?” Gwen asked.

“Yes,” DeeDee said. “And DeeDee is a nickname. After my husband died, I moved back to Deer Crossing. But since nobody remembered me, I didn’t tell them who I really was. I like having secrets.”

“Why did you leave Deer Crossing in the first place?” Henry wanted to know. “Was it really because of the talent scout?”

“Yes. I was so embarrassed,” said DeeDee. “I had bragged to everyone about how I was going to be a star. And then the show was a disaster! I had made a fool of myself. How could I face my friends?”

“So you left town that day,” Jessie said.

DeeDee nodded. “I only meant to go away for a little while — I thought I would come back to Deer Crossing once my embarrassment died down. But then I met Harold Rhoads. We fell in love and were married.” DeeDee smiled. “He called me DeeDee. I kept the name, even after I moved back here.”

Benny had the most important question. He looked at the waitress and asked boldly, “Are you haunting the radio station?”

“Do you believe I’m the ghost of WCXZ?” DeeDee asked him.

Benny frowned. “Ghosts aren’t real. But
somebody
is stealing stuff from the radio station.”

Henry spoke up. “DeeDee, I think you like having people believe the ghost of Daphne Owens is haunting the station. In a way, it’s like you’re the star you always wanted to be.”

“You’re very smart,” DeeDee said. “And you’re right, Henry. I
do
like the attention.

I guess that’s why I kept saying Daphne’s ghost was back. I like it that people here remember me.”

“But you’re not the one causing the trouble at the station,” Jessie stated.

DeeDee shook her head. “I’ve never stolen anything in my life. And I never dreamed I would cause the whole cast to quit. I guess I just got carried away. I really like doing the radio show. I hope I can go back.”

“Then why don’t you tell my grandmother?” Gwen said. “And talk to the others here at the diner so they’ll come back, too. If the show goes off the air, my grandmother will be crushed.”

“The station may not be haunted, but spooky things
are
happening,” said DeeDee. “Until the real
‘
ghost’ is caught, the cast won’t come back, no matter what I tell them.”

“We’ll find the ghost,” Violet said.

As they gathered their things, Jessie mused, “It seems like everyone wants to be a star. Frances wants to be a famous movie writer. DeeDee — Daphne — wanted to be a famous radio actress.”

Gwen smiled sheepishly. “And I wanted to be a famous detective — or, at least, to figure out this mystery.”

“Let’s go over the facts again,” said Henry. “We know that the ghost must be someone who knows the station well. He knows where to find the light switches and fuse box and exactly what to take.”

“Right,” said Jessie. “And it’s probably someone who is around the station a lot anyway — if it were an outsider, like DeeDee, how would she get in and out without anyone seeing her?”

“But if it’s an insider, like Avery or Frances, how is the
‘
ghost’ getting the stolen stuff out?” said Violet.

Gwen was looking out the window. “There goes Avery on his evening run,” she said. “I wonder why he’s carrying that duffel bag.”

“Gwen!” Jessie exclaimed. “That’s it!”

“What’s it?” said Benny

“The solution to the mystery,” Jessie said.

“We keep thinking the thief leaves the station, like when we were looking for Frances’s script. What if he comes and goes, carrying something we see every day?”

“Of course!” said Gwen, smiling. “The duffel bag! That must be it.”

Henry was smiling, too. “It’s just like your best sound effects, Gwen — very simple.”

As they walked home from the diner, the Aldens and Gwen figured out a plan to catch the ghost.

The next day, Grandfather and Jocelyn drove the kids to the station. On the way, they stopped at the diner to pick up a dozen doughnuts. “To celebrate the final episode,” Jocelyn said.

When they reached the station, Earl Biggs was already inside, pacing back and forth in the lobby.

“I’m glad you made it,” Jocelyn said to him.

Earl held open the door for them. “I was glad to come.”

The Aldens and Gwen went into the breakroom.

“I am so nervous,” Frances said, handing out the scripts. “I never thought I’d be so nervous about a kiddie show. But this has turned out to be one of the best stories I’ve ever written. The final episode has to go perfectly today!”

“It will,” Jessie reassured her.

Avery walked into the breakroom. “You guys brought doughnuts, too.”

“You can have one if you want.” Benny selected one with chocolate icing.

“No, thanks. I brought my own, as usual.” Avery rinsed his coffee mug.

Because the kids had helped rewrite the final script, they already knew the story. It didn’t take them long to go over their parts. Benny helped Gwen sort through her sound tapes. After they had set aside all the tapes they would need during the broadcast, Gwen took out a blank tape. Then she and Benny recorded one more sound effect they would need for the show.

“Perfect,” Benny said to Gwen. “Now we have everything we need to catch the ghost.”

Gwen placed the tape to one side of the cassette player. She looked up at Henry, Jessie, and Violet and nodded. Everything for their plan was set.

At last it was show time.

“Ready, everyone?” Frances called. The kids nodded. “Places, everyone! One, two, three! You’re on the air!”

The red ON AIR light blinked on.

Frances read the introduction. “In part three,” she said into Jessie’s mike, “our characters were trapped in the old mine. Will the mysterious dog help them again? We’ll find out today in the final episode of ‘The Ghost Dog.’”

Violet had the first line. “Don’t move, anyone, or the rocks will come down!”

“My leg is stuck,” said Henry with a groan. “I can’t get it free.”

“Oh, no!” cried Jessie. “Watch out —!”

Gwen shook a metal box with a few pebbles inside. It sounded just like rocks falling down the mine shaft.

Moments into the broadcast, the lights went out. The soundstage was completely dark. This time the kids didn’t click on their flashlights. They had memorized their parts so they wouldn’t need them.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeee!
A horrible, loud screeching filled the radio station.

The Aldens continued to recite their lines, pretending the screaming was part of the show.

In the darkness, Gwen picked up the cassette she and Benny had made earlier and slid it into the cassette player.

“Is that the ghost dog?” Violet said loud enough to be heard over the screeching.

Gwen pushed the PLAY button on the cassette player. The howls of a dog — Benny’s character of the ghost dog — competed with the screaming.

“Go, Benny!” Gwen whispered to him.

“Wish me luck!” he whispered back, then crept around the back of the soundstage.

The plan relied on him. He couldn’t fail.

The ON AIR light cast an eerie glow as Benny edged out the door of the soundstage. He waited a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the dim red light.

Holding on to the wall, Benny shuffled down the hall that connected the soundstage to the rest of the studio. He could hear Grandfather and Jocelyn coming out of the breakroom.

“What’s going on?” Jocelyn yelled. “Somebody stop that noise!”

“We have to get the lights back on!” Grandfather told her.

The fuse box was near the side door, Benny knew. They would head in that direction.

Then Benny saw a dark shape ahead of him.

Taking the flashlight out of his pocket, Benny clicked the button to the ON position and aimed the beam straight at the “ghost.”

“Stop right there,” Benny said.

With one hand, Avery Drake shielded his eyes from the glare of Benny’s flashlight.

“Benny!” he said, tightening his grip on the duffel bag with his other hand. “You’re supposed to be in the soundstage with the others.”