The Case of the Haunted Haunted House (6 page)

“If she's the haunter, she already thought of it,” Milo said.

“And if she isn't?”

Jazz was so annoyed, she insisted on questioning Gordy alone. “You can go and look for clues at the scene of the crime.”

Milo stared at the learning cottage. “You want me to go in there? By myself?”

Jazz raised an eyebrow. “Don't tell me you really think it's haunted.”

Crossing his arms, he looked away and swallowed. “Of course not.”

Slowly he crossed the parking lot. Anyway, it was daytime, he told himself. And with all these people around, nothing could happen to him. Right?

Milo pushed the door open.

It was dark and gloomy inside. He flipped the switch, and mysterious shapes appeared in the dim light.

With Gordy in charge, the class had put in blue and green light bulbs and thrown sheets over the desks and chairs. Fake cobwebs hung in the corners.

Gordy was really good at this haunting thing. Maybe he
was
the culprit.

Milo edged his way into the room. It was pretty spooky, even in the daytime.

Don't be a chicken
, he told himself.
Pretend you're Dash Marlowe in the deep, dark cave. Shining your flashlight all around. Searching for smugglers and hidden treasure . . .

Wait a minute.

Searching . . .

Searching with a flashlight . . . for something hidden in the dark.

That was it!

On the playground, Jazz shook her head. “The ghost isn't the sea monster, it's Dash? Milo, you're not making any sense.”

He tried to explain more clearly. “What if we got the motive wrong? Maybe whoever was in the learning cottage wasn't trying to scare anyone. Maybe they were looking for something. That's why they'd need a light—to search in the dark!”

“What could they be looking for? There's nothing in there but a bunch of haunted-house stuff.”

“There
used
to be more. Remember all that junk we cleaned out? What if we got rid of something someone wanted?”

Jazz frowned. “Anything that wasn't trash, we took to the lost and found.”

Hmm. She was right.

Wait . . .

“That bag never got to the lost and found!” Milo said. “The office was locked, so I stuck it in our classroom closet, and, well—I guess I forgot about it.”

They stared at each other. Then they bolted toward the school.

“Bathroom!” Jazz gasped as they squeezed past the startled recess monitor. They raced down the hall.

The bag was still in the back of the closet, right where Milo had left it. They dumped it out on the floor.

Milo scanned the mess. Which item could be important enough to make somebody sneak into the learning cottage after dark—twice?

Not the kitty poster, that was for sure. Not the jigsaw puzzle, even if it wasn't missing pieces. Definitely not a sheet of dopey stickers saying Super-Duper Reader!

He picked up a spiral notebook and leafed through it, but all it had in it were math problems. Unless they were a secret code . . .

Then Jazz held up a DVD in a blank case. “What's this?”

They ran over to the classroom computer.

Jazz slid in the DVD and they waited, breathless, until a video started playing onscreen.

A girl stood on a stage. As the camera moved in, Milo saw that she wore a pink fuzzy romper, like a baby. On her head was a pink bonnet, and over the romper . . .

“Oh, no. Please tell me that's not a
bib
!” Jazz said.

Music started: “
Baby face. You've got the cutest little baby face.
. . .”

The girl began to tap dance.

Who was she? If only the camera would zoom in a little closer.

Wrapped up in watching, Milo and Jazz didn't notice footsteps coming up behind them.

The song was just ending. With a final tap and twirl, the girl stopped and the camera zoomed in on her face.

“Emily!”
said a voice behind them.

Milo and Jazz spun around. Brooke and the Emilies stood in the doorway, staring at the screen.

Milo looked at Emily S. “It was you, wasn't it? You were the one who sneaked into the learning cottage. You were searching for this DVD you dropped.”

Emily didn't answer.

“The light in the window—that was your flashlight. And the moaning . . .” He frowned. “Well, I guess you must have been upset when you couldn't find what you were looking for.”

Emily S. burst into tears. “I tried so hard to find that DVD before anyone else did! I knew if it got out, the whole school would make fun of me.”

Milo glanced at Jazz.

Did Dash feel sorry for the people he caught?

Then Brooke said, “Oh, Emily, stop crying.
Nobody
in this school is going to make fun of any friend of mine. Besides, I happen to think tap dancing is totally cool.”

Sniffling, Emily S. stared at her. “You do?”

“Sure,” Brooke said. “And you're really good! But the baby thing . . .”

Emily S. smiled through her tears. “My mom made me dress up that way. Yuck.”

She turned to Milo and Jazz. “Are you going to tell?”

The two detectives looked at each other. Then Jazz popped the DVD out of the computer and handed it to Emily S.

“Of course not,” Jazz said. “It's over, right? No more haunting in the haunted house.”

Emily S. wiped her eyes and took the DVD. Then, to Milo's surprise, Brooke smiled at Jazz. A real smile—not even a snaky one!

Of course, as soon as Brooke smiled, Emily B. smiled too.

She still looked like a squirrel.

Milo pushed aside the tattered gauze and peered out through the window of the learning cottage.

“Check out that crowd!” he said to Jazz. “Our haunted house is definitely the most popular booth at the fair. Chris hasn't got a chance.”

“Actually, we agreed to drop the bet.”

“You did? Why?”

“Mom is on one of her health kicks.” Jazz sighed. “When dessert is spinach smoothies, who wants seconds?”

Too bad about the bet, Milo thought. But at least they had solved their case! He couldn't wait to report to Dash.

Bang!
Behind him, the coffin lid flew open. A zombie sat up and looked at Jazz.

“Will you get away from that window!” it ordered in Gordy's voice. “You're supposed to be kneeling behind the coffin so you can tap on it when someone walks by. Otherwise I won't know when to pop out.”

“Okay, okay! Keep your rotting pants on.” Jazz tucked in a loose end of her mummy costume and took her place.

A skeleton asked Milo, “Do I look okay?”

“You look kind of bony to me.” He laughed. “Get it? Bony?”