The Sleepy Hollow Mystery (6 page)

They were ready to give up when Jessie
cried, “I found something!” She brushed her
finger across a lamppost. When she held it up,
they could see it was covered with something
black and glittering. “The horse must have
brushed against the post, and this is what
made it all shimmery.”

Violet touched her sister’s finger. “It’s a
little sticky, like glitter glue.”

Benny pointed at something on the street
a few feet away. “What’s that? He darted
forward and picked it up. “It’s a sugar cube,
like the ones we saw at the café.”

“Why would anyone carry sugar cubes?”
Violet asked.

“I don’t know, but it’s a clue,” Henry said.
“Let’s go tell Annika.”

Before they could tell her, Margot came
rushing up. “I can’t believe I missed all that!
How exciting! I hope my boss got pictures
of it.”

“Margot, it was terrible,” Annika said.
“The mayor thinks I arranged it. I told him I
didn’t, but I don’t think he believes me.”

“Oh, don’t worry about the mayor.” Margot
smiled. “As soon as we win the contest, he’ll
be happy about anything that helps the town
seem scary. He’ll even thank you.” She waved
at someone in the crowd. “There’s my boss.
I’ll see you later.”

“I’m ready to go home,” Annika said. “The
festival is ruined for me.”

Back at the Vanderhoffs’, Jessie got her
notebook again. “We can’t take anyone
off our list with this latest trick. Brett, Mr.
Beekman, Margo, and Isiah were not at the
parade when the horseman appeared. Any
one of them could have been the rider.”

“We aren’t making much progress,” Violet
said.

“I think we should look for clues on the
ghost walk,” Henry suggested. “And we
should go now when there is still daylight.”

“Good idea,” Jessie said. “There have to be
more clues somewhere.”

“We can bring Watch,” Benny said. “He’d
like a walk.”

They found the starting point for the
ghost tour and walked down the path into the
woods. “It isn’t scary during the daytime,”
Benny said. “How are we going to know
where we first saw the horse and the rider?”

“We had been walking a while,” Henry said.
“I remember the path went around a bend a
little ways before we saw the horseman.”

They found the right spot and searched
carefully but didn’t find anything.

“I think there are too many leaves.” Benny
scuffed through some. “And too many people
have been walking through here.”

“I’m sorry we didn’t find anything, but it is
very pretty here,” Violet said. “I’d like to come
back and sketch this part of the path. Look
at that big tree. I like how the branch hangs
over the path.” She pointed and then lowered
her arm, frowning. “There’s something up in
that tree that doesn’t belong there.”

“I
don’t see anything,” Jessie said.

“It’s right above the big branch.” Violet
walked under the tree and pointed. “That
black thing.”

“I see it.” Henry went over to the tree
trunk. “I think I can climb up there.” He
found enough handholds and footholds to get
up in the tree, and finally he crawled along
the branch over the path.

He stopped and held up a short black
plastic tube. “This is interesting,” he said.
“It’s tied to the branch.” He reached inside,
and withdrew two red glowing circles like big
scary eyes.

“How did you do that?” Benny asked.

“There are two holes cut in this pipe.”
Henry lowered it down so it hung over the
path. “Inside is a red glow stick with an on
off switch.”

“So that’s how someone made it look
like the horse had big glowing eyes,” Jessie
said. “It wasn’t on the horse at all. Someone
reached up and took it down when they rode
the horse under it.”

“We can take it and show Annika,” Benny
said.

“Why don’t we leave it here and keep watch
to see who is using it,” Henry suggested. “If
someone tried to scare Annika’s tour once, he
or she will probably do it again.”

“But that means we’d have to wait in the
woods in the dark.” Benny looked around at
the trees. “I don’t know if I want to do that.”

“You wouldn’t have to, Benny.” Jessie
hugged him. “You could go on the tour with
Annika. Let’s go tell her the plan.”

They hurried back to the house and told
Annika about the glow stick and explained
their plan to find out who was using it.

“That’s a terrible trick,” she said. “I don’t
know who would go to that much trouble to
scare my groups. I have some other bad news.
The people who were supposed to go on
the tour tonight canceled. They have small
children and they said they heard it was too
scary. I’ll never earn enough money for a new
roof now.”

“What about tomorrow night? Are some
people scheduled to go on the tour then?”

“There are,” Annika said. “If they don’t
cancel.”

“You’re worrying too much,” Mrs.
Vanderhoff said. “We’ll manage somehow. I
don’t want you to spend your time dwelling
on these tricks. I want you to have fun too.
Why don’t you take our guests to see a play? A
theater group in town has turned the
Legend
of Sleepy Hollow
story into a play.”

Annika was quiet for a moment and then
said, “That’s a good idea. You’ve all been
trying so hard to help me that I feel bad your
vacation hasn’t been more fun. I’ll call Isiah
too. He’ll want to go see the play now that
the tour has been canceled.”

They met Isiah in front of the theater.
He wasn’t dressed in a costume, but he was
wearing an old-fashioned brown suit with a
brown hat.

“I like your fedora,” Violet told him. “Old
hats are fun to wear.”

“Thank you,” Isiah said. “I’ve got a whole
hat collection. I’ve also got tickets for all of
us.” He handed everyone one a ticket.

When they had gone inside and found
their seats, Jessie looked around. She saw a
familiar face.

“Isn’t that Brett?” she asked Annika. “That
man next to the stage wearing headphones?”

“Yes,” Annika said. “When we were in high
school, Brett and his friends did the sound
and lighting for the school plays. I don’t like
Brett, but he was good at that work. I didn’t
know he was helping the theater group.”

“Is this play going to be scary?” Benny
asked.

“A little,” Henry said. “It’s just a play
though. The headless horseman scares a man
named Ichabod Crane.”

“Ichabod? That’s a very funny name,”
Benny said.

“Ichabod is a good part. I should have
been cast,” Isiah said. “I tried out for the
play, but I didn’t get the part. I think Brett
convinced the director the role should go to
one of his friends.”

The lights in the theater dimmed and
the play started. Several times during the
show, the spooky sounds and lights startled
the audience. When a big dark shadow that
looked like a headless horseman chased
Ichabod Crane, Benny whispered to Jessie,
“This is not just a little scary, it’s very scary.”

After the play was done and the lights came
back on, Jessie said, “That was very good. I
felt like I was right in the forest.”

“I did too,” Violet said. “Even though
there wasn’t a real horse, that shadow made
me afraid.”

Annika said, “I have to admit Brett and
his friends did a good job with the sounds
and lights.”

“Don’t tell him that,” Isiah said. “It’ll go to
his head, and his head is big enough already.”

“It looks like a normal size to me.” Benny
sounded puzzled.

Everyone else laughed. “Having a big head
means someone thinks they are better than
everyone else,” Jessie explained.

They were putting on their coats when
someone behind Isiah yelled “Boo!”

Everyone jumped.

It was Brett. He laughed and slapped Isiah
on the shoulder. “Isiah, you are still as jumpy
as ever. I remember how scared you used to
be when the theater went dark. When you
go home tonight, you should watch out.
You never know what’s waiting for you.” He
laughed again and turned away.

“Brett and his friends need to grow up,”
Jessie said.

“They do,” Isiah agreed. “They used to
think it was funny to turn off the lights in
the theater when no one expected it. It wasn’t
funny to anyone else.”

“Just ignore him,” Annika said.

Outside the theater, the wind had picked
up. It blew the fallen leaves into swirling
patterns. Rain began to fall.

“Annika, can you give me a ride?” Isiah
asked. “My car broke down.”

“Of course,” she said.

“How did you get here?” Henry asked.

“I walked through the cemetery, but it
wasn’t dark and stormy then. I’d rather not
go back that way.”

They were almost at Annika’s car when
Isiah stopped and patted his pocket. “Oh no.
My cell phone is missing. It must have fallen
out of my pocket inside the theater. I’ll have
to go back and look for it. You go on.”

“We can wait for you,” Annika said.

“No, I don’t know how long it will take me
to find it. I’ll just get a ride from someone
else. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He went back
inside.

“Not again,” Annika said. She shook her
head and said to the Aldens, “Let’s hurry to
the car. I don’t want to get soaked.”

The Aldens and Annika got back to the
Vanderhoffs’ just as it began the rain began
to fall very hard.

The storm got worse as the Aldens were
getting ready for bed.

As they lay there listening to the thunder
and lightning, Jessie said, “I hope Isiah got
a ride. I wouldn’t want to be outside in this.
Maybe we should have waited for him.”

“I hope he at least found his phone,”
Henry said. “I’ve never known anyone who
loses things so much or has so many things
go wrong. Remember that first night when
he had a flat tire and lost his cell phone
then too?”

“He also said the wagon wheel broke,” Jessie
added. “Then the night the horse nearly ran
us down on the ghost tour, Isiah said he fell
down and that’s how he got muddy.” She told
them how she noticed there wasn’t any mud
around the carriage that night.

“Is Isiah lying about some of the things he
claims happened to him?” Benny asked.

“I don’t know,” Violet said, “but all those
things are suspicious.” She yawned. “Let’s talk
in the morning. I think I can fall asleep now.”

The next morning the Aldens helped Mrs.
Vanderhoff in the shop while they were
waiting for the ghost tour to start.

After lunch, Annika said, “I’d better call
Isiah and make sure he knows we have a
tour tonight.” She dialed and listened for a
few moments before hanging up. “He’s not
answering.”

“Maybe he couldn’t find his phone,” Jessie
suggested.

“Yes. Knowing Isiah, he could have lost
it anywhere,” Annika said. “I guess I should
go to his apartment and tell him in person.
Would you all like to come with me? I want
to treat you to some ice cream for all your
hard work.”

“We’ll always say yes ice cream,” Benny
said. The rest of the Aldens agreed.

Isiah lived in an apartment in a big old
house overlooking the cemetery. Annika rang
the bell and the landlady came to the door.
Annika explained they were looking for Isiah.

“You can knock on his door,” the landlady
told them. “But I don’t think he’s there. I
haven’t seen him since yesterday afternoon.
His car has been here all night, but he hasn’t.”

“That’s strange,” Annika said.

“There’s something else that’s odd,” the
landlady said. “I found one of his hats in
the back of the yard by the cemetery this
morning.” She picked up a hat from a table
next to the door. It was the brown fedora
Isiah had worn the night before.

“You would think he’d notice his hat fell
off,” Violet said.

“Maybe he couldn’t get a ride after all,”
Henry suggested. “He could have been
hurrying through the cemetery to get home
because of the rain. The wind was blowing
very hard last night.”