The Gumdrop Ghost Read online

  “Don’t worry, Bess,” Nancy said. “There are no such things as ghosts.”

  “Oh, yeah?” a voice sneered.

  Nancy spun around. Jason, David, and Mike were standing at the door. They were still wearing their silver jackets and blinking helmets.

  “Why are you still wearing those goofy costumes?” George asked. “The show is over.”

  “The show may be over,” David said. “But our job isn’t!”

  “What job?” Nancy asked.

  The boys stood shoulder to shoulder. They pumped their ghost gadgets in the air.

  “Ghost Grabbers!” they shouted.

  Nancy rolled her eyes. The boys were always up to something.

  “We’re going to hunt down ghosts just like the guys on TV do,” Jason explained.

  David tipped back his helmet. “River Heights is crawling with ghosts.”

  “Give me a break!” George said.

  “If you don’t believe us,” Jason said, “check out that creepy old house at Ten Tide Street.”

  David wiggled his fingers. “It’s supposed to be . . . haunted.”

  Nancy knew the old house. It had peeling paint and broken shutters. The grass in the yard was long and dry.

  “The house may be old,” Nancy said. “But that doesn’t mean it’s haunted.”

  “That’s what you think,” Jason said. He reached into his pocket. “If you come across any ghosts, here’s our card.”

  Rebecca took the card and frowned. “It’s a baseball card.”

  “Our telephone numbers are on the back,” Jason said. “Right under the batting average.”

  Nancy shook her head. “You’re wasting your time. There is no such thing as—”

  “Ghost Grabbers!” Jason shouted. He turned to his friends. “Forward march!”

  The boys formed a line. Then they marched out of the room. “Ghosts are toast! Ghosts are toast!”

  “I wish they were ghosts,” George muttered. “Then they’d disappear.”

  Nancy saw Rebecca staring at the card. She had a dreamy look on her face. “My heroes!” Rebecca said.

  “Heroes?” Katie cried.

  “You mean zeroes!” George exclaimed. Rebecca waved the card in the air. “We need the Ghost Grabbers more than anything now,” she said. “To prove that Lizzie is a ghost.”

  “Why would you want to prove that Lizzie is a ghost?” Nancy asked.

  Rebecca smiled. “So she can be disqualified. Ghosts shouldn’t be allowed in talent shows. They can do things that we can’t.”

  Nancy shook her head. “Rebecca—”

  “Think of it, Nancy,” Rebecca said. “If Lizzie is disqualified, we’ll win first prize—and the shopping spree!”

  “But Lizzie is not a ghost!” Nancy insisted. “Everything on that poster is just a coincidence.”

  “Then prove it!” Rebecca said.

  “What?” Nancy asked.

  “You’re a detective,” Rebecca said. “And you probably brought your detective notebook with you, too.”

  Nancy could feel her blue detective notebook in her jacket pocket. It would be easy to prove that Lizzie wasn’t a ghost. So why not?

  “Okay, I’ll do it,” Nancy said. “Proving that Lizzie isn’t a ghost will be a cinch. I’ll start right now.”

  Nancy sat down in the old rocking chair. She pulled out her blue detective notebook and a small pencil. Turning to a clean page, Nancy wrote, “Lizzie Benson is Not a Ghost” on the top.

  “I know,” Nancy said. “I’ll write down all the things that Lizzie did that ghosts can’t do.”

  “Like what?” Rebecca asked.

  “Like sign autographs,” Bess said.

  “Good, Bess,” Nancy said. She wrote the word autograph on the page.

  “What else?” Katie asked.

  Nancy pressed her lips together as she thought. Then she snapped her fingers.

  “Lizzie must live somewhere,” Nancy said. “We can find out her address.”

  Katie reached into her small waist pouch. “I have a list of all the contestants and their addresses. I’ll bet Lizzie’s name is on it.”

  “Great!” Nancy smiled. She took the list and read the list of names. “Michael Rossi . . . Sally McGarrity . . . Ben Soto . . . Lizzie Benson!”

  “Where does she live?” Bess asked.

  Nancy stared at the list and gulped. “She lives at . . . Ten Tide Street.”

  Bess let out a shriek. “You mean the haunted house?”

  4

  Calling All Ghosts!

  Haunted house! Haunted house! Arrrk!” Lester squawked from his cage.

  Katie placed Lester’s cage on a small table. “Only a ghost would live there!”

  “It must be a mistake,” Nancy said. She pointed to the list. “And see? Lizzie wrote the name of her school. Ghosts don’t go to school.”

  Rebecca looked at the list. “River Grammar School? Never heard of it.”

  Bess, George, and Katie shook their heads, too.

  “Go ahead, Nancy,” Rebecca said. “Write the haunted house in your book.”

  “But I’m supposed to prove that Lizzie is not a ghost,” Nancy said.

  “I have an idea, Nancy,” Katie said. “Make a second page that says, ‘Lizzie Is a Ghost.’ Then, in the end, you can count which page has the most clues.”

  “Okay,” Nancy said. She wrote “Lizzie Is a Ghost” on the next page. Then she wrote, “Ten Tide Street.”

  “But I’m sure this will be the only ‘ghost’ clue,” Nancy added.

  “You are going into the old house, aren’t you, Nancy?” Rebecca asked.

  The thought of the old house with the peeling paint made Nancy shudder. “I don’t think so,” she said.

  Rebecca looked disappointed. “Detectives in the movies are always going into haunted houses. You’re not scared, are you?”

  “No!” Nancy insisted. “I just don’t like . . . cobwebs!”

  Katie grinned and raised her hand. “I have another idea.”

  “What?” the girls asked.

  “The old house is the first ghost clue,” Katie told Nancy.

  “So?” Rebecca asked.

  “So don’t go into the house until you have three more ghost clues,” Katie said.

  Nancy thought a moment. “That sounds fair to me.”

  “It does not,” Rebecca said. “The Tremendous Toys shopping spree is on Monday. You’re just wasting time.”

  She took off her feathery scarf and threw it on the carousel horse. Then she headed for the door.

  “Rebecca, wait!” Nancy called.

  But it was too late. Rebecca stormed out and slammed the door.

  “Don’t worry, Nancy,” George said. “Rebecca is just being an actress again.”

  “And you couldn’t give me a million scrunchies to go into that creepy old house,” Bess said.

  “You already have a million scrunchies, Bess,” George teased.

  Nancy stared at her notebook. “I’ll never get three more ghost clues. Because Lizzie is not a ghost.”

  “What are you going to do, Nancy?” Bess asked.

  “I wish I could talk to Lizzie,” Nancy said. “Maybe find her phone number.”

  “Forget the phone number,” Katie said. Her brown eyes were shining. “We can have a séance!”

  “What’s a séance?” George asked.

  “It’s where a bunch of people sit in a circle and talk to ghosts,” Katie explained. “I saw it on that TV show Creepy But True.”

  “But Nancy is supposed to prove that Lizzie is not a ghost!” Bess argued.

  “That’s the whole idea.” Katie grinned. “If Lizzie doesn’t speak to us, then we’ll know she isn’t a ghost.”

  Nancy sighed. She didn’t really want to have a séance. But it was better than going into the old house.

  “Okay,” Nancy said. She folded her arms across her chest. “But remember—I still don’t believe in ghosts!”

  George stared at t
he poster of Elizabeth Benson. “I think I do.”

  “So do I.” Bess shuddered.

  The door swung open. Toni, the woman who had mopped up the floor, marched in.

  “What are you girls doing in here?” she demanded.

  Nancy gulped. “Um . . . we’re just . . .”

  “We were looking for Lester,” Katie blurted out. She pointed to Lester’s cage. “There he is!”

  “Arrk!”

  “Hey! “Toni said. “I know that bird. He left cracker crumbs all over the floor backstage.”

  Lester blinked. “Ohhh, boy!”

  “We were just going,” Nancy said.

  “What a meany,” Bess whispered.

  “What a meany!” Lester squawked loudly. “What a meany! Arrrrk!”

  “What did he say?” Toni demanded.

  Nancy and her friends dashed out of the door and through the hall.

  “I’ll go home and get my room ready for the séance,” Katie said when they were outside. “It’ll be soooo cool.”

  “Thanks, Katie,” Nancy said. “We’ll be there right after lunch.”

  Mrs. Zaleski picked up Katie and Lester. Then Hannah picked up Nancy and her friends. Bess and George were going to have lunch at Nancy’s house.

  “Pizza muffins,” Nancy said happily as they sat at the kitchen table. “You’re the best, Hannah.”

  Hannah smiled as she placed a platter of pizza muffins on the table. She had been the Drews’ housekeeper since Nancy was only three years old.

  “Don’t mention it,” Hannah said. “It’s the least I can do for a real talent show winner—and her friends.”

  “Hannah?” Nancy asked as she reached for a pizza muffin. “Did you ever hear of a girl named Elizabeth Benson?”

  Hannah looked up. “Sure. She sang this song called ‘Gumdrop Garden.’”

  Nancy almost dropped her pizza muffin. She remembered the gumdrop charm around Lizzie’s neck.

  It’s got to be another coincidence, Nancy thought. It’s got to be!

  The girls finished lunch. Then they walked the few blocks to Katie’s house.

  Katie was waiting for them on her doorstep. She was wearing a colorful scarf on her head and big hoop earrings.

  “Welcome to my séance,” Katie said. “I am Madame Zaleski! I am a medium!”

  “No, you’re not,” Bess said. “You wear a size small, like me.”

  Katie looked annoyed. “No! A medium is someone who talks to ghosts.”

  Bess hugged Sparky. “Well, I hope they don’t talk back.”

  Nancy, Bess, and George followed Katie up to her room. There was a round table set up in the middle of the floor. The curtains were closed, making the room very dark.

  “Let’s sit down and join hands,” Katie instructed.

  Bess tossed Sparky onto Katie’s bed. Then the girls sat down and held hands.

  “Now close your eyes and concentrate very hard,” Katie said.

  Nancy squeezed her eyes shut. After a few seconds, she opened one eye. She could see Katie swaying back and forth.

  “Elizabeth! Elizabeth!” Katie called. “If you are in this room, give us a sign.”

  “What kind of sign?” George asked.

  “Say hello,” Katie suggested.

  Nancy listened. The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

  “It’s happening,” George whispered. “The table is shaking!”

  “Those are my hands,” Bess said. “This is giving me the creeps!”

  “Don’t be scared Bess,” Nancy said. “There are no ghosts in here.”

  “HEL-LO!”

  Nancy jumped. The voice seemed to come out of nowhere.

  “HEL-LO!”

  The girls jumped up from the table and screamed. They bumped into one another as they tried to run from Katie’s room.

  “It’s a ghost!” Katie cried.

  The curtains began to flutter.

  “Arrrk!”

  Lester flew out from behind the curtains. He landed on Katie’s head.

  “Hel-lo!” Lester squawked. “Hel-lo!”

  “It’s Lester!” George cried.

  Nancy was relieved. “You see? There are no ghosts in this room. Only parrots.”

  “Thank goodness!” Bess said. She fell back on Katie’s bed. She picked up Sparky and gasped.

  “What is it, Bess?” Nancy asked.

  Bess held up her autograph hound. “Lizzie Benson’s autograph! It’s gone!”

  5

  Disappearing Act

  What do you mean the autograph is gone?” Nancy asked. She ran over to Bess.

  “Lizzie signed her name right under Sparky’s ear,” Bess said. She lifted the dog’s floppy ear. “Now it’s gone. See?”

  Nancy looked at the dog. There was an empty spot where Lizzie’s autograph had been. But then she saw some writing on the other side.

  “Wait. There’s something written under his other ear,” Nancy said.

  “What does it say?” Katie asked.

  Nancy lifted the dog’s ear and sighed. “Made in China.”

  The girls were silent.

  “The autograph just disappeared,” George finally said.

  “It looks like a ghost clue to me,” Bess said slowly.

  “Two more to go,” Katie said. “Then we go into the old house. Remember?”

  Nancy shook her head. “There’s got to be a reason the autograph disappeared. We have to look for more clues.”

  “Where?” George asked.

  Nancy paced Katie’s room. “I’d like to go back to the River Heights Theater. Maybe we can get permission to ride our bikes there tomorrow.”

  “I can’t go,” Katie said. “I have to take Lester to a birthday party.”

  George wrinkled her nose. “Parrots go to birthday parties?”

  “Lester does,” Katie said proudly. “His best friend is going to be ninety-nine years old!”

  “Wow!” Nancy said. She knew that some parrots lived to be very old.

  Nancy, Bess, and George said goodbye to Katie and Lester. When they were outside, Nancy sat on a tree stump and wrote her new clue in her notebook.

  “If Lizzie is a ghost,” Bess said, “maybe she just wants to be our friend.”

  “She’d definitely be fun at sleepovers,” George said.

  “Why?” Nancy asked.

  George grinned. “Think of the awesome ghost stories she’d tell!”

  Nancy giggled as she closed her notebook. “I’d better go home now. I promised my dad I’d help rake leaves.”

  The three friends said goodbye. Then Nancy walked back home. She joined her dad in the yard and told him all about Lizzie Benson. Carson Drew was a busy lawyer, but he always had time to help Nancy with her detective cases.

  “I thought you didn’t believe in ghosts, Pudding Pie,” Mr. Drew said.

  “I don’t, Daddy,” Nancy said. She added some red and orange leaves to her pile. “But I keep finding clues that Lizzie might be a ghost.”

  Mr. Drew shook a few leaves off his rake. “Clues can be pretty tricky sometimes. That’s why it’s important to check out everything.”

  Nancy nodded. Then she remembered the sign-in sheet. “Daddy?” she asked. “Did you ever hear of River Grammar School?”

  “Sure,” Mr. Drew said. “It was an old elementary school. It was torn down about fifty years ago.”

  “Torn down?” Nancy gasped.

  Mr. Drew nodded. “There’s a parking lot where the school used to stand.”

  Nancy excused herself and ran up to her room. She sat on her bed and opened her detective notebook. Then she wrote the words Old school on the ghost page.

  “One, two, three,” Nancy counted out loud. “Three clues that say Lizzie is a ghost.”

  She fell back on her bed and groaned. “How can this be happening?”

  • • •

  Sunday morning Nancy, Bess, and George got permission to ride their bikes to the River Heights Theater. Nancy told her
friends all about the old school on their way to Main Street.

  “This is too weird, Nancy,” George said as they parked their bikes outside the theater.

  “I know,” Nancy said. “But I’m going to get to the bottom of this right now!”

  The girls walked up to the theater. Nancy saw a sign hanging outside. It said: Snow White. Show at 2:00 P.M.

  “It’s eleven o’clock now,” Nancy said, looking at her watch. “We have plenty of time to look for clues.”

  Nancy tried to open the main door. It was locked. The girls ran around the side of the building. They saw another door with the word Stage written across it.

  “Let’s try that one,” Nancy suggested. She ran to the stage door and twisted the doorknob.

  “It’s open,” Nancy said. The girls slipped through. They walked down a short hallway that led straight to the stage.

  “Neat!” Nancy said, looking around. The stage was filled with cardboard trees. There was a flat piece of scenery with a painting of a forest.

  “It’s Snow White’s forest!” Bess exclaimed.

  George pointed to the floor. “Looks like the seven dwarves were here. Check out the floor.”

  Nancy looked at the floor. It was covered with small dusty footprints.

  “These footprints are probably from the talent show yesterday,” she said.

  Nancy got down on her knees. She began to crawl around.

  “What are you doing, Nancy?” Bess asked.

  “I’m looking for Lizzie’s footprints,” Nancy said. “She was wearing cowboy boots so her footprints would be very pointy.”

  George shrugged. “So?”

  “If we find them, Lizzie can’t be a ghost,” Nancy told her. “The ghosts in the movies never leave footprints. Their feet never touch the ground.”

  The girls got down on their hands and knees and searched through the footprints.

  “I found it!” Nancy said. She pointed to a small pointy footprint. “See? There are no ghosts in this theater.”

  Bess tugged at Nancy’s sleeve. “Um, Nancy? What happened to Snow White’s pretty forest?” she asked.

  “What do you mean?” Nancy asked. She glanced over her shoulder and gasped. The scenery was gone.

  Suddenly the lights began to flicker. Then the stage began to move!