The Secret in the Spooky Woods Read online

  Wrrruff! Wrrruff!

  Yip!

  Nancy blinked. “Chip?” she called uncertainly. The first few barks had sounded normal. But why was the last one so high-pitched and weird?

  “Was that her?” George asked in surprise.

  Nancy shrugged. “Maybe,” she said. “I hope she’s not hurt or something.”

  “Maybe it wasn’t her at all.” Bess’s eyes were wide and scared. “Maybe it was a ghost dog! That could be what lured her away—Chip loves other dogs, remember?”

  “I think the barks are coming from that way.” Nancy pointed down the newly cleared trail. “Come on, let’s find her.”

  They ran down the trail. It had even more twists and turns than the main trail. Nancy called to Chip several more times, and each time the answering barks got louder. The small yips were still mixed in with normal barks.

  “We’re getting close,” Nancy cried. “Hurry!”

  A moment later they rounded another turn in the trail. There was a clearing just ahead. Chip was trotting across it, coming straight toward them!

  “Chip!” Nancy raced forward and grabbed her puppy in a big hug. “Are you okay?”

  Chip licked Nancy’s face. Her tail wagged back and forth.

  “She looks okay,” George said. “Maybe she was just scared. That’s probably why her barks sounded strange.”

  “Or maybe the ghost dog is here right now,” Bess whispered, staring around the clearing. “It could be invisible!”

  Nancy didn’t believe in ghost dogs any more than she believed in any other kind of ghost. She was just happy that Chip was safe and sound.

  She realized she had left the puppy’s leash back on the soccer field. She grabbed Chip’s collar.

  “Come on,” she said. “We’d better go back and—”

  Before she could finish her sentence, laughter poured out of the woods nearby. It sounded muffled, but very loud. A second later a big, round rock rolled out of a clump of bushes and right across the clearing in front of the girls!

  “It’s the ghosts!” Bess shrieked. She turned and raced back down the trail at top speed.

  George and Nancy followed her. “Bess, wait!” Nancy yelled, still holding onto Chip’s collar as the dog ran beside her. Her heart was pounding. She might not believe in ghosts, but that laughter sounded pretty spooky. “Slow down!”

  But Bess didn’t slow down at all until she was out of the woods by the soccer field. She was panting and trembling when Nancy and George caught up to her.

  “D-d-d-did you s-s-see that?” Bess cried. “Did you h-h-hear that spooky laughter?”

  “What happened?” Jason ran up to them, followed by the other boys. “Did you see any ghosts?”

  Nancy was already looking for Chip’s leash. She wanted to make sure her puppy didn’t run off again before she did anything else.

  “Hey!” a man’s voice shouted loudly from somewhere nearby. “What are you kids doing? That dog needs to be on a leash!”

  Nancy looked up and saw a tall, thin man hurrying toward them with an angry expression on his face. He stopped just a few yards from Nancy and Chip.

  “You there,” he said loudly, pointing at Nancy. “That mutt has to be on a leash at all times!”

  “I’m sorry,” Nancy said. She was surprised by how angry the man looked. She finally found Chip’s leash and picked it up in her left hand. She was still holding the puppy’s collar with her right hand. “I didn’t know that was a park rule. I’ll remember from now on.”

  The man scowled at her. Chip barked at him and wagged her tail. Without a word, the man spun on his heel and stomped away into the woods.

  “Wow,” Bess said. “Who was that guy? He seemed really mad.”

  “That’s Mr. Garrison,” Mike Minelli spoke up. “He’s the new park ranger. He just started working here last weekend.”

  Jason nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “He hates kids. He’s always yelling at us and trying to ruin our fun. He almost made Jennifer Young cry yesterday.”

  “Why would he get a job at the park if he hates kids?” George wondered.

  “I don’t know, but it’s true.” A fourth-grader named Greg Karoli stepped forward. “He lives two doors down from me. One time my sister and I were playing Frisbee with our next-door neighbor’s dog in their backyard. We accidentally tossed the Frisbee too far and it went in Mr. Garrison’s yard. He came out and said if we did it again, he was going to call the police!”

  “Bummer,” Nancy said. “The park should have someone nicer working for it.”

  She hoped the new park ranger wouldn’t spoil all their fun. Maybe he would be more pleasant if they all followed the rules. She decided that from now on, she would always keep Chip on her leash at the park.

  Just then Nancy remembered that she was still holding the leash in one hand and Chip’s collar in the other. As the other kids kept talking about the new park ranger, she bent over to attach the leash to the collar.

  As she did, she noticed that something was wrapped around Chip’s collar. It looked like a folded piece of paper.

  She pulled it loose and unfolded it. There were a few words written on it in spidery-looking handwriting. Nancy gasped when she read them.

  “What is it?” George asked, hearing her.

  Nancy held up the slip of paper. “There was a note on Chip’s collar,” she said. “It says, ‘Stay out of the woods—or else!’”

  4

  Mean Mr. Garrison

  That proves it!” Bess cried. “It was the ghosts!”

  Nancy had to admit that for a second, back in the woods, she had wondered if ghosts might be real after all. But now that the moment of fright was past, she was thinking more clearly. She was sure that someone—a person—was definitely behind all the “ghostly” behavior.

  “Come on,” she told her friends, tucking the note into her notebook to examine later. “It’s getting late. We need to go home for dinner.”

  • • •

  A little later, Nancy was sitting at the dinner table in her house playing with the lima beans on her plate. Her father was sitting at the head of the table. Hannah Gruen was sitting across from Nancy. Hannah had been the Drews’ housekeeper since Nancy was three years old.

  Hannah and Nancy’s dad were talking about a case at Mr. Drew’s law office. Normally Nancy loved hearing about her father’s work. But at the moment she wasn’t listening. She was still thinking about the spooky encounter at the park.

  “Are you okay, Pudding Pie?” Mr. Drew asked. Pudding Pie was his favorite nickname for Nancy.

  “I’m okay,” Nancy said. “I was just thinking about something that happened today.”

  “What’s that, Nancy?” Hannah asked, helping herself to more potatoes.

  “Bess and George and I were talking to some kids at school,” Nancy explained. “They said the park was haunted.”

  “Haunted?” Mr. Drew raised one eyebrow in surprise. “Why do they think that?”

  “Some kids say they saw weird lights or heard noises and footsteps,” Nancy said. “At first I thought they were just making up stories to scare Bess.”

  Mr. Drew chuckled. “Poor Bess,” he said. “Did you tell her ghosts aren’t real?”

  “I tried,” Nancy said. “But then when we went to the park after school, something happened. I think I have a real mystery to solve.”

  She went on to tell her father and Hannah everything. She tried not to leave anything out. Her father was always telling her to pay attention to details, and that’s what she did when she was working on a case.

  “Hmm,” Mr. Drew said when she finished the story. “Very interesting, Nancy. It sounds like Bess really believes there are ghosts in the woods. Do you believe that’s possible?”

  Nancy thought for a second. A lot of strange things had happened—Chip running off, the spooky laughter, the mysterious rolling rock. In some ways, it really did make sense to think that ghosts were behind it all.

  But finally she
shook her head. “No. I don’t believe in ghosts,” she said. “I think it might be someone pretending to be a ghost.”

  Hannah smiled. “Smart girl,” she commented, standing up to carry some empty dishes to the kitchen.

  Mr. Drew looked pleased too. “Then all you have to do is figure out who’s trying to scare people. Who do you think would do something like that?” Mr. Drew said.

  “Well, it could be Jason and his friends from school,” Nancy said, twirling her spoon between her fingers. “They like to play pranks on people, especially girls.”

  Hannah returned from the kitchen just in time to hear her. “That sounds like a good answer to me,” she said, taking her seat at the table. “Those boys are full of mischief.”

  Nancy was thinking about the boys. “It was Jason who started talking about the ghosts at school,” she remembered. “And he was at the park later. But how could he have made those spooky noises and written that note I found on Chip’s collar? He was playing soccer the whole time I was in the woods.”

  “Maybe it was one of his friends,” Mr. Drew suggested.

  Nancy shrugged. “Most of them were playing soccer too,” she said. “Wait! Except for David Burger—I don’t remember seeing him. Maybe he was hiding in the woods waiting for us.”

  “Sounds like a good theory to me,” Hannah said.

  Nancy stared at her almost-empty plate. She still wasn’t sure what to think about her new mystery. Maybe the boys had done it. But if so, how had they gotten Chip to run into the woods? And how had they known that Nancy and her friends would come to the park that day at all?

  “Well, whoever did it, they almost got me in big trouble,” Nancy said. “There’s a new park ranger, Mr. Garrison. He was really mad about Chip running around loose.”

  “Do you mean Hank Garrison?” Hannah smiled. “Oh yes, that’s right—he told me he was starting his new job at the park.”

  “You know him?” Nancy asked in surprise.

  Hannah nodded and took a sip of water. “He’s in my garden club,” she said. “He’s a wonderful man—very kind and thoughtful, with a terrific sense of humor.”

  “Maybe we aren’t thinking of the same person,” Nancy said. She couldn’t imagine such a grumpy man even smiling, let alone having a good sense of humor. “Do you know if he maybe doesn’t like kids?”

  Hannah seemed surprised at the question. “Hmm . . . I’m not sure,” she said. “He and his wife don’t have any of their own—just a few pet birds, I think. But I’ve never heard him say a bad word about kids. Why do you ask?”

  Nancy shrugged. “He didn’t seem very friendly today when we saw him, that’s all,” she murmured.

  She thought back to the angry look on Mr. Garrison’s face. It just didn’t match what Hannah was saying at all.

  Weird, Nancy thought. Just like this whole case.

  • • •

  The next morning Nancy called Bess and George to see if they wanted to go to the park again. The girls agreed to go. It was Saturday, so they had all day to work on the mystery. This time she decided to leave Chip at home.

  As they walked toward the park, Nancy told her friends about her dinner conversation with her father and Hannah. “Maybe the boys are doing it,” she said. “I wrote their names down on my suspect list.”

  She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and pulled out her notebook. She showed her friends the page where she’d written down her list of suspects. It read:

  Suspect #1: Jason and his friends (trying to scare girls)

  “Is that the only suspect we have?” Bess asked, reading the short list. “I don’t think it counts as a list if there’s only one person on it.”

  “That was all I could come up with yesterday,” Nancy said. “But I spent all last night thinking about the case, and I might have one more suspect to add.”

  She pulled a pen out of her pocket and wrote down another suspect:

  Suspect #2: Brenda Carlton

  “Brenda?” George said. “Why her?”

  “I was trying to figure out who could have sneaked into the woods after us,” Nancy explained. “I thought about everyone we saw when we got to the park. Then I tried to remember everyone we saw when we came out of the woods.”

  “I saw Brenda when we first got there,” Bess said. “She was over at the water fountain.”

  Nancy nodded. “Right,” she said. “But I don’t remember seeing her later.”

  “Are you sure?” Bess asked. “Anyway, why would Brenda want to scare us?”

  George gasped. “I know!” she cried. “The Carlton News. She was just saying how boring it is around here these days. Maybe she’s trying to make people think the park is haunted so she can write about it!”

  Nancy smiled. “That’s exactly what I was thinking,” she said. She added another note to her list so it read:

  Suspect #2: Brenda Carlton (needs exciting story for Carlton News)

  They started walking again and soon reached the park entrance. “Are we forgetting anybody?” Nancy asked as they walked through the gates. “Who else would want people to think the woods are haunted?”

  Before her friends could answer, there was a shout. “Hey! You there!”

  Nancy looked up and saw Mr. Garrison hurrying toward them. Once again, his face was angry.

  “What’s he so grumpy about this time?” George whispered.

  Mr. Garrison didn’t hear her. He stopped in front of them, his fists clenched at his sides. “I told you, no dogs off the leash!” he yelled. “Where is that mutt of yours? It better not be running around loose again!”

  “Don’t worry,” Nancy said quickly. “I didn’t bring Chip with me today. She’s at home.”

  “Oh.” Mr. Garrison scowled. “Good. I hope that means at least one of you kids understands that rules are there for a reason.” He shook his head and muttered under his breath, “Course, my job would be a lot easier if I didn’t have to deal with kids who don’t understand that.”

  He turned and hurried off without waiting for an answer. Nancy, Bess, and George stared at each other in surprise.

  “That was weird. Sounds like he really doesn’t want kids in the park,” Bess said.

  Nancy nodded and pulled out her notebook. “You’re right,” she said. “And I think we just found ourselves another suspect!”

  5

  Poodles and Clues

  As Nancy wrote Mr. Garrison’s name on her suspect list, she heard Bess squeal with delight.

  “Look!” Bess cried. “What an adorable puppy!”

  Nancy looked where Bess was pointing. On a grassy spot near the old maple tree, Jennifer Young was sitting on the ground playing with a cute little poodle puppy.

  “That must be the puppy she was talking about at school yesterday,” George said.

  They hurried over. “Hi, Jennifer,” Nancy said. “Is that Princess?”

  “Uh-huh.” Jennifer grabbed the playful puppy and held her up. “Isn’t she cute?”

  Nancy reached out carefully to pat Princess. The poodle puppy was much smaller than Chip had been when Nancy first got her. Princess’s eyes looked like tiny, shiny black buttons. Her paws ended in tiny little claws. Her wriggling, moist nose was tiny. Even the sparkly pink barrette Jennifer had attached to the curly hair on top of Princess’s head was tiny.

  “She’s so sweet!” Bess told Jennifer, tickling the poodle pup under her chin. “I love her.”

  “Thanks.” Jennifer smiled. “So are you guys here to look for more ghosts? Jason told me one chased you out of the woods yesterday. That must have been so scary!”

  Nancy frowned. “Jason said that?” she said. “Well, I still don’t believe it was a ghost. I think it was a person.”

  “Really?” Jennifer said. “I don’t know, it sure seems like ghosts to me.” She glanced around the park, which was filled with people, including lots of kids. “But maybe you’re right. Come to think of it, I saw Brenda Carlton hanging around the edge of the woods a little while
ago.” She pointed to Brenda, who was sitting on a bench over near the playground.

  “Brenda?” Nancy repeated. She traded a look with Bess and George. This sounded like a clue! “Tell me more.”

  Jennifer shrugged and scratched Princess under the chin. “I didn’t see much. She was by herself, and kept stepping into the woods and then right back out again. Then that mean new park ranger came and chased her away.”

  “Interesting.” Nancy pulled out her notebook and wrote down “Brenda hanging around near the woods by herself” on her clues list. “Sounds like we should look into this a little more.”

  “Are you sure, Nancy?” Bess said. She was staring toward the soccer field. Jason and his friends were there again, kicking a ball around and shouting happily. “I still think it’s probably those boys.”

  “What boys?” Jennifer asked. She followed Bess’s gaze. “You mean Jason and Mike and those guys?”

  George nodded. “They’re the first ones who told us about the ghosts,” she said. “We think they might be trying to scare people as a joke.”

  “That makes perfect sense! You’re probably right.” Jennifer shrugged and set Princess back down on the grass. “Mystery solved. The best thing to do is to ignore them—if you just act like you don’t care anymore, they’ll stop soon enough, right?”

  “I guess,” Nancy said. “If they’re the ones doing it.”

  “Oh, I’m sure they are,” Jennifer said. She kneeled down beside her puppy. “Hey, check this out—I’m trying to teach Princess some commands. She’s a really fast learner. Yesterday she learned ‘come’ in less than an hour. I used my new dog whistle.” She pointed to a silver whistle hanging on a string around her neck. “Today we’re working on a different command. SIT, Princess! SIT!”

  The tiny puppy jumped up and down and barked. Even her bark was tiny—it sounded like she was saying Yip! Yip! Then she rolled over on her back.

  Bess giggled. “That’s cute.”

  “When I started training Chip to sit, she did the same thing,” Nancy told Jennifer. “It helps if you push on their back end a little bit when you say the command.”