The Ghostly Mystery (2 page)

“That’s an evil ghost,” the man in the suit said.

“Hey, you!” a security guard from the back of the line called out. “Stop that!”

The guard was hurrying toward the ghost.

Another guard was running from the front of the line.

They chased the ghost away from the line and into the train station. The entrance to the station was just past the end of the line.

Lots of people were leaving the train station. They hurried past the ghost. Some smiled when they saw his costume.

The ghost walked up to a short old man wearing a bright yellow shirt. The man was bent slightly forward. He was holding papers and magazines to his chest. He didn’t seem to notice the ghost.

“Oh, no!” Aunt Molly said. “I hope he doesn’t scare that old man.”

But that’s just what the ghost did.

The ghost jumped in front of him. The ghost waved his arms and yelled, “Boo!”

The old man looked up and saw the ghost. The old man opened his mouth as if he was about to scream. But he didn’t. His hands fell to his sides. His papers and magazines scattered. The man clutched his heart and dropped to the ground.

Chapter Three

The old man’s arms and legs were stretched out. His glasses had fallen off. His newspapers and magazines were on the ground.

The guards and a few people from the line ran to the man. A teenaged girl was the first to get to him. She shook the man and said, “Get up! Get up!”

The man didn’t move.

“I knew it!” Aunt Molly said. “He was so scared that he had a heart attack.”

The ghost turned. He looked at the guards and the people. Then he ran off.

One of the guards and two teenagers chased after the ghost. But then the old man opened his eyes.

He moaned. “Oh! Oh! Help!”

The guard and the teenagers turned. They ran to the man.

The old man put his hand to his heart. He closed his eyes.

“I’ll call for an ambulance,” one guard told the other. “You stay here.”

The guard took a small telephone from his pocket. He spoke into it. He said there was an emergency. He spoke about the old man and gave his location.

“Step back,” the other guard said. “Give him air.”

“Just a minute,” the guard talking into the telephone said. He hurried to the old man. He bent close to the man’s face and listened.

Cam whispered to Eric, “He’s checking if the man is breathing.”

Then the guard picked up the man’s hand.

“Now he’s checking the man’s pulse,” Cam said.

The guard spoke into the telephone again.

“He’s breathing. His pulse is steady.”

The guard held the telephone close to his ear for another minute and listened. Then he put the telephone in his pocket.

The other guard called out, “Is there a doctor here?”

“I’m a baker,” someone said.

“I’m a teacher.”

“I run a large business,” the man in the suit said. “We sell cloth to stores all over the world.”

“This man needs a doctor, not someone who sells cloth,” the guard said.

“My cousin is a doctor,” one woman said, “and I know what to do. Raise the man’s head.”

“No. Raise his feet,” someone else said.

“Breathe into his mouth.”

“No. Just leave him alone.”

The guard looked at the old man. The old man took a deep breath. He opened his eyes. He looked at the guard and the crowd. He took another deep breath and closed his eyes again.

“Look,” Cam whispered. She pointed at the old man’s hair. “He’s wearing a wig. When he fell his hair moved. He has brown hair under a white wig.”

Sirens were blaring. They were getting louder. An ambulance drove up and stopped near where Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly were standing.

Two emergency medical people, a young man and a young woman, got out of the ambulance. They took out a stretcher and hurried to the old man.

“What happened here?” the young man from the ambulance asked.

“He fell,” someone said.

“He was scared and he fell.”

“Someone dressed as a ghost jumped in front of him and yelled, ‘Boo!’”

“He had a heart attack,” Aunt Molly said.

“Are you sure he had a heart attack? Are you a doctor?” the young man asked Aunt Molly.

“No. I work for an airline. I help people plan their vacations.”

The young man told his partner, “He may have just fainted. But we should take him to the emergency room for a full checkup.”

The old man opened his eyes and looked at the stretcher and ambulance. Then he spoke very softly.

“What did you say?” the young woman asked.

She told everyone to be quiet. Then she bent close to the old man.

The old man spoke again.

“I still can’t hear you,” the young woman said. “Could you speak louder?”

Suddenly someone shouted, “Help! Help! I’ve been robbed!”

Chapter Four

The shouts came from the front of the line.

Cam turned. Eric and the others standing around the old man turned, too.

“I’ve been robbed! I’ve been robbed!” a woman said as she walked quickly toward the two guards.

The guards walked to the woman. They knew her.

“Sally, what happened?” one of the guards asked.

“I was sitting in the ticket booth,” Sally said. “And someone pointed a gun at me.”

Sally wiped a tear from her cheek. “It was awful,” she said.

“What happened next?” a guard asked.

Sally took a deep breath and said, “He waved the gun and said, ‘Give me all the money.’”

Sally wiped away another tear.

“So I gave him everything in the cash box. I sold a lot of tickets this morning. I know there was a lot of money in that box.

“‘Now give me
your
money,’ he said.

“My purse was by the desk. I emptied it. He took my lunch money. He took the money for the train ride home. He took everything.”

One guard took the telephone from his pocket. He called the police and told them that there had been a robbery.

The other guard asked Sally, “Can you describe the thief?”

“He was about my height,” Sally said. “And he was wearing sneakers. I know that. But I never saw his face. He was wearing a ghost costume.”

“That ghost scared that poor old man, too,” someone said.

The old man was standing up now. He was listening to Sally.

“And he scared my child,” a woman said.

The guards walked with Sally to the ticket booth. Many of the people who had been listening walked back to the line.

Eric whispered, “That ghost sure made a lot of trouble.”

Aunt Molly said, “I never liked ghosts.” Eric and Aunt Molly walked to their place in line. Cam didn’t. She was still watching the old man.

The emergency medical people were holding the stretcher.

“I won’t get on that,” the old man said. “There’s nothing wrong with me.”

Cam looked at the old man. She blinked her eyes and said,
“Click.”

Sirens were blaring again. A police car drove up to the ticket booth. Two police officers got out of the car.

“Come on,” Eric said to Cam. He was on his way to the ticket booth.

Cam didn’t follow Eric. She watched the old man.

The young woman told the man, “You don’t have to get on the stretcher. But you must come with us to the hospital. You need to let a doctor take a look at you.”

“I’m not going to the hospital,” the man said as he stood. “I don’t need a doctor to poke at me and tell me what I already know. There’s nothing wrong with me.”

The man started to walk away. The young woman reached for his arm.

“Let me help you,” she said.

“Leave me alone,” the old man told her.

Then he walked toward the train station.

The emergency medical people watched the man leave. Then the young woman shook her head. She and the young man put the stretcher in the ambulance and drove off.

Cam walked to where the old man had been lying. Cam looked at the glasses, papers, and magazines the man had left behind. She closed her eyes and said,
“Click.”

Cam picked up the glasses. She looked through them and then put them in her pocket.

Eric ran to Cam.

“The police went to the train station. They’re looking for the ghost,” Eric said quickly.

Eric took a deep breath.

“With that costume on, he’ll be easy to find,” Eric said.

He took another deep breath.

“Eric,” Cam said slowly. “He’ll take off the ghost costume. That was the plan. Then it will be very hard to find him.”

Eric scratched his head and said, “You’re right.”

“If the police want to catch the thieves,” Cam said, “they should come with me. I’ll be looking for the old man.”

Chapter Five

“The old man?” Eric asked. “Why are you following him? He didn’t do anything.”

Cam said, “I think he did. I think he and the ghost are partners. They’re both thieves.”

Cam was walking quickly toward the train station. Eric had to run to keep up.

Many people were leaving the train station. They all seemed to be in a hurry. Cam and Eric were going the other way. It was difficult for them to get through the crowd.

“The old man had a heart attack. He almost died,” Eric said.

“No,” Cam told him. “He pretended to have a heart attack. He wanted everyone to run to him. That way the guards wouldn’t be near the ticket booth and couldn’t stop the holdup.”

Cam and Eric came to the train station entrance. A staircase led down into the station. It was a large and busy place. Cam was looking at the people below. She was trying to find the old man.

“Why do you think he’s a thief?” Eric asked.

“Because he was wearing a disguise, too,” Cam said. “That’s why.”