The Ghostly Mystery (3 page)

Cam took out the glasses.

“Someone who wears glasses doesn’t forget them,” Cam said. “But he forgot these. Look through them. They’re just plain glass. They were part of his disguise.”

“And the wig,” Eric said. “Maybe that was part of his disguise, too.”

Cam told Eric, “Look for someone wearing a bright yellow shirt.”

“There he is,” Eric said and pointed.

Cam started to run down the steps.

“Wait!” Eric yelled as he ran after Cam. “Wait for me!”

Cam stopped on the landing in the middle of the staircase. She held out her arm. Eric stopped, too.

“He’s just standing there. He’s looking for something,” Cam said.

Eric leaned very close to Cam and whispered. “He may be dangerous. Shouldn’t we tell Aunt Molly where we are?” Eric asked.

“Shh!” Cam said. “Look.”

The old man went into a large coffee shop at the other end of the station.

“There must be bathrooms in there,” Cam whispered. “He’ll go in and take off his costume. Then we won’t be able to identify him. Maybe the ghost is already in there.”

Cam and Eric followed the old man into the coffee shop. They saw him enter a narrow hall on the other side of the shop. Above the hall was a restrooms sign.

Cam and Eric sat at a table.

“I’ll wait here,” Cam whispered. “When I see him leave the bathroom I’ll know what he really looks like. You go get the police.”

“Can I help you?” someone asked.

Cam looked up. A waiter was standing by the table.

“I’m not hungry,” Cam told him.

“This is a restaurant, not a waiting room,” the waiter said. He gave Cam and Eric menus. “I’ll be back to take your orders.”

Eric put his menu on the table and left the shop. Cam watched the hall leading to the bathroom.

The waiter returned to the table. “What would you like?” he asked.

“I’m waiting for someone,” Cam said.

Just then Eric returned. The two police officers were with him.

“Over here,” Cam called, and waved to them. “He went into the bathroom. He’s taking off his costume. If you follow him, I’m sure he’ll lead you to the ghost.”

The police walked to the bathrooms. Cam and Eric followed them.

The police went into the men’s room first. When they came out of the men’s room one of the officers was carrying a white wig and a yellow shirt.

The officers knocked on the door of the women’s room. When no one answered, they went in there, too.

Cam whispered to Eric, “Why are they going in there?”

The police came out of the women’s room. One of the officers was holding the mask and white sheet the ghost had worn.

The officers looked around. Then they pointed to an emergency exit at the other end of the narrow hallway.

“That’s where they went,” one of them said. And the two officers left through the emergency exit.

Chapter Six

“They took off their costumes. How will the police find them?” Eric asked.

Cam’s eyes were closed. She said,
“Click.
”

Cam said,
“Click,
” again.

“What are you looking at?” Eric asked.

“Do you have a pencil or pen? Do you have paper?” Cam asked with her eyes closed.

“I have a pen,” Eric said. “I’ll get paper.”

Eric started to walk off. He quickly came back.

“Don’t open your eyes,” Eric said. “I’ll be right back.”

Eric went into the bathroom. He came out with a paper towel.

“The ghost is a woman,” Cam said with her eyes closed. “We know that because the police found her costume in the women’s bathroom. Now I’m looking at the pictures I have of her in my head.

“Write this down,” she told Eric.

“She’s not too tall and not too short. She’s wearing white sneakers. She has long, thin fingers.”

Eric wrote Cam’s description on the paper towel.

“That’s it?” Eric asked.

“I can tell you more about the man,” Cam said. “He has brown hair, brown eyes, and bushy eyebrows. He has a small nose. And he’s wearing black pants with cuffs.”

Cam opened her eyes. She walked toward the emergency exit.

“Now we’ll find them,” she said.

“No, we won’t,” Eric told her. “We’ll give your descriptions to the police. They’ll find the thieves.”

Cam and Eric walked through the exit.

“Oh, my! Thank goodness I found you.”

It was Aunt Molly. She hugged Cam and Eric.

“I was standing in line,” Aunt Molly said, “and I asked myself, ‘Did I come here alone?’

“‘No,’ I answered myself.

“Then I remembered that you like to solve mysteries. I thought that maybe you followed the ghost into the train station. Thank goodness I found you.”

Cam wasn’t listening to her aunt. Cam was looking at the people in the train station. She was searching for the thieves.

“Look,” Cam said. “There’s a woman wearing white sneakers. And the man with her has brown hair. He’s wearing black pants with cuffs.”

Cam ran to the couple.

“Stop! Stop!” Aunt Molly shouted.

Some people in the station stopped. But Cam didn’t. She kept running until she was standing near the couple.

Cam looked at them. They looked at her. Then Cam walked back to Eric and Aunt Molly.

“They weren’t the thieves,” Cam said. “The man didn’t have bushy eyebrows.”

“We didn’t come here to catch thieves,” Aunt Molly told them. “We came to buy concert tickets.”

Aunt Molly pointed to the stairs and said, “Let’s go uptown.”

Aunt Molly shook her head. “Oh, my. I said that wrong. I meant to say let’s go upstairs.”

Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly walked toward the staircase. Cam kept looking for the thieves.

“There they are,” Eric said. He pointed to the two police officers. “I’m giving them this paper towel.”

“Why are you giving them a towel?” Aunt Molly asked. “Are their hands wet?”

Eric told Aunt Molly that on the towel were descriptions of the thieves. Then he showed it to the police officers.

“Thank you,” one of the officers said. “But I don’t think this will be much help. We can’t stop every woman we see wearing white sneakers.”

Aunt Molly looked down and said, “I’m wearing white sneakers and I’m not a thief. I work for an airline.”

“And I have brown hair and bushy eyebrows,” the officer told Aunt Molly.

The other officer put the paper towel in his pocket. “My name is Officer Kent,” he said. “My partner is Officer Feldman. Please call us if you remember anything else that might be helpful.”

He wrote his name and the telephone number of the police station on his notepad. He gave the paper to Eric.

Cam’s eyes were closed.

She said,
“Click.”

“Let’s go,” Aunt Molly said. “Let’s get back in line.”

Cam’s eyes were still closed. Eric held her hand and led her to the staircase.

Eric whispered to Cam, “Take a step.”

Cam stepped up. Then she said,
“Click,”
again.

“Take another step.”

Cam took another step.

Cam said,
“Click,”
a few more times as Eric led her up the stairs.

“Now we have to find the man in the cloth business, the one wearing the suit,” Aunt Molly said. “I asked him to save my place in line.”

“That’s it!” Cam said. She opened her eyes. “I know how to catch those thieves.”

Chapter Seven

Cam told Eric, “I
clicked
and looked at the old man. When he first came out from the station he was holding papers and magazines.”

“That may have been part of the plan,” Eric said. “Those papers and magazines fell. Then it really seemed like the man was having a heart attack.”

Cam said, “Many magazines are not sold at newsstands. They have a name and address on the cover. They are mailed to people at their homes.”