The Berenstain Bears and the Ghost of the Auto Graveyard (6 page)

“But why is there only one set of tracks?” Sister wondered. “
Eight
classic cars were stolen.”

But Barry had already found more tracks. He was bending down, hands on knees, examining them. “Classic, classic, classic …,” he said. “A whole bunch of tracks!”

“Look!” said Lizzy. “There's another dirt road that joins this one!” She pointed into the distance. “It goes off toward town. The other cars must have been brought in that way.”

“I'll bet they're all in there,” said Brother, pointing beyond the gate. “And I know who put them there.”

“Who?” asked Barry.

“Two-Ton Grizzly, of course,” said Brother. “He's a car thief, for sure. I suspected him of being a thief last week, but Papa and Gramps talked me out of it.”

“Why did you suspect Two-Ton of being a thief?” asked Lizzy.

“Tell you later,” said Brother. “We don't have any time to waste now.”

“Why?” said Sister. “What are we going to do?”

“Climb the fence and search,” said Brother.

Sister shivered. “You mean we have to go into the
auto graveyard?
” she gasped. “But it's almost dark …”

“Come on, Sis,” said Brother. “It's not a real graveyard.”

Sister thought hard. Finally, in a voice that was almost a whisper, she said, “Okay … I guess.”

Chapter 8

Ghosts?

It didn't take the Bear Detectives long to locate some of the stolen cars. Four of them, including Squire Grizzly's 1932 Bearsenburg and 1938 Grizzillac, were hidden not far from the back gate, amid piles of spare parts. But none of the other stolen cars were anywhere to be found.

Barry sat on a rusty old crankcase, shaking his head. “I can't understand it,” he said. “Where are the other four?”

“Maybe the thieves moved them somewhere else in town,” suggested Lizzy.

“What for?” said Brother. “This is the perfect hiding place.”

“Or took them out of town already,” added Sister.

“How?” said Cousin Fred. “The state police are watching all the roads. Remember, we're talking about cars, not airplanes.”

“Well,” said Brother, “at least we know who the crooks are now.”

You might think the cubs would be happy about solving the case. But they weren't.

“It's too bad about Two-Ton,” said Brother glumly.

“Yeah,” said Bonnie. “And Too-Tall, Too-Much, and Too-Too. I'll bet they were in on it.”

Sister shook her head sadly. “And we always thought Too-Tall was the only bad apple in the family barrel,” she said. “And even
he
wasn't all bad. Sometimes I even sort of liked the big guy.” She looked around the darkening lot and shivered again. It was already dusk. “Let's get out of here,” she said. “It's starting to get spooky.”

Just then the cubs let out a collective gasp. A flashlight was shining at them through the windows of a wrecked car.

“What are you creeps doing here?” It was Too-Tall's voice. The flashlight beam shifted to a nearby sign that read
TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED
. “Can't you read?”

“We can read, all right,” said Brother bravely. He pointed to the 1932 Bearsenburg. “But car thieves will be prosecuted, too!”

Too-Tall stepped out from behind the wrecked car and stared at the Bearsenburg. His eyes were as big as saucers. “You mean … you think my dad … is a car thief?” he stammered.

“Not just your dad!” said Brother. “Your mom, your sister … and
you
, too!”

“What?” gasped Too-Tall. “You can't be serious! If you don't take that back, I'm gonna clean up the graveyard
with you!
” He looked mad enough to do it, too.

“I don't think he's acting, guys,” Bonnie told the others.

“How can you tell?” asked Barry.

“Don't you remember him in the school play last year?” said Bonnie. “He's not that good an actor.”

“Oh, yeah?” snarled Too-Tall. “If you don't clear out of here, I'm gonna show you just how
bad
an actor I can be!”

“Oh, yeah yourself, you big goon!” said Brother. “We're gonna go get Chief Bruno and—”

“No, wait!” said Fred. “Bonnie might be right.”

“Then what about the stolen hood ornament and hubcaps Bonnie and I found here?” said Brother.

“Those?” said Barry. “If Two-Ton had stolen those, he would have gotten rid of them by now.”

Cousin Fred and Bonnie both agreed with Barry. That made Brother pause to think. Five different bears, including Gramps and Papa, had now said exactly the same thing about the stolen parts. Maybe he was wrong about Two-Ton and his family, after all. But there was one last bit of evidence that still bothered him.

“Then what about this?” said Brother. “When Bonnie and I were here earlier this week, Two-Ton said that he didn't like to be on the lot at night because he has poor night vision. But it was obvious he could see just fine. I thought it was a fishy story at the time. Now it seems even fishier. Like he was trying to set us up.”

“Set us up?” said Bonnie. “For what?”

“For thinking that he couldn't be the classic car thief,” said Brother. “He
knew
the Great Car Robbery would happen at night!”

Too-Tall just stared at Brother for a moment. Then he leaned close and said, “Don't you ever let on I told you this. But you've got it all wrong.”

“Then why did he make up that phony story about night vision?” said Brother. “He zipped through this lot at dusk like a cat after a mouse!”

“Because,” said Too-Tall, lowering his voice to a near whisper, “
he's afraid of the dark
.”

“Afraid of the dark?” said Brother. “Your dad? The biggest, strongest bear in Bear Country?”

“Yeah,” said Too-Tall. “That's why he was in such a hurry to get back to the office at dusk. He goes all to pieces in the dark. To cover it up, he tells folks he's got poor night vision. And if you ever tell anybody I said so, you're dead meat!”

Too-Tall seemed to relax a little. Was that because he thought he was fooling them? wondered Brother.

“He even sleeps with the dashboard lights on, you know,” Too-Tall went on. “But you shoulda seen him last night. He was really in top form. He woke up in the middle of the night, looked out of his bedroom windshield, and thought he saw a
ghost!
”

“Gh-gh-ghost?” said Sister.

“He said it was floating among the wrecked cars,” said Too-Tall. Then he leaned down toward Sister and shined the flashlight up at his own face. He grinned a wicked grin and hissed, “
The Ghost of the Auto Graveyard
… BOO!”

Sister shrieked and hid behind Brother.

“How do we know you're not making this whole thing up?” said Brother.

“Hold on, Brother,” said Fred. “Give the big guy a chance.” He turned to Too-Tall. “Did this so-called ghost do anything besides float around?”

“Who knows?” said Too-Tall. “Pop ran to wake up the rest of us as soon as he saw it. When we looked out our windows, guess what? There wasn't any ghost! Pure imagination.”

“
Pure
imagination?” said Bonnie, frowning. “I wonder … Four of the stolen cars aren't here anymore. The thieves must have taken them out last night. If Too-Tall's telling the truth, maybe Two-Ton saw one of them and his imagination turned him into a ghost.”

“Hmm,” said Brother. “If that's true, the crooks might come back tonight for the rest of the cars. But I'm still not sure I believe Too-Tall. I've heard him tell too many lies in my time. I'd better radio Chief Bruno and let him deal with it.”

“No!” said Too-Tall. “Don't do that! The chief'll come out here and question us Grizzlys till we're blue in the face. Maybe he won't believe us … maybe he'll even
arrest
us! It'll be in all the newspapers! And by the time the real crooks get caught, my dad's business will be ruined!”