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Authors: David A. Adler

The Mystery at the Haunted House (3 page)

BOOK: The Mystery at the Haunted House
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“Look,” Cam said, “there's a police officer.”
Cam ran to the officer. She came back a few minutes later and told Aunt Katie, “She says we should go to the security office. She told me where it is. Follow me.”
The security office was in a small building near the merry-go-round. Cam, Eric, Aunt Katie, and Uncle George went inside.
“Oh, my,” Aunt Katie said. “There's a line here, too.” Aunt Katie and Uncle George got in line, right behind a woman in a blue dress.
Cam and Eric went to the park entrance. Many people were coming into the park. Cam tried to push one of the turnstiles to go out. A man on the other side was pushing it in.
“It doesn't go that way,” the man said.
“Come on,” Eric said. “We have to go through the gate over there. But first we have to get our hands stamped, so we can come back in.”
At the gate, a woman pressed a rubber stamp onto an ink pad and then onto the backs of Cam's and Eric's hands.
“There's nothing on my hand,” Cam said.
The woman said, “Yes, there is. When you're ready to come back into the park, I'll pass your hands under a special light. Then you'll see what I stamped. You'll be surprised.”
Cam and Eric walked through the gate. Cam was still looking at her hand.
There were several ticket booths. Eric pointed to one and said, “This is it. This is where Aunt Katie bought the tickets. It had the shortest line.”
Cam and Eric walked to the front of the line. A man surrounded with children was next.
“We don't want to buy tickets,” Eric told the man.
“I don't want to buy tickets, either. But it's the only way to get into the park.”
“We were already in the park,” Eric said. “Look at my hand. It's stamped.”
The man looked at Eric's hand and smiled. “There's nothing on your hand, but you can go ahead of me.”
Cam closed her eyes and said, “Click.”
Eric said to the ticket seller, “My friend's aunt was here about two hours ago. We think she may have left her wallet.”
“Click.”
“I have a credit card that someone forgot, and two pens, a newspaper, and a magazine, but no wallet.”
“Eric,” Cam said, “Eric, I know where Aunt Katie's wallet is. She didn't leave it somewhere. It was stolen and I know who took it.”
Chapter Five
 
 
 
 
 
“W
ho was it? Who stole her wallet?” Eric asked.
“Those roller-skating boys, the ones who knocked Aunt Katie down. They took it. Pickpockets work like that, in teams. They bump into people and reach into their pockets or handbags. Come on. We have to find them.”
Cam walked to the turnstiles.
“May I have your ticket, please?” the guard standing there said.
“We were in already. Our hands were stamped.”
The guard pointed to the left and said, “You have to go to the re-entry gate.”
Cam and Eric ran to the gate.
“You're back here so soon,” the woman there said. “Now you'll see what I stamped on your hand. Every day I use a different stamp.”
She held Cam's hand under a small lamp.
“It's a frog sitting on a lily pad,” Cam said.
“Yesterday I used my stamp of a rabbit eating a carrot.”
Eric passed his hand under the lamp. Then he asked Cam, “Where do we look for them?”
“They were skating along this path. They probably still are.”
Cam and Eric walked past a popcorn wagon, a shop selling posters and post-cards, and the racing car ride. Cam was walking quickly. Eric had to hurry to keep up with her.
“Why are we looking for them?” Eric asked. “Why don't we just tell one of the guards? They have walkie-talkies. They could find the boys real fast.”
Cam turned while she was walking and told Eric, “Because I don't know for sure that they stole the wallet. I
clicked,
but I don't have a picture of them taking it.”
“Watch it! Watch where you're going,” a man said. Cam had bumped into him.
“I'm sorry,” Cam said. She walked more slowly now, and looked ahead as she spoke to Eric.
“We'll follow them. As soon as they knock into someone, we'll check if his wallet is missing. If it is, we'll know those boys are the thieves. Then we'll tell the guards.”
Eric smiled. “Did you take his wallet?”
“Whose?”
“That man you bumped into. We're a team. We're walking together and you bumped into that man. Did you take his wallet?”
“Of course not! But that's why we have to see what happens when those skaters bump into someone else. Maybe I'm wrong.”
Cam and Eric walked past small shops selling magic tricks, stuffed animals, and children's books. They walked past the Spinning Hat ride and a very long line of people waiting to ride the roller coaster.
Suddenly Cam ran ahead, pointing and shouting. “Look! Look! There they are!”
The two boys were skating on a path around a small pond. There were ducks, geese, and a few swans in the pond. Cam ran after the boys. Eric followed her.
The boys skated past a woman and her two children. They skated between a man and his son.
Cam almost bumped into the man. “Excuse me,” she said.
“Excuse me, too,” Eric said.
The boys skated past a man who was throwing bread crumbs to the ducks, geese, and swans. The noise of the skates scared them and a few of the ducks flew off.
Eric stopped running. He sat on a bench and stretched out his legs. When Cam saw him there, she stopped, too.
“I can't keep up with them,” Eric said to Cam.
“Neither can I.”
They sat on the bench and watched the boys skate around the pond. A few people had to move quickly to get out of their way. One woman yelled at the boys, but they didn't stop. They skated faster and faster until they knocked into a man selling balloons. When he fell to the ground, one of his balloons flew off.
Cam jumped up from the bench. “You help the man,” she told Eric. “Then check if his wallet has been stolen. I'll get someone from security.”
One of the boys reached out his hand and said to the man, “Let me help you up.”
The man pushed his hand away and said, “Don't help me. Just take off those skates. You boys are a danger.”
“I'll help you,” Eric said.
The man reached out and held onto Eric's hand and pulled himself up.
“We're sorry,” one of the boys said. Then both boys skated off.
Cam ran past the shops. Then, near the Spinning Hat ride, she saw a security guard. Just as Cam reached the guard, the boys skated past.
Trill. Trill.
The guard blew his whistle. He ran after the boys. Cam followed him.
“Stop that! Stop skating.”
The guard couldn't keep up with the boys. He waved his arms at them, but they didn't seem to notice. The guard stopped running. He took the walkie-talkie off his belt, and spoke into it.
“This is Frankie in Section Four. Two teenage boys just skated past me toward the roller coaster. Maybe you can stop them. I couldn't.”
“They bumped into my aunt,” Cam told the guard. “They knocked her down and ...”
“Wait! Wait!”
Cam turned. Eric was running toward her.
“Don't tell him!” he called out. “Don't tell him!”
Chapter Six
 
 
 
 
 
W
hen Eric reached Cam, he took a deep breath and said, “They didn't take his wallet. The man still has it.”
The guard was a tall, thin man. He looked down at Cam and asked, “Do you have something else to tell me?”
“No.”
The guard spoke into his walkie-talkie again. “This is Frankie in Section Four. I'm going back to my post,” he said. Then he walked back to the Spinning Hat ride.
“What do we do now?” Eric asked.
“Let's go back to the security office. Aunt Katie and Uncle George may be worried about us.”
They walked past the Spinning Hat ride. Children sitting in the hats were laughing and shouting as they spun around. People on the log ride and on the merry-go-round seemed to be having a good time, too.
“You know,” Eric said, “every time I go someplace with you, something seems to happen. I'd rather spin around in a hat, or sit in a log floating in water than chase two boys on roller skates.”
Aunt Katie and Uncle George had answered some questions and signed some papers, but they hadn't found the wallet. They were outside the security office waiting for Cam and Eric.
BOOK: The Mystery at the Haunted House
12.19Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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