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Authors: David A. Adler

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BOOK: The Mystery at the Haunted House

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“We won't let this ruin our day,” Aunt Katie said. “Let's go on some more rides. When we're ready to leave the park, we'll stop at the Lost and Found department. I'm sure my wallet will turn up.”

Eric said, “I'd like to go on the Spinning Hat ride. It looks like lots of fun and I know just where it is.”

As they followed him to the ride, Aunt Katie said, “I wasn't the only one who lost a wallet today. The woman just ahead of me in line lost her wallet, too.”

Cam stopped walking. She closed her eyes and said,
“Click.”

Eric, Aunt Katie, and Uncle George stopped and watched Cam.

“Click.”

Cam opened her eyes. She smiled and walked ahead.

Cam stopped when they came to the Haunted House. “Let's go through here again,” she said. “It was fun before and the line is short now.”

Eric did not want to go through the house again, but Cam insisted. After a few minutes, the doors opened and they went inside.

Eric smiled at the painting with the moving eyes. When the low, deep voice said, “Welcome to my home,” Eric said, “Thank you.”

A door creaked open. Someone screamed, “Help! Help!” Then a toy black cat jumped off the shelf at them. Eric waved his arms at the cat and yelled, “Boo!”

“Oh, my,” Aunt Katie said. “You didn't scare the cat, but you did scare me.”

They followed the small purple lights past spiderwebs and creaking furniture. The chair walked past them again and the walls seemed to be falling down. Then a door opened and they were outside.

“That wasn't as scary the second time,” Aunt Katie said.

“It wasn't scary at all,” Eric said. “Now let's go to the spinning hats. That will be fun.”

Eric started to walk ahead.

“Stop!” Uncle George called. “Where's Cam?”

Aunt Katie and Eric looked around.

“Oh, my,” Aunt Katie said. “She never came out of that house.”

Chapter Seven

A
unt Katie went to the guard standing by the exit and said, “My niece went through with us and she's still in there. She may be lost, or hurt.”

“How old is she?”

“Ten.”

“She's old enough to follow the lights. Don't worry. No one gets lost in the house. Some people just take longer than others to go through it.”

Eric, Aunt Katie, and Uncle George waited outside the exit door. Some of the people coming out of the Haunted House looked scared. Others came out smiling and laughing.

Aunt Katie looked at her watch.

The door opened. More people came out, but Cam wasn't with them.

Aunt Katie looked at her watch again. Uncle George patted her hand and said, “Don't worry.”

Aunt Katie took a few steps to the left. She turned and took a few steps to the right. As she walked, she talked. “Maybe she fell. Maybe the black cat scared her, or the moving eyes, and she fainted. I'm going back in there. I'm getting in line and going back in.”

Just then the door opened. A woman, two children, a young man, and Cam came out of the house.

Aunt Katie ran to her. “Oh, I was so worried,” she told Cam.

“Shh!”

“I thought you were hurt, or maybe lost.” Shh!” Cam said again and pointed to the young man ahead.

He was wearing a black shirt, black pants, black shoes. He was carrying a small shopping bag. Cam followed him through the crowd. Aunt Katie, and Uncle George followed Cam. When they came to the main path, where there was more room to walk, Cam didn't follow the young man as closely.

“Get one of the security guards,” Cam whispered to Eric. “He's the one who stole Aunt Katie's wallet. He stole lots of other people's wallets, too.”

Eric and Aunt Katie went into the security office. Cam and Uncle George followed the man through the gate to the parking lot.

The young man went to a small green car. He opened the trunk and emptied the shopping bag into it. He looked around and then walked back toward Cam and Uncle George.

Uncle George didn't want the young man to know he was watching him. He quickly went to one of the public telephones. He picked up the receiver and talked into it. “Yes, Ruthie.”

The man walked past Cam and Uncle George to the re-entry gate.

“Shouldn't we follow him?” Uncle George whispered.

“We don't have to. I know just where he's going.” Cam smiled. “You can finish your telephone call to Ruthie.”

“What?” Uncle George looked at the telephone he was still holding. “Oh,” he said, and hung up.

Cam waited a minute. Then she said, “We can go now.”

At the re-entry gate, Cam passed her hand under the small lamp. The woman said to Uncle George, “You're lucky. I remember you so you can go in again, but you should have had your hand stamped. Take a look at the stamp I used today. It's cute.”

Cam passed her hand under the small lamp again. Uncle George looked at it. “It's a frog sitting on a lily pad,” Cam said.

Cam and Uncle George met Eric and Aunt Katie outside the security office. Two security guards were with them. One guard was short and had a long curly beard. The other guard was a woman with long blonde hair.

Cam said to them,“I'll bet a lot of people came to you today and told you their wallets had been stolen.”

“Yes.”

“Well, if you follow me, I'll take you to the thief. I know just where he's hiding.”

Chapter Eight

T
hey all followed Cam to the Haunted House. Cam walked quickly. She also talked quickly.

“Aunt Katie gave me the first clue. She said the woman ahead of her at the security office had lost her wallet, too. Well, I said,
Click.
I had seen that woman with the blue dress before. I had a picture of her stored in my head. She was the same scared woman we saw coming out of the Haunted House.

“I said
Click
again. I remembered that someone jumped out at Aunt Katie. He must have jumped out at that woman, too. That's why she was so scared.

“People thought the man dressed in black was there to scare them. He wasn't. He hid in the dark and stole from them. I watched him do it.”

They had reached the Haunted House. The guards walked to the front of the line with Cam. The short guard went to the exit door. The guard with the long blonde hair told the guard at the house not to let anyone in.

They waited for people to leave the Haunted House. Then the guard with the blonde hair said to Cam, “I'm Mary. Can you show me where the thief is hiding?”

Cam and Mary walked into the Haunted House. Mary turned on the lights.

“He's not in here,” Cam said. “He's in the next room.”

Cam followed Mary through the creaking door. Mary turned on the light.

“There he is,” Cam said and pointed. “Behind that curtain.”

The man dressed in black ran for the exit. Mary and Cam ran after him. The door opened. The man ran out, right into the arms of the short guard with the curly beard.

Cam told Mary and the other guard that she and Uncle George had followed him to the parking lot. “You'll probably find Aunt Katie's wallet and all the other missing wallets in the trunk of the green car.”

The guards told Aunt Katie that as soon is they found her wallet, she would be called :o the security office. “While you wait,” Mary ;aid, “why don't you go on one of the rides.”

The thief was locked in handcuffs and led away by the two guards. Cam, Eric, Aunt Katie, and Uncle George watched them walk off. Then they walked to the Spinning Hat ride.

“You know,” Uncle George said as they walked, “Aunt Katie and I are very proud of you.” Uncle George stopped walking for a moment. He patted Cam's hand, looked at her, smiled, and said, “That's all I'm going to say.”

“Thank you,” Cam said. “Many people talk too much, but you say just enough. I'm glad you're proud of me.”

Cam and Eric went on the Spinning Hat ride. Aunt Katie and Uncle George stood on the side and watched.

Cam and Eric rode in an upside down purple derby. In the center of the derby was a large metal wheel. The more they turned the wheel, the faster the hat spun around. Cam kept turning the wheel. When Cam and Eric came off the ride, they were dizzy.

“Oh, my,” Aunt Katie said. “You're walking funny.”

“May I have your attention, please,” someone announced over the park's loudspeaker.

“Would Stanley Johnson, Alyse Neumark, Gabriella Goldwyn, Pat Baker, and Jessica Jones please come to the security office. Thank you.”

BOOK: The Mystery at the Haunted House

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