Haunted Clock Tower Mystery (4 page)

“It’s not for tomorrow morning,” Benny said. “I’m setting it for midnight so I can see if the ghost is in the clock tower again.”

“Benny!” Henry cried, throwing a pillow at his little brother. “Oh … all right.”

But a few hours later, Henry wished he’d never agreed. A bell was ringing in his ears, and there was no sign of Benny turning it off.

“Benny! Benny!” Henry called out. “Turn off the alarm!” At last Henry sat up and looked over at Benny’s bed. Benny was snuggled down under his covers, sound asleep.

“Oh, sure, you’re going to get up,” Henry muttered as he reached over to turn off the alarm. He had forgotten what a sound sleeper Benny was. Benny hadn’t even heard the alarm.

But Henry had to smile, remembering how excited Benny had been to find out if the “ghost” would be back at midnight. “I won’t even wake him,” Henry said softly to himself. “I’ll just take a quick look and then go back to sleep. I’m sure there’s no one up there tonight.”

Henry turned to the window. It was raining out. There was the clock tower, the clock shining brightly. And the window of the tower room was dark, just as it should be. Or was it?

Henry took a step closer to the window. He thought he’d seen something. But he must be imagining things. No—there it was again. A small light was flickering in the window.

“What is that?” Henry muttered to himself. He stepped right up to the window and watched as the light bounced around in the tower room. Then he rushed back over to Benny’s bed and began shaking him.

“Benny, Benny! Wake up!” Henry cried.

It took Benny a few seconds to wake up and figure out where he was. “Henry?” he asked, rubbing his eyes. “What’s going on?”

“Benny, hurry up! Come look!” Henry cried, pulling Benny to his feet. “There’s a light in the tower!”

“There is?” Benny asked. He ran to the window and the two boys stood side by side in the dark room, looking up at the tower.

“Wow!” Benny said. “Someone’s up there.”

“But I don’t think it’s the same person as last night,” Henry said.

“How do you know?” Benny asked.

“Because last night, the whole room was lit,” Henry explained. “But tonight, it’s just a little light bouncing around—like someone’s carrying a flashlight.”

“You’re right!” Benny said. “Let’s go wake the others.”

A moment later, Jessie and Violet were standing beside their brothers looking up at the tower.

“Why would someone be up there with a flashlight on?” Jessie asked. “Why not just turn on the light?”

“I don’t know,” said Henry. “Unless this person doesn’t want anyone to know he—or she—is there.”

After several minutes, the light went out. The Aldens waited a few more minutes before agreeing that whoever had been up there must have left.

“Can we go back to sleep now?” Violet asked, yawning.

“Yes, definitely,” said Henry.

“But what about our ghost?” Benny asked.

“First of all, it’s
not
a ghost,” Jessie said.

“How do you know?” Benny demanded.

“Well, aside from the fact that there’s no such thing as ghosts, a ghost certainly wouldn’t need to carry a flashlight,” Jessie pointed out.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Benny said. He sounded disappointed. “So who is it, then?”

“I don’t know,” said Jessie. Then she yawned. “But I’m tired. We’ll figure it out in the morning.”

The next morning the Aldens were awakened by the sound of the bells playing outside. But something was wrong.

“The song sounds awful!” Violet said.

“I wonder what’s wrong,” Jessie said.

A moment later the music stopped, right in the middle. There was a strange, sudden silence. Jessie and Violet quickly got dressed and joined their brothers in the small kitchenette.

“What happened to the bells?” Benny asked.

“I don’t know,” said Jessie. “The song sounded all wrong.”

The children made some breakfast with the groceries they’d bought the day before—scrambled eggs, toast and jam, orange juice, and a cup of coffee for Grandfather. Just as everything was ready, Grandfather came out of the bathroom, freshly showered and shaved.

“Something smells good,” Grandfather said.

“We made breakfast,” Jessie said. “Come and have some.”

As the Aldens sat down to eat, they told Grandfather about the carillon. He hadn’t heard it because he’d been in the shower.

“It sounded fine last night,” Grandfather said.

“Maybe whoever was up there last night did something to it,” Benny said.

“Someone was up there last night?” Mr. Alden asked.

The children told him what they’d seen at midnight.

“I think we should go up there this morning and investigate,” said Benny.

“You go ahead,” said Grandfather. “I’ll just relax with my coffee and read the paper. But be back here by noon. There’s a picnic this afternoon that should be a lot of fun.”

“Okay Grandfather,” Jessie called as they left.

Half an hour later, the Aldens were climbing the hill to the tower.

“It sure is muddy,” Violet pointed out.

“It rained pretty hard last night,” Henry said. “Be careful you don’t slip.”

When they got up to the tower room, Ezra was there, a toolbox in his hands. He was not in a good mood. “Did you hear the bells this morning?” he asked when he saw the Aldens.

“Yes,” said Violet. “What happened to them?”

Ezra shook his head. “I’m not sure, but the whole carillon is a mess. Somehow, several of the wires and springs were broken, and some of the clappers were loosened.

Look.” The children looked where Ezra was pointing. Just as he had said, several wires seemed to have been snapped, so they no longer went all the way down into the carillon.

“When I tried to play my usual morning piece, several bells weren’t ringing when they were supposed to,” said Ezra. “When I realized what was happening, I stopped and went to get my toolbox. I’ve been trying to fix the carillon and the bells ever since.”

“This couldn’t have just happened by accident, could it?” Henry asked.

“I bet it has something to do with the person who was up here last night,” said Benny.

Ezra stopped what he was doing and looked up. “What person?”

“We don’t exactly know,” said Benny.

“What Benny means is, we saw a light up here last night,” Jessie explained.

“We think someone was in here, carrying a flashlight,” added Henry.

“Maybe that person broke the bells,” Benny said.

“You saw a light?” Ezra said.

“Yes,” said Benny.

Ezra frowned for a moment. “Did you see anything else besides the light?”

“No,” said Jessie.

“Listen,” Ezra said gruffly. “I get up very early to do the morning concert. I come up with my coffee and my paper before the sun’s even up. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go back to my house—my small screwdriver isn’t in here. I must have left it at home. I’ll be back in a little while.”

Ezra had just left when suddenly Violet spotted something.

On the floor beside the practice carillon was a muddy footprint. Violet turned to Benny. “Do ghosts wear sneakers?” she asked, pointing.

“Hey! Look at that!” Henry cried. Jessie hurried over to look at the footprint.

“This wasn’t here yesterday, was it?” Jessie asked.

“No—we would have noticed it,” said Violet.

“And it just started raining last night, so there wasn’t any mud yesterday,” said Henry. “Whoever left this must have been here since last night.”

“It probably wasn’t Ezra,” said Henry. “He wears loafers, and they have smooth soles.”

“What kind of shoes does Andi wear?” Benny asked.

“When we met her she had on clogs,” said Violet. “I remember because I thought they looked so comfortable.”

“Do you think the person who left this print is the same person who broke the carillon?” Jessie asked.

“I don’t know,” said Henry. “It could be.”

“And don’t forget those glasses we found,” said Violet. “Someone left those up here, too.”

“I knew we’d get another mystery to solve!” said Benny. And he broke into a big grin.

The Aldens headed back to their dormitory, still talking about the footprint.

The Aldens’ suite was empty, but the children heard voices from next door. They knocked on the Dixons’ suite and found Grandfather and Joel sitting in the living room, drinking coffee and chatting.

“Come join us,” Grandfather said.

“Have a doughnut,” Joel offered, motioning to the box on the small kitchen table.

“Thanks,” said Jessie as she and the others each took a powdery sugar doughnut.

The two men went back to their conversation as the children sat down at the kitchen table and ate.

“Look, here’s Don’s old book about Goldwin,” Violet said, spotting the book with the cracked leather cover lying on the kitchen counter.

“I bet it has some neat old pictures,” said Jessie. “Joel, is it okay if we look at Don’s book?”

“Sure,” Joel replied.

As Benny reached for the book, Jessie quickly added, “First we need to wash our hands.”

The children washed the powdered sugar off their fingers and dried their hands carefully. Then Violet picked up the book and put it in the center of the table. Everyone gathered around as she turned the pages one by one.

“Look at this old picture of the campus,” said Henry, pointing to a brown-tinted photograph. “There are only a few buildings here.”

“And here’s one that shows them building the clock tower,” said Benny.

“Wow,” said Jessie. “It says underneath that from the top of the tower you can see all the way to Buttermilk Falls. We’ll have to look for that next time we’re up there.”

“Hey, look, there’s a chapter called ‘The Secrets of Goldwin University,’ ” said Henry.

“Secrets?” said Benny. “What secrets?”

Henry began to read a little bit of the chapter. “It says there are many secret hidden places on campus. And there are rumors of a treasure buried here!”

“A treasure!” the others repeated.

“I’d like to see that,” said Benny.

Just then the door opened and Don came in. “Hello,” he called out.

“Have a nice walk?” Joel asked him.

“Sure did,” said Don. “I walked by the river, all the way up to the waterfalls and back.”

“We were just having some coffee and doughnuts,” said Mr. Alden. “Come join us.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” said Don, going into the kitchen area to get himself some coffee. “What have you kids been up to?”

“Not much,” said Jessie. “We were just looking at this old book of yours. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, not at all,” said Don, pouring himself a cup of coffee. Suddenly he turned around. “Wait a minute—what book?”

“This one,” said Violet, holding it up. “The one about Goldwin.”

Don put down his coffee cup and grabbed the book out of Violet’s hands. “Where did you find this?” he demanded.

“It was right here in the kitchen,” Henry said.

“We were being really careful with it,” said Jessie. “We made sure our hands were clean.”

Don turned a few pages, as if making sure the book was still in one piece. “This is a very old, delicate book,” he said angrily. “It’s not something to play with.”

“But we weren’t playing—” said Benny.

But it was too late. Don had taken the book and strode quickly out of the room. A moment later he was back, empty-handed. “I’m sorry but that book is very … special to me. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to it.” He picked up his coffee cup and walked into the living room to sit down with the two men.

The children just looked at one another quietly, wondering about Don’s sudden anger. Why would he get so upset over a book?

A short while later, it was time to go to the picnic. It was being held on the Quad, and there were tables and tables piled with food: fried chicken, all different kinds of salads, rolls, pickles, and watermelon and cupcakes for dessert. The Aldens and the Dixons each helped themselves to a plateful of food and then sat down in the shade to enjoy it. When he’d finished his first plateful, Benny went back two more times to get more of the delicious potato salad and extra slices of watermelon.