The Sleepy Hollow Mystery (4 page)

Brett and his friends drew closer. Brett
pulled a witch scarecrow off its stake. “Who’s
scared of witches? She’s going to get you.” He
swung it close to Violet and Benny and said,
“Better run, kiddies, before the witch turns
you into a couple of toads.” Jerking it toward
them, he yelled, “Boo!”

Benny jumped and cried out, “Stop!”

Brett’s friends laughed again. Jessie crossed
her arms in front of her and frowned. “Stop
that. You’re scaring my little brother.”

“I’m just teasing,” Brett said.

“It’s mean teasing,” Henry said.

Isiah rushed over to them. “Put that
scarecrow back!” he ordered Brett. When
Brett didn’t move, Isiah grabbed it from
his hands. “What are you doing here? This
doesn’t seem like your kind of fun.”

“We can go wherever we want.” Brett
stared at Isiah’s costume. “Why don’t you
dress in normal clothes? You look like
a freak.”

Isiah looked angry. “I’ve got a job to do, a
real job, not one my father got for me.”

Brett clenched his fists and took a step
toward Isiah.

“Stop, you two,” Annika said. “Brett, why
don’t you leave Isiah alone? You’ve been mean
to him for years. Don’t you get tired of it?”

“I’m just joking around,” Brett said. “He’s
the one who can’t take a joke.” He walked
away to join his friends.

“Let’s forget about him,” Jessie said.
“Annika, where is your scarecrow?”

“I don’t know where Isiah put it,” Annika
said. “But it should be easy to find. It looks
just like the one in front of the shop.”

“It’s in the second row on the end,” Isiah
said. He put the witch scarecrow back on the
pole. “I’ll show you.”

They followed after him to the end of the
row, but the pole was empty. There was no
headless scarecrow in a black cape. “That’s
strange,” Isiah said. “I know it was here
yesterday afternoon.”

“Maybe someone moved it,” Benny said.

“We’ll look for it,” said Jessie.

“Let’s split up,” Henry suggested.

A few minutes later, Jessie motioned for
the rest to join her. “I found it,” she said. “It’s
under a pine tree on the side of the library.”

“Why would anyone move it there?”
Annika asked.

Jessie didn’t answer the question. “You
should come look,” she said in a low voice,
her eyes darting around the crowd, “but I
don’t think we should let anyone else see it.
It’s bad.”

H
enry, Violet, and Benny followed Jessie.

As they drew closer, Violet asked, “Why is
the straw scattered everywhere?”

“Someone took out all the straw!” Benny
said.

“That’s not the worst.” Jessie pointed at
the pumpkin head. It had been smashed,
and spattered with the same fake blood.
It lay in pieces scattered around the
scarecrow’s body.

“What’s that?” Benny asked, pointing a
trembling finger at a piece of paper on the
scarecrow’s chest.

Henry knelt down. “It’s a note.” He pulled
it free and held it up. The word
BEWARE
was scrawled on it in the same color as the
spattered red.

“That’s horrible,” Violet shuddered.

“Even if it’s just a scarecrow, it’s a bad thing
to do,” Benny said.

“What’s going on back here?” Margot’s
voice came from behind them.

“Someone ruined my scarecrow,” Annika
told her sister.

Margot smiled when she saw the scarecrow
on the ground. “Wow! What a great picture
this will make.” She snapped several pictures.

“Margot! Is that all you can think of?”
Annika cried. “Someone did this on purpose.”

“I can use it in the ‘Most Haunted Town in
America’ entry. Can you children move out of
the way so I can get a better shot?” Margot took
more photos, which attracted the attention of
the people admiring the scarecrows in the
contest. Soon, a crowd of people was gathered
around the damaged scarecrow.

“Annika, isn’t that your ghost-tour
scarecrow?” a woman asked.

Annika nodded. “Yes. I don’t know who
would do this.”

“Why does it say
BEWARE
?” a boy asked.
“Does it mean beware of the ghost tour?”

“No,” Annika said. “I think it’s just
someone playing a joke. My ghost tours are
fun and not scary.”

“That’s not what I’ve heard,” the woman
said. “I heard the last one frightened several
children.” Annika tried to explain but the
woman wouldn’t listen. “We won’t be going
on it,” she said as she walked away.

The Aldens helped Annika pick up the
pieces of her scarecrow. They could tell she
was discouraged.

“Don’t worry, Annika,” Jessie said. “We’re
determined to find out who is playing these
tricks.”

“Who could have had a chance to move
the scarecrow?” Henry asked.

“Anyone,” Annika’s face was glum. “I helped
Isiah put it up yesterday. Someone could have
moved it in the night. Let’s go home.”

Back at the house, the Aldens raked leaves
for Mrs. Vanderhoff. When they were
finished, Jessie got a notebook out of her
suitcase. “Let’s write down what we know
about these terrible tricks and who could
have done them,” she said.

“Even though Mrs. Vanderhoff thinks Mr.
Beekman wouldn’t play the tricks, we should
add him to the list,” Henry said.

“And Brett too,” Violet added. “He is very
rude and mean.”

“We should add the headless horseman to
the list,” Benny said.

“Benny, you know there’s no real headless
horseman,” Jessie told him. “It’s just a story.”

“We’ve seen a headless horseman,” Benny
insisted. “He needs to be on the list.”

“All right, I’ll add him, but we need to think
of other possibilities.” Jessie wrote
headless
horseman
in her notebook.

“What about Margot?” Henry asked. “She
wants to get the town named the spookiest
in America. She knows all about how Annika
does the tours. She could have put the cookie
crumbs and the candy worms in the cookie jar.”

“But Margot is Annika’s sister!” Violet
shook her head. “That would be too mean.”

“Maybe Margot doesn’t realize it is mean,”
Henry said. “She might think it will help
Annika’s business if the town is named the
spookiest.”

“When Margot saw Annika’s scarecrow,
she didn’t seem to notice that Annika was
upset,” Jessie added. “Mrs. Vanderhoff said
Margot should have been at home last night
when Annika called. Since she wasn’t there,
she
could have ridden the horse. I’ll write her
name down too.”

Mrs. Vanderhoff called them for dinner
before they could think of more names. They
ate quickly so they would be ready for the ghost
tour. After dinner, Mrs. McGregor said, “I’ll
feed Watch and put him up in the apartment
until you get back. Mrs. Vanderhoff and I
are going to visit some of her friends, so we
might not be back until after you are home.”

“Poor Watch. I’m sorry you have to stay
home,” Benny said.

“Don’t worry about Watch,” Mrs.
McGregor said. “He’s been chasing squirrels
all afternoon in the backyard. I’m sure he’s
very tired.”

When everyone had their coats on, they
walked with Annika to the tour’s meeting
point. A group of eight people arrived for the
tour, four adults and four children, two girls
and two boys. The boys were twins. One of
the little girls announced, “I’m the birthday
girl. I’m five.”

“I’m five too,” the twins said together.

The other girl said, “I’m almost five. I
think.” She looked up at her mother.

“Almost,” her mother said. “In a year.”
Everyone laughed.

Annika wore her cape and carried a lantern
with a candle in it. “I have a box of battery
powered lanterns too,” she said. “Anyone
who might feel scared can carry one of these.
I want you to have fun.” All the younger
children asked for lanterns, including Benny
and Violet.

As they walked into the woods, Annika told
them stories from the town’s history. “People
used to think there was a witch who lived
in the forest,” she said. “But she turned out
to be something very different.” Before she
could finish the story, a loud cracking noise
came from the trees on the side of the path.
The group stopped.

“I think I saw something in the trees,” one
of the twins said. “Something big.”

“Sometimes it’s easy to imagine you see
something when it’s just the trees,” Jessie told
him. “It could be just a clump of bushes.”

“Jessie is right,” Annika said. “Let’s keep
going.” She smiled, but the Aldens knew
she was worried. They walked on, though
everyone seemed a little nervous. Annika
started her story again when another cracking
noise came from behind them.

A sudden shriek startled them all. Everyone
spun around, trying to see what had made the
awful noise.

“That might have been an animal,” Henry
said.

Far down the path, a large, dark shape burst
out of the woods. It made a loud snorting sound.

Everyone all stood very still.

Two red circles of light appeared, glowing
in the dark.

“Are those eyes?” Violet whispered.

“I think so,” Benny said. “But what has red
eyes?”

“If those are eyes, that thing would have to
be about ten feet tall,” Henry said.

The lights disappeared, but the shape
moved toward them. It came slowly at first
and then faster and faster. It shrieked again.

“We should get off the path,” Jessie yelled.

They all rushed into the woods just as the
creature thundered past them. They could
see it was a horse with a rider who wore a
cape. In the light of Annika’s lantern, they
could see that the rider didn’t seem to have
a head.

The youngest girl in the group screamed
and ran to her mother. One of the twins
burst into tears. The parents of the twins
each rushed to pick up one of the little boys.

“Pick me up too, Daddy!” the older girl
said as she held up her arms to him.

“Please calm down,” Annika said. “I’m
sorry, but that was someone playing a trick.”
She sounded like she was going to cry too.

“We know that was just a horse,” Henry
said, stepping back out onto the path. “Horses
don’t have glowing red eyes. We should see if
we can find any clues about who is playing
these tricks.” He started to jog toward where
the horse and its rider had first appeared on
the path.

“Henry, I can’t let you do that,” Annika
called after him.

“I’ll just be a minute,” Henry replied over
his shoulder.

“No!” Annika yelled. She ran after him
and grabbed his sleeve when she caught up.
“I’m responsible for you. Let’s just stay calm
and meet Isiah. The wagon will be waiting
for us.”

Henry could tell she was very upset. “All
right, but I’m sure there is nothing dangerous
back there.”

Violet turned and looked in the other
direction. “I hope Isiah is okay,” she said.
“The horse and rider will be riding right past
where he’s waiting with the wagon.”

Annika tried to smile at the parents and
children. “I’m…I’m sure he’s fine. Jessie,
would you and Benny walk with the group
while Violet and Henry and I go ahead to
make sure Isiah is…is ready for us?”

Jessie nodded. She was frightened but she
knew Annika wanted her to be brave.

Henry and Violet followed Annika down
the path, scared at what they might find.
When they came to the wagon, they didn’t
see Isiah.

“What if the headless rider got him?”
Violet asked.

Annika called out, “Isiah, where are you?”

“I
’m right here,” Isiah called, sounding out
of breath. He came around from the front of
the wagon. “I was adjusting Ghost’s harness.”

“Did you see the horse run by?” Henry
asked.

“What horse?” Isiah looked very puzzled.

“A big black horse chased us off the path!”
Violet said. “It would have dashed right past
you. It was making a horrible noise too.”

“I didn’t see anything,” Isiah said. “I didn’t
hear anything either. I always listen to music
while I’m waiting.” He patted his coat pocket.
“I keep my MP3 player and my earbuds with
me. Though the horses were both restless for
some reason.”

Henry thought Isiah sounded like he was
telling the truth, but Henry couldn’t figure
out what had happened to the horse. He
supposed it might have gone off the path
into the woods, just like it had appeared
onto the path.

Jessie, Benny, and the rest of the group
arrived. The children were no longer crying,
but none of them were smiling.

Isiah bowed to the tour group and said,
“Good evening. Ghost and Spook and I
welcome you.” He motioned to the two
white horses hitched to a big open wagon.
No one said anything. He held his lantern
up and looked around at the group. “Looks
like we have a quiet crowd tonight. No one
is laughing. Shall I tell you a funny story?”

“No,” Annika said. “We should just go back
to the shop.” She helped the smaller children
into the wagon.

“Isiah, did you fall down?” Benny asked.
“You have mud on your face and your coat
is ripped.”

Annika turned and examined Isiah. “Benny
is right. What happened?”

Isiah rubbed his muddy cheek. “Benny
guessed it. I’m just clumsy. When I got out
of the wagon to tighten the harness, I slipped
in the mud.”

Jessie started to speak and then stopped. It
hadn’t rained since they had been in Sleepy
Hollow, and she didn’t see any mud. She
would note it in her notebook when she got
back to the Vanderhoffs.

On the way back, Annika tried to teach
the tour group an old folk song. The Aldens
joined in but the other children were still
fearful. They held up their lanterns and
looked out into the darkness. Jessie could
hear the parents grumbling to each other
about the scare they’d had. When the
tour arrived back to the house, the group
didn’t want to stay for the treats and asked
for their money back. Annika gave it to
them, apologizing.