Mystery of the Haunted Boxcar Read online

  “I don’t believe it!” he said out loud. “The boxcar really is haunted!”

  CHAPTER 3

  A Break-In

  Benny burst out of his room and ran into the room next door. “Henry! Henry!” he cried.

  Henry was lying in bed, reading a book. He looked up, surprised. “Benny? What is it? Did you have a bad dream?”

  Benny grabbed Henry’s arm. “Come look! Professor Murray was right!” He tried to pull Henry to his feet.

  Henry put down the book and struggled to stop Benny from yanking on his arm. “All right, all right! Hang on!” Henry stood up. “Professor Murray was right about what?”

  “The boxcar!” Benny said. “It’s haunted. I saw a light.” He pulled Henry over to the window and lifted the shade. “Look!”

  Henry looked out, and so did Benny. There was nothing there.

  “But — ” Benny sputtered. “There was a light out there a minute ago. Keep watching. I’m sure it will come back.”

  The two boys looked out the window for several minutes. “What exactly did you see before?” Henry asked.

  “There was a light near the boxcar,” Benny said. “It was kind of floating around.”

  “Are you sure it wasn’t just a dream?” Henry asked, yawning.

  “No, it wasn’t a dream!” Benny said. He looked out the window again, but the yard was completely dark.

  “Maybe it was lightning,” Henry suggested.

  “It didn’t look like lightning,” Benny said. “It floated around, like a ghost.”

  Just then the door opened and Jessie and Violet came in, dressed in their pajamas and looking sleepy. “What’s going on?” Jessie asked.

  “Benny thought he saw a light out near the boxcar,” Henry said.

  Jessie and Violet went to the window to look. The yard was still dark.

  “I did see a light, but now it’s gone,” Benny said.

  “Are you sure you didn’t just dream this?” asked Jessie.

  “That’s what I asked,” Henry said.

  “No, I didn’t dream it. It was real,” said Benny.

  “Well, there’s only one thing to do,” Jessie said.

  The others looked at her expectantly. Benny was afraid she’d say that the only thing to do was go back to bed.

  But instead she said, “Let’s go take a look.”

  “Now?” Benny asked, his eyes widening. “In the dark? In the rain?”

  “You’re not going to be able to sleep if you’re wondering about that light,” said Jessie.

  The Aldens went downstairs to the back hall. Jessie opened the closet and handed out raincoats. Henry went to the kitchen to get a flashlight.

  Watch followed them to the back door. He seemed to be wondering why they were going outside in the middle of the night. He wasn’t about to miss any action.

  “We have to be quiet,” Jessie reminded them. “We don’t want to wake up Mrs. McGregor and worry her for no reason.”

  Henry pushed the door open slowly, and Watch ran out. The backyard was completely dark. It was still raining lightly. “If anyone’s out there, Watch will bark. Then we’ll head straight back to the house,” said Henry.

  He turned on the flashlight with a click and shined it out the open door and around the yard. He didn’t see anybody or anything out of the ordinary. But somehow the backyard looked unfamiliar and eerie in the glow of the flashlight.

  As the Aldens stepped outside, Henry pointed the flashlight in the direction of the boxcar. But the boxcar was too far back in the yard for the beam of light to reach it. All they could see was darkness.

  “Come on,” said Benny, stepping off the porch and heading across the yard. He was eager to find out what had been making the strange light he’d seen. Jessie and Henry were with him.

  Violet walked behind. Now that they were outside, she was beginning to wonder if checking the boxcar was a good idea after all. She reached down and patted Watch’s head. She was glad Watch was with them.

  The Aldens walked farther into the darkness. “You guys,” Violet whispered nervously, “do you think maybe we should go back in? I’m getting wet and — ”

  But just then the boxcar came into view. And something definitely was not right.

  “Did we leave the door open?” Jessie asked.

  “No,” said Violet. “I closed it before we went inside for dinner.”

  “Well, it’s open now,” said Henry. He shined the beam of the flashlight across the front of the boxcar. Other than the open door, everything looked normal. There was no sign of any ghosts, no light coming from inside, and everything was completely quiet.

  “Is anyone there?” called Henry.

  There was no answer. The Aldens moved cautiously toward the boxcar. Jessie, Benny, and Henry stepped up into the doorway and peered inside.

  “What do you see?” Violet asked.

  But they didn’t answer. Instead they disappeared inside.

  Violet looked back at the house, wishing she’d stayed in bed. But the house was a long, dark backyard away. She stepped up into the boxcar and gasped at what she saw.

  One of the chairs was lying on its side, and the neat pile of games had been knocked over onto the floor, spilling pieces everywhere.

  There was nobody but the Aldens in the boxcar now.

  But someone — or something — had been there that night.

  CHAPTER 4

  The Main Suspects

  “Oh my goodness!” said Jessie. “What happened here?”

  “A ghost!” Benny cried.

  Henry shined the flashlight all around the inside of the boxcar. Aside from the fallen chair and the mess of games, everything else was in its proper place. “These seem to be the only things that were touched. It doesn’t look like we were robbed.”

  “Do you think whoever did this is still around?” asked Violet.

  “No,” said Henry. “Watch would be barking if anyone else were in the yard. Right, Watch?”

  Watch’s ears were up, alert. He was sniffing around curiously, but he stayed silent.

  “Can we go back inside the house?” Violet asked, her voice shaky.

  “Sure,” said Jessie. She picked up the chair that had been knocked over and set it upright. “We’ll clean up the games tomorrow, in the light.”

  The children took one last look around the boxcar and then stepped out. It was still raining. Jessie carefully shut the door, then followed the others back across their yard. Violet felt relieved as their comfortable house appeared in the flashlight’s glow.

  Once inside, Henry turned off the flashlight. They all removed their wet raincoats.

  “How about some hot cocoa?” Jessie offered.

  “Good idea,” said Benny.

  A few minutes later, the Aldens were gathered around the kitchen table with steaming mugs of cocoa in front of them.

  “Mmmmm … ” said Benny as he took a sip from his mug. A thin layer of chocolate coated his upper lip.

  “Do you think we should wake up Mrs. McGregor?” Violet asked.

  “And tell her what?” said Henry. “We don’t even know what happened.”

  “Well, we know someone was in there,” said Jessie.

  “Or something,” said Henry. “It might not have been a person.”

  “That’s just what I was thinking,” said Benny. “It might have been a ghost!”

  Henry smiled. “That wasn’t exactly what I was thinking, Benny. I meant it might have been an animal.”

  “How would an animal have opened the door?” Violet asked. “I’m sure I shut it before we came in for dinner.”

  Everyone was silent for a moment.

  “Then it must have been a person,” Henry said at last.

  “But Professor Murray said — ” Benny started to protest.

  “You know it wasn’t a ghost,” Jessie said, interrupting.

  “I guess not,” Benny said, reluctantly. He swirled his cocoa in his cup.

  “All right, so we agree
it was a person,” said Henry. “Who? Why would someone go in our boxcar in the middle of the night?”

  “There’s nothing valuable to steal,” Jessie pointed out.

  “Do you think someone was trying to wreck it?” asked Henry.

  Jessie thought for a moment before she answered. “I don’t think so. I think the mess might have been an accident. Maybe whoever was in there saw the lights go on in the house and got scared. When they ran out of there, they might have just knocked over the chair and games.”

  Violet yawned. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready to go back to bed.”

  “Me too,” said Jessie.

  The Aldens rinsed their cocoa mugs and put them in the sink. Then they headed up to their rooms.

  Jessie tucked Benny in for the second time that night. “See you in the morning,” she said.

  “Good night,” said Benny. This time he had no trouble falling asleep.

  The next morning when Benny awoke, he jumped to his window and looked outside. The rain had stopped and sunlight was sparkling on the wet grass.

  He looked over at the boxcar. As far as Benny could tell, it was just as they had left it. He pulled on some clothes and hurried downstairs to the kitchen, where Mrs. McGregor was getting breakfast ready. Henry, Jessie, and Violet were already there, telling Mrs. McGregor what had happened the night before.

  “Are you sure you didn’t just leave the door to the boxcar open?” Mrs. McGregor asked as she flipped their pancakes. “It could have been a raccoon or a stray dog that went in and knocked things over.”

  “I’m sure I shut it,” said Violet.

  “I’ve encountered some pretty smart raccoons,” said Mrs. McGregor, turning to face the children. “Since they can open garbage cans, they can probably open that boxcar door.”

  “But what about the light I saw?” Benny asked.

  “It could have just been a reflection of something,’ their housekeeper said.

  “I guess. … ” Benny said.

  “Was anything broken or missing?” asked Mrs. McGregor.

  “No,” said Jessie.

  “Then I wouldn’t worry about it.” Mrs. McGregor turned back to the griddle, humming softly.

  “I want to take a look at the boxcar in the daylight,” Jessie said. “Maybe we’ll find some clues.”

  “I’ll come, too,” said Benny. They all followed Jessie out the door.

  “Hurry back, the pancakes are almost ready,” Mrs. McGregor called after them.

  Violet couldn’t believe how scared she’d felt walking across the yard the night before. In the daylight, it wasn’t frightening at all.

  Inside the boxcar, the Aldens looked around carefully. They saw no footprints or pawprints or any other clues to help them figure out who had been in the boxcar the night before.

  Benny, Violet, Jessie, and Henry knelt to clean up the game pieces that had spilled, then put the boxes back into a neat pile.

  There were still a lot of unanswered questions. But at least now the boxcar was back in order.

  When the children returned to the sunny kitchen, the pancakes were waiting.

  “Everything okay out there?” Mrs. McGregor asked.

  “All straightened up,” said Jessie.

  “That’s good,” said Mrs. McGregor. “Could you kids walk into town and pick up some groceries after breakfast?”

  “Sure,” said Violet.

  “The list’s on the table,” Mrs. McGregor said.

  A short while later the Aldens were on their way to town, pulling a small red wagon for the groceries.

  “I just can’t believe that someone sneaked into our boxcar last night,” said Violet.

  “Maybe Mrs. McGregor was right,” said Jessie. “Maybe it was just a raccoon.”

  Henry shook his head. “Maybe,” he said, “but something tells me it was a person.”

  “But what was a person doing in our boxcar in the middle of the night?” asked Benny.

  “I don’t know,” said Henry. “I don’t know why anyone would be there. But someone was.”

  “Professor Murray and Amelia and Claire all seemed really interested in the boxcar,” Violet pointed out. “Maybe one of them came back to look at it again.”

  “In the middle of the night?” Benny said. “Why not just wait until daytime?”

  “It does seem pretty unlikely,” Violet admitted.

  “Unless … ” Jessie began. “Unless one of them wanted to go in without us knowing about it.”

  “Why wouldn’t they want us to know?” said Benny.

  Jessie shrugged. “Beats me.”

  “Whoever was in there knocked all that stuff over and just left it that way,” Henry pointed out. “Wouldn’t one of them have picked it up?”

  “You’re right,” said Violet.

  They continued walking without saying anything. They were all deep in their own thoughts.

  Then Jessie spoke up. “Benny, tell us again what you saw out your window.”

  “I saw a light,” Benny said. “Near the boxcar. It was sort of … floating along.”

  “Floating?” Jessie repeated.

  “I’m telling you, it looked ghostly,” said Benny.

  “Maybe that’s it,” said Henry.

  “You think it was a ghost?” Benny asked, his eyes widening.

  “No, but maybe it was someone trying to make us think there was a ghost,” said Henry. “Maybe someone went in the boxcar and knocked things over to make us think the boxcar was haunted.”

  “Who would do that?” asked Violet.

  “Well, it was Professor Murray who made Benny think the boxcar might be haunted in the first place,” Henry said. “Maybe he did it on purpose. Then he came over with a flashlight in the middle of the night and knocked things over.”

  “But why would he want us to think the boxcar is haunted?” said Violet.

  “Remember how upset he was that we use the boxcar as a playhouse?” said Henry. “Maybe he thinks that if he scares us, we’ll want to get rid of it and give it to a museum like he suggested.”

  “Maybe,” said Violet. She didn’t sound convinced.

  “Well, if he thinks we’re going to be scared that easily, he’s wrong,” said Benny, standing up tall and thrusting out his chest.

  “I just don’t believe Professor Murray would do something like that,” said Jessie. “He is a professor, after all, and he’s Ms. Murray’s brother. She’s so nice — I can’t believe her brother would be so sneaky.”

  “Maybe he thought there was no other way to convince us,” said Henry.

  “Maybe,” said Jessie. “But I wonder more about Amelia.”

  “What about her?” asked Henry.

  “Professor Murray is our neighbor’s brother,” said Jessie, “but we don’t know anything about Amelia — who she is, why she’s interested in our boxcar. We don’t even know her last name!”

  “You’re right,” Benny said.

  “She said she likes old train cars,” said Henry. “That doesn’t mean she’d break into one.”

  “But it doesn’t mean she wouldn’t, either,” Jessie said.

  “Well, we’ll just have to keep our eyes open,” Violet said. “Right now we don’t have much to go on.”

  They had reached the door to the grocery store and were about to enter when Benny stopped abruptly. “I have an idea!” he cried. “Let’s sleep outside in the boxcar tonight! That way, we’ll see if anything unusual happens.”

  “Great idea,” said Henry.

  “And if there’s a ghost,” Benny added, “we’ll know for sure.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Strange Noises

  The Aldens went through the grocery store buying everything on Mrs. McGregor’s list. Then they returned home, pulling the wagon filled with grocery bags.

  “I’ll check the mail,” called Benny, running to the mailbox. The mail hadn’t arrived yet, but there was something in the box. Benny pulled it out. It was a brochure with a note c
lipped to the front. Benny tried to figure out what the note said, but he was just learning to read, and the note was written in cursive. He would have to ask for help. Benny ran into the house.

  When he entered the kitchen, he knew immediately that Mrs. McGregor had been baking. The kitchen smelled delicious. Lines of cookies were cooling on a rack. They were filled with jelly and covered in powdered sugar.

  “Those look good,” said Benny. “May I have one?”

  “Not yet — you’ll spoil your lunch,” Mrs. McGregor said. She was preparing a big fruit salad.

  Disappointed, Benny quickly put his hand down.

  “Was there any mail?” Henry asked.

  “Just this,” said Benny, handing him the brochure.

  Henry quickly read the note clipped on top. “It’s from Professor Murray. He wrote, ‘This might be a good place for your boxcar.’” Henry removed the note and looked at the brochure. “It’s a brochure for a museum near here.”

  The others moved closer to look at the brochure. “It looks nice, but … ” said Jessie.

  “We’re not giving away our boxcar,” said Benny. “Grandfather said so. Professor Murray can’t make us.”

  “No, he can’t,” said Jessie, putting an arm around her brother. “We’ll show the brochure to Grandfather when he gets home, but I’m sure he’ll agree with us.”

  “Professor Murray doesn’t give up,” said Henry.

  The others nodded.

  Jessie turned to Mrs. McGregor. “Is it all right if we sleep out in the boxcar tonight?”

  “That sounds fun,” said the housekeeper. “And the weather is supposed to be lovely tonight.”

  “Great!” said Benny.

  After lunch, the children hurried upstairs to pack for their sleepover. They gathered pajamas and slippers and bathrobes and stuffed them into their overnight bags. Then they grabbed sleeping bags and pillows and stuffed animals to sleep with and books to read. At last they came downstairs, their arms filled.

  “Oh my goodness!” said Mrs. McGregor when she saw them. “Are you sure you’re only going for one night? Looks like you’ve got enough to last you through next month!”