The Case of the Haunted Haunted House Read online

  by Lewis B. Montgomery

  illustrated by Amy Wummer

  The KANE PRESS

  New York

  Text copyright © 2009 by Lewis B. Montgomery

  Illustrations copyright © 2009 by Amy Wummer

  Super Sleuthing Strategies illustrations copyright © 2009 by Kane Press, Inc.

  Super Sleuthing Strategies illustrations by Nadia DiMattia

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information regarding permission, contact the publisher through its website: www.kanepress.com.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Montgomery, Lewis B.

  The case of the haunted haunted house / by Lewis B. Montgomery ; illustrated by Amy Wummer.

  p. cm. — (The Milo & Jazz mysteries ; 3)

  Summary: Amateur detectives Milo and Jazz try to figure out if the haunted house they are building for the school fair has a real ghost.

  ISBN 978-1-57565-295-5 (pbk.) — ISBN 978-1-57565-297-9 (library binding)

  [1. Haunted houses—Fiction. 2. Schools—Fiction. 3. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Wummer, Amy, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.M7682Cah 2009

  [Fic]—dc22

  2008049804

  ISBN 978-1-57565-360-0 (e-book)

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  First published in the United States of America in 2009 by Kane Press, Inc.

  Printed in Hong Kong

  Book Design: Edward Miller

  The Milo & Jazz Mysteries is a registered trademark of Kane Press, Inc.

  www.kanepress.com

  eISBN: 978-1-5756-5360-0 (pdf)

  eISBN: 978-1-5756-5659-5 (ePub)

  eISBN: 978-1-5756-5660-1 (mobi)

  For Wilton, Rose, Harrison, and Abbey

  —L.B.M.

  “Chicken fingers.” Milo pulled one off his lunch tray and looked at it. “If these are the fingers, how big is the chicken?”

  His friend Jazz laughed. “Big enough to eat us for lunch.”

  A hand reached over Jazz’s shoulder and grabbed her oatmeal cookie. She twisted around. “Hey! Give that back!”

  Grinning down at them, Jazz’s older brother Chris took a huge bite. “Better get used to it.” He handed her what was left of the cookie and headed back across the cafeteria toward his buddies.

  “You haven’t won yet!” Jazz yelled after him.

  “What was that about?” Milo asked.

  She sighed. “I bet him my desserts for a whole week that our booth for Spring Thing would raise more money than his.”

  Milo stared at her. “But his class is going to run Dunk the Teacher. That booth always does the best.”

  Jazz looked stubborn. “We’ll just have to think of something better.”

  Milo thought about it as they ate their lunch. What could they come up with to beat Dunk the Teacher? “How about a petting zoo?” he said. “Everybody with a pet could bring it in. You could bring Bitsy.” Bitsy was Jazz’s potbellied pig.

  Jazz’s face brightened. Then she frowned. “Ms. Ali won’t let us. Not since Gordy hid his hamster in her desk and it pooped on a pop quiz. Remember? She said no more pets the whole rest of the year.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Milo said.

  As they walked back to class, he had another idea. “I know! A Sleuth Booth. We solve mysteries on the spot.”

  Milo and Jazz were detectives in training. They got lessons in the mail from world-famous private eye Dash Marlowe. With a little help from Dash, they solved real-life mysteries.

  Jazz shook her head. “What if we can’t solve a mystery on the spot? Besides, it’s supposed to be the whole class, not just you and me.”

  Good point, Milo thought. That was Jazz. Always thinking logically. It used to drive him nuts. But now he had to admit, she really was a great partner.

  Back in class, Ms. Ali clapped her hands twice. “Okay, everybody, settle down. It’s time to come up with a booth idea for the Spring Thing—”

  Brooke Whitley’s hand shot up.

  “Yes, Brooke?”

  “I think we should do a makeover booth.” She tossed her long hair and smiled smugly at her friends, Emily S. and Emily B. The Emilies smiled back.

  The boys in the back of the room made gagging noises. Gordy yelled, “Makeup? No way!”

  Brooke glared at him.

  “Gordy, that’s enough.” Ms. Ali looked around. “Any other ideas?”

  “Bean bag toss?” Randy said.

  Someone groaned.

  “Balloon animals!” Spencer called out.

  “Do you know how to make them?” Ms. Ali asked.

  He frowned. “Well . . . I could maybe do a snake.”

  Emily B. raised her hand.

  “Yes, Emily?”

  “Brooke’s idea is the best, and I think we should vote for it right now.” She beamed at Brooke.

  Milo shot a glance at Jazz. She was staring out the window, chin in hand. Probably thinking of the week of desserts she’d kissed goodbye.

  Ms. Ali sighed. “All right. All in favor of a makeover booth—”

  Jazz sat up suddenly.

  “Wait!” she called out. “How about a haunted house?”

  An excited buzz ran through the classroom.

  “Haunted houses are for Halloween,” Brooke said.

  “Playland Park has one year round,” said Frida. “It’s my favorite ride.”

  “Mine, too!” someone else called out.

  Brooke scowled at Jazz. “Spring Thing is held outdoors, remember? How are we supposed to build a haunted house?”

  Jazz smiled. “We don’t have to.” She pointed out the open window. “We can use the learning cottage.”

  The learning cottage was a trailer that had been used as a classroom while repairs were being done on the school. Ever since, the trailer had stood empty.

  Emily B. raised her hand again. “I think a haunted house would be too scary for the little kids.”

  “Not as scary as a first grader in make-up,” Gordy muttered.

  Everybody laughed.

  “That’s a good point, Emily,” Ms. Ali said. “It needs to be for the whole school, not just the upper grades.”

  Milo said, “My little brother Ethan loves the haunted house at Playland Park.” On their last trip, Ethan had gone through the haunted house almost as many times as the Dino Safari.

  Ms. Ali still looked doubtful, but she called for a vote.

  Everybody voted for the haunted house—except Brooke and the Emilies. Emily S. started to lift her hand, but Brooke and Emily B. glared at her and she yanked it down. Her feet tapped nervously under her desk.

  “All right,” Ms. Ali said. “Haunted house it is. But please, let’s not go overboard. We don’t want any crying kindergartners.”

  Gordy called out, “Does that mean no making them eat fake eyeballs and brains and stuff?”

  Ms. Ali shook her head and sighed. “Time to get out your math books.”

  All the kids groaned, including Milo. Then he had an idea. They were working on measurements—

  “Ms. Ali, couldn’t we go measure the learning cottage?” he asked. “To see how much spooky stuff will fit? You’re always saying we should use math in real life.”

  Ms. Ali thought for a second. Then she smiled. “Why not?”

  The class cheered.

  When they reached the learning cottage, Milo saw that the door hung slightly open and the lock was broken.

  “I’l
l let Mr. Schiff know,” Ms. Ali said. Mr. Schiff was the school custodian.

  Inside, the floor was a sea of broken chalk and crumpled papers. A desk with a missing leg lay on its side in the middle of the room. Someone had piled chairs in one corner. In another, rolled-up posters gathered dust.

  Gordy let out a long whistle. “What a mess!”

  “At least we know nobody else is using the place,” Jazz said.

  Ms. Ali nodded. “I’ll ask Mr. Schiff if he can clear this out.”

  Milo looked around. Those big sheets of cardboard would be great for tombstones, he thought. They were a little old and ratty, but who wants a clean new tombstone in a haunted house? And that globe was falling off its stand. Maybe they could wrap it in black plastic and use it for the body of a giant spider.

  He told his classmates what he was thinking.

  Jazz said, “I’ll bet there’s all kinds of stuff in here that we could use. Hey, maybe we can clean the place up ourselves!”

  Brooke wrinkled her nose. “Who wants to clean?”

  “Not me,” Emily B. said quickly. She wrinkled her nose like Brooke. Milo thought she looked like a beady-eyed squirrel.

  “I think it’s a great idea,” Ms. Ali said. “If we offer to clean up, the principal might be more likely to approve our plan.”

  As Milo pulled out the measuring tape, he caught a glimpse of Brooke staring at Jazz, eyes narrowed. If Emily B. looked like a squirrel, Brooke reminded him of something else.

  An angry snake about to strike.

  Later in the afternoon, when they got back from gym, Ms. Ali had a big smile on her face. “I asked the principal if we could use the learning cottage for our haunted house—and he said yes.”

  “Can we stay after school and clean?” Jazz asked.

  Brooke tossed her hair. “Emily S.’s grandma is picking us up today. We’re going skating, just the two of us.”

  She smiled as Emily B. shot Emily S. a jealous look. Ducking her head, Emily S. opened her desk and began shuffling papers and books around.

  Ms. Ali asked who wanted to stay and clean. Jazz and Milo raised their hands, along with a few others.

  When the bell rang, the volunteers loaded up on cleaning supplies and headed for the empty trailer. But halfway there, Milo realized he’d left his spelling homework behind. He dropped his mop and bucket and ran back.

  Emily S. knelt on the floor next to a pile of stuff spilling out of her backpack.

  Brooke stood over her. “Come on. What could be so major? We’re going to miss open-skate time at the rink.” She sniffed. “Maybe I should have done something with Emily B. instead.”

  Milo picked up some stray papers and handed them over to Emily S. Pink-faced, she stuffed them in her backpack and followed Brooke out.

  Yikes, Milo thought. Even Brooke’s friends were scared of her. He found his spelling sheet and stuffed it in his pocket.

  When he got back to the learning cottage, Jazz called him over. “The big black bag by Carlos is for trash. Spencer’s got the recycling box. And this—” She lifted a white plastic bag. “This is the lost and found. It’s for whatever we’re not sure we should throw out.”

  “How about the things we want to keep for the haunted house?” Milo asked.

  She pointed. “In that corner.”

  He went over to take a look. Wow, what a pile! He pulled out a poster and unrolled it. A pair of kittens reading The Cat in the Hat? For a haunted house? And how in the world were they going to use a jigsaw puzzle of the rainforest?

  Haunted houses needed scary stuff. Skeletons. Axes dripping with fake blood. Pictures with eyes that followed you around and creepy things like—

  Suddenly a hand shot out and clamped around his ankle.

  Milo screamed.

  The pile fell over, and Gordy climbed out laughing. “Oh, man. That was great. You should have seen your face.”

  Milo stomped away. Shoving the puzzle in the lost-and-found bag, he grumbled, “Gordy and his stupid jokes.”

  Jazz nodded sympathetically as she tossed in a DVD. “Tell me about it. Remember the time he tried to tie my sneaker to my chair?”

  For the next half hour everyone worked steadily, even Gordy. Carlos found some yellow streamers they could use to make a mummy. Spencer swept the floor, and Jazz and Pria carried out the trash. Milo took the lost-and-found bag to the front office, but the door was locked, so he dropped it in the back of their classroom closet.

  “This is going to be the best Spring Thing booth ever,” he told Jazz as they walked home together. “Wait till Chris hears. He’ll be sorry he ever made that bet.”

  “I hope he doesn’t hear too soon,” Jazz said. “Chris hates to lose.”

  Milo shrugged. It wasn’t as if her brother could do anything about it. How could Dunk the Teacher compete with a haunted house?

  The next morning when Milo got to school, he saw a crowd of kids staring and pointing at the learning cottage.

  “What’s going on?” he asked a kindergartner.

  She looked up at him with wide eyes. “They say it’s haunted.”

  Milo laughed. “It isn’t really haunted. We’re just making it into a haunted house for the Spring Thing.”

  The girl looked doubtful. “Are you sure?”

  “Sure I’m sure.” He spotted Jazz and pointed. “It was her idea.”

  Jazz walked up to them. “Some kid just told me there’s a ghost inside the learning cottage.”

  A third grader turned around. “I heard that it groans and rattles chains.” He let out a long, eerie groan.

  The kindergartner burst into tears.

  Jazz took her hand. “Don’t cry. There isn’t any ghost. Come on. I’ll take you in and show you.”

  “No!” The girl snatched her hand away and ran off.

  “This is ridiculous,” Jazz fumed.

  Milo shrugged. “I don’t know. It could be good. Like advertising for our haunted house, right?”

  “Not if kids are scared to go inside,” she pointed out.

  “That’s just one kindergartner being a baby,” Milo said.

  Jazz still looked worried. “What if Ms. Ali hears what they’re saying? Maybe she’ll decide a haunted house is too scary for little kids after all. Maybe she’ll shut us down.”

  Oh.

  All that cleaning. All that planning. He would hate to see it wasted, that was for sure. Then he thought of something he’d hate even more: helping to run a makeover booth.

  The school bell rang, and kids lined up to go inside.

  “You’re right,” he told Jazz. “We’d better do something about this crazy rumor—and quick!”

  At recess, Milo waited for Jazz at the flagpole. “I think we should find out how this rumor started.”

  Jazz shrugged. “Probably a kid said something about our haunted house, and some other kid heard it wrong.”

  “I guess,” Milo said. But their whole class knew all about the plans for the Spring Thing. Wouldn’t somebody have set it straight?

  They split up. Milo headed to the playground, where a gaggle of first-grade girls were clustered on the jungle gym. When he mentioned the learning cottage, they shrieked.

  “I heard the ghost was a boy who died a long, long time ago,” one girl said. “His mean teacher locked him in the closet and forgot about him.”

  “They only put that trailer in last year,” Milo told her. “I think we would have heard if someone died in it.”

  The girl looked disappointed. “Well, maybe he died somewhere else and then moved to the learning cottage because it was nicer.”

  Right, Milo thought. “Listen, I just want to know who told you it was haunted.”

  They all looked at one another.

  “I heard it from her—”

  “Well, she told me, and I told—”

  “No, you didn’t! We heard it at the same time, then you—”

  Milo gave up and walked away.

  A group of bigger kids was gathered on t
he basketball court. He spotted Jazz at the edge of the crowd.

  When he came up, she said, “I think I found our rumor starter.” She nodded at a tall boy at the center of the circle. “Cody claims he saw a ghost last night inside the learning cottage.”

  “What was he doing here at night?” Milo asked.

  “He lives right over there, in that blue house across from Emily S.” Jazz pointed. “I know because he’s on my brother Chris’s football team.”

  Cody was telling the kids about the ghostly light he had seen bobbing around in the learning cottage.

  “And that’s not all,” Cody went on. “I heard it, too. It went like this.” He let out a long, low moan. A few of the girls screamed and giggled. Cody smirked.

  “What did you find inside?” Jazz asked.

  Cody looked startled. “Inside what?”

  “What do you think?” Jazz said. “The learning cottage. Didn’t you go in?”

  Everybody looked at Cody.

  Quickly he said, “Sure. I mean, I tried. But it was like there was this force field all around. I just kept hitting it and bouncing off. Crazy!”

  “Crazy is right,” Jazz grumbled as the bell rang and they all lined up. “I think Cody was too scared to go inside, so he made up that stupid force-field story.”

  She probably was right, Milo thought. Still, that didn’t mean Cody had made up the whole thing. If he’d been scared, something had scared him. A bobbing light. Moaning.

  A crawly feeling crept up Milo’s back.

  What if there really was a ghost?

  To Milo and Jazz’s relief, Ms. Ali didn’t seem to have heard the ghost rumors. Teachers were strange. They always knew if you had gum in your mouth and when they should call on you because you didn’t know the answer. But they never seemed to notice the important stuff.