The Case of the Haunted Haunted House Read Online Free

nervous?
    â€œHave you heard about the learning cottage ghost?” Jazz asked.
    â€œSure. All the kids are talking about it.” Brooke swallowed. Another sign!
    Jazz went on. “We don’t believe it’s a real ghost. We think someone has been sneaking in there after dark.”
    Brooke swallowed again.
Wow,
Milo thought. She must be nervous, all right—though he never would have guessed it from the snooty look on her face.
    Emily S. seemed nervous, too, the way she was tapping her feet in the dirt. But then again, she always did that.

    Jazz stared Brooke straight in the eyes. “Well? Was it you? Are you the learning cottage ghost?”
    Brooke’s fingers moved to her mouth. Another sign!
    The fingers came out holding a big chewed-up wad of gum. Daintily, Brooke placed it in a foil wrapper.
    Gum! Milo gave himself a mental smack in the head. No wonder she kept swallowing.
    Brooke said, “Why in the world would I pretend to be a ghost?”
    â€œYou didn’t want the haunted house,” Milo said. “Maybe you’re trying to ruin it. If Ms. Ali finds out that all the little kids are scared—
Ow!”
He stared at Jazz, who had just jabbed him in the ribs.
    Brooke smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. “If Ms. Ali finds out, then goodbye, haunted house. Right?” She laughed. “Better hope nobody tells her.”
    Brooke marched off, with the Emilies trailing behind her.
    Jazz glared at Milo. “I can’t believe you said that! Now Brooke’s going to run straight to Ms. Ali.”
    â€œIf she’s the haunter, she already thought of it,” Milo said.
    â€œAnd if she isn’t?”
    Jazz was so annoyed, she insisted on questioning Gordy alone. “You can go and look for clues at the scene of the crime.”
    Milo stared at the learning cottage. “You want me to go in there? By myself?”
    Jazz raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you really think it’s haunted.”
    Crossing his arms, he looked away and swallowed. “Of course not.”
    Slowly he crossed the parking lot. Anyway, it was daytime, he told himself. And with all these people around, nothing could happen to him. Right?
    Milo pushed the door open.
    It was dark and gloomy inside. He flipped the switch, and mysterious shapes appeared in the dim light.

    With Gordy in charge, the class had put in blue and green light bulbs and thrown sheets over the desks and chairs. Fake cobwebs hung in the corners.
    Gordy was really good at this haunting thing. Maybe he
was
the culprit.
    Milo edged his way into the room. It was pretty spooky, even in the daytime.
    Don’t be a chicken
, he told himself.
Pretend you’re Dash Marlowe in the deep, dark cave. Shining your flashlight all around. Searching for smugglers and hidden treasure . . .
    Wait a minute.
    Searching . . .
    Searching with a flashlight . . . for something hidden in the dark.
    That was it!

On the playground, Jazz shook her head. “The ghost isn’t the sea monster, it’s Dash? Milo, you’re not making any sense.”
    He tried to explain more clearly. “What if we got the motive wrong? Maybe whoever was in the learning cottage wasn’t trying to scare anyone. Maybe they were looking for something. That’s why they’d need a light—to search in the dark!”
    â€œWhat could they be looking for? There’s nothing in there but a bunch of haunted-house stuff.”
    â€œThere
used
to be more. Remember all that junk we cleaned out? What if we got rid of something someone wanted?”
    Jazz frowned. “Anything that wasn’t trash, we took to the lost and found.”
    Hmm. She was right.
    Wait . . .
    â€œThat bag never got to the lost and found!” Milo said. “The office was locked, so I stuck it in our classroom closet, and, well—I guess I forgot about it.”
    They stared at each other. Then they bolted toward the