Chapter One
Thornewood Hall
There are two types of people in Whodunit Hill: the sincere and the shady. So when Miss Sims, a checker at the Root & Shoot greengrocer thought she saw a ghost in front of Thornewood Hall I didn’t know what to believe. But I figured her claim had to be considered.
Anyway, that was what got me into this pickle in the first place. By pickle, I mean the fact that I’m staring at the ghoul as it flashes blue in a tangled sea of tattered sheers. The drapes dropped to the floor and it was gone in a ripple of gloom.
I turned to find my partner Seth—a tall, slim sleuth clad in a tweed trench coat and deerstalker cap—hunker down in the thigh-high grass. I tapped him on the shoulder.
“Ahhh,” he blurted, nearly catapulting out of his skin. …show more content…
So we’ve investigated the checker’s contention, and she’s correct—this place is haunted. Let’s go.”
“I need to get a few of the particulars straight first.” I whipped out last year’s birthday present, a black, 8-gigabyte mini digital voice recorder, and even though my heart pounded, I took slow, steady steps toward the gravel driveway describing the scene:
At midnight, on Friday the thirteenth of August Seth and I sprinted for the wooded lane leading to Thornewood Hall. As the lane opened onto a ragged lawn, we spied the two-story mansion perch on a hill. The steps listed. Ivy crept unchecked over its crumbling face. We crouched behind a tree, taking turns peeking at the house. For a moment, nothing happened.
Then a piercing shriek sounded from somewhere close. The sound was creepy enough to frighten poor Seth half to death. We clung to each other like strips of Velcro, and for an unbearably tense moment, I heard only the croaking of frogs. It was followed by another hoarse scream. Still sudden, desperate, and scary but slightly muffled this time.
“Madison. Come
Thornewood Hall
There are two types of people in Whodunit Hill: the sincere and the shady. So when Miss Sims, a checker at the Root & Shoot greengrocer thought she saw a ghost in front of Thornewood Hall I didn’t know what to believe. But I figured her claim had to be considered.
Anyway, that was what got me into this pickle in the first place. By pickle, I mean the fact that I’m staring at the ghoul as it flashes blue in a tangled sea of tattered sheers. The drapes dropped to the floor and it was gone in a ripple of gloom.
I turned to find my partner Seth—a tall, slim sleuth clad in a tweed trench coat and deerstalker cap—hunker down in the thigh-high grass. I tapped him on the shoulder.
“Ahhh,” he blurted, nearly catapulting out of his skin. …show more content…
So we’ve investigated the checker’s contention, and she’s correct—this place is haunted. Let’s go.”
“I need to get a few of the particulars straight first.” I whipped out last year’s birthday present, a black, 8-gigabyte mini digital voice recorder, and even though my heart pounded, I took slow, steady steps toward the gravel driveway describing the scene:
At midnight, on Friday the thirteenth of August Seth and I sprinted for the wooded lane leading to Thornewood Hall. As the lane opened onto a ragged lawn, we spied the two-story mansion perch on a hill. The steps listed. Ivy crept unchecked over its crumbling face. We crouched behind a tree, taking turns peeking at the house. For a moment, nothing happened.
Then a piercing shriek sounded from somewhere close. The sound was creepy enough to frighten poor Seth half to death. We clung to each other like strips of Velcro, and for an unbearably tense moment, I heard only the croaking of frogs. It was followed by another hoarse scream. Still sudden, desperate, and scary but slightly muffled this time.
“Madison. Come