Ghost of the Chattering Bones by Gertrude Chandler Warner Read Free Book Online

name’s on it.”
    Jessie tried to hide a smile when she saw where he was pointing. “You got the letters mixed up, Benny. You spelled MAP, not PAM.”

    The youngest Alden smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. “Oops!”
    “The letter M goes last, Benny,” explained Violet. “And the letter P goes first.” Benny scraped off the sprinkles and tried again. This time, he spelled Pam’s name just right. Everyone cheered—everyone except Jessie, who wasn’t paying attention. She had the weirdest feeling she was close to figuring out the puzzle, but she couldn’t quite get hold of it. And then—in a flash—everything made sense.
    “Of course!” she cried.

CHAPTER 7
Going … Going … Gone!
    “Don’t keep us in the dark,” pleaded Violet “What are you thinking?”
    Jessie pointed to Pam’s name spelled out in sprinkles. “See that?”
    Henry nodded.
    “Remember the first two lines of Meg’s verse?”
    “Sure,” Benny told her. “We’ve read it about a hundred times.”
    Jessie went over to the table where she’d left her notebook. Pulling up a chair, she printed the words ETON’S LOOP on a blank page. With her pencil poised over her notebook, she recited, “When last goes first, and first goes last.”
    The others stared at her. They looked totally confused.
    “I don’t get it,” Violet said as they sat down.
    “That makes two of us,” Benny said.
    Henry added, “Three of us.”
    “I’ll do the same thing Benny did,” Jessie told them. “I’ll switch the letters around.”
    She paused to look at everyone, hoping they’d see what she was driving at. “I’ll make the first letter in each word go last, and, the last letter go first.” Jessie held up her notebook for the others to see—ETON’S LOOP had become STONE POOL!
    “Oh, my goodness!” Violet said, putting her hands to her mouth.
    “Wow!” said Henry. “That’s good detective work, Jessie.”
    “I helped, too,” put in Benny, who was busy scraping the last of the frosting from the bowl.

    “You sure did.” Jessie nodded. “You gave me the idea when you switched the letters around in Pam’s name.”
    “What I can’t understand,” said Violet, “is what the village of Stone Pool has to do with the mystery.”
    “That’s what we’re going to find out,” stated Henry.
    Benny licked some frosting from a corner of his mouth. “How will we find out?” he wanted to know.
    Henry thought about this. “Maybe the answer’s in that photograph of Stone Pool. The one that Norah showed us.”
    Violet’s eyebrows rose. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
    “Let’s keep a lid on this for now,” Jessie suggested. “If it turns out we’re on the wrong track, Norah’s bound to be disappointed.”
    Just then, Annette poked her head into the kitchen, a pencil stuck behind her ear. “Hey, there!” she said, smiling as if glad to see them. “Do you mind if I join you?”
    The children stared at Annette, wondering why she was suddenly so cheery and friendly.
    Without waiting for an answer, Annette stepped into the kitchen, shutting the door behind her. “So … how are you making out with the old mystery?” she asked, giving them a big smile.
    “Well, we figured out that …” Benny stopped talking in mid-sentence. He suddenly remembered not to talk about the mystery.
    Annette was instantly curious. “Go on,” she urged, as she pulled up a chair and set her coffee cup down on the table.
    The children looked at one another. They didn’t want to lie, but they also knew it was best not to discuss the mystery just yet.
    “We have a lot of questions,” said Jessie, “but not many answers.”
    Annette began to tap her pencil on the table. “Surely you’ve figured out a clue by now.”
    “A clue?” asked Jessie.
    Annette sat back in her chair, looking at Jessie. Then, without another word, she got to her feet, grabbed her coffee cup, and marched out of the room.
    When the door had closed behind her, the