Scaredy Kat by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel Read Free Book Online Page B

have no idea what to do about it.”
    My voice started to shake a little bit. My heart was racing slightly, and the nausea returned. Just talking about it made
     me want to unzip my body like a suit and run far, far away. Jac put her hand on my arm.
    “Well, you know about one of them, right? Tank appeared to you. Tank seems to have reached out for help. So let’s start with
     him. Tank is one spirit that you can do something about.”
    “Can I, though?” I asked. “I went over to the house, Jac, and I figured I’d find the answer there. Or that at least I’d find
     out what I was supposed to do next. But I came up totally empty. Tank won’t communicate directly with me. How can I possibly
     help him?”
    Jac looked thoughtful.
    “I guess you’re going to have to find out who he is,” she said. “Then maybe you can find out how he died. That’s what we did
     with Suzanne Bennis. And once we knew that Miss Wittencourt’s guilt and sadness was keeping her here, you knew how to help
     her move on. So first we have to know Tank’s story.”
    I sighed.
    “Any suggestions?”
    “You said the date on Tank’s painting, the one his aunt Ruby did, was dated a few years back.”
    I nodded.
    “So you have a date, at least, when you know he was living in the house. You’ve been in this house two years. Tank’s family
     was probably the last family to live there before the house went empty.”
    “Possibly. But we don’t know who they were, Jac. We don’t even know their names.”
    “There must be a way to find out. Like, town records or something.”
    “I don’t know anything about town records. What would we do, call the town hall and ask about aunt Ruby?”
    Jac shrugged, a small smile on her face.
    “Don’t you know anybody else on this street that might remember them?
    I shook my head.
    “We’re not exactly the outgoing, host-a-neighborhood-barbecue kind of family,” I said. “I don’t know any of my neighbors.”
    Jac suddenly sat up very straight, her eyes wide.
    “I know! How about we go outside and see if there’s a name still on the mailbox?”
    I stared at Jac, my mouth slightly open.
    She smiled, making her appear even more elfin than usual.
    “You may express your gratitude for my brilliance by supplying more baked goods,” Jac declared grandly.
    “Then we’d better go to the kitchen.”
    Jac was already at the door.

Chapter 8
    “I don’t see why we can’t wait until the rain stops,” I complained.
    I pulled a rain poncho over my head, generating a field of static electricity that caused the hair on the crown of my head
     to stand straight up.
    Jac pointed at me and laughed.
    “Kat! You look adorable with a mohawk!”
    “This is the thanks I get for letting you wear my raincoat?”
    Jac grinned and pulled a ball cap over her red hair. The hat was big on her—she looked like she was about eight years old.
    “Ready?” she asked.
    I glanced back in the direction of my mother’s office.
    “It’s fine, Kat,” Jac said. “We’ll only be gone two minutes. She won’t get worried.”
    “I know,” I said. “It’s just that I don’t understand why her door is still closed. There’s no other car parked out there.”
    “Maybe she’s meditating,” Jac suggested.
    “She does that at dawn,” I replied.
    “Come on!” Jac said, pulling me by the arm.
    I submitted to Jac’s pressure. It was like being pulled by a tiny bird or a miniature poodle. But the force of her personality
     far exceeded the force of her little arms.
    I opened the front door and we walked outside. The rain had let up a little, but it was still coming down fairly steadily.
     Jac led the way, and I followed her obediently onto the sidewalk, feeling like a puppy.
    The house had a fairly regulation mailbox—a black metal structure shaped like a loaf of bread, with a door on the front and
     a red flag that you raised if you wanted the postman to pick up mail. I couldn’t see any lettering on the side that