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THE CASE OF THE  GHOST AT THE LAKE.           

In this case, I joined my friends, eight-year old twins, Matt and Jason, at their aunt’s lake house. Jason believed there was a ghost. The twins hired me to solve the mystery. 

                                   

A GHOSTLY CALL

It was the middle of July. Another hot Minnesota summer day. Charlotte was in her doghouse lapping up a cool drink and working a crossword puzzle. 
       She was trying to think of a four letter word for rabbit when the phone rang. She laid down the puzzle. She pushed the button on her cell phone with a paw. “Crimes and mysteries solved,” she answered in her most business-like voice.

“Charlotte, it’s Jason. You have to help us. There’s something fishy happening at the lake.”

       “Something fishy at the lake doesn’t sound like much of a mystery to me,” Charlotte  said.
       Jason and his brother Matt are twins Charlotte knows. She'd spent many good times at the lake with them.

       “Yeah, well, we think the lake is haunted. We want you to help us catch the ghost,” Jason said.

Charlotte had never caught a ghost. She had caught thieves and other criminals, but never a ghost. 

“Will you go up to the lake with us?” asked Jason.

       “Yes," she said. What would it be like to meet a ghost? And how would a ghost act if it met a pug? 

“Pack your backpack. We’ll pick you up at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.”

        Charlotte put down the phone. She wrote H A R E  for rabbit in the four squares of the puzzle. Then she put the puzzle away. She had more important things to do. 

       Charlotte got out my backpack. She put in  her toothbrush, notebook and doggie treats. She added goggles, snorkel and fins.  
       She wondered what she would need to catch a ghost.  

OFF TO THE LAKE

Promptly at nine o’clock the next morning, Jason and Matt, arrived with their Aunt Jane.  

       Charlotte grabbed her backpack and trotted out to the car.

          The top was down on the little red convertible. In it were toy trucks, buckets, and shovels for digging in the sand, fishing rods, bait, snorkels and goggles. Even a blown up whale. There was barely room for the four of them.

           “Hi, Charlotte. Glad you could come,” said Aunt Jane. She knew the boys liked having Charlotte around. 
       Aunt Jane wore sunglasses. Her dark hair was tucked inside a floppy animal print hat.

I jumped up onto the back seat next to Matt. He fastened my seat belt. We were off to the lake. 

          “Tell Charlotte about the disappearing boat,” said Jason from the front seat.

           Disappearing boat? Now she was really interested. Her fur began to tingle. It does that when there is a mystery to solve.

          Matt ran his hands through his long brown hair. “Well,” he said, placing his sun glasses on his nose. “The boat may not have disappeared at all."

         “They said it did,” said Jason.

   Charlotte looked from Matt to Jason. It seemed the boys didn’t agree. She wondered what had really happened. 

THE LAKE HOUSE

Charlotte listened to what the boys said about the disappearance of the boat.

  Jason continued. He made his voice loud enough to be heard over the seat. “This neighbor of Aunt Jane’s always ties his boat up to his dock. One night he looked out. He didn’t see it there. 
        He even went down to the dock. It really was gone. He called the police. They searched the whole lake and couldn’t find it.”

“But it was back again the next morning, wasn’t it?” said Matt.

“Yeah, well, that’s the mystery,” said Jason. 
Matt shrugged.

        “But, there are other things, too,” said Jason. “Sometimes I hear strange noises when I'm in the house."  

                When we arrived at the house, there was a FOR SALE  sign on the lawn.

“Hey,” said Matt. “You’re selling the house?”  

Aunt Jane nodded, sadly.

“Why would you want to do that? We like coming here.” said Jason.

“I don’t want to,” said Aunt Jane. “Before Uncle Earl died there were two of us to pay the bills.  Now there’s only me.”

“Gee, that’s too bad,” said Matt. “I sure like coming here.”

"Yeah, me too," said Jason.
       Aunt Jane and the boys unpacked the car. 
       There was still time for a swim before lunch. They splashed about with our snorkels and goggles. 

Everyone forgot about ghosts. They splashed around enjoying the water.

Looking up, Charlotte saw a misty figure near the house. It was slowly coming toward them.  

It’s the ghost the boys talked about! She was   going to solve this mystery very quickly!

She blinked my eyes, I saw it wasn’t a ghost. It was Aunt Jane coming down to the lake 

with a large tray. Charlotte  just had water in my eyes.

  “Lunch,” Aunt Jane called. She came onto the dock and set the tray down. On it were paper plates, napkins, chocolate milk, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. 

“Here, Charlotte, I saved this for you.” Aunt Jane placed a bone on a plate for Charlotte. 
She joined Matt, Jason and Aunt Jane in a picnic. enjoyed a picnic. 
         She had a good bone to gnaw on. It was a good lunch.

They finished lunch. 
         The wind grew cool. 

“Hurry,” said Aunt Jane. “A storm is coming.”

A STORM 

Storm clouds were rolling in. Matt and Jason quickly picked up the empty plates. 

        They all ran to the house. The boys changed out of their swim suits. 

        Aunt Jane closed the windows. 

                The wind blew. Rain began to fall. 

        They gathered together inside. Aunt Jane got out the Monopoly board. She placed it on a table and pulled up some wicker chairs. Charlotte jumped up on one. 

         Dice was tossed the dice. Markers were moved from space to space around the board. 

         No one talked about ghosts.  

         Houses were built. Hotels replaced houses.

         Money changed hands. Railroads were bought and sold. Aunt Jane was finally the winner.
         They went into the kitchen. Aunt Jane heated up a pizza.
         Charlotte's little pug nose could smell rain coming.

         The sky grew darker.
         The wind blew harder.

                 The rain began to pour down. Charlotte could hear it hit the roof and pound against the windows.

               The room suddenly went dark.

        “Oh, Oh!” said Aunt Jane. “I’d better get the flashlights.” 
        “I’ll get them,” said Matt.

        "No. Just stay where you are,” said Aunt Jane. Close to Charlotte, Matt sighed and relaxed in his chair. She could tell he was glad he didn't have to prove he was braver than he really was.

         Aunt Jane left the room. The twins and Charlotte  munched on the pizza in the dark. 

“Are you scared?” asked Jason.

“Nah,” said Matt.

“Me neither,” said Jason.

Even though Charlotte is a brave pug detective, she thought she might be a little scared if a ghost came. She had never met a ghost.   

        A loud bang made the boys jump in their chairs.

  Jason moved a little closer to Charlotte. "What was that?" he whispered To be continued