The Sleepy Hollow Mystery

  Everyone laughed.

  When he stopped, Jessie asked, “Where can we put it?”

  Isiah handed the scarecrow back to Henry. “I’ve put plenty of poles, so let’s find one that isn’t claimed yet.”

  They found a spot in one of the back rows and set up the scarecrow. When they were finished, they went to look at the other contestants.

  “There’s Margot taking pictures,” Jessie pointed.

  Margot looked up and waved at them.

  Loud voices made them turn toward the street. A group of young men piled out of a car, laughing and joking with one another. “There’s Brett Beekman from the restaurant,” Violet said, motioning to one of them.

  The four young men ambled up to the scarecrows. One of them laughed and pointed at a scarecrow in an old ripped dress. “That looks like the old lady who works in the library,” he said.

  “It looks better than the old lady,” another one said.

  They all laughed and then Brett yelled, “There’s Margot! Margot, take a picture of us! We’re more interesting than scarecrows.”

  She rolled her eyes and ignored them.

  “They’re rude, aren’t they?” Benny said to Violet. Violet nodded her head.

  Brett and his friends drew closer. Brett pulled a witch scarecrow off its stake. “Who’s scared of witches? She’s going to get you.” He swung it close to Violet and Benny and said, “Better run, kiddies, before the witch turns you into a couple of toads.” Jerking it toward them, he yelled, “Boo!”

  Benny jumped and cried out, “Stop!”

  Brett’s friends laughed again. Jessie crossed her arms in front of her and frowned. “Stop that. You’re scaring my little brother.”

  “I’m just teasing,” Brett said.

  “It’s mean teasing,” Henry said.

  Isiah rushed over to them. “Put that scarecrow back!” he ordered Brett. When Brett didn’t move, Isiah grabbed it from his hands. “What are you doing here? This doesn’t seem like your kind of fun.”

  “We can go wherever we want.” Brett stared at Isiah’s costume. “Why don’t you dress in normal clothes? You look like a freak.”

  Isiah looked angry. “I’ve got a job to do, a real job, not one my father got for me.”

  Brett clenched his fists and took a step toward Isiah.

  “Stop, you two,” Annika said. “Brett, why don’t you leave Isiah alone? You’ve been mean to him for years. Don’t you get tired of it?”

  “I’m just joking around,” Brett said. “He’s the one who can’t take a joke.” He walked away to join his friends.

  “Let’s forget about him,” Jessie said. “Annika, where is your scarecrow?”

  “I don’t know where Isiah put it,” Annika said. “But it should be easy to find. It looks just like the one in front of the shop.”

  “It’s in the second row on the end,” Isiah said. He put the witch scarecrow back on the pole. “I’ll show you.”

  They followed after him to the end of the row, but the pole was empty. There was no headless scarecrow in a black cape. “That’s strange,” Isiah said. “I know it was here yesterday afternoon.”

  “Maybe someone moved it,” Benny said.

  “We’ll look for it,” said Jessie.

  “Let’s split up,” Henry suggested.

  A few minutes later, Jessie motioned for the rest to join her. “I found it,” she said. “It’s under a pine tree on the side of the library.”

  “Why would anyone move it there?” Annika asked.

  Jessie didn’t answer the question. “You should come look,” she said in a low voice, her eyes darting around the crowd, “but I don’t think we should let anyone else see it. It’s bad.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Beware

  Henry, Violet, and Benny followed Jessie.

  As they drew closer, Violet asked, “Why is the straw scattered everywhere?”

  “Someone took out all the straw!” Benny said.

  “That’s not the worst.” Jessie pointed at the pumpkin head. It had been smashed, and spattered with the same fake blood. It lay in pieces scattered around the scarecrow’s body.

  “What’s that?” Benny asked, pointing a trembling finger at a piece of paper on the scarecrow’s chest.

  Henry knelt down. “It’s a note.” He pulled it free and held it up. The word BEWARE was scrawled on it in the same color as the spattered red.

  “That’s horrible,” Violet shuddered.

  “Even if it’s just a scarecrow, it’s a bad thing to do,” Benny said.

  “What’s going on back here?” Margot’s voice came from behind them.

  “Someone ruined my scarecrow,” Annika told her sister.

  Margot smiled when she saw the scarecrow on the ground. “Wow! What a great picture this will make.” She snapped several pictures.

  “Margot! Is that all you can think of?” Annika cried. “Someone did this on purpose.”

  “I can use it in the ‘Most Haunted Town in America’ entry. Can you children move out of the way so I can get a better shot?” Margot took more photos, which attracted the attention of the people admiring the scarecrows in the contest. Soon, a crowd of people was gathered around the damaged scarecrow.

  “Annika, isn’t that your ghost-tour scarecrow?” a woman asked.

  Annika nodded. “Yes. I don’t know who would do this.”

  “Why does it say BEWARE?” a boy asked. “Does it mean beware of the ghost tour?”

  “No,” Annika said. “I think it’s just someone playing a joke. My ghost tours are fun and not scary.”

  “That’s not what I’ve heard,” the woman said. “I heard the last one frightened several children.” Annika tried to explain but the woman wouldn’t listen. “We won’t be going on it,” she said as she walked away.

  The Aldens helped Annika pick up the pieces of her scarecrow. They could tell she was discouraged.

  “Don’t worry, Annika,” Jessie said. “We’re determined to find out who is playing these tricks.”

  “Who could have had a chance to move the scarecrow?” Henry asked.

  “Anyone,” Annika’s face was glum. “I helped Isiah put it up yesterday. Someone could have moved it in the night. Let’s go home.”

  Back at the house, the Aldens raked leaves for Mrs. Vanderhoff. When they were finished, Jessie got a notebook out of her suitcase. “Let’s write down what we know about these terrible tricks and who could have done them,” she said.

  “Even though Mrs. Vanderhoff thinks Mr. Beekman wouldn’t play the tricks, we should add him to the list,” Henry said.

  “And Brett too,” Violet added. “He is very rude and mean.”

  “We should add the headless horseman to the list,” Benny said.

  “Benny, you know there’s no real headless horseman,” Jessie told him. “It’s just a story.”

  “We’ve seen a headless horseman,” Benny insisted. “He needs to be on the list.”

  “All right, I’ll add him, but we need to think of other possibilities.” Jessie wrote headless horseman in her notebook.

  “What about Margot?” Henry asked. “She wants to get the town named the spookiest in America. She knows all about how Annika does the tours. She could have put the cookie crumbs and the candy worms in the cookie jar.”

  “But Margot is Annika’s sister!” Violet shook her head. “That would be too mean.”

  “Maybe Margot doesn’t realize it is mean,” Henry said. “She might think it will help Annika’s business if the town is named the spookiest.”

  “When Margot saw Annika’s scarecrow, she didn’t seem to notice that Annika was upset,” Jessie added. “Mrs. Vanderhoff said Margot should have been at home last night when Annika called. Since she wasn’t there, she could have ridden the horse. I’ll write her name down too.”

  Mrs. Vanderhoff called them for dinner before they could think of more names. They ate quickly so they would be ready for the ghost tour. After dinner, Mrs. McGre
gor said, “I’ll feed Watch and put him up in the apartment until you get back. Mrs. Vanderhoff and I are going to visit some of her friends, so we might not be back until after you are home.”

  “Poor Watch. I’m sorry you have to stay home,” Benny said.

  “Don’t worry about Watch,” Mrs. McGregor said. “He’s been chasing squirrels all afternoon in the backyard. I’m sure he’s very tired.”

  When everyone had their coats on, they walked with Annika to the tour’s meeting point. A group of eight people arrived for the tour, four adults and four children, two girls and two boys. The boys were twins. One of the little girls announced, “I’m the birthday girl. I’m five.”

  “I’m five too,” the twins said together.

  The other girl said, “I’m almost five. I think.” She looked up at her mother.

  “Almost,” her mother said. “In a year.” Everyone laughed.

  Annika wore her cape and carried a lantern with a candle in it. “I have a box of battery powered lanterns too,” she said. “Anyone who might feel scared can carry one of these. I want you to have fun.” All the younger children asked for lanterns, including Benny and Violet.

  As they walked into the woods, Annika told them stories from the town’s history. “People used to think there was a witch who lived in the forest,” she said. “But she turned out to be something very different.” Before she could finish the story, a loud cracking noise came from the trees on the side of the path. The group stopped.

  “I think I saw something in the trees,” one of the twins said. “Something big.”

  “Sometimes it’s easy to imagine you see something when it’s just the trees,” Jessie told him. “It could be just a clump of bushes.”

  “Jessie is right,” Annika said. “Let’s keep going.” She smiled, but the Aldens knew she was worried. They walked on, though everyone seemed a little nervous. Annika started her story again when another cracking noise came from behind them.

  A sudden shriek startled them all. Everyone spun around, trying to see what had made the awful noise.

  “That might have been an animal,” Henry said.

  Far down the path, a large, dark shape burst out of the woods. It made a loud snorting sound.

  Everyone all stood very still.

  Two red circles of light appeared, glowing in the dark.

  “Are those eyes?” Violet whispered.

  “I think so,” Benny said. “But what has red eyes?”

  “If those are eyes, that thing would have to be about ten feet tall,” Henry said.

  The lights disappeared, but the shape moved toward them. It came slowly at first and then faster and faster. It shrieked again.

  “We should get off the path,” Jessie yelled.

  They all rushed into the woods just as the creature thundered past them. They could see it was a horse with a rider who wore a cape. In the light of Annika’s lantern, they could see that the rider didn’t seem to have a head.

  The youngest girl in the group screamed and ran to her mother. One of the twins burst into tears. The parents of the twins each rushed to pick up one of the little boys.

  “Pick me up too, Daddy!” the older girl said as she held up her arms to him.

  “Please calm down,” Annika said. “I’m sorry, but that was someone playing a trick.” She sounded like she was going to cry too.

  “We know that was just a horse,” Henry said, stepping back out onto the path. “Horses don’t have glowing red eyes. We should see if we can find any clues about who is playing these tricks.” He started to jog toward where the horse and its rider had first appeared on the path.

  “Henry, I can’t let you do that,” Annika called after him.

  “I’ll just be a minute,” Henry replied over his shoulder.

  “No!” Annika yelled. She ran after him and grabbed his sleeve when she caught up. “I’m responsible for you. Let’s just stay calm and meet Isiah. The wagon will be waiting for us.”

  Henry could tell she was very upset. “All right, but I’m sure there is nothing dangerous back there.”

  Violet turned and looked in the other direction. “I hope Isiah is okay,” she said. “The horse and rider will be riding right past where he’s waiting with the wagon.”

  Annika tried to smile at the parents and children. “I’m…I’m sure he’s fine. Jessie, would you and Benny walk with the group while Violet and Henry and I go ahead to make sure Isiah is…is ready for us?”

  Jessie nodded. She was frightened but she knew Annika wanted her to be brave.

  Henry and Violet followed Annika down the path, scared at what they might find. When they came to the wagon, they didn’t see Isiah.

  “What if the headless rider got him?” Violet asked.

  Annika called out, “Isiah, where are you?”

  CHAPTER 6

  Costumes and More Clues

  “I’m right here,” Isiah called, sounding out of breath. He came around from the front of the wagon. “I was adjusting Ghost’s harness.”

  “Did you see the horse run by?” Henry asked.

  “What horse?” Isiah looked very puzzled.

  “A big black horse chased us off the path!” Violet said. “It would have dashed right past you. It was making a horrible noise too.”

  “I didn’t see anything,” Isiah said. “I didn’t hear anything either. I always listen to music while I’m waiting.” He patted his coat pocket. “I keep my MP3 player and my earbuds with me. Though the horses were both restless for some reason.”

  Henry thought Isiah sounded like he was telling the truth, but Henry couldn’t figure out what had happened to the horse. He supposed it might have gone off the path into the woods, just like it had appeared onto the path.

  Jessie, Benny, and the rest of the group arrived. The children were no longer crying, but none of them were smiling.

  Isiah bowed to the tour group and said, “Good evening. Ghost and Spook and I welcome you.” He motioned to the two white horses hitched to a big open wagon. No one said anything. He held his lantern up and looked around at the group. “Looks like we have a quiet crowd tonight. No one is laughing. Shall I tell you a funny story?”

  “No,” Annika said. “We should just go back to the shop.” She helped the smaller children into the wagon.

  “Isiah, did you fall down?” Benny asked. “You have mud on your face and your coat is ripped.”

  Annika turned and examined Isiah. “Benny is right. What happened?”

  Isiah rubbed his muddy cheek. “Benny guessed it. I’m just clumsy. When I got out of the wagon to tighten the harness, I slipped in the mud.”

  Jessie started to speak and then stopped. It hadn’t rained since they had been in Sleepy Hollow, and she didn’t see any mud. She would note it in her notebook when she got back to the Vanderhoffs.

  On the way back, Annika tried to teach the tour group an old folk song. The Aldens joined in but the other children were still fearful. They held up their lanterns and looked out into the darkness. Jessie could hear the parents grumbling to each other about the scare they’d had. When the tour arrived back to the house, the group didn’t want to stay for the treats and asked for their money back. Annika gave it to them, apologizing.

  When the tour group was gone, Isiah said, “Now are you going to tell me what happened?”

  Annika started to cry, so Henry explained what had happened.

  “Not another trick,” Isiah groaned.

  “We were worried the horseman would get you,” Violet said.

  “Annika, you should really let me do the tours,” Isiah said. “Look how upset you are.”

  “No, I can do them.” Annika wiped her face. “I’m not going to let someone scare me with silly tricks.”

  “All right, but think about it.” Isiah patted his horses. “I should get these old boys back to the stable. It’s getting late.”

  After Isiah left, the Aldens helped Annika put away the treats and drinks. They were nearly fi
nished when Violet said, “I hear a noise. I think someone is in the yard behind Mr. Beekman’s café.”

  Henry walked to the fence. “Hello!” he called out, shining the flashlight.

  “What do you want?” a man said in an angry voice. “Don’t shine that light in my eyes.”

  “It’s Mr. Beekman,” Annika said. She went over to the fence. “Good evening, Mr. Beekman. We were just worried when we heard a noise.”

  “Well, I’m allowed to go into my café whenever I want. I came to get something I’d forgotten.”

  “Sorry we bothered you,” Henry said.

  When they had finished cleaning up, Annika said, “Thank you for helping. I’m very tired, and I need to think about what to do about the tours. Good night.”

  The Aldens went up to the apartment. Henry looked out the window. “Mr. Beekman is leaving. He said he came to get something, but he’s not carrying anything.”

  “Maybe it’s something small, like a piece of paper he put in his pocket,” Violet suggested.

  “We have to figure this out,” Henry said. “Annika was very upset tonight. If it happens again, she might stop her ghost tours.”

  Jessie told them about the lack of mud around the wagon. “I’m adding Isiah to the list,” she said.

  “We do know he likes to dress up in costumes,” Violet said thoughtfully. “He likes to act too. Whoever is playing the tricks is good at pretending to be the headless horseman.”

  “Why would he play a trick on Annika?” Benny asked. “They are supposed to be friends. I like Isiah.”

  “I do too.” Jessie took her notebook out but didn’t write anything down.

  “He really wants to be the one who does the ghost tours.” Henry said, turning away from the window. “Maybe he’s hoping she’ll be so scared that she’ll let him lead the tours.”

  “If Isiah had been riding a black horse, where did he put it?” Jessie asked. “We know it wasn’t Ghost or Spook. You can’t make white horses look black.”

  “That’s part of the mystery,” Violet said.

  Jessie wrote down Isiah’s name, but the rest of the Aldens could tell she didn’t like his name on the list.

  The next morning Jessie and the other children helped Mrs. Vanderhoff make more crullers.