“Well, that would make perfect sense,” George jumped in. “We need to check the caves. Abigail would hide her clues in places she knows.”
Bess looked at Megan and asked, “What do you think Abigail could be hiding?”
Megan shrugged. “I have no clue,” she said. “She tells me everything.”
Now Nancy had a question. “What has she said about her new home? Maybe she’s given you some clues that you didn’t pick up on.”
Megan shifted in her seat. “I haven’t talked to her in a while,” she said.
“Did she move far away?” asked Nancy.
“Not too far. Just to Boston,” Megan answered. “She’s just been really busy. I know I have,” she said. Then she changed the subject. “Did I tell you I’m on the gymnastics team?”
Nancy listened politely, then said, “Do you think you could show us the caves tomorrow?”
“Sure,” said Megan. “I’d love to show you around.” But before the girls could make a plan, there was a faint scratching sound in the hallway.
“What’s that?” asked Nancy sharply.
“I’m sure no one’s out there,” said Megan. “All the grown-ups have gone to bed. And who would bother to spy on us, anyway?”
Bess pursed her lips and said, “Detectives just like to keep their business to themselves, if you know what I mean.”
Suddenly all the lights in the room began to flicker on and off. They wouldn’t stop! Megan tried to explain. “Oh, this happens all the time here. Old houses, you know.”
But George wasn’t convinced. She went to the window. “The lighthouse light is on,” she reported. “But I don’t think that’s what is flickering. . . .”
“And everyone’s in bed but us?” Bess asked in a shaky voice. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
Megan tried to make a joke out of it, but Nancy could tell she was getting nervous. “So the lights are flashing,” she said. “What do we need them for, anyway? We’re about to go to bed.”
“Maybe you are,” retorted Bess. “But I can’t go to sleep knowing what’s out there!”
George was confused. “But we don’t know what’s out there.”
“Oh, yes we do,” cried Bess. “It’s the ghost!”
6
Clue in a Cave
The ghost!” giggled Megan. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”
Bess sat up straight and said, “I sure do!”
Nancy stepped in quickly. “There has to be some other explanation. Nobody even knows for sure if there is a ghost.”
The noise in the hallway stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Then the lights stopped flashing too. Bess sighed with relief.
Megan turned to Nancy and said, “I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Unless the ghost catches me on my way back to my room.” With that, she flounced out the door.
“She sure talks a lot,” Bess said once Megan was safely out of earshot.
“Yeah,” said George. “Do we really need her help?”
Nancy answered. “Megan might not be easy to get along with. But I still think she might help us find the ‘key’—whatever it is.”
• • •
The next day was gray and gloomy. At breakfast Mr. Webb said, “It wouldn’t be summer in Maine without a rainy day!” He opened a closet full of board games, and the guests played Monopoly for most of the morning. The rain had stopped by the afternoon, though, and the girls were getting restless. Nancy was glad to hear Megan say, “Do you want to take a walk down by the water?”
Hayley shuddered and said, “Isn’t it a little cold?” But Nancy knew what Megan meant. Together, they’d try to find the next clue.
The girls put on their sweatshirts, and Megan led the way past the lighthouse to the end of the rocky peninsula. “Watch your step,” she ordered. “It’s slippery.” The girls climbed down carefully and found themselves beneath a cliff. In front of them waves crashed onto the sand. Behind them were two small caves.
Megan pointed at one of them. “Abigail played hide-and-seek here with her brothers.”
Nancy took a flashlight out of her backpack and shone it on the inside walls. They were smooth and wet. “There aren’t many places to hide things,” she pointed out. “And anything hidden would be washed away by the tide.”
The next cave was more promising, though. “This one is narrower,” said Nancy, “and it stretches way back under the bluff. Some of it probably stays dry.”
Nancy ran her fingers along the cave walls, searching for anything that might be in the crevices. Bess tried to crawl into the back of the cave, but the space was too small for her. “I’ll go!” said George. She had no problem shimmying in.
“There’s a sign back here,” she shouted out to her friends. “It says ABIGAIL’S HIDEOUT! I think we’re in the right place.”
Megan frowned at Nancy and Bess. “Hideout?” she said. “Abigail never showed me that part of the cave.”
“Can you hand me the flashlight?” George asked. Nancy held it through the opening. Suddenly George reappeared, holding a treasure chest. She said, “Let’s open it up!”
Nancy lifted the lid. The inside was lined with gold fabric. Another red puzzle piece was nestled right in the middle!
Nancy was looking for the other pieces in her backpack when she heard someone laughing. “What’s so funny?” she asked, lifting her head. None of the other girls were laughing. Instead they were staring at the other cave opening, where the noise seemed to come from. The laugh was an eerie cackle.
“Sounds like the ghost to me,” Bess said, shivering.
“I’m sure it’s not a ghost,” insisted Megan. But she didn’t seem as sure as she had the night before.
“What are we going to do?” Bess wailed. “I hear something else, too! A thunderstorm!”
“We need to stay calm,” Nancy said. “Ghost or no ghost, my dad told me it’s not safe for us to be on the beach in a storm. He said to find shelter and wait it out.” The girls trembled as the cave grew colder and darker. The cave was lit with flashes of lightning. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
Nancy thought she heard someone calling her name as the girls waited out the storm. It sounded like her dad! But when Nancy called back, her voice didn’t carry far. Nobody came to rescue them.
“I think the storm is moving away,” George said after a while. “Hear how there’s more time between the light and the sound?”
Eventually things seemed a little less frightening. And then the rain stopped too. As they walked back to the B and B, Bess said, “Did you notice that the ghost stopped laughing when the storm started?”
“Maybe he was rained out,” Megan said meanly.
Even Nancy was a little tired of Megan after the afternoon’s adventures. Luckily the Meaneys were waiting for her at the inn—the whole family was going out to dinner. Nancy and her friends would be on their own.
When they returned to the B and B, Mr. Drew and the Webbs were busy cooking. “Thank goodness you’re all right!” Mr. Drew exclaimed.
“We were safe in a cave, Daddy. We hid just like you said,” Nancy said, giving her dad a hug. Then Nancy and her friends went out to the deck. The girls put together the three pieces of the puzzle. Together they made a red octagon. There were no more clues, just a faint dot toward one of the puzzle’s edges.
“Not much of a key,” Bess said wryly.
“Could it be one more clue?” Nancy wondered.
“The key to the key?” George said. “Maybe.”
“I’m stumped,” said Nancy. “We’ve followed the map, but we have no idea where to go next. I thought that Megan might help us understand what Abigail was up to, but she hasn’t helped much at all.”
Bess and George glanced at each other.
Nancy sounded discouraged. “We’re at a dead end.”
Bess and George were discouraged for a moment too.
Then Bess said, “Someone else doesn’t want us to find out the secret, whatever it is.”
br /> “What do you mean?” asked George and Nancy at the same time.
“Every time we work on the case, something strange happens.”
“You mean the ghost shows up?” George said with a grin.
Bess looked very serious. “That’s what I think. Don’t laugh.”
“Couldn’t it be a coincidence?” Nancy asked.
Bess frowned. “It could be,” she answered slowly.
Nancy changed the subject. “How about we take a bike ride tomorrow? Mr. and Mrs. Webb said they have extra kids’ bikes in the garage,” she said. “We might not solve the mystery, but at least we’ll have fun on our own.”
“Sounds like a plan,” said George. “Now let’s go inside and eat!”
The girls had chicken and potato salad with Mr. Drew and the Webbs. Afterward they helped clear the table. “So how do you girls like staying on the third floor?” asked Mrs. Webb. “We think we’ll use your bedroom for kids whenever they come to stay.”
“We love it!” said Nancy. “We love everything about this place.” Bess didn’t mention the ghost.
“Too bad you won’t be here this weekend,” said Mrs. Webb. “The Coast Guard is coming to make some repairs to the lighthouse, and it will be open for a couple of days.”
“Oh, I wish we could go to the top!” Nancy said.
“You’ll just have to come back sometime!” Mrs. Webb said, smiling. “Abigail told me the lighthouse was the best place in the world for kids to play.”
Nancy looked up from the plate she was scraping. “I didn’t know you knew Abigail!” she replied. “We’ve heard a lot about her.”
Mrs. Webb explained, “I met Abigail a few times when we were looking at the house. She was very sad to be moving. She really loved the lighthouse.”
“We heard that too,” George mentioned casually. “We heard that Abigail knew lots of secrets about the place.” She winked at Nancy, but nobody else could see.
“Come to think of it,” said Mrs. Webb, “Abigail did seem to know some secrets. She said something mysterious about how she wouldn’t be the last kid to have a sleepover at the top of the lighthouse. Of course that would never be allowed! But she seemed convinced.”
“What did she mean?” Nancy asked. “How could that be?”
Mrs. Webb shook her head. “Your guess is as good as mine. But Abigail seemed positive there would be a way.”
7
A New Twist
Nancy couldn’t wait to be done with the dishes. She wanted to discuss this latest development with her friends. Nancy dried and stacked the plates so perfectly that Mrs. Webb said, “Want a job at the inn? You’re hired!”
As the girls headed out of the kitchen, Nancy whispered, “We need to have a meeting, and I know just where it should be.” Nancy asked her dad if they could to go to the ice-cream parlor. Soon the girls were sitting on a bench outside, eating cones with chocolate sprinkles for dessert.
“Abigail’s secret has to have something to do with what Mrs. Webb said,” Nancy announced. “Something to do with sleepovers in the lighthouse.”
“That’s the last place I’d want to have a sleepover!” Bess exclaimed. “It’s haunted! I think that Abigail’s secret has something to do with the ghost. Why else would he keep getting in our way? Maybe Abigail knew something about him—and he doesn’t want it getting out.”
“Maybe,” said Nancy, unconvinced.
“Maybe,” agreed George. “But let’s get back to what Mrs. Webb said.”
“Abigail left her note in the kids’ bedroom,” said Nancy. “I think she wanted a kid to find it. Somehow Abigail’s secret will let kids play in the lighthouse again.”
“But it doesn’t make sense,” George pointed out. “Kids can’t get into the lighthouse. Nobody can.”
“Maybe there’s a secret entrance or something. I don’t know.” Nancy polished off the last of her cone.
“Here’s what I’m wondering,” Bess blurted out. “How come Megan never told us Abigail knew a way kids could sleep over there? She’s supposed to be helping us with the mystery. Is she trying to stop us instead?”
“I’m sure she wouldn’t do that,” said Nancy. “Maybe she just didn’t know.”
“But why wouldn’t she know? Abigail is her best friend,” Bess reminded Nancy.
“Maybe Abigail never told her!” George cried. “Don’t you think it’s weird that they haven’t talked in a long time? And that Megan didn’t know about the hideout? Maybe they’re not as close as Megan says.”
“Let’s take another look at the puzzle pieces,” Nancy said. “They’re all we have to go on.”
Nancy unzipped her backpack and took out the octagon. While her friends were looking at it, Nancy jotted a few more things in her notebook: “Second piece found in cave” and “Abigail’s secret sleepovers?”
Bess nudged Nancy as she was tracing the shape of the octagon onto a blank page. “Remember how you said we were at a dead end? Maybe we’re not, after all! Doesn’t this shape remind you of a stop sign? Could the answer be near one?”
“It could be!” Nancy said excitedly. “It’s the best lead we’ve had in a while! It won’t be dark for a while yet—let’s look around.”
The girls walked from the ice cream parlor to the downtown area of Maine Street. It didn’t take them long to locate the two stop signs in town.
George found one at the main intersection, where a larger town might have had a traffic light. Standing beneath it, she looked in all directions. But all she saw were a telephone pole, a flock of seagulls, and a T-shirt shop that was closing up. None of them seemed connected to Abigail’s secret.
Nancy and Bess investigated the other stop sign. It was at the end of the shopping district, where Maine Street became just like any other sleepy street in town. This one was leaning a little toward the water. It didn’t seem to offer any clues either.
The girls stood beneath it until Nancy said, “Let’s take a break.” They met up with George, walked down toward the water, and watched the tide go out.
Behind them, people walked down Maine Street. “The sun is going down!” said a voice. “Take a picture of the lighthouse!”
Nancy wished she had her camera. She would have liked her own picture of the lighthouse. Instead, she opened her notebook and started to draw a picture. Since there were no more clues, she’d at least make a record of what she’d seen on her vacation. As she started to draw it, though, Nancy realized something. The lighthouse had eight sides, like a stop sign. It was octagonal. Could the final clue be there?
Nancy couldn’t contain herself. “I think I’ve got it!” she shouted to her friends. “We have to go to the lighthouse!”
Bess and George jumped up and they all headed down the rocky peninsula. Before they got too far, though, they heard another voice. This one said, “You guys are going to the lighthouse? What for?”
It was Megan Meaney, with her whole family. They were coming back from the restaurant where they’d had dinner.
There was no point in lying—Megan already knew they were looking for something. “I think we’re going to get to the bottom of our mystery!” Nancy said.
Megan bragged about how well she knew the lighthouse. “I used to go there all the time with Abigail,” she said.
“You used to do everything with Abigail!” Hayley interrupted. “I’m glad she’s not here this year.”
Megan ignored her sister. “I think I know a way in. Follow me!”
Nancy motioned George and Bess to follow too. Mr. and Mrs. Meaney continued to the Webbs’, but Hayley hung back.
Megan never seemed nice to Hayley, and she wasn’t nice now. “Hayley, you can’t come with us! This mission is for detectives only!”
Nancy didn’t want to have to explain everything to Hayley. But she felt sorry for the younger girl. She said, “Hayley, would you mind telling my dad where we are? I don’t want him to wonder. We’ll be back really soon.”
Hayley nodded and left with
out a word. Megan led the girls around the back of the lighthouse. There was no door there, just a workman’s ladder that led to a small window near the ground. Megan said, “You can go right up the stairs once you get through the window.”
Nancy and her friends climbed up the ladder and through the window one by one. And as they entered the lighthouse, a low moan began in the distance.
8
The Haunted Lighthouse
The inside of the lighthouse was dark and very narrow. Once they climbed through the window, the girls were on a landing between two flights of winding stairs. Megan led the way up. The stairs wound to the right, and it seemed like they would never end. Every so often, the girls came to another landing with a window. Through the window they could see the darkening sky. They could also hear the faint sound of the moaning below.
Nancy knew Bess thought it was the ghost. Right now Nancy couldn’t think of a better explanation. So she decided not to think about it at all.
Finally Megan stopped. “We’re here!” she yelled. The top of the lighthouse was a small room lined with more windows. Nancy could see the B and B far below, and waves smashing against the rocks. But there was no time to admire the view.
“What are we looking for, exactly?” Megan asked.
“That’s the problem,” Nancy explained. “We’re still not sure.” Then she had a great idea. “Would you mind keeping guard while we search?” she asked. Nancy didn’t know what Megan could guard them from. But at least the job would keep her out of the way.
George walked around the room, checking the walls for any openings where something might be hidden. Bess stuck with Nancy, walking toward the huge light in the middle of the room. Nancy saw spots after she’d looked at the light for a moment. There was no way Abigail would have hidden her secret there.
Nancy had left the red octagon in her pocket. She took it out again and noticed something new. The faint spot was in the middle of one of the eight sides. And an even fainter N was below it! “Look at this,” she said to Bess. But Bess was too scared to pay attention to anything but the strange noises in the distance.