The Ghastly Gerty Swindle With the Ghosts of Hungryhouse Lane by Sam McBratney

Charlie said fiercely. “She had a new mouth. And she wasn’t old, and we liked her.”
    Bonnie stopped crying. She stopped because she couldn’t believe her ears. She had never known this before—that Charlie liked Lulubelle.
    The phone rang. “I’ll get it, dear,” Gerty hurried to say. “That’ll be my sick mother.”
    â€œWell,” sighed Amy, pressing herself out of the chair, “let’s not be too downhearted. That is always very important in life. Perhaps if we make a list of the things that are missing, we can think of what to do next.”
    When the others went out of the kitchen, Zoe decided to make herself useful by tidying away the remains of the picnic. Everything went into a trash can except for the leftover sandwiches, which she put into the fridge. And that was when she noticed something that didn’t quite fit.
    The tongue sandwiches—the ones that Gertrude Moag had said she didn’t like
twice
—weren’t there.

10 …
    Clues
    The police arrived.
    Well, he was actually only one policeman—Bill Partridge’s grandson, also called Bill. Amy remembered pushing him through the village in his baby carriage.
    â€œGood afternoon, ma’am,” he said. “If I may take down the particulars.”
    Perhaps it was the uniform that made him talk funny, Amy supposed, but of course she gave him details of the crime, and Zoe had prepared a list of missing items in the hope that some of them might be traced.
    â€œA heinous crime, burglary, Miss Steadings,” Constable Bill Partridge said gravely. “Every thief in the country seems to be at it at the present time.”
    â€œThey captured Lulubelle and two ghosts,” Bonnie chirped, “but they didn’t get Charlie’s juggling balls or the chimney sweep.”
    â€œI should hope not,” the constable respondedbravely to this piece of nonsense. “But we’re going to get
them
, aren’t we, my lovely?”
    With a quiet click Charlie’s little recorder ran out of tape. Constable Partridge watched him change the cassette, and frowned as if to wonder whether it was legal to make a recording of criminal investigations.
    â€œRest assured, Miss Steadings, that we shall do everything in our power to apprehend these villains and bring them to justice. Meanwhile, it might not be a bad idea to change your locks. And of course we shall keep you abreast of any developments in the case. Good-bye.”
    On the way out they passed Gerty in the hall, who plonked down the phone when she saw the policeman and gave a sort of breathless curtsy.
    â€œI must go and slice that cabbage for tea, dear—it won’t do not to eat.”
    Zoe followed her into the kitchen. “How sick
is
your mother, Mrs. Moag?”
    â€œPoorly, dear. It upsets me to talk about her, so run along.”
    â€œDid you get your stamps?”
    â€œWhat stamps?”
    The stamps you said you were going into the village for, thought Zoe. “I was just wondering what happened to the tongue sandwiches in the fridge.”
    â€œYou people ate them.”
    â€œNo, we ate the square ones. I mean the lovely equilateral triangles with the parsley on top. I guessyou ate them yourself, even though they give you heartburn, right?”
    â€œWrong!” Gerty whacked the cabbage in two with a mighty stroke. “Go and play skipping or something. In my day children were seen and not heard!”
    On the way into the garden Zoe wondered about that cabbage, too. Hadn’t Gertrude Moag said she would buy a turnip?
    She passed Miss Amy with Bonnie on her knee. It was hard to tell which of those two looked more miserable. And what about poor little Bobbie in the west chimney—could a ghost feel lonely? What was Lady Cordelia thinking right now, and snooty old James? He’d have a fit once he realized he’d been stolen. Those robbers had made a really good job of