The Skeleton Haunts a House by Leigh Perry Page A

you, too.”
    â€œExcuse me?”
    â€œYou heard me. I want you guys to investigate the murder.”
    â€œWho are you, and what have you done with my sister?”
    Though Deborah had come through for me when I needed her help the other times I’d stuck my nose into police work, she’d made it plain that she’d have been considerably happier if I’d stayed out of it.
    â€œHere’s the thing,” she said. “I was watching the cops mill around after you left, and it’s pretty obvious that they think the guy in the Scooby suit was involved. I’m not blaming you or Sid—”
    â€œThanks so much.”
    â€œI said I’m not blaming you, all right! But you and I both know the police wouldn’t be going in that direction if it weren’t for them thinking a nonexistent thief snuck out of the haunt.”
    â€œDoesn’t that make it my fault?” Phil said mildly. “Should I have come up with a different explanation?”
    â€œNo, Dad, you were great. If it weren’t for you, the police would be leaning on Georgia, trying to find out who she rented that costume for. Now she’s safe, but the police aren’t going to be able to find the real killer.”
    â€œYou don’t know that,” I said.
    â€œI know every minute they spend searching for Scooby is a minute wasted. Look, Georgia, I’m not asking you to do anything you haven’t done before.”
    â€œAhem!” I said, looking at our parents.
    Phil and Mom started one of their silent conversations, the kind made up of lifted eyebrows and significant glances that had infuriated Deborah and me while we were growing up. In fact, they still infuriated me.
    â€œGeorgia,” Mom said gently, “we don’t have all the details, but we do know that your recent research projects haven’t been entirely academic.”
    â€œYou do?” I said, eyeing both my sister and my daughter speculatively.
    Before I could decide who’d spilled the beans, Deborah said, “Look, it’s late and we’re all tired. Just think it over, okay?”
    Phil yawned pointedly. That started a round of yawns, and I knew I’d been outmaneuvered for the time being.
    â€œFine,” I said. “We’ll talk after we get Sid back.”
    But after Deborah left and the rest of us got ready for bed, I started thinking that there might be something my sister wasn’t telling me. Plus, despite what I’d told Madison, I couldn’t help worrying about Sid. I’d charged my phone as soon as I got home, but there’d been no word from him. Where was he, anyway? Was he okay?
    It took me forever to get to sleep.

6
    T he phone woke me considerably earlier the next morning than I wanted to get up, given the night before. I was scrambling to answer it when I realized it hadn’t rung a second time. Since Madison didn’t have a landline in her room, I concluded that it had been a wrong number and the caller had given up. I punched my pillow into the proper shape and would have fallen asleep again had there not been a knock on the bedroom door.
    â€œGeorgia?” my mother said. “Deborah needs to talk to you.”
    Right. Mom and Phil were back. I grabbed my phone, and politely said, “What do you want?”
    â€œI’m on my way over to the haunt.”
    â€œYou aren’t opening tonight, are you?”
    â€œAre you awake yet? Of course we’re not opening tonight—it’s an active crime scene and they’re still doing all that forensics stuff. Once that’s done, Detective Raymond here wants me to walk him through the place, to show him how we operate. Then he should be able to let the cast comepick up their personal belongings. I thought you might want to bring Madison over to pick up her
things
.”
    â€œYou mean I’ll be able to get Sid, right?”
    â€œSure, if she left her school books here, she can pick