The Mansion on Top of the Mountain

Introduction - "Another Phony Ghost Unmasked"

Introduction
“Another Phony Ghost Unmasked”

It was just the opposite of what the Scooby Doo gang would be doing if this was their mystery. The Tween Detectives were the one chasing a phony ghost up and down the hallways and in and out of the exhibition rooms in that museum. They were careful what they were doing. But the phony ghost wasn’t. She was doing whatever she needed to do to get away from The Tween Detectives who was chasing her.
     Right now, the phony ghost was running through a dinosaur exhibit. She grabbed the leg of one large dinosaur as she ran past it. It started falling instantly. The Tween Detectives were right behind her. They stopped just before that dinosaur came falling on top of them.
     The Tween Detectives continued their chase of the phony ghost after that dinosaur completed its fall. But by that time the phony ghost had exited that exhibition. They left it too. The tween Detectives suddenly stopped just beyond that room. Rebecca Wingate and Jasper Atkinson looked down one side of that hallway. And Nora Lansing and Brandon Grande looked down the other side.
     Nora and Brandon started looking down the other side of the hallway. So, did Rebecca and Jasper. Now they were facing each other. But they were also looking for the phony ghost. “We lost her again,” said Nora. “How did we do that?”
     “I don’t know,” said Brandon. “But she couldn’t have gone too far.”
     Rebecca started looking at the closed doors with exhibition signs next to them. “She must be hiding in one of those rooms.”
     “There are no closing doors,” said Jasper. “So, she could be in any one of them.”
     Nora sighed. “She also could have run down one of the side hallways. Which means she could be anywhere at this museum.”
     “I think we need to split up and search this whole museum for her,” said Jasper. “Brandon is right. She couldn’t have gotten far. Especially if she’s hiding somewhere. The faster we find her, the faster we can unmask her.
     “Speaking of unmasking her, we need to keep in touch with each other with our cell phones. The first one who does find her contacts the others,” said Nora.
     “Yes, I know that I’m the next one who gets to unmask the phony ghost. But I think that whoever finds her first should get the privilege of doing it this time,” said Rebecca.
     Without another word, The Tween Detectives split up and began searching for the phony ghost. Rebecca and Brandon head for the side hallways at the ends of that hallway. They turned, but she wasn’t there. So, they started searching the exhibition rooms there. While they are doing that Nora and Jasper started looking in the rooms along that hallway.
     Jasper walked into a Medieval room full of armor. “If she’s hiding in here, it’s not going to be too easy to find her.” He slowly started walking around that room. Looking at each armor figure, Jasper looked at them very closely. Jasper even got up close to some of them. “She could be hiding in one of these.” Suddenly, Brandon stopped.
     Diving for an armored figure of a knight, Jasper knocked it into three others before they all hit the floor. When it did that, the head came off to reveal the phony ghost. Jasper pulled his cell phone from his pocket as he laid on top of that knight. He called the others one after another. “Not only did I find her, but I caught her first.”
     Within a few minutes, the others were there. Nora got there after only a few seconds. But Rebecca and Brandon weren’t too far behind her. And about fifteen minutes after that two police officers were there too. Once everyone was there, they turned the phony ghost over to the two police officers.
     The phony ghost struggled to get free from the two officers holding her as Jasper pulled off her mask. “It’s Connie Fields. That’s who we thought it was going to be.”
     “Who is Connie Fields?” The male police officer asked.

The lights dimmed to near darkness in the caveperson exhibit. And a clicking sound indicated that the doors to that museum were being locked. “It’s about time they closed this place up for the night,” said Jasper. “I have been in here so long my legs have started falling to sleep.”
     “It has only been a couple of hours,” said Rebecca as she sat up in a sitting position behind a caveperson exhibit. “And I told you it was a stupid idea to hide out in that small cave.”
     “It’s so small even the cavepeople don’t go in there,” said Brandon as he stepped out from behind some curtains. “Besides, you don’t have any rights to complain. If anyone does, it’s me. I have been standing for the last two hours. And my legs are killing me.”
     Nora started walking toward the others Tween Detectives looking like one of the Cavegirls. She stopped and looked at the unclothed bald mannequin behind the exhibit next to the one Jasper and Rebecca were hiding among. “You could have done what I did. It’s not like anyone was going to see me doing it. Besides our Field Trip this afternoon, there hasn’t been anyone here in almost a month because of the phony ghost.”
     “What about the security guards?” Jasper asked. “They have been coming around here a couple of times an hour. And they could have noticed you.”
     “They walked by me every time,” said Nora. “And they didn’t react like they noticed me.”
     Nora walked back to the mannequin. And started removing her cavegirl outfit. Her normal clothing was right under it. Once it was off, she put it on the mannequin. After that was done, Nora turned back toward the other Tween Detectives. Jasper started to get out of his small cave. Brandon and Rebecca were trying to help him to get up. Nora went over to help them.
     Jasper stood on shaky legs as the other helped him to get back on his feet. After only a few minutes of walking Jasper around, he started getting his legs back. A couple of minutes later he was walking on his own. The other Tween Detectives hung around him, just in case he needed them.
     “Now that I’m me again let’s get going. We don’t have too much time to do this,” said Jasper.
     Rebecca looked at each one of the other Tween Detectives. “There are two things that we need to do. One is to find our phony ghost. And second is to find out what she is really doing here. I think that we need to break up. Nora and I will start looking for our phony ghost and what she’s up to.”
     “While Brandon does what he does best in the Director’s office. I think that’s what she’s called. And Jasper can head for security.”
     “You will only have about fifteen minutes before security gets back there from their patrol, or are they called rounds. Is that going to be enough time for you to do it?”
     “That should be enough time. If it isn’t, I can always wait until they go on their second patrol or round.”
     Nora spoke first. “I hope you don’t have to do that. If you do, there is a very good chance the security guards will see us. Besides, the faster we can find our phony ghost and what she’s really doing, the better.”
     “I’m sure I can do it the first time. But if I can’t, I call you to warn you about it.”
     “It’s better if we wait until you are sure,” said Rebecca. “I think we should stay away from the cameras until Jasper calls us, and tells us it’s okay to start our search.”
     Jasper and Brandon left. Nora started looking around that room. “Do you have any ideas how we are going to find our phony ghost or what she’s up to?”
     Rebecca didn’t say anything for about a minute. She just began looking around that room too. “We know she isn’t in here. And both Brandon and Jasper are headed for the other side of the building. So, if they spot her or see something to help us with this mystery, they will contact us. I say we should look on this side of the building.”

Both police officers looked at each other. But it’s the female officer who spoke first. “What did Jasper and Brandon do? They didn’t do what I think they did.”
     “We didn’t do anything illegal,” said Jasper. “I just wired the cameras around the museum so that we could look for the phony ghost and what she was doing without being seen by the security guards.”
     “While the other three was trying to find our phony ghost, I was trying to find out what she was doing. So, I checked out the Director’s computer.”
     Once again both officers looked at each other before the male one spoke. “You do know you just confessed to some serious crimes, don’t you?”
     “We just messed with the cameras. Jasper only re-wired it so we could look for the phony ghost easier. He didn’t do any damage to it.”
     “You may get away with something like that,” said the male officer. “That will depend on what Connie Fields has to say about it.”
     “What about hacking into Connie’s computer?” The female officer asked. “She might be okay with the cameras. But she won’t be about the hacking.”
     Brandon looked mad. “I’m not a hacker.”
     “I didn’t have to do that. Even if I wanted to do it. Which I didn’t. Her computer was easy to get into.”
     “You need to stop talking about it,” said the male officer. “You’re just digging yourself in deeper by doing it.”
     “It’s not as bad as it sounds,” said Rebecca. “Besides, it doesn’t really matter anymore. After all, Connie turned out to be the phony ghost.”
     The Tween Detectives looked at each other. Then they looked at the two police officers. But it’s Brandon who spoke first. “We already figured that Connie was the phony ghost. And after I checked out her computer I knew what it was.”
     “We can talk about what you have or haven’t done later,” said the female officer. “Right now, I want to know what Connie was doing here. Why was she pretending to be Victoria Donnell?”
     All the time The Tween Detectives were talking to the two police officers, Connie was struggling in their arms. Even after they handcuffed her, she kept doing it. Just after they started explaining themselves to the two police officers, the Tween Detectives and the two officers started walking around that museum. Connie had no choice but to go with them.
     The Tween Detectives stopped in front of a painting of a field of flowers with the figure missing from it. It’s just a white area in the shape of a figure. “We still don’t know how she did that.” Brandon pointed at the white shape.
     “It’s something that we may never know,” said Rebecca. “But we’re not doing to stop trying until we do.”
     Both police officers looked up at the painting. Then at the Tween Detective. And then at Connie. But it’s the male officer who spoke first. “So, what was Connie really doing here? Was she using the ghost of Victoria to cover up a robbery or was it a fake art cover up?”
     “It was a robbery,” said Jasper. “But it wasn’t artwork or even replacing the artwork that Connie was doing here.”
     “We thought that she was replacing fake art too with the real art,” said Nora. “Especially after we figured out who she really was doing. But she wasn’t doing that.”
     The Tween Detectives looked at each other. Only it was Rebecca who continued the conversation. “She stole the biggest diamond in the world. And she was using the ghost of Victoria to cover up the bidders who were coming here to bid on that large diamond. Why she chose Middletown KS to do it, we still don’t know that either.”

Nora took her cell phone out of her pocket and checked it. It was set on vibrate. After seeing Nora do it, Rebecca did the same thing. Her cell phone was also set on vibrate. Nora nodded at Rebecca. They left that room together. But once out in the hallway, they split up too.
     Rebecca turned to her right. She walked a little way down that hallway before she turned down a side hallway. Just before she got to that side hallway, she stopped and looked in both directions. She walked down to her left to the first door that led into an Egyptian room. Rebecca started slowly walking around that room.
     Brandon entered Connie’s office. After making sure she wasn’t there, Brandon walked over to her desk and turned on her desktop computer. A few seconds later a password protection screen popped up. Brandon sat behind that desk and started to enter different passwords into that computer. After a few attempts, he stopped. He started looking around that room. “Most of the time the password is simple. Something in their personal life like a birthday or an anniversary. Sometimes it’s something near them.”
     Jasper ducked behind a tall filing cabinet as two security guards entered. Two more entered just after them. All four sat behind four chairs in front of six video monitors each. Most of them showed a different room in that museum. But there were a few that also showed the hallways. None of them showed The Tween Detectives on them.
     You should be safe now. I got to the cameras and set them on a continuous loop before the security guards returned. But I’m going to have wait until their next patrol before I can start helping you look for clues. Jasper thought to himself as he texted a message to Rebecca and Nora.
     Nora was looking at her cell phone as she entered a Roman Empire exhibition room. She put her phone away before she began slowly walking around that room. Mostly, she was looking at the exhibits. But she was also looking around those exhibits. After going over that room once, she started looking around it again.
     “Where are you, Victoria Donnell?” Rebecca asked. “Everyone is gone. Why haven’t you started haunting this museum yet.”
     Brandon sat back in Connie’s chair with a shocked look on his face. “I just found out what Connie is really doing here. Don’t know all the details. But I will in a few minutes.”
     Jasper sat behind the cameras. And he was looking at the three monitors that the other Tween Detectives were in. Mostly, he was looking at Rebecca and Nora. But he also glanced over at Brandon every so often. “Rebecca and Nora, the security guards are almost there.”
     Rebecca could barely hear Jasper. “Jasper, what did you just say?” She asked softly.
     Just then two security guards entered that room. Rebecca stepped into the darkness behind a small pyramid. Nora did the same thing as the other two security guards entered the room she was in. The four guards talked to each other as they walked through their rooms. But they didn’t seem to notice that Rebecca and Nora were there.
     Brandon sat straight in Connie’s chair. “Connie is a thief. She’s probably replacing the paintings here with fake ones. And she is using the ghost of Victoria Donnell to cover up what she is really doing here.”
     Jasper smiled as the four security guards left the rooms that they were in. The two in the Roman Empire Exhibit left first. Then the other two left a few seconds later. “Rebecca and Nora, it’s safe to come out now.”
     A few seconds later Jasper repeated his message to Rebecca and Nora. When nothing happened, he repeated it three more times. But neither one of them ever came out of hiding. “Brandon, we may have a problem. It looks like Rebecca and Nora have disappeared.”

“What happened to Rebecca and Nora?” The female police officer asked while looking at Rebecca and Nora.
     Rebecca and Nora looked at each other. Then they looked back at the two police officers. But it was Rebecca who spoke first. “I fell through a hidden passage. Must have triggered it somehow. Because I felt that wall several times, but I didn’t fall through it until then.”
     “I was grabbed by Victoria Donnell. That’s one thing that proves she was a phony ghost. Another was finding her hiding in the suit of armor. But I wasn’t the one who did that.”
     The male police officer looked at Nora. “What happened to you after Connie grabbed you?”
     “Victoria took me through another hidden passage. She took me to a hidden basement storage area. If it wasn’t for Rebecca, I don’t know what she was going to do to me. She slammed into the back of Victoria and knocked us both down. I don’t know how a tween at ten did it. But she did. And I’m glad that she did.”
     “After we got back up to the museum we meet up with Brandon and Jasper. Brandon first, then Jasper a few seconds later.”
     “I would have gotten to them first, but I had to switch the cameras back to the loop and get out of there before security returned. And I barely got out before they did that.”
     Brandon took over the explanation. “After Jasper saw Nora and Rebecca back in the Egyptian exhibit, he called me. Once we meet up again and everything was explained to each other that’s when we decided to go after the phony ghost. When we caught her, we contacted you.”
     The two police officers looked at each other. Then back at The Tween Detectives. But it was the female officer who spoke next. “We didn’t hear anything about how you caught your phony ghost. All we heard is that you caught her, and what she was really doing here in Middletown, KS.”
     “I heard what they said,” said Connie while still trying to struggle away from the two police officers. “And I’m got to tell everyone what they did. I’m also going to tell them about the cover-up you two have done.”
     “After what you have done, I don’t think anyone is going to believe you. Especially, after we tell our side of the story. Who do you think everyone will believe?” The male officer asked.
     Connie stopped struggling. She started glaring at The Tween Detectives. “I would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for these meddling children.”
     “That sounds familiar,” said Rebecca. “Isn’t that what the bad guys say all the time on Scooby Doo?”
     “Speaking of Scooby Doo, it’s about to start. If there is nothing else that you need from us, can we leave?” Jasper asked.
     The two police officers looked at each other. Then back at The Tween Detectives. But it was the male officer who spoke first. “We don’t need anything right now.”
     “If we do, we will contact you. You will need to make an official report about it,” said the female police officer. “But you can do that after Scooby Doo.”
     About fifteen minutes later The Tween Detectives where in their treehouse watching Scooby Doo. They got there just as the series intro ended and the episode began. The Tween Detectives talked all during the first act of it. But they didn’t talk about their latest mystery until the first commercial break.
     “We still don’t know how Connie came out of that painting of Victoria in front of about a hundred people. How did she do that?” Nora asked.
     “I’m not sure how she did it,” said Brandon. “But she probably did it with her computer. I think that the only thing here that was fake besides Victoria’s ghost was the painting of Victoria Donnell. When the lights went out for a few seconds, she switched the real painting with the phony one. And when the lights came back on she used her computer to make it appear that the ghost of Victoria Donnell came out of that painting.”
     Just then Scooby Doo started act two of that episode. And The Tween Detectives started watching it again. Commenting and talking about it all the way through it. Just before they were about to unmask that phony ghost the show was interrupted by a Breaking News bulletin.
     “Another visitor to the Haunted Mansion has disappeared,” said a female news announcer. “We still don’t know all the details about it. But we will let you know as soon as we do.”
     The announcer continued with that news bulletin. But The Tween Detectives didn’t hear it. Rebecca, Brandon, and Jasper were complaining about them interrupting Scooby Doo. Nora just started smiling and thinking. I think we just got ourselves another mystery to solve.

Word Count = 3,505