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Encyclopedia.
     
     
    WHAT WAS JUSTIN’S MISTAKE?

The Case of the Lady Ghost
    The Browns were sitting in the living room after dinner when Otto Beck burst into the house.
    He was trembling like flypaper in a stiff breeze. His eyes bulged so far from his head he could almost stare himself in the ear.
    He opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t utter a word. His teeth were chattering louder than a tap dancer with spring fever.
    “Otto, what is it?” exclaimed Mrs. Brown. “What’s frightened you?”
    “I—I saw h-her!” gasped Otto.
    “Who?” asked Chief Brown.
    Otto tried to tell. But the name stuck in a fresh chattering of teeth. Instead he said, “I ran all the way from Heartbreak Cove.”
    “But that’s seven miles,” protested Encyclopedia. “Your feet must be killing you.”
    “My feet never touched the ground,” said Otto.
    He began sinking weakly to the floor. Encyclopedia shoved a chair under him.
    “Thanks, I needed that,” said Otto. After a while he recovered his strength. He blinked twice and said, “I saw Jennifer MacIntosh ! She was dressed all in white, and the train of her gown dragged along the sand behind her. She was walking slowly, like a bride!”
    Encyclopedia gave a start.
    Jennifer MacIntosh had lived in Idaville a hundred years ago. Her lover had been lost at sea the night before their wedding. According to a local legend, Jennifer’s ghost still walked Idaville’s beaches in her long white bridal gown, searching for his body.
    “Did anyone else see her?” asked Chief Brown.

    “I—I saw h-her!” gasped Otto.
    “I don’t think so,” groaned Otto.
    He explained that he had gone camping on the beach alone. He had pitched his tent on the scrub grass above the sand.
    “I was cooking supper when Jennifer MacIntosh appeared—”
    He stopped short. His brow wrinkled.
    Suddenly he said, “Hold on. There was someone else on the beach. About an hour before I saw Jennifer MacIntosh, a man walked across the beach carrying a bag. He seemed to be in a hurry. And he was limping.”
    “Limping ...” muttered Chief Brown.
    “Is that important, dear?” asked Mrs. Brown.
    “Polk’s Jewelry Shop was robbed after it closed today,” said Chief Brown. “A witness says she saw a man leave the shop by the back door. She didn’t pay much attention to him. But she remembers that he carried a bag and limped.”
    “Gosh, Dad,” said Encyclopedia. “If the man really did limp, his footprints on the sand would show it. One step would be long and the other short.”
    “We’d better have a look,” said Chief Brown. He got three flashlights and strapped on his gun.
    As they drove to the beach at Heartbreak Cove, Encyclopedia questioned Otto about the ghost of Jennifer MacIntosh.
    “Did you see her face?” he asked. “Did she make any noise?”
    “I didn’t hear a sound,” replied Otto. “The ocean was making too much noise, and so was the wind. It whipped her bridal veil about her face. But I wasn’t looking at her face. When you see a ghost, you don’t look to see if she’s anyone you know.”
    The questioning went on, but Encyclopedia could learn nothing more. Night had fallen when Chief Brown stopped the car on the south end of Heartbreak Cove.
    He parked beside an old rotting dock. From there Jennifer MacIntosh’s lover had put to sea, never to be seen again.
    Otto shone his flashlight on his pup tent. It was pitched a good hundred yards from the water’s edge.
    “I was sitting by the tent when the limping man came by,” he said. “Then an hour later I saw the ghost walk past from the opposite direction.”
    Three flashlights were used to search the beach for footprints. None were found but Otto’s.
    Suddenly Chief Brown halted. “Look here,” he said.
    Under the flashlight beams, Encyclopedia saw a trail of sand that had been smoothed over about two feet wide. It ran the length of the beach about fifteen feet above the high tide line.
    “Someone has wiped