Janet McNulty - Mellow Summers 07 - Two Ghosts Haunt a Grove Read Online Free PDF Page A

forked.
    “What’s wrong?” asked Greg.
    “My car just shut off and now I can’t get it to start.”
    “Pop the hood,” said Greg as he stepped out.
    I did. Luckily, the sun was still up, though I knew it would be down in about an hour. Greg poked around under the hood checking the battery, oil, and brake fluid. “Well, I can’t see any reason why it would stop,” he said.
    “I guess we can just walk the rest of the way,” I said.
    “Oh no,’ Jackie jumped out. “We’re not walking. Not when it’s so close to being dark.”
    “Well how are we going to start the car?” I asked.
    Greg pulled out his phone. “I’ll call Jack. He can come up here and give us a jump.”
    Works for me.
    “Jack,” said Greg when Jack answered, “I need you to come up to the Bourtonson Inn. You know that haunted place everyone tries to avoid?”
    I could hear Jack’s protests. He did not want to come up.
    “Jack…Jack…Now wait a minute…Jack!” Greg took a deep breath. “I guess I can tell mom why you missed her July fourth party.”
    “You wouldn’t!” came Jack’s voice over the phone.
    Greg smiled. He knew he had Jack where he wanted him. “Be here in an hour and bring jumper cables.” Greg hung up. “Ha—ha, it’s too easy.”
    “How is it you always have something to blackmail him with?” I asked.
    “Easy,” said Greg, “Jack is always missing family events or doing things that he doesn’t want the rest of the family to know about. All I have to do is pick an event he missed and pretend that I know what he was up to. He falls for it every time.”
    “So you’re always guessing?” asked Jackie.
    “Oh no,” said Greg, “Sometimes I really do know where he was.”
    “I don’t know if I should be concerned about you blackmailing your cousin or not,” I said.
    “Hey, it’ll get us on our ghost hunt.”
    I laughed a bit and kissed him.
    “Oh, please,” said Jackie, “I’m eating.” She pulled out the bag of food. This time I agreed with her. It was time to eat and the water certainly tasted good in the heat.
    We had just finished our ham and cheese sandwiches and apple chips when Jack arrived in his blue pickup. “Okay,” he said as he slammed the door, “why are you all up here?”
    “Mel is on another case,” said Greg.
    “What a surprise,” said Jack. “I’m not going to spy for you. I’m not going to hack into any more files for you.”
    “Look,” said Greg, “we wouldn’t have called you at all except that the car broke down. All we need is a jump.”
    Jack noticed my car for the first time. “That’s it?”
    “That’s it,” said Greg, “Unless you want to join us on a ghost hunt.”
    “No way,” said Jack as he opened the hood of his truck. He attached the cables to his battery and handed the other end to Greg.
    “Too bad,” said Jackie, “There seems to be more than one ghost at that place.”
    “Impossible,” said Jack. “The legend only speaks about one.”
    “Which is what makes this all the more interesting,” said Greg, “Mel and Jackie were up here earlier and saw two of them.”
    I opened my mouth to speak, but Greg motioned for me to remain silent.
    “Really?” Jack was clearly intrigued.
    “Yeah,” said Greg, “That’s why we’re here. To check it out.”
    “You can try turning it on,” said Jack to me.
    I got in the car and turned the key. After several moments, the engine finally turned over. Grateful that it was working once again, I left the car running so the battery could charge. “Thanks.”
    “No problem,” said Jack. “So you really saw two ghosts?”
    “It seems that way,” I said, “except the second one didn’t seem to be a ghost.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “He seemed more solid and he felt the rock I hit him with.”
    Jack arched an eyebrow.
    “You could come with us,” said Greg.
    “I don’t know,” said Jack.
    “It beats sitting around in that office all day,” Greg urged.
    “Sure why not.”
    We got