The Mystery of the Uninvited Ghost

tonight.”
    “Oh.” Trixie was stymied, but only briefly. “Maybe he is a dumb kind of thief, or an inexperienced one.”
    “I don’t buy that,” the sergeant said. “This is obviously the work of several people who knew exactly what they were doing. A truck was driven right to the door for loading. The tracks on the turnaround are still visible, and Harrison says he met a truck on the private road that leads down to Glen Road. That would indicate a lookout was on the job. Dumb thieves probably, but not inexperienced.”
    “What happened, Dad?” Di asked unhappily.
    The story was brief. Because it was the cook’s birthday, Mr. Lynch had arranged for the whole staff to celebrate at Glen Road Inn. He had taken his own family to the country club. Shortly before the family’s arrival home, the servants had returned to find the foyer and family room stripped of furniture.
    “Somebody must have tipped off this gang that you’d be home early because you had taken the children,” the sergeant decided.
    Mr. Lynch’s jolly laugh rumbled in spite of the circumstances. “If you had two sets of twins, you’d bring them home early, too, Sergeant.”
    The sergeant agreed. As he left the house he said, “I’ll keep in touch. You’ll have your insurance man make out a list of the missing articles?”
    “Right.” Mr. Lynch closed the heavy foyer door. He asked Di’s friends if they wanted to walk through the house to see if anything else was missing.
    Bright-eyed with interest, Trixie led the exploration of the first floor. Everything seemed in its usual formal order. In Di’s home, one didn’t leave jackets on chairs, tennis rackets on tables, or apple cores in ashtrays. Harrison managed a “tight ship,” with each set of twins cared for by its own nurse. Not even the country club had a more efficient staff. Each time she was in this mansion, Trixie realized how much she appreciated the comfortable freedom of her own pleasant and informal home.
    Several times Jim looked at his wristwatch. At last he said, “If there’s nothing else we can do to be of help here, Di, I think we’d better go. It’s late.”
    “I know,” Di agreed. “Thank you for bringing me home. Honey, I’ll stay with you some other night.” As Jim drove down the winding private road, Trixie looked back at the fully lighted house. She heard Dan mutter, “Nobody is going to sleep well at that house tonight.” It puzzled Trixie that he sounded so angry.
    The next morning, Trixie dressed the minute she awoke and quickly ran down the lane to pick up the morning paper. She found that Mart was at the box ahead of her, with the pages of the Sleepyside Sun opened out like the sails of a boat.
    Mart called, “Hi, twin,” then announced, “Those thieves were busy little beavers last night. Besides pulling the Lynch robbery, they entered a house on Bowling Green but were chased out by a dog named Manchu. They took everything of value from a house near Glen Road Inn, and they totally stripped one of those new houses down on the river.” Mart read aloud, “ ‘Police report the common denominator is the fact that the owners of all these properties dined last night at the Sleepyside Country Club, attracted by the performance of the comic, Oliver Tolliver.’ ” Mart chewed his lip. “If I were that Oliver Tolliver, I’d be moving on.”
    “What? Oh, I see,” said Trixie. “His name is linked with a police report, and that’s bad publicity.”
    “Right,” Mart agreed. “Want to share the paper?”
    “Too late. Here comes Dad,” Trixie said. “Do the police know the order of the robberies?”
    “They’re guessing. Sergeant Molinson built a timetable based on telephoned information.”
    “Got in pretty late last night” was Mr. Beldens greeting.
    “Boy, was there a reason!” Mart said. “It’s spread all over the front page of the Sun.”
    Together Trixie and Mart began to tell their story and managed to confuse Peter Belden totally. He begged, “Kindly let me read it for myself, please.” When the three reached the kitchen, they found Brian and Hallie telling Mrs. Belden and Bobby about the empty family room at the Lynch mansion.
    “You mean, somebody tooked—I mean, taked—”
    “How about just plain took, Bobby?” Mrs. Belden corrected.
    “-just plain took all those neat games in the playroom?” Bobby asked.
    “Every one,” Trixie told him.
    “Even Di’s portable radio shaped like a doughnut?” Bobby