The brothers walked slowly past the girls’ table. Reilly Voorhees was the star of the class plays. Was she also Jason’s pirate ghost?
Chapter 4
THAR SHE GLOWS!
The brothers slipped into the food line. With their backs turned to Reilly, they strained their ears to listen.
“I can’t believe I had to go to Jason Wang’s house yesterday after the contest,” Reilly was saying.
“Why did you have to go there?” Paisley asked. “Especially after he won the contest and you didn’t.”
“Paisley, do you have to remind me?” Reilly complained. “I went to Jason’s house to give him a message, okay?”
Message?
“Frank!” Joe whispered. “Maybe Reilly’s talking about that message in the bottle Jason found!”
“Reilly was mad at Jason for winning,” Frank whispered, “and for Crackers stealing the show.”
“So she had a reason to leave that pirate stuff to scare Jason,” Joe whispered. “Dad would call that a motive.”
Frank and Joe looked back over their shoulders. Reilly and Paisley were standing up.
“Should we go to Mandy’s Candy next?” Paisley asked. “They’re giving out free glow-in-the-dark bubble gum today.”
“Can’t,” Reilly said, her pineapple wobbling as she shook her head. “I have another message to deliver.”
The friends returned their trays and left Beefy Burger. Joe turned to Frank and said, “Did you hear that? Reilly said she’s delivering another message!”
“It could be another message to Jason,” Frank said.
“I’ve got a message for you guys!” a boy standing behind them in line said. “Keep the line moving before the burgers get cold and crusty!”
Instead of inching toward the burgers, Frank stepped out of the line.
“What about our burgers, Frank?” Joe asked.
“Forget about the burgers,” Frank said. “And follow that pineapple!”
Frank and Joe returned their empty trays and left Beefy Burger. They looked around for Reilly and didn’t see her. They did see something else, though.
“Look!” Frank said, pointing down. “There’s gold glitter on the sidewalk.”
Joe noticed more glittery speckles up the block. “There’s a trail of it,” he said. “Let’s follow it and see where it leads.”
They followed the trail around the corner. Looking up the block, they saw the giant pineapple and Reilly!
“Reilly’s on Jason’s block,” Frank whispered.
Joe stopped to write Reilly’s name on his suspect list. “If Reilly is leaving Jason secret messages,” he asked, “why would she wear a pineapple hat? It draws a lot of attention.”
The brothers saw Reilly stop halfway up the block. She turned toward a blue house with white shutters and walked up the path to the door.
“That’s not Jason’s house,” Frank said. “Where’s she going?”
Joe and Frank inched toward the house. Reilly stood on the doorstep, ringing the bell. After a few seconds the door was opened by a woman who smiled at Reilly.
“Well, what a surprise!” the woman said loudly. She then glanced over her shoulder and shouted into the house, “Honey—someone sent us a Pineapple Gram!”
“Pineapple Gram?” Joe whispered.
“What’s a Pineapple Gram?” Frank whispered too.
A man appeared at the door. Reilly began tap-dancing on the doorstep as she sang, “Happy fifth anniversary, from Grandpa Lee. Please save some cake for your little ol’ pineapple—me!”
Frank and Joe exchanged stunned looks. Was this the kind of message Reilly had spoken about?
“Wait right here!” the man said cheerily before ducking into the house. He came back with a cake slice and a fork on a paper plate.
After the door closed, the boys hurried up to Reilly. Not looking up from her plate, she said, “Sorry, but you can’t have a piece of cake. I worked hard for this slice.”
“We don’t want cake,” Joe said. “We want to ask you a few things.”
“You mean about the pineapple on my head?” Reilly asked with a smile. “It’s the costume I wear when I deliver singing telegrams after school and on weekends.”
“Telegrams?” asked Joe.
“I call them Pineapple Grams,” Reilly said. “They’re awesome practice for my big stage career. And as you can see, the pay is yummy!”
Frank and Joe followed Reilly away from the house.
“Weird things happened at Jason Wang’s house last night,” Joe said.
“We found gold glitter on his doorstep,” Frank added, “and a message in a bottle.”
“So?” Reilly asked.
“So we heard you say you delivered a message to Jason last night,” Frank replied.
Reilly rolled her eyes. “I did deliver a message,” she said. “A Pineapple Gram message!”
Frank and Joe stared at Reilly.
“You mean one of those singing things?” Joe asked.
“Yes,” Reilly said. “Jason’s parents ordered one to congratulate him for winning the contest.”
“So you didn’t leave a message in a bottle?” Joe asked slowly. “Or a bunch of old pirate coins?”
“And you didn’t teach Crackers a pirate song either?” Frank added.
“I wouldn’t go near that nutty bird,” Reilly huffed. “Especially with shiny shoes like these!”
As Reilly walked away, Frank whispered to Joe, “How do we know Reilly is telling the truth about that Pineapple Gram?”
Joe wasn’t sure until an idea popped into his head. “Hey, Reilly!” he shouted. “How about another song?”
Chapter 5
HOLE LOT OF CLUE!
“Joe, what are you doing?” Frank hissed as they hurried over to Reilly. “I don’t want to hear another one of her songs.”
“You might want to hear this one,” Joe whispered.
Reilly looked up from her cake as the boys approached. “If it’s a Pineapple Gram you want,” she told them, “it’ll cost you a piece of cake.”
“We don’t want a Pineapple Gram,” Joe explained. “We just want to hear the song you sang for Jason last night.”
Reilly wrinkled her nose and said, “Why?”
Joe didn’t want to tell Reilly the real reason. So he forced himself to say, “Um . . . because your songs are . . . awesome?”
“Well, if you put it that way,” Reilly said with a smile. She threw back her shoulders and began to sing, “Congratulations, Jason! You’re pirate number one! And with that awesome treasure map, the fun has just begun!”
Joe shot Frank a sideways glance. That was the same song Crackers had sung for them that morning!
“I follow every song with a dance,” Reilly said.
