Free Mystery at the Washington Monument by Ron Roy Page A

Opal said. “You just climbed five hundred feet in seventy seconds! Enjoy the view. The next trip down is in ten minutes.”
    The tourists walked to the windows that looked out on Washington, D.C. The windows were on each side—north, south, east, and west. Each window offered a spectacular view of the buildings, streets, and parks. Tiny cars and buses darted about like bugs. People walking on the ground looked like ants.
    KC stood next to the north window. “Look, Marsh!” She pointed at the lawn in front of the White House. “That’s where we were last night. Those weird lights must have shone through this window!”
    “Cool!” Marshall said. “If anyone wasup here last night, I wonder if they saw us on the lawn.”
    KC looked at Marshall. “I never thought about that,” she said. She glanced around the observation deck.
    Had someone been creeping around in here with a flashlight last night? Did they also have a telescope or binoculars? Were they watching the White House?
    “Marsh!” KC hissed. “Maybe someone climbed up here to spy on the president!”

2
Weird Noises
    “Don’t be silly. How could anyone spy on the president from up here?” Marshall asked. “KC, you’re always jumping to conclusions. There could be lots of explanations for the lights we saw last night.”
    “Oh yeah?” KC said. “Like what?”
    “Maybe something in the Monument was broken, and they were fixing it,” Marshall offered.
    “Late at night?” KC said. “Why not wait till daytime?”
    Marshall went on. “Maybe it was a party,” he said. “Or a private tour for some important person.”
    They walked from window to window. KC half listened to him. She kept her eyes open for anything unusual. Over her head, the ceiling rose to a point. It was dark at the top. The walls were smooth marble. And she saw no lights at all, not flickering ones, not regular ones.
    “Do you know how they measured the Monument to find out how tall it is?” Marshall asked Opal.
    “Hmmm, I’m not sure,” Opal said. “Ask Jennifer. She might know.” She pointed across the observation deck.
    A female park ranger was selling maps and books about the Monument at a small counter near the elevator door. An open bag of peanuts sat on the counter. Next to the bag was a small pile of empty shells.
    Marshall repeated his question.
    The woman named Jennifer swallowed the peanut she’d been chewing. “Gee, I don’t know,” she said. “That’s a good question. No one ever asked me that before.”
    Suddenly the elevator door opened. “Going down!” a different ranger said. It was Butch, who’d given them tickets earlier.
    KC and Marshall joined a few other people who had decided to leave the observation deck.
    “Be sure to notice the memorial stones,” Butch said.
    The elevator began to descend slowly. Through the glass walls, KC could see the stones. Most had words or images carved into them. KC tried to make out some of the words, but she got dizzy trying to read while the elevator was moving.
    “These stones came from all the states and many foreign countries,” Butch said. “Even the Pope sent one from Rome.”
    “Are the stones valuable?” a woman in the elevator asked.
    “Some are,” Butch said. “The one from Alaska is solid jade!”
    When the elevator reached the bottom, everyone got out. KC hung back. “Excuse me,” she said to Butch. “My friend and I were camping on my lawn last night, and we saw a white light coming from the top windows. Do you know what that was?”
    Butch looked down at KC and Marshall. “Do you remember what time it was?” he asked.
    “Around ten o’clock,” KC said. “It wasn’t a strong light, just sort of glowy.”
    “Like someone with a flashlight,” Marshall added.
    Butch frowned. He seemed to think something over. “Tell you what, meet me at one of the picnic tables in ten minutes,” he said. “I’ll be taking my break, and we can talk some more.”
    Butch walked into an office that