Free The Haunted Lighthouse by Penny Warner Page B

ring again. It reminded her of her dad’s class ring from the University of California. “These are our famous garlic fries. Will there be anything else?”
    “Uh … yeah,” Quinn said, looking up at him. “Have you been working here a long time?”
    The waiter nodded. “More than fifty years. My father worked here as a maintenance man, and my son works here now as a tennis pro.”
    “That’s cool,” Luke said. “Do you live here, too?”
    “No, I’m afraid not.”
    The waiter didn’t seem to mind answering theirquestions, nor did he seem to be in a hurry. No wonder—there were hardly any other customers in the café.
    “We heard the hotel was haunted,” M.E. said. Apparently, the thought of ghosts walking the halls was still on her mind.
    “So I’ve heard,” the waiter said. “But truthfully, I’ve never seen her.”
    “Her?” Cody asked.
    “The little girl who supposedly haunts Room Four twenty-two. I think our guests like the idea of a haunted hotel—it reminds them of that movie
The Shining
. Still, I don’t know how these rumors get started. Like ghosts, they never seem to die.” He gave a crooked grin at his play on words, then he said, “So, no ghosts, but we’ve had everyone else here, from presidents to Hollywood stars. And now the four of you.”
    Cody felt herself blush. Did he really think they were staying at the hotel?
    “About the rumors,” Quinn continued. “We heard there were some fire escapes and laundry chutes that kids used to slide down. Are they still around?”
    “Not anymore,” the waiter said. “Both were dismantled some years ago. But you’re right—local teenagers used to come up here and slide down the laundry chutes. I, myself, did at one time, when I was a lot younger, of course.”
    “Cool,” Luke said, grinning. Cody could just picture Luke fearlessly sliding down the chutes.
    “So they’re really gone?” Quinn asked. His usually animated face was crestfallen.
    “Yes. As you can imagine, they were a liability. If someone had gotten hurt, well, that wouldn’t have been good. But there’s still plenty of fun to be had here for young people. There are the pools, the gym, the spa, the tennis courts …”
    Still
, Cody thought,
nothing compares to a slide that travels from the top floor to the basement
.
    The basement …
    Before she could finish her thought, the waiter excused himself and left the kids to enjoy their drinks and fries. Quinn looked glum after learning the chutes no longer existed. This truly was a dead end, as Luke had predicted. The treasure hunt appeared to be over.
    Suddenly, Cody noticed a figure in the café doorway. This man wore a long coat, a black baseball cap, glasses, and had a mustache. The only thing missing was the upside-down newspaper.
    He’d followed them!
    Cody pulled out her cell phone that she’d taken along, just in case. She began writing down numbers on a paper napkin, some with dots on one side or the other, some without.
    “What are you doing?” M.E. asked as she watched Cody glance back and forth between her phone and the napkin.
    “It’s the telephone code,” Quinn said, pullingout his cell phone. “Each number stands for a letter on the phone keypad. If the letter is on the left, like
A
, you add a dot on the left—.2. If it’s on the right, like
C
, you add a dot on the right, like 2., and if there’s an extra letter, such as
WXYZ
, the two letters in the middle have no dots and you just have to figure out which one it is.”
    He touched the screen, revealing the phone keypad, and started translating the code on his own napkin.
    .9 3   .9 3 7 3   3. 6. 5. 5. 6. ̣9   3 .3 !
    .6 .2 6   7. .8 .2 6 .3 4. 6 .4   4. 6   .3 6. 6. 7 .9 .2 9 !
    Code Buster’s Key and Solution found on this page , this page
.
    After Quinn translated the code, the kids looked at the doorway.
    The man had vanished.
    “There’s no man there,” M.E. said.
    “I swear I saw him,” Cody said in a low