Free Beware the Pirate Ghost by Joan Lowery Nixon

1

    B RIAN AND SEAN WOKE to a loud pounding on their front door. “Go away! It’s Saturday!” Sean grumbled and stuck his head under the blanket.
    But as soon as he heard Brian, Mom, and Dad racing down the stairs, he tumbled out of bed, pulled on his jeans, and ran downstairs, too. Following the sound of voices, he burst into the living room.
    A man and a woman were both talking at the same time. The man’s face was red and blotchy, and he waved his arms excitedly. The woman wiped away tears and blew her nose.
    Nobody stopped to introduce Sean, but it didn’t matter. He recognized Mr. and Mrs. Kingsley Hopper—parents of the most spoiled seven-year-old brat he and Brian had ever met.
    “Lester’s bed had been slept in, and there was no sign of a struggle,” Mr. Hopper shouted.
    “You’ve got to help us! You’re a private investigator. You’ve got to find our son!” Mrs. Hopper screeched.
    John Quinn raised his voice. “Quiet, please ,” he said firmly.
    Both Hoppers stopped talking and stared at him.
    “Please sit down,” Mrs. Quinn said. She led the Hoppers to comfortable chairs and patted Mrs. Hopper’s shoulder in sympathy.
    When everyone was seated, Mr. Quinn said, “Let’s start at the beginning. When you discovered your son was missing, did you call the police?”
    “Oh, no! We couldn’t!” Mr. Hopper said. “The kidnappers warned us not to.”
    Sean poked Brian. “Who’d want Lester?” he whispered.
    Mrs. Hopper pulled a folded paper from her handbag. Her fingers trembled as she held it out to Mr. Quinn. “This is the ransom note left by Lester’s kidnappers,” she said.
    Brian and Sean jumped up and leaned over their dad’s shoulders to read the note:
YOUR SUN HAS BEEN KIDNAPED. DO NOT GO TO THE POLICE OR YOU’LL NEVER SEE LESTER AGIN. GET A LOT OF MONEY READY. YOU’LL HERE FROM US SOON.
    The ransom note was crudely printed, and some of the words were misspelled.
    “Any chance Lester wrote this himself?” Sean asked.
    Mrs. Hopper gasped. “How can you possibly think that Lester wrote his own ransom note? That’s absurd! Besides, Lester is a very bright boy, way ahead of everyone in his class. He always makes A-plus in spelling.”
    “Uh, Mrs. Hopper,” Brian suggested, “Lester might have tried to make the note look like someone else wrote it.”
    “Nonsense. What reason would Lester have for pretending to be kidnapped?” Mr. Hopper asked.
    Brian shrugged. “Lester might have wanted to throw you off the track while he ran away,” he said. “Didn’t he run away from home last year?”
    Mrs. Hopper gasped. “I don’t care what you heard or read about in the newspaper. Lester did not run away. He simply wanted to visit his grandmother.”
    “In the middle of the night?” Sean asked.
    Mr. Hopper turned so red he looked as if he might explode. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing! Lester is a perfectly well-behaved child.”
    “That’s enough, boys. Sit down,” Mr. Quinn warned.
    Brian and Sean knew they’d better keep their opinions to themselves, at least for now, so they went back to their chairs.
    Mrs. Hopper burst into tears again. “We didn’t tell you about a problem that makes everything much, much worse,” she said. “The cold we thought Lester had … yesterday his doctor found it was a lung infection. He prescribed medication that must be taken regularly or there could be complications.”
    “That’s right,” Mr. Hopper said. “Lester had his first dose at nine yesterday morning, and his second at nine last night. He should have another dose within twelve hours—by nine o’clock this morning.”
    Everyone turned to look at the clock on the mantel.
    “Oh, dear,” Mrs. Quinn murmured. “It’s almost six-thirty.”
    Mr. Hopper nodded. “Lester’s doctor said the dose could be delayed a short while, but absolutely no longer than eighteen hours. That means if Lester isn’t found before three o’clock this afternoon, his life will be in