Free Pumpkin Head Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

kids,” Bessie said, pointing at the Aldens. “They are always snooping around.”
    “We are not the ones who have been snooping,” Violet said. She turned to the Becketts. “Bessie has been working for Mr. Bolger. She tells him about everything that goes on at the farm. That is how he always knows when there has been a problem here.”
    “I don’t know what you are talking about!” Bessie looked nervously toward the Becketts. “I have worked here for a long time. This farm is important to me. These kids don’t know what they are saying!”
    “We saw Bessie come out of Mr. Bolger’s office,” Henry said. “We weren’t sure that she worked there.”
    “But her friend, Kim, who works at the diner, told us that Bessie was working two jobs,” Jessie added.
    “And then I found this newspaper ad in the booth,” Violet said. She took the ad from her pocket and handed it to Mr. Beckett.
    Bessie wrung her hands together. “You have no right to snoop through my things!” she shouted at Violet.
    Mrs. Beckett put her arm around Violet. “Bessie, do not shout at Violet. She was not snooping. She found the ad while she was working in the booth doing your job. If you did not call in sick, Violet would not have been there.”
    Bessie collapsed into a chair. Her lip trembled. “I’m sorry,” she sighed. “Violet is right. It is true that I work for Dave Bolger. But I have no choice. My husband is sick and I need the money. At first, I only worked in his office. Then, he asked me for information about the farm. He paid me to tell him when there were problems here.”
    Mr. Beckett shook his head. “So you called Mr. Bolger today and told him that I was ready to sell the farm?”
    “Yes,” Bessie admitted. “I overheard the girls talking about a meeting this morning.”
    Mr. Beckett turned to Dave Bolger. “You might as well leave, Mr. Bolger. I will never sell my farm to you, especially after all the things you have done to cause problems around here. I should probably call the police to report you.”
    “You cannot call the police! I have done nothing wrong!” Mr. Bolger stuffed his checkbook back into his pocket. “All I did was offer you a lot of money for your farm. You will be sorry that you did not sell to me!” Mr. Bolger stomped back to his car and drove away.
    “What an unpleasant man!” Mrs. Beckett said.
    “I am so sorry,” Bessie sniffed. “I know it was wrong to give Dave Bolger information about the farm. But I didn’t suspect that he was causing all the problems here.”
    “He wasn’t,” Henry said. “Mr. Bolger was telling the truth. He wanted to buy the farm. But he has not caused all the problems around here. Jason has done that.”
    Jason had been standing in the corner. He turned angrily toward Henry. “What do you mean? I love this farm!” he said.
    Mr. Beckett looked very surprised. “Henry, I think you must be mistaken. Jason has worked on this farm with me since he was a young boy. Why would he do such a thing?”
    Everyone turned to look at Jason. His face was quite red. He hung his head for a few moments. Then he looked at the Becketts. “You must understand,” he said. “I love this farm as much as you do. And I never meant for you to get hurt.”
    Mr. Beckett looked very angry. He rested his hand on his broken leg. “But I did get hurt! And I lost a lot of money! Many customers were afraid to come here. Why would you haunt the farm and scare away the workers?”
    Jason looked down at his feet. “I was worried that you would sell the farm to Mr. Bolger. I thought that if the farm was haunted, no one would want to live here. Mr. Bolger couldn’t build houses if everyone was scared away. And then maybe one day you would sell the farm to me.”
    “It is a good thing not everyone was scared,” Mrs. Beckett said. “It seems that the Aldens do not believe in haunted farms.”
    “I tried to scare them,” Jason admitted. “I slipped away during the haunted hayride. I