مهمونی هالووین

CHAPTER THREE

A Halloween Party

Saturday October 31 was Halloween and the town of Montego Bay was ready to celebrate it. There were jack-o’-lanterns and black and orange decorations everywhere.

There were some incredible costumes in town and people were busy planning scary Halloween parties.

Bill and Michelle planned their costumes and masks weeks before Halloween. Bill was a vampire and Michelle was a rock star. She was excited because she could wear more make-up on Halloween.

They went to the port and had their Halloween party on the boat with their friends. Mrs Martin made pumpkin pies and Halloween cookies and there were good CDs to dance to.

Before midnight Nick took some pictures with his new digital camera. The party was a lot of fun and everyone loved it. No one got to bed before 3 a.m.

Bill and Michelle slept until noon the next day.

“How was the Halloween party?” asked Mr Martin.

“Oh, we had a great time, Dad,” said Bill. “Thanks for letting us use the boat.”

“We even cleaned up,” said Michelle proudly.

“I’m glad you had fun,” said Mrs Martin.

That afternoon they went to Nick’s house to see the pictures he took the night before.

“Come upstairs and see the pictures of the party” said Nick excitedly as he opened the door.

“Why are you excited?” asked Michelle. “Is something wrong with them?”

“You both look super,” he said. “But that’s not the problem - it’s something else.”

They sat down in front of Nick’s computer and started looking at the pictures.

“Look at this one,” said Nick. “Can you see the big white spot? It’s on the boat in the background.”

They looked at the pictures of the party and saw a white spot on a boat in the background.

“Let’s look closer at the picture,” said Michelle. “I want to see the name of the boat.”

“It’s the North Star” cried Bill. “It was Mr O’Neil’s boat!”

“But what’s that white spot?” asked Nick.

They looked at the computer for a while and then Michelle cried out, “I know! It’s somebody’s ghost in the picture! I read about it in a book. And last night was Halloween - strange things can happen on Halloween night.”

“A ghost?” whispered Bill and Nick. “What are you saying?”

“That white spot is the picture of a ghost” exclaimed Michelle. “And it’s on Mr O’Neil’s boat, the North Star.”

“Oh, come on, Michelle” said Bill, whose face was white.

“Do you mean that it’s Mr O’Neil’s ghost?’’ Nick felt cold.

“Can you see the ghost in other pictures?” asked Michelle.

“Well, look at these,” said Nick. They looked at three other pictures that had the same white spot on the same boat.

“Wait a minute” said Bill nervously. “Do we believe in ghosts?” The three friends looked at each other and didn’t know what to say.

“Do you have another explanation?” said Michelle, who believed in ghosts.

“Gee” said Bill. “Then Mr O’Nell is dead and not missing.” There was a moment of silence, and then he told Nick about his conversation with Francisco Garcia.

“What happened to him on that day in June?” asked Nick. “Did he have an accident? Or was it bad luck? Francisco said it’s bad luck to change the name of a boat.”

“Do you believe in superstition and bad luck?” asked Bill.

“I think good and evil forces exist,” said Nick seriously.

“Ghosts only appear when the person was murdered or died in a terrible way,” said Michelle.

“Perhaps he was looking for something important, and someone killed him to get the information,” said Bill.

“But, where’s his body?” asked Nick.

“We should tell the Police about this,” said Bill.

“The Police don’t believe in ghosts,” said Michelle. “Why don’t we try to solve this mystery?”

“Why not” said Bill. “I like solving mysteries.”

“And I like investigating,” said Nick. “But we need more information about Mr O’Nell. What was he looking for and why was it important? Let’s plan this carefully.”