Since the phone was ringing after 8 at night, I figured it was a work call for Dad, the chief of police for our town. But I got a surprise: It was for me.
"Scotty?" a hushed voice said. "It's Alex. I have to keep my voice down. I don't want my mom to hear me."
Alex was a friend from school and his mom was an English teacher who sometimes corrected what we said. But that didn't explain why he sounded so scared.
"Something weird is going on at my house," he told me. "It started two nights ago. First I heard something moving around while I was trying to sleep, and then last night I heard a really creepy voice, right here in my room!"
Now I was getting scared! "What did it say?" I asked.
"It repeated the word 'tomorrow' over and over again, like it was trying to warn me something bad was going to happen tomorrow -- which is today!"
"Don't you think you should tell your mom?" I asked.
"Well, it's kind of embarrassing, but when I was younger I used to imagine all sorts of monsters were in my room, and I'd always yell for Mom. She still teases me about it. I don't want her to think I'm turning back into a baby. Isn't there anything you can do?"
Like all of my classmates, Alex knew I was going to be a detective someday, and that I'd already solved a bunch of cases. But chasing a ghost was something different! "OK, look," I said, "just hang tight and I'll find an excuse to come over." Then I hung up.
Explaining to my mom why I suddenly had to go out at this time of night wasn't easy, and when the phone rang again I thought it might be Alex wondering where I was. But this time it was for Dad.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Waller, but I haven't found it," he said, rolling his eyes. "Yes, I know, but finding lost birds isn't exactly my job."
Because the town of Pinkerton is pretty small, Dad gets calls from everyone about everything, even lost birds.
I finally got Mom to agree to let me go out, but only if Dad came too. That was cool. I like talking to Dad about cases, even ones involving missing pets. On the way to Alex's house he told me all about Mr. Waller's problem.
That was when an idea hit me.
When we got to Alex's house his mom invited us in, and I went straight to his room. "I need to turn out the lights," I said, flicking the switch, throwing the room into darkness. Then I started saying: "Tomorrow -- tomorrow -- tomorrow -- "
