The boys were stunned. “You saw a ghost?” said Tyler.
Brack nodded. The elevator car hummed and shuddered as it rose toward the ninth floor.
“Where did you see it?” asked Charlie.
“In the elevator,” answered Brack. He pointed a finger toward the shining gold doors. “I had just dropped off a customer on twelve, and was coming back down to the lobby. And then I saw Abracadabra the magician standing right there, staring at me.”
The magician from the painting, thought Charlie. Abracadabra, the founder of the building, had lived there long ago.
“Did he say anything?” asked Charlie in a whisper.
“Not a syllable,” said Brack sadly. “And when I reached the lobby, he disappeared.”
“Wow,” said Tyler.
“But I’ve seen him many times since,” added Brack.
“On the ninth floor?” asked Ty.
“On many floors,” said the elevator operator.
The elevator stopped. Charlie watched his and Ty’s reflections, with their mouths hanging open, disappear as the doors slid open. A dark hallway lay beyond.
“You don’t have to leave right away, Brack,” said Ty. “We won’t be long.”
“I’ll wait as long as I can, Master Yu,” said the older man. “But if I hear someone else ring the bell, I’ll have to go.”
Tyler nodded. He and Charlie started down the hallway, leaving the elevator operator behind. “It’s Mr. Thursday’s room,” said Ty. “Just around the corner: 909.”
At the first door around the corner, Tyler shoved the passkey into the lock.
“Don’t you knock first?” asked Charlie.
“Relax,” said Tyler. “We moved him to a different room after the ghost thing happened. It was easy since he didn’t have any luggage. The airline lost it or something.”
“Oh,” said Charlie.
After stepping inside, Tyler flipped on a light. ”The bathroom’s over here,” he said.
The bathroom was as big as Charlie’s bedroom. Marble counters, fancy mirrors, a shaggy white rug, and a huge bathtub fit inside, and there was plenty of room left over.
“Notice anything missing?” asked Tyler, crossing his arms.
“Yes,” said Charlie. He stared at the bare curtain rod that hung around the clawfoot tub. “The shower curtain. That’s what’s missing.”
“Exactly,” said Tyler. “The same night Mr. Thursday checked in, he heard a noise in the middle of the night.”
“What kind of noise?” Charlie asked.
Tyler shrugged. “He wasn’t sure, really,” he said. “He said that at first he thought it was a fire. Then as he listened some more, he said it sounded like someone crumpling up paper. And it was coming from the bathroom.”
Creepy, thought Charlie.
“Creepy, huh?” said Tyler. “And when he got up to look, he switched on the light, but no one was there. And the shower curtain was gone.”
“The room door was locked?” asked Charlie.
Tyler nodded. “From the inside.”
“Had he seen the curtain before he went to bed?” asked Charlie.
“Yes,” said Ty. “He said he took a shower when he first got in. Then he went downstairs and had dinner.”
“Ah, and that’s when the curtain was stolen!” said Charlie. “While he was at dinner!”
“Uh, no,” said Tyler. “When he got back to the room, he brushed his teeth before he went to bed. The curtain was still there.”
“Why would someone want a shower curtain?” said Charlie.
“Especially a ghost,” added Tyler. “They don’t need to take showers.”
“He didn’t take a shower,” said Charlie, “he took a shower curtain. And I still don’t see why you think it’s a ghost.”
“Who else could get into a locked room?” Tyler asked, throwing up his hands. “Who else could remove a solid shower curtain without opening the door?”
“Hmm. Maybe Mr. Thursday did it himself and he’s lying,” said Charlie.
“I thought of that,” said Tyler. “I’m not stupid. I searched the room. I even looked everywhere. It wasn’t here.”
Maybe he threw it out the window, Charlie thought. But that doesn’t make sense. Why would anyone do that?
“And he couldn’t have thrown it out the window, because the room windows don’t open,” said Tyler.
Charlie stared at him. “How did you know I was thinking about that?” he asked.
“I saw you glance at the window with a funny look on your mug,” said Tyler.
“Oh,” Charlie said, blushing.
Ty went on, “And the first time I came in here, that’s what I thought too.” A smirk spread across his face. “I’m not so dumb after all, am I?”
“I never said you were,” said Charlie. In fact, he thought Tyler was pretty smart. Tyler just never showed he had brains at school. He only showed off his big arms and fists.
Tyler ran a hand through his spiky black hair. “It’s crazy,” he said. “I just don’t get it. Oh, and by the way, this isn’t the only room where the shower curtain disappeared.”
Tyler led Charlie to five more rooms on the same floor, opening each one with the hotel’s passkey. In each one, the shower curtain was missing. Only the metal rings that once held them in place still dangled on the curtain rods.
“The maids found these,” said Tyler. “They always check out the rooms even if no one has used them. Just to make sure everything is in place. And, get this, none of these rooms has had a guest in it for over a week. They’ve all been empty. And the cleaning people swore the shower curtains were still there when they cleaned the rooms.”
“They couldn’t have made a mistake?” asked Charlie.
“No way,” said Tyler. “The cleaning crew has a checklist for each room. If anything is missing, they have to report it. My mom’s a real stickler for being organized and clean.”
“Six rooms without shower curtains,” said Charlie.
“There’s other stuff missing too,” said Tyler. “Okay, come on. Now we need to go downstairs.”
“There could be more than one ghost,” said Charlie.
Suddenly, they both froze. A moan echoed through the dim hallway.
“There it is!” whispered Tyler. “The voice.”