Later that afternoon, George sat at his desk trying to do his homework. But it was impossible to concentrate on multiplying fractions when he knew practically the whole school was blaming him for the pranks.

George had to solve this mystery. Otherwise everyone would hate him. Quickly he picked up his pencil and began writing on a blank page in his notebook.

CLUES

1) The Phantom is strong enough to turn over desks.

That means he can’t be a little kid, George thought to himself.

2) The Phantom uses cutout letters so no one will recognize his handwriting.

3) The Phantom can move around the school without being noticed.

4) The Phantom gets to school early so he can set up some pranks before anyone else gets there.

George looked at that last clue and started to laugh, remembering the rubber nose on the Edith B. Sugarman statue, and the rubber mask over the skeleton’s head. Those two pranks were hilarious.

5) The Phantom is a funny guy.

George crossed out that clue. It pointed straight at him. And that wasn’t a good thing.

George frowned as he looked back at his notes. All he’d figured out was that the Phantom was someone big, someone who didn’t want the kids to recognize his handwriting, and someone who got to school early. That could be any one of a hundred different people.

Grrr . . . things sure looked ba-a-ad for George!

But he wasn’t going to give up. He just had to think harder. There had to be more clues somewhere. Maybe in the notes the Phantom had left.

Still, the more George thought about those notes, the more confused he got. They were just a bunch of creepy gobbledygook about keeping your eyes open for the next chapter, checking the contents of your food, or covering your tracks. And of course there was that really weird one that pointed out the fact that skeletons didn’t have appendixes or stomachs.

If there were any clues there, George sure didn’t see them. This was a bummer, because as the Phantom had warned, the days before the parade were definitely numbered!

It was too bad George wasn’t a detective in one of his mystery books. They were always able to figure out the clues and catch the bad guys. Sometimes they got the guy to admit he was the criminal, and sometimes they caught him red-handed.

But George wasn’t a detective in a book. He was just a kid. And this was real life. There was no way George was going to catch someone red-handed.

But then again, maybe he could. George had just come up with a great idea. And he couldn’t wait to get to school the next day to put it into action!