The Black Heart Crypt

“What is that school bus doing over near the hardware store?” asked Malik from the backseat. “Was there a field trip today?”

“I don’t think so,” said Zack, who thought a hardware store would be a pretty odd place to take a field trip.

“I don’t remember signing any permission slips,” added Judy.

She had parked her car right in front of the town clock tower, the tallest building in North Chester. Zack looked up at its face, five stories above the street.

Nine-fifty-two.

His dad used to joke that no matter what train he took to New York City in the morning, it was always the nine-fifty-two, because the town clock had been frozen in that position for as long as he could remember. Zack, of course, wished he had figured out his mother’s clue sooner.

Next he checked out the door at the base.

It looked to be unlocked, because a stiff breeze squeaked it open a crack.

“Oh, no,” said Judy, who was looking up the block to the town hall. “There’s a black horse standing next to the bus.”

“Unusual,” said Malik. “You certainly don’t see that every day.”

Now it was Zack’s turn to say, “Oh, no,” because he was the first one to see Jack the Lantern climb off the bus, a pistol poked into Azalea Torres’s back.

He was using her as a shield!

“Who’s that guy in the mask manhandling Azalea?” asked Malik.

“Your friend,” said Zack. “Norman Ickes.”