The Pike River Phantom by Betty Ren Wright

queen, and they chose Lou, since she was a native of Pike River and all. Everybody in town agreed they’d made the right choice, except Katya.”
    Rachel’s expression was solemn. “I can guess how she felt.”
    Mrs. Koch shifted uneasily. “I’m not sure anyone even told Katya that Lou was to be queen—until Fourth of July morning, that is. Then all of a sudden there was Katya in the town square where the parade was getting organized. She was wearing a long dress—it might have been one she collected—and a sunbonnet she must have put together from cardboard. She went straight to the queen’s float, just as if it belonged to her. When folks saw her coming, they tried to head her off, but it was too late.”
    â€œWhat happened then?” Charlie asked, not sure he really wanted to hear.
    â€œShe went kind of crazy, I guess. I was there—all of Lou’s friends were there. Katya started screaming when she saw Lou up on the float, and then she began striking out at everyone around her. She screamed that she had a right to be queen—that she’d worked harder than anyone else. That was probably true, but still … She knocked down one girl, I remember. When she reached the float, she scrambled up and caught the hem of Lou’s long dress. I’m sure she would have pulled Lou down if some of the men hadn’t come running and dragged her away.” Mrs. Koch wiped her eyes. “After all these years I can still hear her shrieks—the terrible things she said. They took her into the courthouse till she calmed down, and then someone drove her home. We never saw her again.”
    â€œYou mean—” Rachel was wide-eyed. “You mean she—did something to herself? Because she wasn’t chosen queen?”
    â€œI mean we didn’t know what happened to her. Not then, anyway. The next day some of the committee members went out to the house where the Torins were staying. They were going to try to patch things up, but no one was around. The house seemed deserted. Katya didn’t come back to school that fall, and the truant officer said the family had moved away. So we forgot about her—or we tried to.”
    Charlie leaned forward eagerly. “Is that all? Did you ever hear anything about her again?”
    â€œWell, I heard something,” Mrs. Koch admitted reluctantly. “A couple of years ago a nurse friend of mine—it was the same girl who was knocked down that morning in the square—she told me that Katya was in the mental hospital for the chronically insane in Madison. My friend saw her. She’d been there for years and years.”
    Charlie’s head whirled. Rachel looked as horrified, and as confused, as he was. Could Katya Torin be the phantom in the old house? How was it possible, if the real Katya was a patient in a mental hospital in Madison?
    â€œI wonder—” Charlie began.
    He was interrupted by a breathless, barely smothered squeak from Rachel. She was staring at the sofa as though hypnotized. Charlie followed her gaze and saw two beady black eyes peering from under Mrs. Koch’s pillow. Whiskers twitched around a pointed nose, just a couple of inches from Mrs. Koch’s cheek.
    â€œThe tea!” Rachel rose from her chair like a puppet on strings. “Mrs. Koch, you have to come in the kitchen and show me where the cups are.”
    Mrs. Koch didn’t move. “Look in the cupboard above the sink, dear. You can’t miss them.”
    â€œNo, please show me.” Rachel tiptoed across the room and seized Mrs. Koch’s hand. “Now, don’t get up too fast,” she warned. “Some people get dizzy if they get up too fast.” Do something , she mouthed at Charlie, as she drew their bewildered hostess toward the kitchen.
    Charlie picked up the broom. He moved swiftly down the hall, closing the bedroom and bathroom doors, opening the basement door wide.