"Find the motive and you find just about everything else," Scotty commented.
"True enough," Rick agreed. "But if we can't guess a motive, let's try another tack. When did the ghost first appear?"
Barby answered. "Right after the Civil War."
Rick was patient. "I know. I mean, when did the ghost start making his recent appearances?"
"About a month ago," Dr. Miller replied. "We first heard about it from our tenant farmer when we arrived here from Spindrift. He was full of the news, as you can imagine. The ghost first appeared at a Girl Scouts' campfire. An annual event. The girls are supposed to camp overnight. Needless to say, they didn't."
Rick had a quick mental impression of uniformed girls scattering like leaves in a hurricane. "The appearances have been regular since then?"
"Yes. So far as we know, the ghost always appears at nine."
Rick scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if he appears when there's no audience?"
Scotty chuckled. "That's like the question about does a falling tree make a noise if there's no one to hear it. How can you tell?"
"I just wondered if the ghost would appear for a small audience, like one or two people."