During the course of the Haunted House story, Annie's life is threatened numerous times. In the first instance, Pig-Eye Mack, appropriately the son of Mr. Mack, attempts to set fire to Annie's house. In Gray's mind, apparently, rottenness breeds rottenness. Days later, Annie and Sandy are almost killed by a rolling boulder as they search for the loot of the gangsters. Later still, Annie is almost caught in the cross-fire of a bank robbery. Her surrogate father for this story, Mr. Flint, is critically wounded by the robbers. After Annie has found the hidden loot stashed away by the gangsters, she tells Mr. Mack about it, though she neglects to tell him how she had moved it to another location. That very evening, someone sends a message to Miss Annie.
