9e945bf3b1d705d5d70aa6e5ed9fa2ba

“Right. So…” Marco tried to figure out what to say. Now that he was standing there, asking about ghosts felt a little… well, dumb.

“It’s, um…” Polo hesitated too. She and Marco exchanged glances.

“Ghosts,” Marco blurted out. It sounded even sillier now that he’d actually said it. “Have you seen any ghosts?”

Chad stopped eating. A little bit of salmon fell out of his mouth.“What?”

“Ghosts,” Polo said. “You know. Spirits? Apparitions? Like oooOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOO…” Polo made scary ghost noises and waved her arms in a ghostly way.

“Um. Yeah. Like that.” Marco cringed, grabbing Polo’s arm and dragging it down to her side. “Ghosts. We heard there were ghosts on the fifth floor.”

“Have you heard that?” Polo asked, smoothing her fur down self-consciously.

“Ghosts?” Chad stared at them. “On the fifth floor?”

“Yeah,” Polo said, cringing inwardly.

Chad made a snorty sound.“In a word, no. No ghosts, not on five, or anywhere else. That’s ridiculous.” He turned back to his salmon. “Was that all?”

Marco blushed.“Um, well…” He couldn’t think of any way to turn the conversation around to make it less awkward. He shot a desperate look at Polo.

“I like what you’re doing with your… uh… tentacles,” Polo blurted out. “It’s a good look.” She really wished she hadn’t made the ghost noises.

Chad’s eyes narrowed. “What about my tentacles?” He finished his salmon and flipped the can in the air so that it landed in the trash can across the room. He was a very good shot.

“Nothing,” Marco said, grabbing Polo’s arm. “It’s not important. That’s all, Chad. See you later.”

He dragged Polo back into the living room.“It’s a good look?” he whispered.

Polo made a face.“I know! I couldn’t think what to say. But you know what we’ve got?”

Marco frowned.“What?”

“We’ve got exclusive information. Walt is going to be so surprised!” Polo said smugly, holding up her hand. “HIGH FIVE!”

Marco smacked her hand. The ghost hunters were on the case.

“I don’t think they’re even looking for a ghost,” Butterbean said, watching Officer Travis sniff a lemon that had been set out in a decorative tray. “He touched that with his nose.”

“I’m not eating that one,” Wallace said, shuddering slightly. “The ghost can have it.”

“I don’t think we’re going to get any answers this way,” Walt said, watching Officer Travis put the lemon back and then scratch his armpit.

“Me either,” Butterbean said. “Unless… DO YOU THINK THAT LEMON IS HAUNTED?”

“Get real, Butterbean. It’s a lemon,” Wallace grumbled. “What he needs to be looking at is that salt shaker. It tried to kill me!”

Walt attempted to pat Wallace on the back, but it wasn’t easy with Wallace hanging under Butterbean’s stomach. She just ended up whacking Butterbean in the leg. Madison gave her a strange look.

Officer Marlowe came out of the bathroom and headed over to Mrs. Third Floor.

“I think we’ve got all we need here. I made a note of the water in your bathroom. That was quite a mess.”

Mrs. Third Floor gave her a teary smile.“Thank you.”

Officer Marlowe nodded.“I just have one last question. Now, that water, is that included in the rent?”

“Well, yes.” Mrs. Third Floor blinked. “Water, gas, electric—I include all utilities.”

Officer Marlowe raised her eyebrows.“Really. That’s VERY interesting.” She made another note on her notepad before putting it back in her pocket. “We’ll be in touch. In the meantime, you might want to get some sort of surveillance camera for the front door.” She turned to leave, and then hesitated. “And, as a precaution, I don’t think you should rent the unit until we’ve gotten to the bottom of this.”

“Of course.” Mrs. Third Floor nodded. “I’ll get a camera installed first thing in the morning. But you know that ghosts don’t appear on camera.”

Officer Marlowe kept her face blank.“Right. We’ll see ourselves out.”

The two officers exchanged a glance as they headed for the door.

Mrs. Third Floor gave a small hiccuppy sob.

Mrs. Food hurried over and rubbed her arm.“It’ll be okay, Mildred. We’ll get this sorted out.” She turned back to Madison. “Ready?”

Madison stood up.“Let’s go, guys.”

Walt leaned over.“Wallace, do you want to stay here? You could just go back to your vent.”

Wallace shook his head, making it look like Butterbean was trying to do the hula.“I’d rather stay close to Butterbean here. It makes me feel safer.”

“That’s fine,” Walt said. “And it doesn’t matter. We’ll be back soon enough.”

“We will?” Butterbean said.

“If we’re going to investigate, we have to move fast, before those cameras are in place. It’ll have to be tonight.”

“Wait, you mean…” Wallace said softly.

“Yes.” Walt stood up and unsheathed the claws on her left paw. “That means one thing. We’re having a sleepover.”

— 5 —

OSCAR HAD TO ADMIT, HE was looking forward to doing some serious investigating. He just wished Walt had called it what it was—a stakeout. Because the word “sleepover” was having an unfortunate effect on the other animals.

“WHY DON’T I HAVE PAJAMAS!” Marco wailed. “How am I supposed to have a sleepover without pajamas!”