9e945bf3b1d705d5d70aa6e5ed9fa2ba

She smiled conspiratorially at Madison and Mrs. Food.“I’ve already had alerts twice! The nice man in 5C went to work, and it recorded him waiting for the elevator. And then that woman in 5D took her trash to the chute.” She giggled. “It’s like I’m a spy!”

She peered down at her phone.“Now, let’s see.…” She frowned. “That doesn’t seem right.…” Then she let out a small shriek and flung her phone onto the floor.

“What? What happened?” Mrs. Food asked.

Madison bent down to pick up the phone.“What is it?”

“DON’T TOUCH IT!” Mrs. Third Floor screamed, and then pointed at the phone. “I can’t— See for yourself!”

“Okay.” Madison gave her a worried look. “But I have to touch it to do that.” She picked up the phone gingerly, watching Mrs. Third Floor the whole time, like she was afraid she might explode. Then she stood up to examine the phone. “OOF! Cat!”

“Excuse me, kid,” Walt said, jumping onto Madison’s shoulder. “I need to see this.”

“Narration, please,” Oscar said.

Walt nodded and coiled around Madison’s neck to get a better view.

“What is it, Madison?” Mrs. Food asked, getting up to watch the video.

Madison hit play. The camera was set up to show the doorway of Apartment 5B and the hallway just outside the door.

When the video started, the elevator doors were opening, and a pizza delivery guy got out of the elevator. He stood for a few minutes, looking around and checking a piece of paper in his hand.

“Pizza guy,” Walt muttered.

“This early in the day?” Oscar looked puzzled.

“OOH, I want pizza!” Butterbean yelped.

“Shhh!” Walt hissed.

The pizza delivery guy in the video looked at the door of 5B and, after consulting his paper one last time, knocked on the door. Then he put the pizza on the floor, turned, and got back into the elevator.

“Pizza’s on the floor,” Walt said softly. “Pizza guy’s leaving.”

“That’s strange,” Oscar said.

“Pizza on the FLOOR?” Butterbean said wistfully. “It’s like a DREAM.”

“So that’s it?” Madison looked up at Mrs. Food. “The pizza guy?”

“No! Keep watching.” Mrs. Third Floor’s lip trembled.

Madison looked back down at the video and then gasped. She looked up at Mrs. Third Floor, her eyes wide. She started it again and handed the phone to Mrs. Food.

“Oh no,” Walt said, looking closely. “Oh no no no.”

The tiny phone video showed the elevator doors closing. And for a few seconds, nothing happened.

But as they watched, the door to Apartment 5B silently swung open. No one came into view. No one was there.

Then, so slowly you almost didn’t notice it, the pizza box drifted into the apartment, as if it were floating a few inches off the ground. Once it was inside, the door shut.

No one ever appeared in the video.

It was like the door had opened and shut itself.

“Was that…” Madison swallowed. “Who opened the door?”

“It was the GHOST!” Mrs. Third Floor sobbed. “The ghost opened the door. It’s still there!”

Oscar cocked his head and looked at Walt.

Walt narrowed her eyes.“MR. WIGGLES.”

— 9 —

WHILE MRS. FOOD WAS ON hold with the police, Madison attempted to console Mrs. Third Floor. (She was not successful.)

“It’s not a ghost,” Mrs. Food said, covering the phone with her hand. “I promise.” Mrs. Third Floor didn’t even look up. She just sobbed into Madison’s shoulder.

Madison patted her tentatively on the back.“She’s right. I don’t know what it is, but it’s not a ghost.”

“Official Ghost Investigator meeting, now,” Oscar said, jerking his head toward the rats’ aquarium. Walt and Butterbean strolled casually over to the aquarium, trying not to look suspicious. Which was relatively easy, since no one was looking at them.

“We’ve got to warn Jerome,” Oscar said once everyone had gathered. “This is a disaster. The police are coming! They’ll arrest Jerome!”

Walt sniffed.“Jerome is on his own,” she said, keeping one eye on the humans. “We warned him what would happen. ORDERING A PIZZA?” she huffed in disgust.

“Do you think there’s any left?” Butterbean asked, trying to keep from drooling. Pizza was her weakness. “If there’s pizza, I could go warn him. I don’t mind.”

Walt huffed again, louder this time. It almost sounded like a hairball.“None of us can go warn him, Bean!” she said. “Mrs. Food is RIGHT THERE. She’d see us if we tried to leave!”

Butterbean sighed. Walt had a point. It wasn’t like she was the best at sneaking anyway.

Polo nudged Marco in the ribs.“We could go, maybe? We could use the vents, now that they’re not haunted.”

“It’s my apartment,” Wallace said. “I should protect it.”

“Yeah,” Marco said. “It’s Wallace’s apartment. He should go. We could just run up real quick.”

“Plus pizza,” Polo added. She didn’t think she’d ever had pizza before, and she wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity.

“Not our problem,” Walt said, lashing her tail.

“But Walt, he’s a CELEBRITY! If they catch him, he’ll be in the paper for MONTHS.” Oscar hopped from his perch to the side of the cage.