Alice cleared her throat. “In our basements. We’re homemade scientists. But,” she added quickly, “we’re almost positive we can capture a ghost.”
I hid my amused smile behind my hand. “And what will you do with a ghost when you catch one?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Ruth said, “sell it to the government. Let them experiment on it.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. It was the funniest thing I’d ever heard.
Alice’s face reddened. “You just wait here. I’ll show you.”
She retreated into the house and returned a minute later. I was expecting her to bring out that ghost-busting looking box that they swore would help them catch a ghost, but instead what she held in her hand was a rope.
“Where’d you get that?” Ruth said.
“I left it in your living room. Was going to take it with me when I went home.”
I eyed the thing. “What is it?”
“It’s a fiber-optic rope. Attached to one end is an energy pack. It works on the same light frequency as ghosts.”
I stopped and stared. The Ghost Team used tools very similar to this to capture spirits. Not all spirits were easy to convince over to the other side. Some fought like the devil. Those that did were captured—usually by someone else and then brought to me, where I would guide them over.
I brushed my fingers against the smooth surface. “Who made this?”
“We did,” Ruth said.
Alice gave her a funny look.
“Okay, Alice did. But I helped.”
“All you did was bake cookies and tell me where things should go.”
Ruth shrugged. “That’s called supervising.”
I couldn’t contain the surprise on my face. “Does it work?”
“Beats us,” Ruth said. “We haven’t been close enough to a ghost to find out.”
I stared at the lasso and at the women. It would work. Or it could at least hold a spirit for a minute or two.
“Ladies,” I said, “I’m looking for a spirit.”
Ruth cocked an eye. “What do you mean, ‘you’re looking for a spirit’?”
I cleared my throat and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to put the Ghost Team at risk, but I sure could use this rope to catch Lucky Strike.
“Have you ever heard of a ghost named Lucky Strike?”
Ruth and Alice exchanged glances and then each in turn shook her head. I folded my arms and rested them over the table.
“In Haunted Hollow lives one of the fiercest spirits known—Lucky Strike. Remember the blackout a few years ago that took out the entire Southeast?”
“Of course I remember,” Ruth said, grabbing a tin from the counter. She opened it, took a cookie and dunked it in her tea. “Want one?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll take two,” Alice said.
“Two won’t help your figure,” Ruth chided.
