EMMA PUT THE letter she had found in Mr. Clark’s room in her pocket, locked up, and left. This letter had to be some sort of clue—her new friends JJ and Penny would be excited to see it.

She made her way to the library—her favorite place to think.

Her uncle couldn’t possibly be the killer. Of course, Emma hadn’t told JJ and Penny that he wasn’t actually her uncle. Emma was just so afraid that if they found out her secret, they wouldn’t want to be her friends anymore.

Emma sighed as she sat down on the library stairs. Not only was she being a terrible detective, she was being a pretty lousy friend too.

She had to do two things:

1. Prove the chef didn’t poison Mr. Barclay.

2. Find JJ and Penny and apologize for running off.

She was about to stand up when she saw something in her peripheral vision. It was a round eye, watching her. A camera.

Emma got up and made her way to the second level of the library, where the camera was perched. It was set up in such a way that it had a sweeping view of the whole room.

She picked up the camera. Emma recognized what it was: an infrared camera, designed to detect fluctuations in temperature. Designed to catch ghosts.

It had to be JJ’s. Either he had set it up and forgotten about it, or it was here to capture a ghost.

Emma tried to turn the camera on, but it was dead. Probably because it had been running all night. Or maybe because the spirits had drained the battery. At least that’s what she’d seen on those ghost hunting TV shows: ghosts needed energy to appear, and they would draw it from whatever device they were near.

She should return the camera to JJ. It might have evidence on it, right?

Now, Emma was smart, kind, and respectful of others’ property. But she was lonely. And a little afraid that JJ and Penny might leave right away, or get distracted from the investigation. They were supposed to be a team.

Emma was worried she’d lose her new friends.

She hesitated, but then gave the camera a good smack on the floor. The camera’s case was cracked—that made it unusable, right? She felt bad, but she had good reason to break it. JJ would be back for the camera, so the best thing would be to just leave it where she found it.

Emma had to keep the secret of the Barclay Hotel. JJ and Penny didn’t have to know.

She had to go find them, so they could prove her uncle innocent. And find the real killer.