4 CLAIRE’S EQUIPMENT

CHAPTER 4 CLAIRE'S EQUIPMENT What ghost-hunting equipment?" Kaz asked, once he and Cosmo were safely inside Claire's water bottle and on their way back to the library. "What equipment do you have? And how are you going to use it to find David's ghost?" "The thing is," Claire said as she looked both ways, then crossed a street, "I don't think David thinks I can solve this case." Kaz wasn't so sure they could solve this case, either. Not if the ghosts didn't want to come out from hiding.

"And he's right about equipment," Claire went on. "All the ghost hunters on TV have stuff to help them find ghosts. Remember, Mrs. Beesley asked about that, too, when she hired us to find the ghost in her attic. I don't need any equipment to find ghosts. But I might need it so people think I can find ghosts." "What kind of equipment?" Kaz asked. Claire shrugged. "I don't know yet." Kaz hoped that whatever she came up with didn't scare the ghosts at David's house and make them even less likely to come out of hiding. Later that night, after Claire and Grandma Karen had eaten dinner, Claire searched the library basement for "ghost-hunting equipment." She picked up a round glass object with a handle and held it to her left eye. It made her eye look really big. "What is that?" Kaz wafted closer. He'd never seen such a thing before.

"A magnifying glass?" Beckett raised an eyebrow. "No one's going to believe a simple magnifying glass will help you find ghosts." Claire scowled and put it back in the box. "Why not?" Kaz asked. "It makes things bigger. So it should help you see things you wouldn't otherwise see." "Things like ghosts?" Beckett snorted. He shook his head. "I don't think so." Claire stepped over a box of old books and reached for another object. This thing covered both of her eyes. "Binoculars?" Beckett asked. "What are binoculars?" Kaz asked. He hovered in front of Claire. All he saw from this end was two dark circles. "They're like magnifying glasses, only they help you see things that are far away," Claire explained. "People use them to watch birds and stuff."

"That's an even worse idea than the magnifying glass!" Beckett said. "Yeah, you're probably right," Claire said as she returned the binoculars to the shelf. Kaz scanned the boxes on the rest of the shelves while Beckett followed Claire to the other side of the basement. "There's really no such thing as ghost-hunting

equipment, you know," Beckett said. "A solid either sees ghosts or she doesn't—" "Don't call us solids!" Claire said. Kaz knew Claire didn't like that word, so he tried not to use it around her. But Beckett seemed to use the word as often as he could. "How about this?" Kaz reached for a— Actually, he had no idea what it was. He just hoped he could pick it up. Concentrate... concentrate... concentrate..., he told himself. He managed to raise the heavy, solid object a couple of inches above the box. But he could only hold on to it for a few seconds before it slipped through his hands and dropped back into the box.

Claire came over to see what Kaz had. "A mini vacuum?" she said as she picked it up and turned it all around. "Maybe. If it's charged." "Really?" Beckett arched his eyebrows. "Maybe," Claire said again, scanning the boxes on the shelves. She set the mini vacuum on the floor and reached for a box labeled ELECTRONICS. She pulled a long wire out of the box, then went back to get the magnifying glass. Finally she