4 HOW DO YOU FIND A MISSING GHOST

CHAPTER 4 HOW DO YOU FIND A MISSING GHOST? Claire hugged her orange juice bottle of ghosts with one arm while she opened the door to the library with her other hand. Beckett hovered in the library entryway, close to the front door, but not so close that he might blow into the Outside. "Well? Did you find Dave?" he asked hopefully. "No," Claire said, kicking the door closed behind her. "What happened?" Beckett asked as Kaz, Cosmo, Finn, and Little John passed through the bottle and expanded to their normal sizes. He backed away when Mom and Pops passed through.

"We met some of Finn's friends," Little John said. "But not Dave. Dave's gone." "Gone!" Beckett said. "Yeah. No one knows what happened to him," Kaz said. "We looked for him in a bunch of stores and restaurants downtown. So did the other ghosts at the movie theater—" "Wait, there are other ghosts at the movie theater?" Beckett said, scratching his head. "Yes," Finn said. "Jessie, Conrad, George, and Dave. Dave used to be there. I just don't know what could have happened to him." "It's a mystery all right," Little John said. Beckett peered into the empty orange juice bottle. "Where are your grandparents?" he asked. "Did something happen to them, too?" "No. I took them back to Valley View," Claire said as she wiggled out of her jacket. "They're old. And tired," Mom said. She sounded pretty tired herself. "They don't think we'll ever find my brother. Frankly, I don't think

we will, either." With that, she and Pops drifted up through the ceiling. "I'm so sorry," Beckett said, hanging his head. "Come on," Claire said to Kaz, Finn, and Little John as she headed for the craft room. Kaz picked up Cosmo, and the ghosts followed Claire. "We will find your Uncle Dave!" Claire declared. She pulled out a chair and sat down. "How?" Kaz asked. "He's been gone forever!" "We can start by finding my friend, Dave," Finn said. "He's only been gone a day. If we can

find him, we can at least find out whether he's our Uncle Dave." "How are we going to find him?" Kaz asked. "Have Claire knock on every door in this whole town until we find him? There are too many." "He may not even be in this town anymore," Little John said. "The wind may have blown him to a whole different town." "You sound like you're giving up," Claire said to Little John. "I've never known you to give up before." Little John bit his lip. "Well, it does seem kind of impossible," he said in a small voice. Claire leaned back in her chair. "You guys! We found your whole family! You thought that was impossible, too. But we did it." "I'm not giving up," Finn said, folding his arms. "If they want to give up, maybe you need to change the name of your little detective agency to C & F Ghost Detectives."

C & F Ghost Detectives? No way, Kaz thought. "I'm not giving up, either," he said. "I just don't know what to do." "Same," Little John said. "Well," Claire said as she unzipped her bag and pulled out her notebook and pen. "I like Finn's idea of looking for his friend, Dave. It's a lot easier to find someone who's only been missing for a day rather than someone who's been missing for years and years. If he's your long-lost uncle, the case is solved. If he's not, well... then we'll have to figure out what to do next." Kaz wasn't sure he agreed that it was any easier to find someone who's only been missing for a day. "So how do we find him?" he asked again. "We could put up flyers like people do when they're trying to find a lost dog," Claire suggested. "Woof! Woof!" Cosmo barked when he heard the word dog.

"It could say, 'Have you seen this ghost? If so, call C & K Detectives,'" Claire went on. "Who's going to call and say 'yeah, I saw that ghost'?" Finn asked. "Most solids aren't like you. They can't see ghosts." "They can if the ghost is glowing," Claire reminded him. "That boy Eli called Claire because you kept glowing around him," Little John pointed out. "True," Finn said. Claire turned to a clean sheet of paper in her notebook and said, "What does your friend Dave look like, Finn?" "I bet he has hair and wears clothes," Kaz said. Finn snorted. "He definitely wears clothes. I can't say much about his hair. It's covered up by a baseball cap."