“We all know how dramatic she is,” I point out. “And we all know how much she loves to get attention. Maybe she knew about the ghost before we did. Maybe Mike told her. And she thought she’d give everyone a good scare.”

“And put herself in the middle of the ghost story so she can get all the sympathy,” Aubrey grumbles. “But doesn’t Amelia realize this might put Sadie Solves It in trouble?”

“Maybe she doesn’t care. She’s always hinting about how much she wants Mr. York to make her into a movie star,” Cody reminds us. “What if she wants out of Sadie Solves It to do movies?”

I think this over. Could that be it? “So…what? She’s faking a ghost to get us shut down?”

“Or maybe so she can show Mr. York her acting skills. Or maybe just to have some fun.” Aubrey leans against a tree. “Let’s face it, Amelia isn’t the star of Sadie Solves It. We already know it bothers her—she made that huge deal of making Pepper more of a character. She wants to be in the spotlight in a bigger way.”

Cody tilts his head, considering it. “So what do we do? Confront her? Make her tell the truth?”

“But we already tried—after she was spooked, remember? Around all those extras?” I spin my ring around my finger worriedly. “It didn’t really work.”

“Please,” Aubrey says. “Amelia isn’t going to confess, especially with her mom always around. I think we need to catch her in the act.”

“Like while she’s pretending to be the ghost?” Cody asks.

“Totally! We’ll have to keep an eye on her. See if she sneaks off anywhere when she thinks no one’s looking. We’ll have to be careful, though—she can’t suspect what we’re up to. If she does, there won’t be any ghost sightings, that’s for sure.”

“Well, it’s worth a shot,” I say, rising from the tree stump and heading out of the Woods. “We’ll split up Amelia Watch. Hopefully, we’ll be able to catch her in action by the end of the day.”

“And the ghost mystery will be solved,” Aubrey adds.

“And things will go back to normal!” Cody cries.

“Exactly,” I say.

Normal sounds perfect.

Chapter Ten

Operation Catch Amelia in the Act begins as soon as we get back to Stage Five. First order of business: scoring some walkie-talkies. Luckily, there are always a few lying around the set—the PAs and other staff use them to communicate, get actors from place to place, and make sure everything’s going according to schedule. We turn them to Channel Three—the channel everyone else on set isn’t talking on—and get down to business.

“Big Chicken to Rooster? Big Chicken to Rooster?” Aubrey’s voice crackles on the line.