I think about all of the ghostly occurrences. Mike hadn’t been here for all of them—we’d already checked. But Mr. York had. He was here at every single one, and we’d completely overlooked him because he’s such an important person. We totally missed it.

“It was you,” I say quietly to Mr. York. “Wasn’t it?”

“Hayley.” Paul sounds worried. “Maybe you should take a step back.”

“She absolutely should,” Mr. York barks. He looks at me hard. “You’d better watch what you say, Hayley, or you’ll have no future in Hollywood.”

“It never made sense why you wanted to work on our show after yours was canceled here,” I go on. I’m not backing down that easily. “I never quite bought that you were looking for new stars either—sorry, Amelia.”

Mr. York looks furious. “So now you’re accusing me of lying?”

I turn back to Mike. “Am I wrong?”

Mike bites hard on his lip. Mr. York lets out a grunt. “Say something! Tell her that I had nothing to do with this…ghost nonsense!”

Mike glances at him guiltily. “Morton.” His voice is low. “I’m not going to lie. Not anymore.”

A gasp rises in the crowd. Now everyone turns to Mr. York, who’s gone pale. He shakes his head with force and mutters a few syllables, but it’s no use. Finally, he slaps his arms to his sides.

“I didn’t think we’d have to take things this far!” he shouts. “I thought you’d be scared off days ago! And then, with the fire—I thought that would do it! But no! You people just kept going! Especially you!” He points a finger at me.

Paul’s mouth drops open. Amelia looks like she’s going to faint. But my friends are standing strong. “Why?” Aubrey asks. “Why did you do it?”

“Why do you think?” Mr. York looks totally unhinged now. His hair is mussed. His eyes are wild, and he no longer looks like a polished Hollywood bigwig. “It’s humiliating to have a show canceled! I feel like a total failure! I thought if you left, maybe I’d get my set back! I thought maybe the network would give my show another chance. I put my heart and soul into Motor Clowns. It’s genius! And if the studio just saw a few more episodes…”

I almost burst out laughing. Motor Clowns? Is he serious?

“So you faked a ghost?” Cody says, his voice deadpan. “And tried to scare us away?”

“You didn’t just fake a ghost.” Paul sounds angry now. “You set things on fire. You dropped things from the ceiling. You could have hurt someone, Morton.”

Mr. York’s eyes blaze. “You don’t understand. No one understands.” And then, arms flapping, he storms away.

Paul glances at Austin. “Catch him before he leaves.”

“On it,” Austin says. “Already called security.”