That’s not what Ghost Detectors do Malcolm said Besides his ghost dog Spooky was in his lab And he wasn’t going to risk some monster hurting his dog At the bottom of the stairs he took a breath Then he rushed into the basement with the baseball bat over his head Aaaaahhhh Aaaaahhhh shrieked Malcolm’s older sister Cocoa She jumped back on the floor with a THUMP Cocoa was wearing tap shoes and a black leotard Her bright pink pants matched her bright pink lip gloss and pink streaks in her hair She snarled at Malcolm You You he yelled back You were making those noises He looked around the space Someone had shoved his old desk in the corner and 6
tossed the beanbag chair after it to make room for two big sheets of plywood that lay on the floor like wooden rugs You wrecked my laboratory Cocoa scrambled up and put her hands on her hips You ruined my dance practice This is trespassing Get out of my lab Malcolm pointed toward the stairs and looked to Dandy for support Dandy didn’t notice He walked over and flopped on the beanbag chair near the desk He found an old cheese curl in the folds of the chair and popped it in his mouth If this is your lab then he must be your lab experiment Cocoa sneered Look nerd You and your experiment need to clear out Dad brought these boards down here so I can practice You don’t own the basement 7
Why don’t you practice in your room Malcolm asked Because Grandma Eunice kept yelling The sky is falling Mom said it made her nervous So Dad said I could practice down here Fine Malcolm stomped toward the stairs He’d chased Cocoa out of his laboratory before He could do it again He just needed a plan Come on Dandy Dandy wrestled out of the beanbag Hold it Wait a minute Cocoa yelled I might have a job for you two We are not interested in doing your chores Malcolm yelled over his shoulder Not my chores I’m talking about a case an investigation Malcolm turned around to see his sister smirk Cocoa’s bright pink twisted lips 8
looked like two slugs waltzing It was gross I know you two are always slinking around poking your noses where they don’t belong I need you to do that for me We’re listening Malcolm said though he was pretty sure Dandy wasn’t listening His friend was shaking the beanbag chair and eating whatever fell out Someone in my dance class is trying to ruin the recital Stuff keeps disappearing The lights flip off and on And at the last rehearsal someone put gum on the stage and we all stuck to it Cocoa’s sneer slid off her face She chewed some of the gloss from her lower lip All the dancers are getting scared Miss Nan said if the pranks don’t stop she will cancel the recital 9
