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a spotlight. Frank paused, watching her from the wings. However brusque she could be in person, Ms. Anderson was mesmerizing onstage, drawing you in with her melodic speaking voice and commanding presence.
    Beside Frank a stagehand wearing a wireless headset turned to the technician manning the fly system behind him. “Get ready to fly out the courthouse facade.”
    Chris stepped up beside Frank, ready to make his entrance. “How do you like being back here with us?” he whispered.
    Frank smiled.
    Just as Emily Anderson finished her speech, the stagehand beside Frank gave the cue. “Fly out courthouse, set classroom.”
    Frank watched as the huge set piece was raised high into the air.
    â€œWhy isn’t Emily moving?” Chris muttered.
    Frank saw that Emily Anderson hadn’t moved from the spot where she delivered her opening speech.
    Chris shrugged, puzzled, then walked onstage and took a seat at a desk in the classroom.
    Frank heard a cracking sound from above him. The massive courthouse set piece was giving way directly over the spot where Chris Paul had just sat down!

8 A Major Setback
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    â€œHeads!” Frank shouted, remembering the warning he had heard shouted a couple of days before.
    Chris looked up just as the giant set piece broke away from the cables that were lifting it. He leaped away from his desk a split second before the courthouse facade crashed down on top of the classroom set, tearing through the walls and sending desks splintering in every direction.
    A violent crash of metal behind Frank sent him diving to the floor. The counterweights that had been balancing the one-ton courthouse crashed into the rigging at the base of the fly weight system.
    Screams and gasps were followed by a shout of concern from Mr. Paul as he jumped onto the stage and ran to his son. “Is everyone all right? Is anyone hurt?”
    â€œI’m fine, Dad,” Chris assured him, then turned to Frank. “Are you all right, mate?”
    Franks ears were ringing, but he was otherwise in one piece. “I’m okay.”
    â€œIn case you’re interested, Dennis, I am also uninjured,” Emily said from the other side of the stage.
    â€œThe ghost has it in for this play,” Corey Lista snapped, stepping up to Mr. Paul, his brow furrowed in anger. “I’m not hanging about to see what she does next.”
    Frank checked out the courthouse facade. The cleats that had attached the set piece to the steel cables had been torn away from the top of the frame, revealing numerous screw holes in the wood where the cleats had been secured.
    Frank noticed a few larger holes where the wood had splintered as the screws were torn out by the falling weight, but most of the holes were small and smooth. Frank looked around the stage floor for loose screws that had been dislodged but could only find three.
    â€œFrank!” Joe shouted as he ran up to his brother’s side.
    â€œI’m fine, Joe, but check this out,” Frank said, showing him the three screws. “I have a hunch most of these screws were removed,” Frank explained. “The few screws that remained couldn’t bear the weight and tore loose.”
    â€œMore sabotage,” Joe concluded.
    â€œWhat happened, Frank?” Jennifer asked as she stepped up to survey the damage.
    Joe started to open his mouth, but Frank nudged him to stay quiet. If Jennifer were responsible, Frank figured she might try to hide the truth. “We don’t know,” Frank answered Jennifer. “What do you think?”
    Jennifer looked at the top of the frame, then high up into the stage house where the steel pipe that had held the piece still dangled. “It looks like it was deliberate. Someone pulled the screws.”
    Joe nodded to Frank, satisfied
    â€œCorey, you can’t quit over a ghost!” Mr. Paul argued with his disgruntled stage manager.
    Joe and Frank stepped up behind Lista. “Chances