Chapter Two

Hey everybody!
You would not believe how much homework I have been getting lately! I would have put up the second chapter yesterday but I had to stay up almost an hour late finishing a report for english. I haven't had any time before school, either.
So here it is, what yall have hopefully been waiting for! :-)
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The Bronson House 5:11 p.m.

“Mariah! I wanted to apologize to you this morning, but you had already left.” That was Mariah’s mom, Sharon. She was probably trying to apologize for having to stay up until 4:00 cracking that drug ring.
“That’s okay mom, it was more important than homework anyway.”
“You can say that again! What was that, our fourth case this month? I don’t know, your dad’s keeping score.”
“Where is dad, anyway?”
Sharon seemed to have to think about that one.
“Oh! He said he’d be home for dinner but he had a meeting with his boss. So what did you find out during detention?” They walked over to the couch and sat down.
“ I found out our school has a ghost. He was a kid named Broderick Peters. He was trying to join a club called Blitz, and the club had initiations. It was a secret club, so nobody knew. But the initiations went 1,2,3,4. First you had to steal pair of expensive computer speakers or a good printer, and if you did that you would have to go steal like a diamond ring or something. Then you would have to watch a house for a couple of days, wait till the family was asleep, and go steal something important of theirs, like a couch, TV, or even a dishwasher. Then you would have to wait until they’re home, and burst in with a gun. You wouldn’t shoot anybody, but you would steal a whole bunch of big stuff. Broderick didn’t get that far, though.”
Sharon looked disturbed at the whole idea of this club. “I don’t like the way this is going,” she said.
“You won’t,” Mariah replied. “On the day when he was supposed to take something from the jewelry store he went in and never came out. His friends saw him walk through the front door, but the security cameras were checked over and over and no teenager had ever walked through the door that day. It was as if he walked through the door and evaporated into thin air. Ever since then, kids have been saying that he came back and haunts the other members in Blitz. No one really knows what happened to him. I would really, really, really like to find out. It would make me really, really, really happy if maybe I could just...”
“Are you trying to say that you want to look into this?” Her mom asked.
“Well, yeah, but I don’t have to drag you guys into this. I just wanna find out more about it.”
“Well, as long as you know what you’re doing. Remember that we’re here if you need us."
“Thanks mom!”
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Peretti High 8:16 Friday

Okay girl, it’s Friday. You need to find out as much as you can about the ghost, Mariah thought.
“Hey Mariah! Why are you waiting outside? You know we can go inside, we just have to wait in the cafeteria.” Claire Woodland had kind of latched on to Mariah when she moved in. She knew everything about the school, so Mariah figured she would be the best one to ask.
“Claire, do you know anything about a kid who used to go here named Broderick Peters?”
“Well, like, DUH!” Said Claire. “Everybody knows about him. Scott said he already told you part of the story, so let me pick up where he left off.
"Everybody thinks that Broderick pretended to go inside, but ran instead. They said he was too afraid to come back because he thought his parents would be mad and his friends would hate him. Whether that’s true or not, nobody can prove anything.”
“What do you believe?” Mariah wanted to find out all the different versions and stories.
“I think that somehow something strange happened that day. He was either kidnapped, or he just… disappeared. Somehow.”
“Okay. Well, thanks. I’m gonna go in before I’m late"
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Later.....Peretti High.....3:28
“Hey Mom! I need some help. What do you think happened to Broderick…Uh-huh…Uh-huh...huh…yep…. Uh-huh…. Okay, see you after school.”
Mariah sighed as she hung up her pink-striped cell phone. It was after 3:00, and school was about to let out after 6th period.
She had a sketchy idea of what happened, but she couldn’t be totally sure of anything. She guessed that someone found out about Blitz and didn’t like it, So they found out when and where the next challenge for Broderick was, and took him away just to shake everybody up. But what they did with him for the last 4 years, she didn’t have a clue.
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The Daley House 4:38 Friday
“Hello Jeremy, favorite brother of mine!” Mariah knew she would have to do some fudging to get Jeremy to do anything for her. Ever since she handcuffed him to the stairs, flushed the key, and sprinkled glitter all over him when she was 7 and he was 8, he never seemed to trust here anymore… But anyway, this was important.
“So, Jeremy, Since we go to the same school, would you mind helping me out with this investigation I’m doing?”
“Yes, I would mind.” Jeremy seemed to need more pushing today.
“Well, have any of your friends ever told you about the school ghost?”
“Yeah. That's one of my favorite subjects, next to lunch and free period. What do you wanna know?”
“Everything.”
“Okay, let’s get started. But if I’m gonna help with this silly ‘investigation’, you owe me big time.”
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Peretti High School 2:28 Monday
“Hey Mariah!”
Mariah stared at the guy running down the hallway towards her, waiting for his name to click.
“Oh! Hi Jared. Did you need something?”
“Yeah! I have some leads on that ghost you’re so interested in. Apparently he was in a club called…”
“Jared, I already know all that! Remember? You told me yesterday,” Mariah said, smiling.
Jared White was just one of those people. Probably born with a ten-minute memory span!
“So, Jared, you did the Internet search for any place that was bought or built within the last 4 years, right? Now, it would have to be able to hold lots of people, lots of rooms, equipment, electronics, that kind of stuff. I know it's a slim chance and I know you probably didn't find anything, but please, please, please tell me you found something!"
“Yeah, but all I found was a stone mansion bought 3 years and 11 months ago. Somewhere out in Idaho. Will that work?”
“YES! YES! YES! YES, YES, YES YES! THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR! THANK YOU JARED!” Mariah threw Jared a quick hug and ran down
the hall, almost screaming.