Dani peered through the small four-pane glass window into Bertrand's bedroom. It was nearly eleven o'clock at night. Dani and Jazz had expected that everyone would be settled into bed right now, but the butler's bed remained undisturbed.

"He's not even in bed yet," she whispered.

"What's he doing, then?" Jazz whispered back.

"I don't know. His room looks empty."

"Maybe he's still tidying up. Father did leave a huge mess."

"Well, I certainly hope not. If he's still cleaning, then stealing that necklace is going to be even harder."

"We'll think of something. Just see if anyone's servant's hallway."

Slowly, Dani creaked open the door just a crack and looked in. Without any light, she wasn't able to see if anyone was in the servant's hallway. However, since she heard no one talking or moving about, he assumed it was empty.

"I think it's empty. There's no light in here, though. I can't really tell."

"Here, let me try."

Dani moved from her spot and allowed Jazz to take her place. Peering in, Jazz immediately realized what Dani had meant. There was no light at all. Not even a flicker. Since sight wasn't going to help her, Jazz decided to try something else. Gently, she tapped her knuckle against the door. No footsteps, no hellos, no confused grunts. Nothing. She tapped again, this time a little louder. Silence.

"You're right," she slowly creaked the door open just a bit wider, "The coast is clear."

Slowly, the two girls tip-toed inside and shut the door. They winced as the latch clicked into its place with a loud clack! They remained still, listening for an angry butler or homeowner to investigate the sound, but none came. Breathing a sigh of relief, Dani took Jazz's hand and led her out of the servant's hallway into the main one. Surprisingly, the place was still a mess from their father's "ghost hunt" earlier today. Broken furniture and vases still lied shattered on the ground. The dented walls still smelled of smoke with splattered goop sliding down onto the floor. The girls looked ahead and noticed that a candlestick had been lit and sat on a small sime-covered table. Jazz and Dani looked around them for the person who lit it, but found no one. Shrugging, Dani took the candlestick and urged the other girl to follow her upstairs. A moment later, they were on the second floor. Again, the mess remained, but not a person was nearby cleaning it up.

"Where's Bertrand?" Jazz wondered as she wrinkled her nose, "And where's Star? How come nobody's cleaned this up, yet?"

"Who cares?" Dani snorted as she walked up to Mrs. Masters' door, "Not our problem. Right now, our problem is figuring out how we're going to get that necklace with Mrs. Masters in her room."

Jazz followed her and bent down to the keyhole, trying to peer through, "Do we even know she's in there for sure? I mean we haven't seen Bertrand or Star at all so far. Something tells me they're with Penelope, wherever she is."

"She's not in there?"

"It's too dark. I can't see a thing," she moved her head and attempted to open the door, but found it locked tight.

"Great," Dani groaned, "Now how do we get in?"

"I don't suppose you know how to pick locks?"

"No. Father makes it look so easy."

"Father breaks every lock he picks, remember? Walker always ends up arresting him."

"Oh, yeah. Forgot. Wait a minute," she snapped her fingers, "If we can't get the necklace, maybe we can get the staff."

"I already told you. Penelope's going to notice it missing. And since we're the only ones who have been visiting here today and causing such a ruckus, we're going to be ones who get blamed."

"Come on, Jazz, please! That necklace and the are the only clues we've got. And since now the only way to the necklace is to break the door down-"

"Which we are so not doing," Jazz said sternly.

"Then all we have left is the staff! Please? Maybe we can bring it back to that psychic woman and ask her what it does."

Jazz remained silent for a moment. As risky as that sounded, Dani did have a point. Without having access to the necklace, the next best bet would be the staff. And since they had no idea what it was supposed to do, the only way they'd figure it out would be to bring it back to Desiree at the inn. Of course, the girls were assuming that they would still be allowed at the inn when they returned, given all of the damage their father had no doubt caused in their absence.

"Alright, fine," Jazz sighed irritably, "But for the record, if we get caught, I'm blaming you."

Rolling her eyes, Dani led the way to the study. She knew she ought to worry about getting caught by the servants or by Mrs. Masters herself, but so far, they had passed no one in the heavily damaged house. Dani thought Jazz was probably right. Wherever Mrs. Masters was, so were the servants. Hopefully, they weren't in the study with the staff.

Approaching the door, Dani pressed an ear against it. Hearing nothing, she tried the doorknob. Fortunately, it was unlocked. After cracking the door open and peeking in, Dani opened the door wider and stepped in with Jazz right behind her. They approached the display case and stared at the staff inside.

"Is there a lock?" Jazz asked.

Dani stepped towards the case and held the candlestick against the door. Not seeing a lock, she slid the fingers of her free hand into slit between the door and the wall and slowly opened the case. She handed the candlestick to Jazz and reached for the staff.

"Wait," Jazz said, "We should find something to take its place."

"We don't have time to go looking for another staff."

"It doesn't have to be staff. It could be a cane or an umbrella. Look for something like a tall, red stick."

"And that's going to fool Penelope?"

"Not completely," Jazz answered as she looked around, "But it'll at least make it look like there's something still in the case so she won't notice its disappearance right away."

"Oh," Dani said as she started to join in, "Good idea. Hey, what about this?"

Jazz turned to see Dani point to a floor-length reading lamp right up against a bookcase.

"Perfect!" she smiled, "Just get rid of the lampshade."

With a nod, Dani picked up the lamp. Unfortunately, the lampshade got caught against a couple of books and brought them tumbling down. The girls winced at the noise and turned to the door. Miraculously, nobody had heard a sound. They glanced at each other in confusion and shrugged. Dani began to fumble with the lampshade while Jazz bent to pick up the books. As she picked up a red book by its spine, leafs of loose yellowed paper spilled out onto the floor. Silently cursing, Jazz started to pick up the mess. She picked up one piece and reached for another as she glanced down at it. Confused, she stopped and read the faded, but still comprehensible handwritten text.

It isn't fair! I saw him first! I spoke to him first! I danced, I sang, and I laughed with him first! He's supposed to be mine! And yet Kitty is to be wed to him! The silly little fool wouldn't have even known about him if I hadn't introduced him to her! A decision I regret even to this day! I should have just ran away and married him the moment he asked me. I don't need anyone's approval. He's wealthy. He'll provide plenty for me even if Father were to cut me off. But no! Father won't hear of it! The oldest daughter must be wed first! He wants to settle down now and provide his daughter with a mother, so agreed to take Kitty instead. And nowI must sit here and watch my happiness disappear! The brainless idiot doesn't even try to hide her smugness from me! She openly flirts with him and talks about how happy they will be together when they are married right in front of my face! They will never be together! I shall see to that! Damon is mine!

"Damon?" Dani asked peering over Jazz's shoulder, "Who's Damon? And who's Kitty?"

"I don't know," Jazz shuffled through the pages on the floor, "I think this is some sort of diary."

"Maybe it's Penelope's. It looks like her handwriting."

"But how? This looks old. I mean really, really old. At least over a hundred years."

"Well, like the Finder said. She's a ghost. Who knows how old she really is."

"True," Jazz said as she finished gathering up the pages and stuffed them back into the book, "We can read these later when we get back to the inn. You have the staff?"

Dani proudly lifted it up.

"And the lamp?"

"Is in the display case. I hid the shade behind the curtain. Penelope's going to notice it, but we'll be gone by then."

"Good. Now let's get out of here."

They headed for the door when it suddenly swung open. The two gasped both in shock and fright.

"Hey," Dashiel stepped in, looking at them in confusion, "What are you two still doing here? I thought you guys left."

"We did," Dani replied, "But your mother called us back."

"Why? Hey, what are you doing with Mother's staff?"

"Well, um- Good question! A question I'm sure Jazz would be more than happy to answer!"

Jazz scowled at Dani before faking a smile in Dashiel's direction. Hopefully, he was still as stupid as he was five years ago.

"Well," she started, "Your mother called us back to-um, look at the staff for further inspection. Right Dani?"

Dani nodded her head eagerly, slightly worried that Dashiel didn't look like he believed them.

"Inspect it for what?" he asked warily.

"Um," Dani started, "Inspect it for possible ghost contamination! Yeah, that's it! That's why we're taking it with us. You know, to get tested, and- And stuff."

"Wait a minute," Dashiel scowled at the two of them, "That can't be right. Mother doesn't believe in all that ghost stuff. Why would she want you to test it for ghost contamination if she doesn't believe in ghosts? Something's fishy, here."

Jazz and Dani looked at each other in panic. Of all the times for Dashiel to finally grow a brain, he just had to do it now.

"Say," he continued looking from one girl to the next, "Don't I know you from before?"

Again, the girls exchanged panic looks between them.

"Nope!" Jazz insisted.

"No way!" Dani agreed.

"Impossible!"

"Improbable!"

"Absolutely not!"

Dashiel scratched his head in confusion, "Strange. I could have sworn I had. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I have!"

"Really?" Dani asked as she slowly squeezed herself and the staff past him and to the door, "I can't imagine where."

"Yeah. Yeah. I have seen you two before. I just can't remember from what."

"Well," Jazz said cheerfully as she followed Dani, "If you figure it out, let us know, okay?"

"Okay!" he returned her cheerful tone, "See you girls later!"

"Bye!"

They both waved farewell at him and quickly raced through the door.

"Pretty girls," Dashiel remarked, completely in ignorant bliss, "Certainly a lot prettier than Tabitha or whatever her name is."