Dan and the Dead by Thomas Taylor Page B

things pretty easily if you don’t mind the risk. But he started taking orders from his friends, for antiques and stuff. It just got bigger and bigger. Turns out I was good at it.’
    â€˜I see,’ I say, making a mental note of this for later on. ‘So why didn’t you quit?’
    Ems slumps to the floor and I can see I’ve got to the nub of it all.
    â€˜The pictures he took of me, you know, stealing? Well, he said he’d send them to the police. And my mum and dad. Called it his “insurance”. So I had to keep stealing for him, even though he stopped paying me, but then he got pictures of that too. I couldn’t get away from him. He said I had to do whatever he told me… then, that last time, I was spotted in Selfridges by a security guard. I ran out into the street, but…’
    This must be where the bus comes in.
    â€˜It’s okay, Ems,’ I say, sensing another wailing fit coming on. I wish I could put my arm round her, but you can only comfort a ghost with words.
    â€˜Those photos.’ Ems is whispering now. ‘If my mum had seen them… and my dad – I was his princess – it would have broken his heart.’
    Sounds like it already has
, I think to myself, and there’s actually a lump in my throat because of the stupid tragedy of it all, but there’s no time for all that now.
    â€˜Listen, here’s what happens next, Ems. We need to know everything you know about this Bagport, so we can eliminate him.’ I like saying that, ‘eliminate him’, but I’m just thinking of turning him over to the police – there are enough ghosts about already. ‘But first, there’s just the little matter of payment.’
    Em’s head snaps up and her eyes lock mine. Whoops! Bad timing, Dan.
    â€˜What do you think I can give you?’ Ems is not happy. In fact, she’s flaming mad and her ghost’s all fierce and flickery. ‘God, you’re just like him! All you men are the same!’
    â€˜Wait, Ems.’ I’m holding my hands up like she has a gun or something. I need to make her feel strong again, so she’ll listen. ‘It’s not what you think.’
    She’s upright now, and her eyes are like the business end of a double-barrelled tank, but at least she’s stopped shouting.
    â€˜It’s not what you think.’ I say again. ‘Simon and me, we don’t expect money or anything, we just need a little favour from you. We’ll help you get even, and do our best to put Carl Bagport out of business for good. In return, before you move on to the Hereafter, I just need…’
    And I tell her. It’s the same deal I offer them all, and like the others she just stares at me in amazement. Then she laughs.
    â€˜Is that even possible?’
    I nod and smile back.
    It looks like a done deal to me.

4
THE GENTLEMAN OF
MIRACLES

    The thing about school is, even top paranormal investigators have to go there if they’re only fourteen. You’d think Ems would understand this, but when I tell her that hunting down Bagport’s going to have to wait till after Geography, History and a visit from a fireman, she’s not best pleased.
    She even trails me out of the house, moaning, despite Simon’s best efforts to clear the decks for theday. It’s only when the school bus wheezes up that I lose her.
    I suppose she’s got a thing about buses now.
    There’s one good side to school though: there aren’t any ghosts there. Simon sees to that. And anyway it’s so new that no one’s died there yet, despite the dodgy smells that hang around the canteen. So it’s just the living at school, though, yeah, some of the teachers are dead boring. Especially Mr Harris. History Harris is so deathly dull he turns kids into zombies.
    â€˜Today we shall discuss the Congress of Vienna and its long-term impact on Franco-German relations,’ drones the