Robert spends the night waiting for Blue to appear and help him find another ghost for Boone, because he knows Boone will expect immediate results after the first capture. On Sunday morning, as the boys march to church under Crutcher's supervision, Blue finally appears beside Robert and Redbone in the field. Blue tells Robert to identify only one ghost, a man named Robicheaux who kneels at the altar every Sunday, and then orders Robert to use Haddock's spare key to steal every incriminating photograph from Haddock's drawer.

Robert enters the church already afraid, both of Boone's expectations and of Haddock preaching from the pulpit. He notices how polished and well-equipped the sanctuary is compared with his home church, hears Mrs. Hamilton play "Amazing Grace," and sees Boone dressed for worship but signaling that he is still watching Robert and carrying the leather pouch. While Haddock begins a sermon about trust, progress, and burying the past, Robert keeps searching for the ghost Blue promised.

During the sermon, Robert suddenly smells smoke and sees Robicheaux kneeling at the altar. The ghost is a burned white man in a groundskeeper's uniform, with smoke rising from his ruined scalp and clothes, and Redbone cannot see him. When Robert whispers Robicheaux's name, the ghost turns toward him, rises to a terrifying height, and vanishes from the altar just as Boone silently asks Robert where the ghost is.

Robert points Boone to the left side of the altar. Boone stands and sprinkles his ghost-catching powder there in the middle of Haddock's sermon. A moment later Robicheaux reappears at the back of the church and is violently dragged, screaming, down the aisle toward the trap. Robert watches the ghost claw at his pew before he is pulled loose, tumbles to the front, and disappears, leaving behind a spiral of ash near the altar.

Haddock sees the result and reacts with ecstatic triumph, shouting religious slogans and urging the congregation to reject the past and "rebuke evil spirits who dwell in history." Boone echoes him, and most of the church joins in, unaware of what Robert has actually seen. Robert is shaken and sits down trembling through the rest of the service. As announcements are read at the end, Robert hears that his name is on the list for Visiting Day at two o'clock.