Forensics Squad Unleashed (18 page)

“You mean
you
’
re
not making the list this time?” Nico teases her.

“We’re all making the list. It’s a team effort,” Stacey tells him.

I’m still wearing my dog-bone bracelet. I figure it’s good luck. Even if the dog bone has turned green from the chlorine in the pool last night.

I was up late, filling my parents in on the dognapping case. Mom was horrified. “When I think of all the things that could have gone wrong…” she said, hugging me, then hugging Roxie.

“I’m fine, Mom, and Roxie’s fine,” I said, but I could tell there was still something on Mom’s mind.

“Did it bring back a lot of memories for you?” she said. “Of that day?”

“You can just say
the day of the break-in
, Mom. I can handle—” I stopped myself in midsentence. I didn’t mean to snap. I didn’t want to be a fear biter anymore. Besides, the conversation gave me an opening to tell Mom something that had been on my mind lately.

“I should’ve come downstairs to help you,” I whispered.

Mom looked at me hard—as if she was seeing me for the first time. “You don’t mean that, Tabitha.”

“I do, I do mean it. You were calling for help—and I didn’t come.” I couldn’t look at her when I said the words.

That’s when Mom put her arms around me and pulled me close. “While it was happening, there was only one thing I kept praying for—that you wouldn’t leave your room,” she whispered into my hair. “Thank God you didn’t.”

“But I could’ve helped you.” I had to gulp to get the words out.

“You were only seven,” Dad said. “There wasn’t anything you could’ve done.”

“Are you sure?” I asked them.

“We’re sure,” they said in unison, and suddenly I felt lighter than I had in a long time.

Of course, there was still a lot more to tell them about that night. Dad pretended to be upset about what had happened with the dognappers, but I think he was secretly proud. “You should have told us where you were going,” he said. “But when I think about the courage it must have taken to follow the dognapper into that abandoned building, well, I don’t know if I could have done it. Forensics camp has done good things for you, Tab. I told your mother I’m seriously considering signing up for a night class in forensics accounting. You know what they say—even old dogs can learn new tricks.”

Roxie was resting at the foot of Mom and Dad’s bed, but her ear pricked up when Dad mentioned old dogs.

When I went to bed, I could not fall asleep. I kept replaying the night’s events in my mind. Sinking in that kidney-shaped pool. Walking into the abandoned building. Hearing Roxie’s whimper. Seb shattering the window. His bloody knee. Lloyd and Samantha showing up with Nathaniel’s dad.

After Nathaniel’s dad had finished bandaging Seb’s knee, he loaded Seb and Cal into the back of his cruiser and took them to the police station. Lloyd was going to meet them there. He told us when we got to camp the next morning that charges would be laid against the two boys. He explained to all of us that Seb was his brother. I appreciated that Lloyd was up front with us—it couldn’t have been easy for him to admit his brother was involved in the dognapping.

Lloyd also told us that Cal’s parents had been notified. They lived in Manitoba, but they were on their way
to Montreal. They had not seen or heard from their son in nearly a year.

“As you can imagine,” Lloyd told us, “I’m hoping Seb and Cal won’t get sent to juvie. I’ll go to court and speak on Seb’s behalf. He wants to turn his life around. He says he’d like to do some kind of work with street kids and their dogs.”

Nico raises his hand. “If you don’t mind me changing the subject for a minute here—what about the case of the cafeteria vandal? Are we ever gonna find out who dunnit?”

“Are you saying you haven’t been able to solve that case? That you guys are stumped?” Samantha asks.

“We’re not stumped!” Nathaniel says. “We just got a bit distracted.”

“We’re aware of that,” Samantha says. “And Lloyd and I want to say we’re proud of you.”

Lloyd wags his finger in the air. “Even though you shouldn’t have been out investigating on your own. You should have spoken to us, and we’d have contacted the police, or you could have gone to the police directly.”

Samantha nods, but she does not look all that upset. In fact, this is the first time in five days that I have seen Samantha smile. “Lloyd’s right about that,” she says, “but we still want to say you did good.”

Then Lloyd and Samantha do something unexpected. They clap. For us. Which feels pretty amazing.

Nico clears his throat. “So can we get back to the cafeteria vandal—or are you two gonna keep clapping?”

Samantha smiles again. Smiling suits her. “I told you—we’re getting to that. In fact, we have a special video
presentation to mark the last morning of forensics camp. But before that, it’s time for you guys to present the results of your forensic investigations this week.”

Mason stands up. “C’mon,” he says to Nathaniel. “You too. We’re partners.”

Nathaniel sighs, but he stands up. For once he is not slouching.

Mason starts to hum, then catches himself and stops. Public speaking makes him nervous, which is strange when you consider how comfortable he was talking to two dognappers last night. “Our handwriting analyses helped us rule out Jonah Cartwright as a suspect,” he says.

“The spelling test proved inconclusive,” Nathaniel adds, and then they look at each other and sit back down.

Samantha turns to Stacey and Nico. They stand up. The conference room is beginning to feel like a courtroom, and we are witnesses who are being called to testify. “You go first,” Stacey whispers.

“No, you go,” Nico whispers back.

Then they both start speaking at once. “Our footwear impressions indicated that three of the suspects were in the cafeteria kitchen—Mrs. Lu, Leo Tessier and Amelia Lester,” Nico is saying.

“We did not find Jonah Cartwright’s footwear impressions,” Stacey says, though it is hard to hear her over Nico.

“Fingerprint team?” Lloyd says to Muriel and me.

Muriel and I stand up, and she does not ask if I want to go first. She just starts rattling off information. “We found
fingerprints belonging to Mrs. Lu on the counter and freezer. Unfortunately, we were unable to get fingerprints from the mustard container. However, we were able to establish that there was mustard inside a coffee cup that was found next to the mustard container. We found two fingerprints on that coffee cup. One of those fingerprints belongs to Leo Tessier. The other one is Amelia Lester’s.”

If I do not speak up, Muriel may not let me get a word in. So I add, “We were hoping to have a little more time this morning to gather some additional evidence.”

“Additional evidence?” Samantha checks the time on her cell. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible. Because we’re expecting some guests for the screening of our video.”

As if on cue, there is a knock on the conference-room door, and Mrs. Lu comes in with Jonah Cartwright, Leo Tessier and Amelia Lester.

Mrs. Lu gives us a quick bow. “Good morning, forensics students.”

Jonah Cartwright waves. Leo Tessier says, “
Bonjour
,” and Amelia Lester says, “Good morning. I hope none of you skipped breakfast. Many nutritionists believe breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” At first I think Amelia is being serious, but then she winks.

“In France, we like to have ham with our breakfast,” Leo says, and I know he is trying to goad Amelia. This morning she doesn’t squabble with him, just rolls her eyes.

Samantha and Lloyd are setting out extra chairs for our guests.

“We were hoping our campers would be able to solve the case of the cafeteria vandal,” Lloyd tells the visitors, “but it appears that hasn’t happened.”

“Don’t forget to mention that we helped solve a real case,” Nathaniel calls out.

“I heard all about it from Samantha and Lloyd. I’m very impressed,” Leo Tessier says, and I can tell from the way the others look at us that they are impressed too.

Samantha slides the
DVD
into the computer. It’s another homemade movie, like the one where the four suspects were interviewed.

It is hard to tell where the first scene is set. It’s someplace dark, and whoever is filming is moving the camera around in a way that makes me dizzy.

Now we are looking at the too-strong light from a streetlamp. And then, suddenly, we see the entrance to the Life Sciences Building.

Someone is walking into the building. But because we see the person from behind, it is hard to know who it is.

“That’s Jonah Cartwright,” Stacey calls out. “I can tell from how fast he walks and from his jean jacket.”

When the person opens the door to the Life Sciences Building, he turns to face the camera. Stacey was right. It’s Jonah.

“What’s he doing going into the building at night?” Nico asks.

“Didn’t we rule him out as a suspect?” Mason wants to know.

“Shhh,” Muriel tells them.

Jonah is speaking into the camera. “I’m on my way to return a library book,” he says, holding a book up in the air so we can see it. The book is called
The History of Student Protest
. “There’s a drop box in the lobby.”

The camera trails Jonah as he leaves the building.

Now we see that Mrs. Lu is in the lobby. She has one of those buckets with wheels at the bottom and a mop attached to the side.

“I look terrible,” Mrs. Lu says. “Like an old lady.”

“She
is
an old lady,” Nico whispers. Muriel whacks her brother’s elbow.

“Ow!” Nico groans. “Why are you always trying to hurt me?”

“Because you’re an idiot,” she tells him.

“Muriel, Nico, settle down, please,” Samantha says.

On the video, Mrs. Lu is rolling her bucket down the hallway to the cafeteria. There are two shadowy figures in the distance, and they seem to be arguing—Leo Tessier and Amelia Lester.

Samantha yawns. “Excuse me,” she says, but then she yawns again. Which sets off another chain reaction of yawning.

Which is when I get an idea. “Excuse me,” I say as politely as I can. “Do you think maybe we could pause the
DVD
so I could go downstairs and get some coffee—for the adults?” My eyes meet Muriel’s for a second. She knows what I am up to.

“To tell you the truth, I’d give my life for a coffee,” Amelia says.

“An excellent idea.” Leo Tessier pronounces
excellent
the French way.

Mrs. Lu shakes her head. “I don’t drink coffee. Green tea only.”

Muriel and I exchange another look.

“Um…” I take a breath. I need to make it sound like the question I am about to ask is no big deal. “How do you guys take your coffee?”

“One sugar for me,” Samantha says.

“Black,” Lloyd says.

I look over at Leo and Amelia.

“In France, people who really know their coffee—like
moi
—never use sugar.”

Amelia rolls her eyes at her boss. “I’ll have three sugars,” she says. “Thank you very much.”

“Thank
you
very much,” I say to her. “And by the way”—now I am looking at everyone sitting around the table—“we’ve just decided who our prime suspect is.”

“We have?” Nico says.

I turn back to Amelia. “You vandalized the cafeteria, didn’t you, Amelia Lester?”

Amelia Lester puts her hands on her cheeks. “I, uh, don’t know what to say.” She looks over at Samantha and Lloyd.

When she speaks, Samantha’s voice is perfectly level. “There’s no need to say anything. What we need to do is watch the rest of the
DVD
—after Tabitha comes back with those coffees.”

There is no lineup at the coffee shop when I get there. “Triple sugar?” the guy at the counter says when I give him
the order. “Let me guess. That one’s for the assistant chef, right?”

When I get back to the conference room, the others are passing around a giant bowl of popcorn. While I was gone, Lloyd remembered there was a bag of popcorn in the supply closet, and he microwaved it.

I grab a handful of popcorn and settle in to watch the end of the
DVD
.

On the screen, Mrs. Lu walks into the cafeteria kitchen. She wipes down the counters and mops the floors. Then she surveys the room, and we hear her talking to herself. “Nice and clean,” she says. “You do good work, Mrs. Lu.” Before she leaves, she runs one hand along the counter—as if she is checking to see whether it is dry.

“That’s when she must have left her prints,” Muriel says.

On her way out of the kitchen, Mrs. Lu runs into Leo and Amelia. They are each carrying a paper coffee cup. “What you two doing here? Cafeteria closed,” she tells them.

“We often come in at night to get an early start. We’re trying out a new recipe. For vegetarian chili,” Amelia tells her, stressing the word
vegetarian
.

“I prefer it with beef myself,” Leo mutters.

“Floor may still be wet,” Mrs. Lu warns the pair before she disappears down the corridor with her rolling bucket.

We watch as Amelia sets her coffee cup on the edge of the counter. Leo wants to put his cup down too, but he needs to push Amelia’s cup away to make room for his. As the two of them get to work, all we hear is the sound of their knives as they chop onions and green peppers.

“Beef adds flavor to chili,” Leo says.

Which is when the argument begins. Amelia lays her knife down on the counter. “Why are you so obsessed with meat? Don’t you see how many of our customers are vegetarian or vegan? Don’t you care about the planet?”

“She’s right about the planet,” Stacey whispers.

“How dare you speak to me like that!” Leo says to Amelia. “I am your boss.”

“Not if I quit!” she tells him.

“You cannot quit. What would I do without an assistant?”

“I
will
quit,” she tells him. “Unless you add more vegetarian options to the menu.”

“This is blackmail!” Leo shouts. “I am leaving here now. You can make your vegetarian chili without me—and without meat!”

Leo grabs his coffee cup and storms out.

At first Amelia just continues chopping. But then she puts down her knife again and looks into the camera. “I’ve had it,” she says.