The Case of the Wilted Broccoli (7 page)

"But every week it comes in like this. The kids paid extra money for this stuff."

The driver walked over to Miss Berry's side.

"It does look a little funny."

Willow breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Miss Berry was in the clear. The food was coming into the school in this rotten state, so it definitely wasn't the fault of Miss Berry or the school kitchen.

This meant they'd have to pay another visit to Bannon Foods.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

E
LON
'
S
TEACHER
PASSED
around a paper handout.
 

"I'd like you all to read this poem composed by Bobby for last week's homework assignment."

There was a slight chuckle from the class, and Elon and Linden smiled at each other. They'd turned in the poem for Bobby.

"Now, looking at Bobby's work, I want to ask you, what's makes it a poem?"

Linden's hand shot up to answer "rhyming," but just then there was a knock at the door. It was Mr. Henry, the vice principal. "Elon, Linden, can I talk to you?"

Oh, snap. Linden and Elon glanced at each other and went to the door.

Mr. Henry closed the door, and they stood in the hallway looking at each other.

"Did Willow come to school today?"

Linden's eyes went big. It was fifteen minutes since school had started, and he hadn't seen Willow since she'd hidden under the kitchen counter. He glanced over at Elon, but Elon just shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"Yes, Mr. Henry," Elon said. "But she stopped to get some food."

"Maybe she's still in the cafeteria!" Linden said. "We'll go get her!"

Linden and Elon raced off, knowing their only chance was to get to the cafeteria before Mr. Henry and extract Willow from the kitchen. Miss Berry must still be there and would need distracting again.

"Come back," Mr. Henry called, but Linden and Elon put on extra speed, and ran so fast the posters in the hallway rattled with their passing.
 

They peeled into the cafeteria so hard their sneakers squeaked and skidded on the wax floor. They ran for the kitchen. They probably had less than a minute before Mr. Henry caught up.

"We're gonna be in so much trouble," Linden gasped.

"We're saving lives," Elon said as they slammed up against the kitchen doorway with an oof.

Miss Berry was nowhere to be seen.

"Willow?" Elon called.

"Help, I'm stuck under here. Hurry before Miss Berry comes back!"

They ran into the kitchen, found Willow still under the counter.
 

"I can't move. The space is too tight. Yank me out!"

They each grabbed an arm and pulled. After a moment, Willow dislodged, and they all flew backwards.

Willow stood on shaky legs.

"We gotta hurry, Mr. Henry is looking for you," Linden said. "We have to get back to class."

They ran out, Willow hobbling along behind on pins-and-needles feet. They met Mr. Henry in the hallway outside the cafeteria.

"What's going on?" Mr. Henry said.

"We found Willow," Elon said. "Just like we said we would. You're welcome, Mr. Henry." He moved to walk back to class.

"Not so fast. " Mr. Henry said. "Where were you?" he asked Willow.

Willow stared up at Mr. Henry. She didn't really want to say what she was doing until she had solid evidence so people would believe her. But lying to Mr. Henry would be wrong. "I was in the kitchen. Mr. Henry, kids keep getting sick. I think it's the school lunches that are making kids sick. I wanted to inspect the food."

Mr. Henry stared at Willow for a second. "You're friends with Atlanta, aren't you?"

Willow nodded.

"Is this about her going to the hospital?"

"Yes."

Mr. Henry turned to Linden and Elon. "You can go. I'll talk to your sister."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

W
ILLOW
SANK
GRATEFULLY
into a seat at the lunch table next to Atlanta, and hugged her.
 

"Where's my hug?" Basil asked.

Willow turned to Atlanta. "You're okay."

"Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You weren't available this weekend, again."

Atlanta said something under her breath, too quiet for Willow to hear.
 

"She was sick," Basil said. "Couldn't help with the science-fair project, again."

Willow couldn't help but notice the bitterness in Basil's voice. It didn't sound like kidding around anymore.

"Are you two okay?" Willow asked.

"I don't want to do this project by myself," Basil said, loud enough that people looked at them.

"And it was my idea, so of course I want to work on it," Atlanta said through clenched teeth. "How about you spend all weekend in bed, and I'll braid hair?
Excuse me
." Atlanta ran off to the bathroom.

Willow went with her.

"You're not really okay," Willow said.

Atlanta's eyes were red like she wanted to cry. "No, I'm tired of being sick. But tell me about this morning. I heard you went to the counselor's office."

"Yeah, Mr. Henry found out I was hiding in the cafeteria kitchen. I was watching the food delivery, to find out whether the food arrived bad, or got that way afterwards."

"And?"

"The food is bad when it gets here. So the problem is with Bannon Foods."

"No, no," Atlanta said. "What happened with Vice Principal Henry?"

"Oh. He and the counselor and I got together, and they made me talk about my feelings" --Willow rolled her eyes-- "and then they concluded I was just worried about you, and took pity on me, and I didn't get in any more trouble."

"Did they believe you about the food?"

"No," Willow said, "they ignored that part."

"It's like my dad says."
 

"What?"

"Just because you're paranoid," Atlanta said, "doesn't mean people aren't out to get you."

"What does that even mean?" Willow asked.

"I think it means that you can be scared of something and something might be real, or it might not, but just because you're scared doesn't tell you whether it's actually risky," said Atlanta. Then she changed the subject. "Why do your parents let you take the bus all over town?"

"My dad grew up in New York City," Willow said, "and kids there always took the buses and subways by themselves."

"Aren't you afraid? What if you get lost?"

"I'd stop someone and ask them for help."

"Aren't you afraid--"

"No," Willow said. "Google 'free range kids'. It's about this nine-year-old kid who wanted to see if he could get home on his own if his mom dropped him off in a strange part of town."

"What happened?"

"He got home. I think it's like you said. People get scared of kids going around by themselves, but it's safer than most people think."

On the way out of the bathroom, they ran into Elon and Linden. Willow explained what happened after they'd gotten her out of the kitchen.
 

"You know what this means?" Willow asked. "We're going to have to get up way earlier. We have to get to Bannon Foods to see who loads the truck, and whether the food is good or bad then."

"Why?" asked Atlanta at the same time that Elon and Linden said "No way!"

"Because if good food goes onto the truck," Willow said, "and bad food comes off, then we know it's the truck driver swapping out the food before he gets here. He could be selling the local food we've paid for, and then getting cheap food somewhere else, and keeping the profits."

"We already got up at five this morning!" Elon said. "We're not getting up earlier."

"How else are we going to learn if it's the driver?"

"Oh, man," Elon said. "We have to do it, don't we?"

"If we want to solve this mystery, we do."

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

L
INDEN
AND
B
OBBY
crested the sand dune and found a pirate ship washed up on the beach at Manzanita. The massive ship listed to one side in the sand, exposing the gaping hole where it had been struck by cannon fire, while part of the deck had burned, and the torn sails suggested it had been through the mother of all storms. But the Jolly Roger, the skull and crossbones flag used by all pirates good and evil, still hung in tatters from the mast.

There would be treasure in the ship! Linden took off running across the sand, followed close behind by Bobby. They drew their swords in case pirates were still aboard. They crossed through the hole in the hull and it grew dark inside, but even so, they could see the glint of gold in the gloom. The rattle of chains or maybe skeletons came from farther up in the ship and --
 

"Wake up! For the love of all that is good in the world, WAKE UP!"

Linden lashed out with arms and legs to fight the evil green octopus stalking him through the woods. He leaped over a downed tree with Bobby close behind. They had their knives out, but the small blades were little protection against the poisonous fangs of the --

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"

What the--where was he? He opened his eyes to stare into Willow's face.

"Oh, thank goodness," Willow said. "Why do you have to be so hard to wake up?"

"I was having this amazing dream," Linden said.

"There's no time for that. It's time to go back to Bannon Foods. Elon's already awake and dressed. Get ready and come downstairs."

Willow had gotten permission from their parents ahead of time. So this morning Linden found himself on the bus at five, a full three hours before he normally needed to be at school. He leaned against Willow, just for a moment, and the next thing he knew, Willow was shaking him awake again.

Still pitch-black out, they debarked a few blocks from Bannon Foods. The city was scary this early. They'd been here once before in daylight, but it was still mostly unknown, an industrial area of tall buildings, empty lots, and big trucks being loaded by people with harsh voices. He reached for Willow's hand, found her grasping for his. He looked across, saw that Elon was holding her other hand.

"Was this a good idea?" he said in a whisper.

"We told mom and dad we were visiting Bannon Foods to watch the truck loading. They were okay with it, so they must trust us to be able to handle the situation."

Linden nodded in the darkness full of strange sounds, but his heart thudded in his chest.

They passed the next-door property with the empty parking lot and warehouse set way back that Linden had mistaken for Bannon Foods on their first visit. Then they saw the Bannon Foods sign, lit by floodlights underneath.

They drew closer. The street was slightly elevated compared to the Bannon Foods parking lot, so they had a bird's-eye view of the warehouse. Every loading bay had a truck in it, and inside they could hear the roar of engines and backup alarms of many forklifts beeping. The warehouse had no windows, though, and they couldn't see a thing inside.

"We're going to have to wait for a truck to pull away, and then get into a position where we can see what's going on inside through the doorway."

"I have the license plate of Monday's delivery truck," Elon said, camera in one hand. "I got it while I was by the bike rack. Do you think they'll use the same truck?"

"The driver knew Miss Berry by her first name, and they were friendly," Willow said. "It must be the same driver every time."

"Then it's probably the same truck," Linden said.

Finally a truck pulled away, and they could see inside, but it was just a tiny sliver of the warehouse.

"Let's get closer," Elon said.
 

They left the chain-link fence by the street, and ran down the driveway into the lot, then snuck the last fifty feet.

"Wait," Elon said, taking a photo of the truck next to them. "This is it."

They stopped and stared. The truck's yellow paint was muted in the darkness.
 

"You sure?" Willow asked.

"Yes."

"Look!" Linden pointed up at the empty driver's cab, where they could see the silhouette of a doorway from the driver's cab into the cargo area. "If we get into the cab, we could see exactly what's being loaded, without going into the warehouse."

"Brilliant!" Willow gave him a quick hug. "Elon and I will go in, since he's got the camera. Can you keep lookout, Linden?"

Lookout? "What am I supposed to do?"

"Can you make a sound like a bird if you see someone coming?"

"Uh, no."

"Can you caw like a crow?"

"I don't think so."

"Can you bark like a dog?"

Linden thought for a moment and smiled. "Sure, I can do that."

Willow reached up for the handle on the truck, and gently pulled open the door. Elon climbed in and Willow followed, then they pulled the door mostly closed behind them, leaving it slightly ajar for a speedy escape.

Linden looked all around for a place to hide. He didn't want to be too close to a truck and accidentally get run over. But he had to see if someone was coming toward the cab where Willow and Elon were hiding. The edge of the building was one long loading dock, a ledge ten feet deep, with a door for each of the dozen trucks. He realized the ledge had an overhang of a few feet.
 

From under the overhang, he wouldn't be able to see anyone loading the truck, but he could see someone approaching the cab. And he'd be hidden from the workers above. He waited until the loading dock was clear, then scurried under the cover of darkness to the overhang. Squatting on his feet, he had a perfect view of the truck cab.

Overhead he heard the nonstop noise of loaders yelling to each other, radios squawking with instructions he didn't understand, and the ever-present movement of forklifts, their engines roaring and backup alarms beeping.

For all that, it was boring being the lookout. He'd gotten up too early, and he could feel himself growing sleepy again, even amid the background noise. His eyes drooped and closed once. He pinched himself awake. He had to keep the lookout.
 

There was a even louder grinding noise from above the platform, a continuous thunder that rattled the platform itself. He couldn't imagine what the noise was, so he risked a quick peek, and he realized it was one of the big metal doors coming down. He ducked back down into his hiding spot as a pair of boots approached.