The Case of the Mystery Meat Loaf Read online

  “Good for her,” Hannah said.

  “Good for her? These burgers?” Corey asked. “Doubtful. Tasty? Yes. Good for you? Not so much.” And with that, Corey took another big bite.

  Miss Hodges headed toward the food line and set her tray on the metal sliders. She peered at the food and frowned.

  The cafeteria chef and supervisor, Mrs. Collins, walked up to the other side of the counter. She had seen Miss Hodges frown at the food, and she wasn’t happy. She looked Miss Hodges up and down. “You must be a new teacher,” she said.

  Miss Hodges looked up and smiled. “That’s right. Miss Hodges. Forensic science.”

  Mrs. Collins looked unimpressed, but introduced herself anyway. “Mrs. Collins. I’m in charge of the cafeteria. What’ll you have?”

  “Well, um . . .” Miss Hodges stared at the burgers, hot dogs, and greasy fries.

  “What’s the matter?” Mrs. Collins asked.

  “Are there any options that are a little more . . . healthy?”

  Mrs. Collins looked offended. “This is all healthy.”

  “Do you have any food that isn’t made from red meat?” Miss Hodges asked hopefully.

  Mrs. Collins pointed to a container of french fries. “No red meat in these.”

  Ricky walked up and took the fries. “Thanks, Mom. Can I have another burger?” As his mother handed him a burger, he noticed Miss Hodges. “Oh, hello,” he said coolly. “This is my mom. She’s in charge of the cafeteria.”

  Ricky figured it wouldn’t hurt to let his teacher know his mom worked at the school. He popped a fry in his mouth and chewed it with his mouth open.

  “Is she one of your teachers, Ricky?” Mrs. Collins asked.

  “Yeah,” he said, still chewing. “Science.”

  Miss Hodges bit her lip, trying to think of what to say. She feared she had gotten off on the wrong foot with Mrs. Collins.

  “Have you decided what you’d like to eat, Miss Hodges?”

  Miss Hodges shook her head. “I don’t eat red meat. I guess I’ll just have to skip lunch today.”

  “Suit yourself,” replied Mrs. Collins.

  Miss Hodges turned to go but then turned back around to face Mrs. Collins. “To be honest, I’m concerned the students aren’t being offered a better variety of choices. It would be nice to have some healthier options available. . . .”

  Mrs. Collins looked insulted. “Look,” she said. “I take a lot of pride in the food I serve here at Woodlands Junior High. A lot of care goes into my food. It’s the same food I serve my own family.”

  “That’s right,” said Ricky defiantly. “Although, you know, she mixes it up. We won’t eat hamburgers or hot dogs at home tonight. Right, Mom? What are we having?”

  “Pork chops,” she answered. She folded her arms across her chest. “The kids all love the food I serve them. Every day has a theme. And burger day is very popular.”

  “I’m sure it is,” Miss Hodges said. “And I’m sure the food is very tasty, but that doesn’t make it healthy.”

  Mrs. Collins glared at her, and so did Ricky. A few students turned to stare. Sensing she wasn’t going to get anywhere with Mrs. Collins on this subject right then and there, Miss Hodges decided to drop it. “Nice to meet you,” she said. She turned and walked away without taking anything to eat.

  “Well!” fumed Mrs. Collins. “Who does she think she is? Her first day on the job, and she tries to tell me how to cook lunch! Which I’ve been doing perfectly well for sixteen years!”

  “Don’t worry about it, Mom,” Ricky said. “Something tells me Miss Hodges won’t last long at this school.” He took a big bite out of his burger.

  Back at their table, Ben, Hannah, and Corey watched Miss Hodges leave the cafeteria. “She didn’t get anything to eat,” Corey said, amazed. “What is she, a robot?”

  “I heard her ask why there isn’t anything healthy,” Hannah said. “She’s right about that.”

  “She may be right,” Ben said, “but she sure didn’t make friends with Mrs. Collins. In fact, I think she made an enemy.”

  As if to prove Ben’s point, Mrs. Collins was still scowling behind the counter, muttering angrily to herself. Then she stomped into the kitchen, slamming the door as she went.

  “What makes you think that?” Corey asked, winking.

  The next day in class Miss Hodges continued to explain the history of forensic science. “More than a century ago,” she began, “a French police officer observed that all criminals leave behind traces of themselves—fingerprints, hair, clothing fibers, tool marks, et cetera. They also take traces with them—paint flakes, carpet fibers, dirt, and so forth. This is called the Locard Exchange Principle.”

  Miss Hodges wrote “Locard Exchange Principle” on the board. A kid named Jacob raised his hand. “Yes, Jacob?” she asked.

  “Has your cousin in Las Vegas ever investigated a murder?”

  Miss Hodges looked mildly exasperated. “Yes, but right now we’re discussing the Locard Exchange Principle. Do you have a question about that?”

  “Um,” Jacob said, thinking. “Did your cousin ever use the Locard Exchange Principle when he was investigating a murder?”

  Several students laughed. Miss Hodges couldn’t help but smile. “Yes,” she said. “He certainly has. He uses it every time he investigates a murder.”

  “How?” Jacob asked eagerly. The other students leaned forward to hear the answer.

  Miss Hodges realized she was going to have to shift gears in her lesson plan. “All right,” she said. “Let’s set aside history, just for the moment, and imagine that there’s been a crime committed here.”

  “Where?” one girl asked nervously.

  “Here in this classroom.” Miss Hodges strolled over to the front corner of the room. “Let’s say that there’s been a murder committed right . . . here.” She pointed to a spot on the floor.

  “She’s right,” Ricky whispered loudly. “Last year, in that exact spot, I squashed a bug.”

  Miss Hodges gave Ricky a look. “I need everyone’s full attention. Now, who wants to be the body?”

  Corey’s hand shot up. He figured it’d be easy to just lie still and pretend to be dead, and maybe he’d get some kind of extra credit.

  Miss Hodges nodded to Corey. He got up and proudly walked to the front of the room. She had him lie down on the floor. He thought about twisting his leg into a weird position but then realized it’d be really uncomfortable.

  “Watch out for dead bugs,” Ricky said. A couple of his buddies laughed. “Who knows if they’ve washed the floor since last year!”

  Miss Hodges shot Ricky another stern look that silenced him. “All right. We have a dead body. What’s the first thing we do?”

  “Call the cops,” Corey said.

  “We seem to have a talking dead body,” Ben observed.

  “Calling the police is excellent,” Miss Hodges agreed, “but I meant as a crime scene investigator, what’s the first thing you do?”

  “Look for clues?” Hannah suggested.

  Miss Hodges shook her head. “Not yet. Before you examine the crime scene, you have to secure the crime scene. And why is that?”

  “Because otherwise it’ll get all messed up,” Jacob said.

  “According to the Locard Exchange Principle,” Ben added, “the murderer must have left traces behind. You don’t want other people leaving their traces behind too.”

  “That’s what I said!” Jacob protested.

  Miss Hodges smiled. “Excellent. You’re both right! That’s why the police put yellow caution tape around a crime scene and then try to control who has access to the secured area.”

  She looked around the room. “Hannah? Please come up and guard the crime scene.”

  Hannah grinned and got out of her seat. She walked to the front of the class and took a firm stance near Corey. She crossed her arms, hoping she looked official.

  “And now,” Miss Hodges said, “who would like to try their hand at investigati
ng the crime scene?” A forest of hands shot up. She scanned the room and picked Ben. He walked to the front, looking a little nervous.

  “Um, what do I do first?” he asked.

  “First,” Miss Hodges explained, “show your ID to the officer guarding the crime scene.”

  Ben took out his wallet and showed Hannah his cafeteria card. Hannah nodded. “Everything seems in order,” she said, motioning with her hand for Ben to go ahead.

  Ben stepped past Hannah and stood over Corey. Miss Hodges said, “The important thing is to keep your eyes open. You’re looking for anything unusual, out of the ordinary.”

  “Like that you can see the corpse breathing!” Ricky said. A few students laughed. Corey tried to keep as still as he possibly could.

  “It’s also important to document your investigation,” Miss Hodges added. “Ideally, you’d be photographing or even videotaping your search.”

  Hannah pulled out her phone. “I could take pictures with my phone,” she volunteered.

  “Good!” Miss Hodges said. Hannah started to take pictures of Ben, even though he was just standing there looking at Corey.

  “Get closer, Ben,” Miss Hodges suggested. Ben knelt down. “Do you see anything unusual on the victim?”

  Ben peered at Corey’s shirt. “Just some doughnut crumbs. But in Corey’s case, that’s not unusual.”

  Corey wanted to defend himself, to say he didn’t eat doughnuts every morning. But he also wanted to be a good corpse, so he just lay there.

  “Still,” Miss Hodges said, “food counts as trace evidence. That’s why you never eat at a crime scene.”

  As she spoke, she removed a toolbox from her desk drawer. She took out a pair of tweezers and a plastic bag. She also found a pair of rubber gloves and handed everything to Ben. “All right, Ben,” she said. “Put these gloves on and collect your evidence.”

  Holding the tweezers, Ben moved toward the crumbs on Corey’s chest. “You should probably pluck his nose hairs while you’re at it,” Ricky added. Just about every kid in the class laughed.

  “Ricky,” Miss Hodges said sternly, “I really can’t have you constantly disrupting the class. You are welcome to participate, but if you keep causing distractions and misbehaving, I will give you detention. Next time I have to say something, it won’t be just a warning, okay?”

  Ricky tried to act like this warning didn’t bother him at all, but the other kids could tell he was mad about being singled out.

  As Ben collected doughnut crumbs from Corey’s shirt, Miss Hodges explained the importance of carefully packaging and labeling the evidence. She also had the other students draw sketches of the crime scene, including the location of the body in the room.

  In what seemed like no time at all, the bell rang. As the students got up to leave, Miss Hodges said, “This was a good overview. But there are a lot more steps to a thorough investigation. Next time we’ll get into the specifics of different kinds of evidence and then discuss forming a theory of how the crime was committed.”

  The students filed out. Corey was still lying on the floor. “Um, Corey?” Miss Hodges said. “You can get up now.”

  Corey popped up. “How much extra credit do I get?”

  As Hannah and Ben left the science lab, they heard Ricky bragging to his friend that he’d have Miss Hodges “out the door by the end of the month.”

  “How are you gonna do that?” his friend asked.

  “Hey, when your mom works for the school, you can do anything you want!” Ricky said.

  Ben stepped up to Ricky. “What have you got against Miss Hodges, anyway?” he asked.

  Ricky stared at Ben and then stepped closer to him. “What have you got against minding your own business, dork?”

  Ben didn’t back down. “I think it is my business. I like forensic science, and I like Miss Hodges.”

  “Do you like your teeth?” Ricky asked. “’Cause I think you’re about to lose a couple of them.”

  Hannah got between Ricky and Ben. “Real mature, Ricky. Why don’t you grow up and stop being such a bully? You don’t scare me.”

  “Oh, like I’m going to fight a girl,” Ricky retorted, sneering.

  Corey hurried over to the group, still brushing crumbs off his shirt. “What’s going on?” He joined Ben and Hannah, facing Ricky.

  When Ricky saw Corey, he hesitated. Corey was a jock and was almost as tall as Ricky. He seemed like maybe he could handle himself in a fight.

  “Nothing,” Ricky spat. “Your dorky friends were just telling me how forensic science is the greatest class in the world and how much they love Miss Hodges and how they wish they could marry her.”

  “Very funny,” Hannah said. “So we like her class. So what?”

  “So nothing,” Ricky answered. “Except that you’re all huge geeks.”

  Ben bristled. He’d been called a geek before, and he didn’t care for it very much. “We are not geeks,” he said slowly and deliberately.

  “Just because we’re into criminal investigations, we’re geeks?” Hannah asked. Ricky nodded, grinning. Hannah looked at Ben, and she could see that Ricky’s taunting was really hurting his feelings.

  Hannah’s grandpa had once told her that the best way to deal with a bully was to take the wind out of his sails. At the time Hannah was confused by what that meant, but she suddenly knew exactly what her grandpa meant when he had told her that.

  “Oh yeah?” Hannah said, looking thoughtful. “Well, I’ll tell you just how geeky we are. We’re not just going to study forensics in class. Ben, Corey, and I are starting our own extracurricular activity called Club CSI!”

  Ben and Corey looked at Hannah and then each other, in surprise. They were starting a club? This was news to them.

  Ricky snorted. “A club? Lame.” He turned his back on them and started down the hall. “Have fun in your geek club, geeks!”

  Once Ricky was out of earshot, Corey turned to Hannah. “A geek club? I mean, a club? We’re starting a club?”

  Hannah shrugged. “I just wanted to take the wind out of his sails,” she said mysteriously.

  “Actually,” Corey said, “I think a CSI club could be very cool.”

  “So do I,” Ben agreed. “Hannah, you’re brilliant.”

  Hannah smiled, surprised and pleased. “All right! When should we hold our first meeting?”

  “What’s wrong with today?” Ben asked.

  “Nothing at all. This is an excellent day. And you know why?” Corey said.

  “Why?” Hannah asked.

  “Because it’s pizza day,” Corey said. “Let’s hit the cafeteria. I’m starving.”

  Hannah, Corey, and Ben wolfed down their pizzas so they’d have time for the first meeting of Club CSI before lunch period ended. But they weren’t sure where to meet. It had to be somewhere private, but they weren’t allowed to just wander into any room in the school.

  They settled on an empty hallway near the gym. It had display cases full of old trophies, so there weren’t any lockers, and no kids were around. The three friends plopped down on the floor near an exit that nobody ever used.

  “This is less than ideal,” Ben said, trying to get comfortable by leaning against his backpack. It was so jammed with books that it made a terrible pillow.

  “It’ll do for now,” Hannah said.

  “So what’s the name of our CSI club?” Corey asked.

  “How about that name I told Ricky?” Hannah suggested. “Club CSI.”

  Corey considered it. “It’s got ‘CSI’ in it. It says we’re a club. I like it.”

  “Okay, that’s settled then,” Ben said. “We’re Club CSI. Now, I was thinking—”

  “Who are the officers?” Corey asked.

  “Officers?”

  “Yeah, you can’t have a club without officers,” Corey said. “I nominate Hannah for president. After all, it was her idea.”

  Hannah smiled. “Well, thank you. But since there are only three of us, why don’t we start without offic
ers and see how it goes?”

  “I don’t know,” Corey said uncertainly. “I was going to nominate myself for vice president. But I guess we could try it your way.”

  Ben dug into his heavy backpack for a notebook and a pen. He turned to a fresh page and wrote “Club CSI, First Meeting. (No officers.)” Corey read over his shoulder.

  “So you’ve made yourself the secretary? I thought we weren’t going to have officers!” he protested.

  “I’m not the secretary,” Ben said. “I’m just making a few notes. In class Miss Hodges said it was important to document everything you do.”

  “But this isn’t an investigation,” Corey said. “It’s a meeting. You just love taking notes.”

  Hannah rolled her eyes and changed the subject. “So, what’s the purpose of Club CSI? Besides showing Ricky we’re not afraid to be enthusiastic about something that came out of a class.”

  The three of them thought. What was the purpose of this club?

  “Well . . . ,” Ben said slowly, “the purpose of most clubs is to get together for some kind of activity.”

  “And to enjoy some delicious refreshments,” added Corey. He pulled a Granny Smith apple out of his backpack and took a nice, crisp bite.

  “What kind of activities did you have in mind?” Hannah asked.

  “We could study what we learned in class. Maybe present reports to one another,” Ben suggested.

  Corey made a face. “Something wrong with your apple?” Ben asked.

  “No, with your suggestion,” Corey answered. “This is supposed to be a club, not a class.”

  All three sat there, pondering for a moment. Then Hannah spoke up.

  “It seems to me,” she said, “that a crime scene investigation club should investigate crimes.”

  Ben looked concerned. “I don’t think the police would like us snooping around crime scenes. Practically the first thing Miss Hodges taught us today was that you have to have proper identification to enter a secured crime scene.”

  “The first thing she taught us was something about exchanging your locker with the principal,” Corey said.