The Case of the Ruined Ram Read online

  Officer Inverno nodded, thinking. Then he got an idea. “All right,” he said, standing up. “Leave the evidence with me. I think I’ve got a good idea about how to handle this.”

  The principal smiled, relieved. He shook the policeman’s hand. “Thanks,” he said. “I appreciate it. Sorry to saddle you with this smoky-smelling mess.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about that,” Officer Inverno replied, grinning. “I’m not keeping this bag in my office any longer than I have to.”

  Principal Inverno stared at the trash bag his brother had just dropped onto a chair in his office. “It smells like smoke,” Principal Inverno said. “I hope it doesn’t set off the fire alarms.” It was first thing Monday morning, and he really didn’t want to start his week at Woodlands Junior High School with a fire drill.

  Officer Inverno smiled. “It smells like smoke because it’s got a burned mascot costume in it. Rocky the Ram.”

  Principal Inverno looked confused. “I think you’ve mixed up your mascots, bro. The Rams are the high school team, not the junior high. We’re the Bobcats.”

  “I’m well aware of that,” the policeman said. “I was hoping maybe you could help me find the culprit.”

  Now the principal looked even more confused. “Me? Shouldn’t you handle this? Or if you’re too busy, maybe one of your fellow officers?”

  “We’re all too busy,” Officer Inverno said, sighing. “We’re swamped. With lots of cases that are more important than a burned mascot costume.”

  Principal Inverno fiddled with a pen. “Okay, but why bring it to me? Why not the principal of the high school? Principal Hall. It’s his mascot.”

  His brother smiled. “Because you’ve got a forensic class. I was thinking this little mystery would be the perfect project for Miss Hodges and her students. They’ve done a good job before with cases that originated here in your school.”

  “I believe it was Club CSI who solved those cases, not the whole class,” Principal Inverno said.

  “However you want to handle it, bro. You’re the principal,” Officer Inverno said as he left, grinning.

  Miss Hodges was preparing the day’s lesson in forensics when she thought she smelled something burning. Had someone lit one of the Bunsen burners in the lab? She hurried out of her tiny office into the classroom to find Principal Inverno holding a black trash bag in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.

  “Hello, Principal Inverno,” she said, a little puzzled. “Is that garbage for me?”

  He set the bag on the floor of the classroom. “It’s not garbage, though I’ll admit it does smell pretty bad. Smoky, anyway.”

  He explained about the burned mascot costume, and how his brother the policeman had brought it by, thinking maybe the mystery would make a good project for her class.

  “Now, I know you already have your lessons planned, so if you don’t want to do this, I’ll understand perfectly,” he concluded. “Actually, I’ll understand if you just don’t want this smelly mess in your classroom.”

  Miss Hodges smiled. “I think it’s a wonderful idea. It’ll fit perfectly with my upcoming lesson on the forensics of fire investigation. And the smell doesn’t bother me. Visiting crime labs and morgues, I’ve smelled much worse.”

  The principal was relieved. “I wasn’t sure whether you’d want this case to be handled by Club CSI or your whole class.”

  “Oh, I think it’ll make a terrific project for the whole class,” she said enthusiastically. “Thank you!”

  “No, I thank you,” Principal Inverno said as he left the classroom. “I’m very grateful to get Rocky the Ram out of my office.”

  Chapter 3

  Hannah, Ben, and Corey walked down the hallway at Woodlands Junior High School. They were on their way to their favorite class, forensic science. The teacher, Miss Hodges, was also the faculty advisor for their extracurricular organization, Club CSI. The club hadn’t had a case to work on for a while, so they were eager to take on something new.

  “How was the big football game?” Hannah asked. She didn’t really care much about sports, but she knew they were important to Corey.

  Corey winced. “Terrible. Didn’t you hear? We lost horribly to Jefferson. It was a slaughter.”

  “That’s good,” Ben said.

  “What?!” Corey asked, outraged. “How can that possibly be good? Are you a Vikings fan all of a sudden? Because that would be traitorous!”

  Ben laughed. “No, I meant maybe it’s good that the high school team is so bad. That way, when you get to high school, you can be the star of the team.”

  Corey looked confused. “Are you saying I could only be the star of a really bad team?”

  “I think he’s saying you could come in and turn the team around,” Hannah said, trying to help. “Change them from losers into winners.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s still a couple of years off,” Corey said. “A lot can happen in two years. In fact, the Rams might get better by the end of this season.”

  “You think so?” Ben asked.

  “Not really,” Corey said gloomily.

  “Was the mascot there?” Hannah asked.

  “No,” Corey said. “Rocky the Ram was nowhere to be seen. Some people think maybe he’s been kidnapped. Or defected to another team.”

  Ben laughed again. “So, he found another team that calls itself the Rams but doesn’t have a mascot?”

  “Maybe,” Corey said. He hadn’t really thought about how ridiculous this theory was. He was just repeating what he’d heard.

  “You know that the mascot isn’t real, right?” Hannah asked. “That it’s just a kid inside a costume?”

  “Mitchell,” Corey said.

  “What?” Hannah asked.

  “Mitchell,” Corey repeated. “That’s the name of the kid in the Rocky costume. At least, according to that other kid, Logan.”

  “Okay, what was the name of the retired art teacher?” Hannah quizzed him.

  “Mr. Powell,” Corey answered.

  Ben was impressed. “You may repeat a lot of wild theories, but you’ve got an excellent memory for names.”

  “Thank you, what’s-your-name,” Corey said as they went into the forensic classroom. Miss Hodges liked to call it the lab, and so did the members of Club CSI. “Lab” sounded so much more official than “classroom.”

  Ben stopped and made a face. “Ew,” he said. “What’s that smell?”

  “It smells kind of like the time I accidentally singed some of my hair with a straightener,” Hannah said, wrinkling her nose.

  Corey sniffed the air. “Maybe today we’re going to learn about the forensics of barbecuing. Which would be great, ’cause I’m starving.”

  Ben raised his eyebrows. “If that’s barbecue, I sure don’t want to taste it.”

  “Fine,” Corey said. “More for me.”

  “Based on the evidence,” Hannah said, “I don’t think much of your working theory.”

  “‘I don’t think much of your working theory,’” someone said mockingly. It was Ricky Collins, a big kid who acted tough all the time. His friends laughed.

  “Don’t you dorks ever stop playing detective?” he said with a sneer.

  Hannah wasn’t afraid of Ricky. “Maybe you’ve forgotten that this is a class in forensic science,” she said. “We’re supposed to be thinking about evidence and theories.”

  “Not me,” Ricky declared. “I’m thinking about girls.” He winked at Hannah.

  “Gross,” she said as she walked past him to Club CSI’s lab table.

  Another girl in class, Jennifer, told Hannah quietly, “Don’t mind Ricky. I think it’s really cool that you and Ben and Corey have solved actual crimes.”

  “So do I,” agreed another girl, Kayla. “Very cool.”

  �
��Thanks,” Hannah said, smiling gratefully.

  Ben noticed that Ricky overheard the girls’ compliments and looked like he was frowning. Could it be that Ricky Collins was . . . jealous?

  Miss Hodges walked briskly out of her tiny office into the classroom and wished her students a good morning. Once she had their attention, she made an announcement.

  “Principal Inverno has asked this class to take on a very special assignment,” she said. “Perhaps some of you have heard that the high school’s mascot costume, Rocky the Ram, went missing over the weekend.”

  “Not just the costume,” Corey volunteered. “Rocky wasn’t at the bonfire Friday night or the game on Saturday.”

  “Actually, as it turns out,” Miss Hodges continued, “Rocky was at the bonfire. In fact, he—or rather, the costume—was in the bonfire.”

  She lifted a black garbage bag and placed it onto the table in front of her. Then she opened the bag to let the class see the badly singed ram costume. A couple of kids gasped. Others said, “Ew!”

  “Someone burned Rocky?” Corey said. “That’s terrible!”

  “Mm,” Ricky said, licking his lips. “Lamb burgers.” His friends laughed.

  Miss Hodges frowned. “This isn’t a joke. It’s a serious act of vandalism—a real crime. And you’re going to investigate it.”

  Ben smiled proudly. He was sure Miss Hodges was asking Club CSI to undertake a thorough investigation. “No problem, Miss Hodges,” he said. “We’ll get on it right away.”

  Miss Hodges smiled too. “Thank you, Ben, but what I meant was that everyone in this class is going to investigate the destruction of the mascot costume.”

  Ben looked surprised. Some of the other students seemed a little uncertain. “All of us?” Jennifer asked.

  Miss Hodges nodded. “In groups. You’re going to break into teams of two or three to investigate the crime, as well as this note left at the scene.”

  As she held up the note, Hannah, Corey, and Ben exchanged quick looks. They definitely planned to work together as a team.

  “The members of the team who solve the crime will get extra credit,” the teacher continued. “And as an extra incentive, Principal Hall at the high school has added a prize for the winning team: VIP tickets to the rest of this season’s football games.”

  Some of the students didn’t seem at all interested in tickets to the high school football games. But several of the kids did perk up. They were very interested. Including Corey. And Ricky Collins, who also loved football.

  “So let’s start off,” Miss Hodges said, “by forming into teams of two or three. Go on—get in your teams.”

  The members of Club CSI were already sitting together, so it was simple for them to form a team. They were a little surprised to find themselves competing with all the other students in the forensic class. They’d gotten used to solving school crimes on their own.

  “My coach says competition is good,” Corey said. “It makes you a better player.”

  “Don’t tell me about competition,” Hannah said. “There’s nothing more competitive than ballet.”

  “Ballet?” Corey said in disbelief. “More competitive than professional sports? I don’t think so.”

  “There are a lot more professional sports teams than professional ballet companies,” Hannah argued. “The competition to become a professional ballet dancer is unbelievable.”

  “But pro sports—” Corey started to protest.

  “Okay, okay,” Ben said, holding up his hands. “Let’s not compete over whose activity is more competitive. Besides, science is way more competitive.”

  A couple of Ricky’s friends in the back of the class assumed he’d join them on a team. But to their surprise, Ricky walked over to Charlie, one of the smartest kids at Woodlands Junior High.

  “Wanna be a team?” Ricky asked gruffly.

  Charlie looked up at Ricky, surprised. He’d been too shy to approach any of the other students about forming a team. He didn’t know much about Ricky Collins. But he did know Ricky seemed like the kind of kid you didn’t say no to.

  “Okay,” Charlie said slowly. “Sure.”

  Ricky grinned. “All right!” He clapped Charlie on the back. “May the best team win! Our team! Ricky and . . . what’s your name again?”

  “Charlie.”

  “Ricky and Charlie! The winning team!”

  Once everyone had formed into teams, Miss Hodges brought the class back to order. Ben noticed she’d put the black garbage bag and the note back in her office. He raised his hand.

  “Yes, Ben?” Miss Hodges said.

  “May we examine the burned costume and the note?” he asked.

  Miss Hodges nodded. “Yes, in time. But not right away. First I want to teach you some of the basics of fire investigation. And I need to finish preparing that lesson, so it’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Principal Inverno only brought the costume to me this morning.”

  “So the contest doesn’t start until tomorrow?” Ricky asked.

  “Well,” she said, “an investigation actually starts the minute you hear about the case. You can start thinking about possible motives. Why would someone burn the Rocky costume?”

  “Because they hate sheep?” one of Ricky’s friends said from the back of the class. His friends laughed. But Ricky didn’t. He looked like he was concentrating.

  When the bell rang at the end of class, everyone jumped up to leave. They were all eager to start working on solving the mystery.

  Hannah, Ben, and Corey walked out together. “So what’s our first move?” Hannah asked.

  “Well, it seems really obvious to me who burned the mascot,” Corey said.

  “Who?” Ben asked.

  “The rival team,” he answered. “The Vikings. From Jefferson High School. I mean, that note practically said so.”

  “You could read that note from across the room?” Hannah asked.

  “I have excellent eyesight,” Corey said. “Plus, the writing was pretty big.”

  They headed down the hall toward the cafeteria. “I don’t know,” Ben said. “It seems a little early in the investigation for suspects. We need more facts.”

  “Such as?” Corey prompted.

  “How did the mascot costume end up on the bonfire?” Ben asked. “Where is it usually kept?”

  Corey was about to answer Ben when Hannah said, “Wait. I forgot something.” They stopped walking. Ricky Collins passed by.

  “What did you forget?” Ben asked as Ricky continued down the hall.

  “Nothing,” Hannah whispered. “But I noticed Ricky was walking right behind us, eavesdropping. He probably wants to hear what we’re going to do, and then he’ll try to do it first.”

  “Maybe we should let him overhear us saying we’re going to jump in Green Lake and then dive down to the bottom,” Corey suggested. “It’s pretty cold this time of year.”

  Ben and Hannah laughed. Then Corey lowered his voice.

  “I was just thinking,” he said. “I know the girl who wears the mascot costume for our school.”

  “Bobby the Bobcat?” Hannah asked.

  “Exactly,” Corey said. “Her name’s Stacey. Maybe she’ll know something about where they keep mascot costumes when they’re not using them.”

  “Good idea,” Ben said. “Just don’t tell Ricky you thought of it.”

  “He’ll be too busy diving to the bottom of Green Lake,” Corey said, laughing.

  Chapter 4

  The three members of Club CSI decided to look for Stacey at lunch.

  “That way,” Corey explained, “we know she’ll be in a good mood.”

  “Not everyone loves lunch as much as you do,” Hannah pointed out.

  “Really?” Corey asked, surprised. “That’s weird. What’s
not to love?”

  That was a good question. Woodlands Junior High had its own cafeteria run by Mrs. Collins, Ricky’s mom. She was an excellent cook, so the food served at lunchtime always tasted good. It was pretty much Corey’s favorite part of the school day. Except for maybe forensic science. And gym.

  The three friends filled their trays with food. Corey scanned the tables for Stacey.

  “There she is,” he said. “Follow me.”

  But when they reached Stacey’s table, all the seats were taken by other girls. They looked up at Corey, wondering what he wanted.

  “Hi, Stacey,” Corey said in his friendliest voice.

  “Hi, Corey,” Stacey replied. “What’s up?”

  Corey felt kind of stupid standing there with his tray full of food. Behind him, Ben and Hannah felt even stupider.

  “Well,” Corey said, “I was just wondering—”

  “Corey,” Ben interrupted.

  Corey looked around to see what Ben wanted. He saw Ricky approaching with a tray. He was looking around, pretending to be searching for a place to sit down. But there were lots of empty seats nearby. Ricky was eavesdropping again. And Charlie was right behind him.

  Corey turned back to Stacey. He lowered his voice. “Could you meet us by the old trophy cases at the end of lunch? It’s important.”

  Stacey looked puzzled. “Okay. I guess so.”

  Hannah leaned in. “And if Ricky Collins asks you what we talked about, just tell him I wanted to compliment your sweater. Which is really nice, by the way.”

  “Thank you,” Stacey said, looking even more confused.

  Corey raised his voice and spoke a little unnaturally. “Okay, Hannah, you’ve told her that her sweater is nice. Let’s eat our lunch now. I’m sure it will be delicious. Mrs. Collins is such a good cook.”

  He walked away briskly. Hannah smiled at Stacey and shrugged. Then she and Ben followed Corey to an empty table.

  A couple minutes later, Ricky and Charlie sat at a table close to them.