The Case of the Ruined Ram Read online

  As they ate, the members of Club CSI talked about football, ballet, black holes—anything but the case.

  They ate quickly, so they could get to the hallway with the old trophy cases in plenty of time to meet Stacey. Then they got up, carrying their empty trays to the rack. Ricky stood up too.

  Before Ricky could catch up with them, Ben whispered to Corey and Hannah, “We’ll go separately. See you there.” They nodded.

  When the three friends left the cafeteria, they went in three different directions. Ricky watched them go, frustrated.

  Hannah sat on the floor, leaning up against one of the wooden cases. The old sports trophies were stored near the end of a hallway that didn’t get much use anymore. The doors leading outside were locked.

  “How well do you know Stacey?” Hannah asked Corey.

  He cocked his head to the side and shrugged. “Not that well.”

  “Do you think she’ll come?” Ben asked.

  “Yeah,” Corey said.

  “How do you know?” Hannah asked. “You said you don’t know her that well.”

  “Everyone loves a mystery,” Corey said. “Especially girls.”

  Hannah tried to decide whether to argue with this. She didn’t like it when anyone made generalizations about what girls are supposed to like. But on the other hand, she did love mysteries.

  Stacey jogged up. “Hi,” she said a little breathlessly. “What’s all this about?”

  Corey explained that they were trying to win a contest in their forensic class by solving the mystery of who destroyed Rocky the Ram.

  “Oh yeah,” Stacey said. “I heard about Rocky. Horrible.”

  “Since you’re a mascot too,” Corey said, “we thought maybe you could answer a couple of our questions about what you do with your costume.”

  “Okay,” Stacey said. “Like what?”

  “Like what do you do with Bobby the Bobcat when you’re not at a game or a rally?” Ben asked. “Do you take the outfit to your house?”

  Stacey laughed. “No, the costume’s too big and heavy to carry around. And I don’t think my parents would appreciate having it in their house. Plus, my brothers might mess around with it. Anyway, I change in and out of the costume in the locker room at the gym. The costume stays in its own locker there.”

  “Do you think that’s what they do at the high school, too?” Hannah asked.

  Stacey shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably. It seems like the easiest thing to do. Those costumes are awkward. And heavy. And hot.”

  She noticed their puzzled faces. “So you’re thinking, ‘Then why do you do it?’”

  They nodded. That was exactly what they were thinking.

  Stacey grinned. “It’s still fun. And exciting. You get to be part of every game. And you’re part of a school tradition. Plus, it’s a tradition in my family too. My older sister was Bobby the Bobcat.”

  The bell rang. “Gotta go!” Stacey said. “Go, Bobcats!” She ran down the hall, full of energy, jumping and skipping.

  “No wonder she’s the mascot,” Hannah said, watching her go.

  Ben thought for a moment. “Since the costumes are kept in gym lockers, maybe after school we should go over to the high school gym.”

  “Should we meet up separately?” Corey said.

  Hannah smiled. “Not a bad idea.”

  At the end of the school day, Corey closed his locker and then spun the dial on the lock. As he headed outside, he looked around to see if Ricky or Charlie was following him. He was a little disappointed when he didn’t see them anywhere. He’d been looking forward to losing them. In fact, he’d spent a fair amount of his time in class that afternoon thinking about how he’d do it—ducking down alleys, hopping over fences, maybe even getting on a city bus and jumping off a block or two later.

  He quickly made his way to Woodlands High School. It wasn’t far—just a few blocks. It looked different during the day than it had at the rally Friday night. The building seemed bigger than he’d ever noticed before. A little intimidating.

  Corey found his way to the gym entrance. He didn’t have to wait long until first Hannah and then Ben joined him there.

  “Any sign of Ricky?” Corey asked. “Or Charlie?”

  “No,” Hannah said. “Maybe Ricky lost interest in the investigation already.”

  “I don’t know,” Corey said doubtfully. “He seemed pretty psyched about the VIP tickets to the football games.”

  “Speaking of football,” Ben said, “let’s find the coach.”

  They went in. Corey immediately smelled the familiar smell of a gym: a mix of sweat and the wax they put on the basketball floor to make it shine. There was also a little whiff of chlorine from the pool. He could hear the squeaks of gym shoes on the basketball floor. As an athlete, he felt at home and relaxed. Ben and Hannah felt more nervous.

  Inside, a student at a desk looked up from his textbook long enough to have them sign in. He pointed the way to the coach’s office and then went back to studying.

  Ben knocked on the door. “Come in!” bellowed a gruff voice. They opened the door and went in.

  The football coach, a thick-shouldered man with red hair, looked up from his desk. “Yes?” he asked in a hoarse voice that sounded as though he had yelled at a lot of players and referees.

  “Excuse us, coach,” Corey said. “We wondered if you could answer a couple of questions.”

  “If you’re looking to try out for the football team, you’re too late,” he said in a growl. “The season’s started.” Then he looked at them more closely. “Or maybe you’re way too early, since it looks like you’re not even in high school yet.”

  Corey wanted to make a good impression on the coach, since he planned on trying out for this team in a couple of years. “No, sir, we just wanted to ask a couple of questions about the mascot costume. We’re investigating its destruction for our forensic class.”

  “Oh,” the coach said. “Whoever did that to Rocky should be punished. That was a terrible act of vandalism. But listen, I’m busy right now. Talk to one of my assistants. They’re in the next office.”

  He went back to studying the papers on his desk. They looked as though they had football plays printed on them. Corey was dying to discuss plays with the coach, but just said “thanks” and backed out of the office.

  One of the assistants was happy to answer Club CSI’s questions. He even showed them the small side room where the costume was stored between games and rallies. “The costume’s a little big for a locker,” he explained, “so we keep it in here.”

  “Is the door usually locked?” Hannah asked.

  The assistant shook his head sadly. “No, at least it wasn’t before this happened. Now that’s going to have to change. It’s too bad. People are in and out of this room all the time getting equipment—balls, nets, all kinds of stuff. We never thought anyone would do anything to Rocky. Everybody loves Rocky.”

  “Almost everybody,” Ben pointed out. “Who had access to this room?”

  “Pretty much everyone who uses the gym,” the assistant answered. “And the gym’s open for more hours than the rest of the building, since teams practice here from early in the morning to late at night.”

  The three investigators looked discouraged. Then Hannah thought of something. “But we had to sign in when we entered the gym. That’s a little bit of security.”

  “Yeah, but it’s pretty minimal,” the assistant coach admitted. “If you wanted to come in here and vandalize something, it’d be pretty easy to sign someone else’s name.”

  “That’s true,” Ben agreed.

  “So in other words,” Corey said, “anyone could have burned Rocky.”

  “Not me,” said the assistant. “I love that ram.”

  Chapter 5

  Miss
Hodges scraped a wooden match along the side of a matchbox. The tip of the match burst into flame. The teacher held up the match for the class to see.

  “This,” she said, “is what we’re going to study today. Fire.”

  She blew the match out, ran it under a faucet, and threw it away. “Why might a crime scene investigator need to know about fire?” she asked.

  Ricky raised his hand. “To help him figure out who burned Rocky the Ram,” he said.

  “So he can score some VIP football tickets,” added one of his pals, getting a laugh from his friends. “And share them with his best buddies.” Another laugh.

  Miss Hodges smiled. “Yes, Ricky, that is one very specific reason why an investigator might need some knowledge of how fire works. Why else?”

  Kayla raised her hand. “A criminal might burn down a building or something.”

  “Good,” Miss Hodges said. “And what do we call it when a criminal burns something intentionally?”

  “Arson?” Hannah guessed.

  “Correct!” Miss Hodges said. She wrote the word on the dry-erase board. “In a suspected case of arson, forensic experts look for the answers to several questions. Did the fire start accidentally, or did someone set it on purpose? Where did the fire start? How did it start? And, of course, if it wasn’t an accident, who started it?”

  Looking slightly puzzled, Corey raised his hand.

  “Yes, Corey?” the teacher said.

  “In this case, we already know the answers to those questions,” he said. “The firefighters started the bonfire on purpose at the high school with matches. I was there. I saw them do it.”

  Other students murmured their agreement.

  Miss Hodges nodded. “Yes, that’s true in this particular case. But today we’re talking generally about investigating crime scenes that have involved a fire. We’re not just talking about Rocky the Ram.”

  She picked up her dry-erase marker again. “Let’s start with the basics. What do you need for a fire?”

  Ryan, one of Ricky’s friends in the back of the class, spoke up. “Matches, wood, and maybe some lighter fluid.”

  “Well, you’ve got the number right,” she said, tossing the marker in the air and then catching it. “You need three things. When it comes to fire, what is wood? Or coal? Or paper?”

  “Fuel,” Ben said.

  “Yes!” Miss Hodges said, writing it on the board. “Fuel! And when you touch a match to fuel, what is the match providing?”

  “A flame?” Jennifer volunteered. She didn’t sound sure of her answer.

  “What’s in that flame?” the teacher prodded. “Not cold, but . . .”

  “Heat!” Jennifer cried with certainty.

  “Exactly!” Miss Hodges said, writing “heat” on the board under “fuel.” “That’s two. And so there’s one more thing you need. What is it?”

  Ben was about to speak, but Charlie beat him to it. “Oxygen,” he said. “Fire can’t burn in a vacuum.”

  Everyone was amazed. Not that he got the answer right. Everyone knew he was smart. But that he’d answered the question out loud. Charlie never spoke unless he was called on. Was being partners with Ricky making him less shy?

  “That’s my partner!” Ricky said, grinning proudly.

  “Very good, Charlie,” Miss Hodges said as she wrote “oxygen” on the board. “So for a fire you need fuel, heat, and oxygen.”

  She went on to explain some of the heat sources (matches, candles, cigarettes) and fuels (wood, paper, rags) an arsonist might use. These were items to search for at a burned crime scene.

  She also told the class about accelerants—things that make a fire burn faster, like gasoline and kerosene. Sophisticated lab tests could detect traces of accelerants left at the scene of an arson.

  “Now let’s return to one of those questions I asked at the beginning of class,” she said. “Where did the fire start? How might a CSI go about answering that question?”

  “I’d search the burned building,” Ricky said.

  “Looking for what?” Miss Hodges asked.

  “The kinds of things you’ve been talking about,” he explained. “An empty gasoline can. A cigarette butt. A lighter.”

  The three friends in Club CSI were impressed. That was a pretty good answer. Maybe hanging out with Charlie was rubbing off on Ricky.

  “Good,” Miss Hodges said. “First you’d look for any obvious objects the arsonist might have used to start the fire. But some arsonists are clever. They don’t leave clues like that for you to find.”

  She explained that fire can leave burn trails on floors for the investigator to follow. Fire can flake wood, with smaller particles toward the hottest part of the fire. That can be a clue about where the fire started.

  Then Miss Hodges drew a V on the board. Since fire rises and spreads, she explained, it can burn a big V on a wall. “The bottom of the V points right to where the fire started,” she said.

  “Now,” she continued, turning away from the board, “let’s imagine someone’s committed arson here in the lab. I’ve placed a few clues around the room. Please break into your teams and then see what you can find.”

  There was a chaotic rush as the students found their teammates and started searching the room.

  “A match!” Jennifer squealed. “I found a burned match here on the floor!” Miss Hodges reminded her to carefully note where she’d found the match and to pick it up with tweezers and collect it in a plastic bag.

  By looking in the trash, Corey found an empty lighter fluid container. Ricky and Charlie found a small, dark V on the wall, hidden in a corner. The class agreed that the “fire” (if there had really been one) must have been started there with the match and the lighter fluid.

  “Very good!” Miss Hodges said, gesturing for the students to return to their seats. “You’re turning into real investigators!”

  Kayla raised her hand. “Miss Hodges, I have a question.”

  “Yes, Kayla?” the teacher said.

  “Why?” Kayla asked.

  Miss Hodges looked puzzled. “You mean why are you becoming good investigators? You’re learning more every day.”

  “No,” Kayla said, shaking her head. “I mean why would anyone commit arson? What does the criminal get out of it? Whatever someone burns is ruined, so it’s not worth anything.”

  The teacher smiled. “That’s an excellent question, Kayla. What do you think, class?”

  “Some weirdos just really love fire,” Ryan said. “They’re, like, obsessed with it.”

  “That’s true,” Miss Hodges said. She wrote “pyromania” on the board. “Some experts think it might give them a feeling of power to start a fire. Why else might an arsonist start a fire?”

  “Revenge?” Ricky said. “To get back at someone?”

  “Yes,” Miss Hodges said, writing “revenge” on the board.

  “Insurance fraud,” Corey suggested. He’d heard an uncle of his talking about a criminal burning down a building to get the insurance money.

  “Very good,” Miss Hodges said, writing “fraud” on the board. “Now I’m going to write down another word. Can anyone tell me what it means?”

  The class watched as she wrote “spoliation.”

  Everyone was stumped. Even Ben and Charlie.

  “Aha!” Miss Hodges said. “I’ve stumped you!”

  “Spoliation,” Ryan said from the back of the room, “is when you spoliate something. My sister exspoliates her face every night.”

  “I think you mean ‘exfoliates,’” Hannah said. “That’s when you scrub away the dead skin cells.”

  “It doesn’t help her face any,” Ryan said, getting a laugh from his friends.

  Miss Hodges rapped her knuckles next to the word “spoliation” on the board.
She said, “‘Spoliation,’ as the term is used by forensic scientists, means the destruction of evidence. And sometimes spoliation is a reason for arson.”

  “So the criminal starts a fire to burn up the evidence of some other crime he’s committed?” Hannah clarified.

  “That’s exactly right,” Miss Hodges confirmed.

  Ben raised his hand.

  “Yes, Ben?”

  “Is anyone thinking that’s what happened in the case of Rocky the Ram?” he asked.

  Miss Hodges cocked her head, thinking. “I doubt it,” she said. “This wasn’t a case of arson. The fire was set carefully and safely by professionals. The only crimes here seem to be the theft and the destruction of the costume.”

  “Maybe whoever stole the costume burned it to cover up the theft,” Corey said, thinking out loud.

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” Ricky protested. He pretended to be the thief and said, “Oh no! I’ve accidentally stolen Rocky the Ram! I’d better burn him up!” Several kids laughed.

  “I was just tossing out an idea,” Corey grumbled.

  “Yeah, I think that’s the right thing to do with that idea,” Ricky said. “Toss it out.”

  “We’re just about out of time,” Miss Hodges said. “Tonight I’d like you to read the section on fire forensics in your textbook. See if it gives you any ideas about the mascot case. I’d also recommend that you do a little research to see if any similar crimes have been committed in the past here in town. That’s one of the things a real CSI team would do at this stage.”

  The bell rang, and the students headed out of the lab. As they went, one of Ricky’s pals joked, “Maybe there’s a serial mascot-costume burner on the loose in Nevada!”

  His friends laughed, but Ricky didn’t. Ben suspected he and Charlie were going to do the research suggested by Miss Hodges.

  Well, they wouldn’t be the only ones. . . .

  Chapter 6

  After school, Ben, Hannah, and Corey headed to the public library. It was a windy, cool afternoon, so they were happy to go through the front doors into the warm, brightly lit building.