Miss Hodges held up the little feather to the light in her office and turned it this way and that, examining it. “Well,” she said after a moment, “I’m not a feather expert. But I do know a few things about them.”

“Such as?” Hannah asked eagerly.

“To start with, birds have several different kinds of feathers,” she explained. “Two of the main types are tail feathers and wing feathers.”

“Makes sense,” Ben said.

“Within wing feathers, there are primary feathers and secondary feathers,” Miss Hodges went on. “The primary feathers are closer to the tip of the wing, and the secondary feathers are closer to the bird’s body.”

“Okay, you’re kind of starting to sound like a feather expert,” Corey said, looking suspicious.

Miss Hodges laughed. “Not at all! The world of feathers is big and complicated. There are, for example, all the different parts of the feather.”

“A feather looks like just one part to me,” Corey said. “If you put it together with the other parts—beak, claws, more feathers—you get a bird.”

“Look closely,” Miss Hodges said. She used her finger to separate the individual strands of the feather. “These strands are called barbs.”

She ran her finger along the center of the feather, toward the tip. “The barbs are attached to the shaft. The upper part of the shaft, toward the tip, is called the rachis.”

She pointed to the bottom of the feather. “And the other end of the shaft is called the calamus, or the quill.”

“Like a quill pen,” Ben said.

“Exactly!” Miss Hodges said. “Each side of the feather is called a vane.”

“Like a weather vane?” Hannah asked.

Miss Hodges nodded.

“Only this is a feather vane,” Corey said, smiling.

“Right,” Miss Hodges said. “All these features, and, of course, the colors, help a real feather expert identify what kind of a bird the feather came from.”

She handed the feather back to Hannah, who looked at it with new understanding. Miss Hodges turned to her computer.

“Let me show you a really neat website,” she said. “It’s from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. They have their own forensics lab to help solve crimes involving wildlife.”

“Like when a gang of raccoons knocks over a garbage can?” Corey asked.

“No, Corey,” Miss Hodges said patiently. “In these cases, the animals are the victims. The criminals are usually poachers and people trying to sell protected species.”

She clicked her mouse a couple of times. “Here we are,” she said. “This is the feather atlas. You can use it to identify feathers.”

“Perfect!” Hannah said.

Miss Hodges got up from her chair and motioned for Hannah to take her place. “It’s easy to use. Just click on ‘Identify Feather’ and go from there. I’ll be in the lab if you need me.”

Club CSI got down to work. They started by picking one of eight patterns that best matched their feather. Then they clicked on “orange,” since that was the feather’s main color. This gave them ten results, including woodpeckers, flickers, and thrushes.

But none of them really matched.

They tried some other combinations of pattern and color, but they just couldn’t find any feathers that looked exactly like their mystery feather.

“Frustrating,” Corey grumbled.

“The website says it doesn’t cover every kind of bird there is,” Ben pointed out. “They’re still adding more birds all the time.”

“Let’s tell Miss Hodges,” Hannah said. “Maybe she’ll have an idea.”

They went into the lab and found Miss Hodges grading papers. “No luck,” Ben said. “None of the birds matched our feather.”

“Hmm,” Miss Hodges said. “Well, since the website comes from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, it covers only wild birds. Maybe the feather isn’t from a wild bird.”

“You mean it’s from a pet bird?” Corey asked. “Like a parakeet?”

“Maybe,” Miss Hodges said. “Or some other kind of domesticated bird.”

“Like what?” Hannah asked.

“Well, think,” Miss Hodges said, always the teacher. “What kind of birds have we humans domesticated?”

Ben thought. “Chickens,” he said. “Turkeys. Maybe ducks.”

“Good!” Miss Hodges said. “Let me see that feather again, please.”

Hannah handed her the feather. As Miss Hodges studied it, she said, “As I look at the colors of this feather again, I’m wondering if maybe this might be a rooster feather.”

“Why would anyone have a rooster feather in Mrs. Ramirez’s classroom?” Corey wondered out loud.

“I’ve got an idea,” Hannah said. “Let’s do a quick Internet search on rooster feathers to see what comes up.”

“Good idea,” Miss Hodges said, nodding.

They hurried back into Miss Hodges’s office. Almost immediately, they found that rooster feathers are used to make flies for fly-fishing.

“Fly-fishing?” Corey said. “You know, Mike Crowley talks about fly-fishing all the time. Remember?”

“Yeah,” Ben said. “We were talking about him at lunch in the cafeteria.”

“All right! Let’s find Mike Crowley!” Hannah said, starting off without them. Ben and Corey hurried after her.

 

They spotted Mike by his locker. “Hey, Mike!” Corey called.

Mike turned to the three members of Club CSI running toward him. “Yeah?” he asked, having no idea what was going on.

“We just wondered if we could talk to you for a second about fly-fishing,” Ben asked.

Mike looked at the three of them, trying to figure out if they were kidding. He’d been talking so much about his new favorite activity that kids had started to tease him a little. “Really?” he said suspiciously.

“Yeah, really,” Hannah said. “We just were wondering about how you make your own flies.”

“Well,” Mike said. “It’s pretty hard. You need special equipment and tools, and you have to know how to tie these special knots. You need steady hands.”

“What kind of materials do you use?” Corey asked innocently. If Mike was the thief, Corey didn’t want to tip him off that they were on to him.

Mike set his backpack on the floor next to his locker. “There’s the hook. And different kinds of thread. And the hackles.”

Hannah looked puzzled. “What are hackles?”

“They’re feathers—little feathers that you tie onto the hook,” Mike explained. “I think they’re supposed to look like wings.”

The members of Club CSI exchanged a look. “Wow, I’ve never seen one of those,” Hannah said. “Could you show me one?”

“Sure,” Mike said. “I’d have to borrow one from my uncle, though. He’s the one who ties his own flies.”

Ben frowned. “You mean you’ve never tied one yourself?”

“No, it’s really hard,” Mike admitted. “He’s going to teach me.”

“Did you ever bring any of those feathers to school?” Corey asked.

“Nope, I never did,” Mike answered, surprised. “Why would I?” He looked and sounded as though he were telling the truth.

“No reason,” Corey said, disappointed. “Well, thanks.”

“Sure,” Mike said, confused. “I’ll ask my uncle if I can borrow one of his flies to bring in and show you. You can see what hackles are for yourselves.”

“That’s okay,” Hannah said. “I just thought maybe if you had one with you, I could look at it, but you don’t have to go to any trouble.”

“It’s no trouble,” Mike said with a friendly grin.

 

“Well, that was pretty much a complete waste of time,” Corey said quietly as they walked away.

“It really seemed as though he were telling the truth,” Ben said. “He never brought any rooster feathers to school.”

“And now I’m going to have to act interested when he brings a fishing lure to school to show me,” Hannah complained. “And I hate fishing. So gross.”

They walked on in silence, thinking. How did that feather get in Mrs. Ramirez’s desk? Had the thief dropped it?

“I keep thinking I’ve seen feathers somewhere recently,” Hannah said. Then she stopped right in her tracks. “Wait! I know where I saw feathers!”

“Where?” Corey asked. “On a pirate?”

Ben turned to Corey, baffled. “Pirate?”

“Yeah,” Corey said. “From the parrot on his shoulder.”

“You have an amazing brain,” Ben said.

“Thank you,” Corey said.

“I remember where I’ve been seeing feathers lately,” Hannah said, excited.

“Where?” Ben asked.

“In girls’ hair!”