Wait,” Ben said to Hannah. “You’re saying you saw rooster feathers in some girl’s hair?”
“Like a nest?” Corey asked, completely baffled.
“Not in just one girl’s hair,” Hannah said. “In several girls’ hair. It’s a trend in hairstyling—feather extensions. I just read a magazine article about it last week at the doctor’s office.”
Hannah explained to the two boys, who were completely clueless about fashion, that some girls were tying feathers to their hair. Since reading that article, she’d noticed more than one girl at Woodlands Junior High with feathers in her hair. The feathers weren’t really obvious most of the time, because girls often got ones that matched their hair color. But some girls chose to get wild colors that stood out in bright streaks against their hair.
“I see,” Corey said. “Well, based on what Mike told us, they’d better be careful when they walk by streams and rivers. Trout might come jumping out to bite their hair.”
As they walked through the hallways, the three friends kept their eyes peeled for girls with feathers woven into their hair. It wasn’t long before they spotted a couple.
“Okay, I get it,” Ben said. “But just because these girls have feathers in their hair today doesn’t mean they had them back when our feather dropped into Mrs. Ramirez’s desk.”
“True,” Hannah said.
“How long can you leave the feathers in your hair?” Corey asked. “I mean, don’t you have to wash your hair?”
“The article said you can wash the feathers,” Hannah said. “Which makes sense. Birds do it all the time.”
“I guess you’re right,” Corey conceded.
“And the feathers can last more than a month,” she added.
Corey remembered one of the girls with feathers in her hair from his homeroom. “Her name is . . . um . . . let me think,” he said. “Starts with an A . . . Ava!”
“That’s funny,” Ben said.
“What’s funny about the name Ava?” Hannah asked.
“I think it comes from ‘avis,’” he said.
“The car rental company?” Corey said.
“No, the Latin word for ‘bird,’” Ben said. “Maybe that’s why she likes having feathers in her hair.”
“Or maybe she thinks it looks cool,” Hannah said, shrugging. “Come on. Let’s find out how long she’s had them.”
The three of them strolled casually over to Ava. “Hi, Ava,” Corey said. “How’s it going?”
Ava smiled. She knew Corey from homeroom. And she’d always thought he was cute.
“Good!” she said. “What’s up?”
“I love the feathers in your hair,” Hannah said.
“Oh, thanks!” Ava chirped. “I wasn’t sure which color to get at first, but then I really liked these.”
Hannah took one of the feathers in her hand. “This color’s great. It’s kind of like orange and brown.”
She gave Ben and Corey a quick look. Ava’s feathers were the same colors as the feather they’d found in Mrs. Ramirez’s desk.
“Can you wash your hair with those in it?” Corey asked.
Ava blushed. “Of course. Birds wash their feathers, you know.”
Ben smiled at Ava. “Could you excuse us for just a second, Ava?”
She looked puzzled. “Um, sure.”
Ben took Hannah and Corey by their arms and stepped a few steps away from Ava. “She’s not the thief,” he said in a low voice.
“But her feathers match the one in the desk,” Hannah argued.
“I know,” Ben said. “But I just remembered that we have her fingerprints. I checked them myself. They don’t match the Mystery Print. And those are the fingerprints we’re pretty sure belong to the thief, remember?”
Hannah nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. But we should still try to figure out whether the feather came from Ava.”
“Agreed,” Corey said, wanting to contribute something to this discussion.
“Sorry about that,” Ben said.
“That’s okay,” Ava said, still a little confused.
“Look,” Hannah said. “We’ll be honest with you. We’re investigating the missing hundred dollars.”
Ava looked nervous. “Well, I didn’t take it!” she insisted.
“We know,” Corey said. “But we found a feather in Mrs. Ramirez’s desk. Could it have come from your hair?”
“I don’t know,” Ava said. “Can I see it?”
“Sure,” Hannah said. She dug around in her backpack and came up with the plastic bag holding the feather. She opened the bag, took out the feather, and handed it to Ava.
Ava looked at the feather. Then she held it next to one of the feathers in her hair, comparing the colors. They were the same.
“It does look the same,” she admitted, handing it back to Hannah. “I guess it could have come from my hair.”
“Have you been by Mrs. Ramirez’s desk recently?” Ben asked.
Ava thought a minute. Then her face brightened. “Yeah,” she said. “I went up by her desk to turn in my magazine subscription money, just like everybody else. Maybe it fell off then.”
The three friends nodded. That made perfect sense.
Unfortunately, it didn’t get them any closer to catching the thief.
“Thanks, Ava,” Corey said. “You’ve been a big help.”
“I have?” she asked. “Great.” She stood there grinning at Corey, who smiled back awkwardly.
“Well,” he said, “we should probably get going. See you in homeroom.”
“See you.”
The members of Club CSI turned and started to walk away. But then Ava called to them.
“Oh, hey!” she said. “Can I have my feather back?”
Hannah looked at Ben and Corey. They nodded. The feather wasn’t really of any use to them now that they were pretty sure it didn’t come from the thief.
“Sure,” Hannah said, handing Ava the feather.
“Thanks,” Ava said. “And good luck with your investigation.”
“Thanks,” Ben said. “I think we’re going to need it.”