I need to refill my water bottle. There is a water fountain in front of the Life Sciences Building. Lloyd and Samantha are so busy talking they don’t even notice when I walk by. Aren’t forensic scientists supposed to be observant at all times?
“He doesn’t have a cell phone?” Samantha is saying to Lloyd. “I thought everyone had a cell phone. I saw a photo online of a Masai warrior in Kenya—even he had a cell phone.”
“Well, he doesn’t—and I’m pretty sure he’s back on the street. He comes home once in a while. He goes back to working at the vet’s and everything seems to be okay, but then he takes off again. It’s as if the streets have a hold on him, but I don’t think it’s drugs.”
Samantha sighs. “I’m sorry, Lloyd. It must be really hard for you and your parents.”
“It is. But it’s harder for Sebastian.”
So Lloyd’s brother is not dead. He lives on the streets. In a city as big as Montreal, I am used to seeing street people. I just never knew any personally or knew anyone else who did.
Lloyd looks down at the grass. When he looks up, he notices me. I hope he doesn’t realize I have overheard such a private conversation. “Everything okay? It looked like Nathaniel was getting a little worked up before.”
“We were just arguing about whether Mrs. Lu did it,” I say quickly.
Samantha pats Lloyd’s elbow. “I guess that means forensics camp is going well,” she tells him.
Lloyd raises his juice box into the air. “Here’s to everything going well.” I wonder if he is thinking about his brother.
When I get back from the water fountain, Muriel has already opened a new Gmail account and messaged the guy from Kijiji to say she is interested in buying a purebred Chihuahua. At first she was going to say she wanted a Pomeranian, but Nathaniel ruled that out. Nathaniel’s thinking was that if this guy was the dognapper, he might get suspicious if the dog Muriel wanted happened to be the last kind of dog that went missing. The dognapper might figure we were trying to set him up.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” Stacey is asking.
“That’s why Muriel created a new Gmail account.” Nico is playing pretend piano again. “Did the guy message you back yet?” he asks his sister.
Muriel checks her cell phone. “No new emails. All we can do now is sit tight.” She eyes Nico’s fingers. “I know that’s hard for you.”
Nathaniel stretches his arms when he stands up. “C’mon, you guys,” he says. “Let’s go figure out who vandalized the cafeteria. Unless you want to let Lloyd and Samantha solve the case for us.”
Because we have a lot of evidence to analyze, Lloyd and Samantha take us to the forensics laboratory. The lab is locked, probably because there is so much expensive equipment inside: microscopes, a gas chromatograph (a device that breaks down and identifies chemicals), and a machine that replicates DNA until you have a large enough amount to study.
There are three gleaming stainless-steel sinks for us to work at and a long counter where Nico and Stacey will be able to work on footwear impressions.
In a corner, a tall skeleton dangles from the ceiling. When the sunlight lands on it, the skeleton shimmers. If we were anywhere else, the skeleton would be a leftover Halloween decoration. But not here. Here, that thing could be real. The thought makes me get a little shivery. Why am I not surprised when Nathaniel walks right over to the skeleton and stands in front of it like he is mesmerized?
Mason helps Samantha lug a bag of plaster of Paris over to the counter. When that is done, he walks over to Nathaniel. “You okay, dude?” he asks. Mason never used to say dude. He must have picked it up from Nathaniel.
“D’you ever wonder what happens to people after they… you know—die?” Nathaniel asks Mason.
Mason pauses the way he does when he is looking for the right words. “I don’t know for sure, but if you ask me, there’s got to be more to us than this.” He runs his fingertip along one of the skeleton’s thin ribs.
“Sometimes it feels like my grandfather’s in the room,” Nathaniel says. “Not now. But other times. Not like a ghost or anything. Just…well…kind of present.”
Nico and Stacey are at one of the sinks, helping Samantha mix plaster powder with water. “We’re coming to get your footwear impressions!” Stacey’s voice echoes in the lab.
Muriel and I are at a workstation, dusting the coffee cup for prints. The surface is rounded, but Muriel is getting good at using the wand. She is not wasting much of the metallic powder. Between the sunlight streaming in through the windows and the overhead fluorescents, the lab is bright, making it easier for us to see two fingerprints emerge from the magnetic powder.
“We see something!” I call out, and when I wave everyone over, I bump into Muriel. The cup flies out of her hand, but luckily she catches it with her other hand. I hold my breath while she checks that the fingerprints are not spoiled.
Nico brings two tubs of sand over to us. “It’s me, Prince Charming,” he says. “Does one of you happen to be Cinderella? Because I’d like to see your shoes.”
I laugh, mostly because I’m relieved we didn’t lose those fingerprints.
“So did you ever read the version of the story where Prince Charming was a forensic scientist?” Nico asks.
Muriel and I each step into—and out of—the tubs of sand. Nico pours the plaster of Paris mixture over my footwear impression in the sand. The plaster casts need time to dry before we can see if the impressions came out clearly. Stacey and Nico have already got Nathaniel’s and Mason’s impressions. They still need Samantha’s and Lloyd’s—and also their own.
Mrs. Lu knocks at the lab door. “You wanted to see us?” she says to the counselors.
Leo Tessier is behind her. So is Amelia Lester, and now I see that Jonah Cartwright is there too. It feels weird to see all our suspects together, in person, like they have stepped out of the video the counselors showed us—which in a way they have.
“Thanks for coming,” Lloyd tells them. “As you know, we’ve already got your fingerprints on file. But now our footwear team would like to take your footwear impressions. And we’ll also need a handwriting sample.” Lloyd looks over at us. “Is there anything else you’d like to ask our visitors?”
Muriel’s hand flies up into the air, but then, just as quickly, she drops it down again.
“Muriel?” Lloyd says.
“Umm,” Muriel says, “would it be rude if we asked the visitors to leave for a minute?”
“Bah!” Mrs. Lu says. “I see more rude behavior than that in the cafeteria all the time.” She pulls Leo by the string on the back of his apron.
Amelia follows Leo. “I don’t understand why you’re so opposed to mushroom stew,” we hear her tell him.
Leo throws his hands up in the air. “Everyone knows that stew requires beef!” he mutters, without bothering to turn around and face Amelia.
Stacey nudges me. “See what I mean?” she whispers.
Jonah is the last of our suspects to leave the laboratory. “Those two aren’t much fun to be around,” he says, pointing with his chin at Leo and Amelia. “Let us know when you’re ready for us to come back,” he adds before he shuts the door behind him.
Lloyd sits down on a tall stool. “All right, Muriel. Tell us what you’re thinking.”
There is a spot of black powder on the tip of Muriel’s nose. “I think we should ask them each to do a short spelling test. And we should include the word meat—the kind you buy from a butcher.”
Now why didn’t I think of that?
It is proof that it takes a team to solve a crime.