When Max and her team arrived at Siobhan’s home in the Irish midlands, her younger brother, Séamus, was still sick in bed.

“So are a lot of other people who live outside of town like we do,” said Siobhan’s mother, Mrs. McKenna. “The Dowdalls, who are both quite old. The little Morton girls. The Rourkes, the Bannons, and the Muldoons. They all have someone down with stomach cramps or worse.”

“And they all live outside the town of Ballymahon?” asked Max.

“Aye, that they do.”

“And we all get our water from wells,” said Siobhan.

“Boom!” said Klaus. “That’s your problem, folks. You need to build a new water supply system. Maybe a dam. Aqueducts. Water purification facilities. We’ll need pipes. Lots and lots of water pipes.”

Mrs. McKenna raised her eyebrows. “Is this the sausage-loving boy you told me about?” she asked Siobhan.

“Aye.”

“Well, why don’t you come with me, lad? You ever try Winston’s Irish Style Bangers?”

“No, ma’am.”

Mrs. McKenna led Klaus toward the kitchen.

“Oh, they’re quite lovely, indeed. We’ll serve it up with onion stout gravy, mashed potatoes, and peas….”

“Thank you, Mam,” whispered Siobhan when Klaus was out of the room.

“We should definitely sample your well water, Siobhan,” said Tisa, the biochemist. “We’ll be looking for coliform bacteria, which, of course, are present in the feces of animals and humans.”

“Nice,” said Siobhan, sarcastically.

“Those bacteria don’t cause illness, but their presence in drinking water is an indication that the water is contaminated with sewage.” Tisa opened one of her rolling suitcases. “I brought along several bacteria testing kits. I never leave home without my chemistry set.”

“Where’s the well head?” asked Max.

“Around back,” said Siobhan. “Come on.”

Max followed Siobhan and Tisa out the back door and into the barnyard. The McKennas were potato farmers. Siobhan had four brothers and three sisters. Most of them were bustling around the homestead, doing chores, pitching in, making each other laugh.

“So these are the two lassies with brains even bigger than yours?” joked Siobhan’s father when he met them at the well head.

“Aye,” said Siobhan. “Da, meet Max and Tisa.”

“Thank you both for coming all this way to lend a hand,” said Mr. McKenna. “Now then, let’s open up this well and do some serious scientific research, eh? Of course, this part of the job needs a wee bit more brawn than brains. Aidan? Get over here and give your poor old Da a hand.”

While Mr. McKenna and Siobhan’s older brother Aidan wrenched open the well cap (with some help from another brother named Quinn), Max couldn’t help but feel happy.

And sad.

This was the kind of big family she’d always dreamed about belonging to. But she had no parents. No brothers or sisters. No one like Siobhan who was willing to drop everything and fly halfway around the world to get her help.

That’s why, even though she’d never admit it to her CMI friends, Max was secretly intrigued by the mysterious Dr. Zimm. When they met in the Congo, he’d told her: “I know who you are. I know where you came from! I know everything you’ve ever yearned to know!”

Was he telling the truth?

Hard to say. At the time, the creepy mad scientist had been trying to lure Max to climb up a swaying rope ladder into a hovering helicopter.

“Got it,” said Tisa, snapping Max out of her thoughts.

Tisa held a small capped vial filled with water the McKennas had siphoned up from the well pipe. “That’s all we need to run the test.”

“We should collect samples from the wells at any of the homes where there are people with similar gastrointestinal illnesses,” suggested Max.

“Too right,” said Mr. McKenna. “Come on. I’ll drive you about. Introduce you to the neighbors.”

“And bring your pipe wrench, Da,” said Siobhan. “We might need it.”

“You might need me, too,” said Aidan, with a wink. “Da’s not as strong as he used to be.”

“It’s true,” added Quinn, patting his belly. “He’s gone a bit soft….”

“I can still handle you lot!” said Mr. McKenna, with a hearty laugh.

And so, after a brief wrestling match, the three McKenna men joined Max, Tisa, and Siobhan as they set out to test water at six other wells.

By sundown, they’d gathered their samples.

By midnight, they knew what was causing all the trouble.