Forensics Squad Unleashed

by Monique Polak

  “We’re aware of that,” Samantha says. “And Lloyd and I want to say we’re proud of you.”

  Lloyd wags his finger in the air. “Even though you shouldn’t have been out investigating on your own. You should have spoken to us, and we’d have contacted the police, or you could have gone to the police directly.”

  Samantha nods, but she does not look all that upset. In fact, this is the first time in five days that I have seen Samantha smile. “Lloyd’s right about that,” she says, “but we still want to say you did good.”

  Then Lloyd and Samantha do something unexpected. They clap. For us. Which feels pretty amazing.

  Nico clears his throat. “So can we get back to the cafeteria vandal—or are you two gonna keep clapping?”

  Samantha smiles again. Smiling suits her. “I told you—we’re getting to that. In fact, we have a special video presentation to mark the last morning of forensics camp. But before that, it’s time for you guys to present the results of your forensic investigations this week.”

  Mason stands up. “C’mon,” he says to Nathaniel. “You too. We’re partners.”

  Nathaniel sighs, but he stands up. For once he is not slouching.

  Mason starts to hum, then catches himself and stops. Public speaking makes him nervous, which is strange when you consider how comfortable he was talking to two dognappers last night. “Our handwriting analyses helped us rule out Jonah Cartwright as a suspect,” he says.

  “The spelling test proved inconclusive,” Nathaniel adds, and then they look at each other and sit back down.

  Samantha turns to Stacey and Nico. They stand up. The conference room is beginning to feel like a courtroom, and we are witnesses who are being called to testify. “You go first,” Stacey whispers.

  “No, you go,” Nico whispers back.

  Then they both start speaking at once. “Our footwear impressions indicated that three of the suspects were in the cafeteria kitchen—Mrs. Lu, Leo Tessier and Amelia Lester,” Nico is saying.

  “We did not find Jonah Cartwright’s footwear impressions,” Stacey says, though it is hard to hear her over Nico.

  “Fingerprint team?” Lloyd says to Muriel and me.

  Muriel and I stand up, and she does not ask if I want to go first. She just starts rattling off information. “We found fingerprints belonging to Mrs. Lu on the counter and freezer. Unfortunately, we were unable to get fingerprints from the mustard container. However, we were able to establish that there was mustard inside a coffee cup that was found next to the mustard container. We found two fingerprints on that coffee cup. One of those fingerprints belongs to Leo Tessier. The other one is Amelia Lester’s.”

  If I do not speak up, Muriel may not let me get a word in. So I add, “We were hoping to have a little more time this morning to gather some additional evidence.”

  “Additional evidence?” Samantha checks the time on her cell. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible. Because we’re expecting some guests for the screening of our video.”

  As if on cue, there is a knock on the conference-room door, and Mrs. Lu comes in with Jonah Cartwright, Leo Tessier and Amelia Lester.

  Mrs. Lu gives us a quick bow. “Good morning, forensics students.”

  Jonah Cartwright waves. Leo Tessier says, “Bonjour,” and Amelia Lester says, “Good morning. I hope none of you skipped breakfast. Many nutritionists believe breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” At first I think Amelia is being serious, but then she winks.

  “In France, we like to have ham with our breakfast,” Leo says, and I know he is trying to goad Amelia. This morning she doesn’t squabble with him, just rolls her eyes.

  Samantha and Lloyd are setting out extra chairs for our guests.

  “We were hoping our campers would be able to solve the case of the cafeteria vandal,” Lloyd tells the visitors, “but it appears that hasn’t happened.”

  “Don’t forget to mention that we helped solve a real case,” Nathaniel calls out.

  “I heard all about it from Samantha and Lloyd. I’m very impressed,” Leo Tessier says, and I can tell from the way the others look at us that they are impressed too.

  Samantha slides the DVD into the computer. It’s another homemade movie, like the one where the four suspects were interviewed.

  It is hard to tell where the first scene is set. It’s someplace dark, and whoever is filming is moving the camera around in a way that makes me dizzy.

  Now we are looking at the too-strong light from a streetlamp. And then, suddenly, we see the entrance to the Life Sciences Building.

  Someone is walking into the building. But because we see the person from behind, it is hard to know who it is.

  “That’s Jonah Cartwright,” Stacey calls out. “I can tell from how fast he walks and from his jean jacket.”

  When the person opens the door to the Life Sciences Building, he turns to face the camera. Stacey was right. It’s Jonah.

  “What’s he doing going into the building at night?” Nico asks.

  “Didn’t we rule him out as a suspect?” Mason wants to know.

  “Shhh,” Muriel tells them.

  Jonah is speaking into the camera. “I’m on my way to return a library book,” he says, holding a book up in the air so we can see it. The book is called The History of Student Protest. “There’s a drop box in the lobby.”

  The camera trails Jonah as he leaves the building.

  Now we see that Mrs. Lu is in the lobby. She has one of those buckets with wheels at the bottom and a mop attached to the side.

  “I look terrible,” Mrs. Lu says. “Like an old lady.”

  “She is an old lady,” Nico whispers. Muriel whacks her brother’s elbow.

  “Ow!” Nico groans. “Why are you always trying to hurt me?”

  “Because you’re an idiot,” she tells him.

  “Muriel, Nico, settle down, please,” Samantha says.

  On the video, Mrs. Lu is rolling her bucket down the hallway to the cafeteria. There are two shadowy figures in the distance, and they seem to be arguing—Leo Tessier and Amelia Lester.

  Samantha yawns. “Excuse me,” she says, but then she yawns again. Which sets off another chain reaction of yawning.

  Which is when I get an idea. “Excuse me,” I say as politely as I can. “Do you think maybe we could pause the DVD so I could go downstairs and get some coffee—for the adults?” My eyes meet Muriel’s for a second. She knows what I am up to.

  “To tell you the truth, I’d give my life for a coffee,” Amelia says.

  “An excellent idea.” Leo Tessier pronounces excellent the French way.

  Mrs. Lu shakes her head. “I don’t drink coffee. Green tea only.”

  Muriel and I exchange another look.

  “Um…” I take a breath. I need to make it sound like the question I am about to ask is no big deal. “How do you guys take your coffee?”

  “One sugar for me,” Samantha says.

  “Black,” Lloyd says.

  I look over at Leo and Amelia.

  “In France, people who really know their coffee—like moi—never use sugar.”

  Amelia rolls her eyes at her boss. “I’ll have three sugars,” she says. “Thank you very much.”

  “Thank you very much,” I say to her. “And by the way”—now I am looking at everyone sitting around the table—“we’ve just decided who our prime suspect is.”

  “We have?” Nico says.

  I turn back to Amelia. “You vandalized the cafeteria, didn’t you, Amelia Lester?”

  Amelia Lester puts her hands on her cheeks. “I, uh, don’t know what to say.” She looks over at Samantha and Lloyd.

  When she speaks, Samantha’s voice is perfectly lev
el. “There’s no need to say anything. What we need to do is watch the rest of the DVD—after Tabitha comes back with those coffees.”

  There is no lineup at the coffee shop when I get there. “Triple sugar?” the guy at the counter says when I give him the order. “Let me guess. That one’s for the assistant chef, right?”

  When I get back to the conference room, the others are passing around a giant bowl of popcorn. While I was gone, Lloyd remembered there was a bag of popcorn in the supply closet, and he microwaved it.

  I grab a handful of popcorn and settle in to watch the end of the DVD.

  On the screen, Mrs. Lu walks into the cafeteria kitchen. She wipes down the counters and mops the floors. Then she surveys the room, and we hear her talking to herself. “Nice and clean,” she says. “You do good work, Mrs. Lu.” Before she leaves, she runs one hand along the counter—as if she is checking to see whether it is dry.

  “That’s when she must have left her prints,” Muriel says.

  On her way out of the kitchen, Mrs. Lu runs into Leo and Amelia. They are each carrying a paper coffee cup. “What you two doing here? Cafeteria closed,” she tells them.

  “We often come in at night to get an early start. We’re trying out a new recipe. For vegetarian chili,” Amelia tells her, stressing the word vegetarian.

  “I prefer it with beef myself,” Leo mutters.

  “Floor may still be wet,” Mrs. Lu warns the pair before she disappears down the corridor with her rolling bucket.

  We watch as Amelia sets her coffee cup on the edge of the counter. Leo wants to put his cup down too, but he needs to push Amelia’s cup away to make room for his. As the two of them get to work, all we hear is the sound of their knives as they chop onions and green peppers.

  “Beef adds flavor to chili,” Leo says.

  Which is when the argument begins. Amelia lays her knife down on the counter. “Why are you so obsessed with meat? Don’t you see how many of our customers are vegetarian or vegan? Don’t you care about the planet?”

  “She’s right about the planet,” Stacey whispers.

  “How dare you speak to me like that!” Leo says to Amelia. “I am your boss.”

  “Not if I quit!” she tells him.

  “You cannot quit. What would I do without an assistant?”

  “I will quit,” she tells him. “Unless you add more vegetarian options to the menu.”

  “This is blackmail!” Leo shouts. “I am leaving here now. You can make your vegetarian chili without me—and without meat!”

  Leo grabs his coffee cup and storms out.

  At first Amelia just continues chopping. But then she puts down her knife again and looks into the camera. “I’ve had it,” she says.

  She uses a kitchen towel to open the freezer and then starts emptying its contents onto the floor. When the freezer is empty, she reaches into the fridge for the mustard container. She squeezes the container, but the opening is blocked. When she unblocks it with her fingers, a little wad of mustard flies up into the air and lands in her coffee cup. As she leaves her mustard message on the counter, we hear her say to herself, “Writing with a squeeze bottle sucks.”

  When Amelia tosses the mustard container into the garbage, she makes a noise that sounds like a battle cry. She tosses her coffee cup into the garbage too. Then, at the very last second, just as the DVD ends, she reaches under the deep fryer for the grease trap—and grins into the camera.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  There is pizza for lunch, and our visitors stay for some too. Lloyd and Samantha have ordered four jumbo pizzas—two vegetarian and two all-dressed. I keep expecting Leo and Amelia to get into another fight, but then I remember that all that conflict between them was just part of a performance. They may disagree when it comes to their philosophies of food, but they seem to get along fine in the real world.

  Camp ends early today. I hate saying goodbye, so instead I ask for permission to use the photocopier so I can make us each a copy of the list with our contact information.

  Lloyd shakes our hands. I figure Samantha will shake our hands too, but at the last second she seems to reconsider and gives us each a hug. And then they are off.

  The six of us linger a little longer in the lobby of the Life Sciences Building.

  The guy from building services waves when he sees us. “You are just the people I was looking for.”

  “We are?” Nico says.

  The man takes a white envelope out of his shirt pocket. “Someone dropped this off for you guys this morning.”

  He hands me the envelope. Inside is a letter—and a crisp one-hundred-dollar bill.

  I read the letter to the others.

  “I am writing to thank you from the bottom of my heart for rescuing my beloved Rexford. The police told me that the six of you have been attending a forensics camp at the University of Montreal. If I was still a kid, I’d go to a camp like that myself. You have made me very happy by finding Rexford for me. Please find enclosed the one-hundred-dollar reward that I promised. Sincerely yours, Ada Dell.”

  Muriel has already whipped out her cell phone and is dividing one hundred by six. “That’s sixteen dollars and sixty-six cents for each of us,” she says. “More or less.”

  Mason has a different idea. “Why don’t we donate the money instead?”

  Nico slaps his knee. “Hey, I just got a better idea—you can donate it to me!”

  “What if we donate it to a shelter for homeless teenagers?” Mason says.

  Even Nico has to admit that’s a good idea.

  “My mom will know which shelter needs it most,” I tell the others.

  Once that is settled, we head out of the building.

  In the distance, I can see an older couple with a small dog walking toward us. When the dog stops to poop, the man leans over to scoop it up with a plastic bag. You can see from the way the man moves that reaching down makes his joints ache. But then he reaches down again to pat the dog’s head.

  It is only when we get a little closer that I realize the dog is Willy, and the people are Nathaniel’s grandmother and her fiancé, Fred.

  Nathaniel is on the sidewalk next to me. When I look at him, I can tell he is watching the couple and the dog too. They are at the curb, and Fred takes Nathaniel’s grandmother’s arm and helps her back up to the sidewalk. She smiles up at him, and Willy barks. He has recognized Nathaniel.

  “Hey, Willy!” Nathaniel calls out. “Hey, Grandma.” Then he pauses a little longer and calls out, “Hey, Fred!”

  Nathaniel’s grandmother lets Willy off his leash, and the Pomeranian comes prancing over to us. If he was traumatized from being dognapped, he seems to have made a full recovery.

  “We were hoping we’d run into you,” Fred says. “The bakery called. Our wedding cake is ready. They made an extra cake with the same batter and frosting, and they invited us to come and sample it. There should be more than enough if all of you kids want to join us. What do you say?”

  Nathaniel is squatting on the ground. Willy is dancing on his hind legs again. “I say yes,” Nathaniel says slowly.

  “What flavor cake is it?” Mason asks.

  “Double chocolate with buttercream frosting,” Nathaniel’s grandmother says.

  The eight of us—nine, if you count Willy—head for the bakery together.

  Mason and I end up walking side by side. He gives me a nudge. I figure he wants to discuss double chocolate cake. But I figured wrong, because instead he says, “Hey, I’m sorry I didn’t do a good job of watching Roxie last night. It was my fault the dognappers got her.”

  “Apology accepted,” I tell him, reaching out to shake his hand. “Besides, everything worked out okay. But I just want to make one thing clear, Mason. Next summer, I don’t want to go to
cake camp or pottery camp or tennis camp or whatever weird camp our parents have planned. I want to go to the advanced-level forensics camp. And I think you should come too.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I could not have written this book without Rachel Rudolf, who told me about the forensics day camp at the University of Toronto, Mississauga campus. Rachel also spent several days with me at the camp in July 2014, answered many questions about forensics and read an early draft of this story. Thanks also to Tracy Rogers, director of the University of Toronto’s Forensic Science program, for letting me attend camp for a week, and to forensic-anthropology students and counselors Tori Berezowski and Danielle Stoewner for being smart and fun and putting up with my many questions. Special thanks to the kids I met at camp—for sharing their love of forensic science and for not minding having a curious, noisy adult around all week: Ben Allday, Isaiah Chidambaram, Lavinia Contreras, Harriet Dolenko, Michael D’Onofrio, Katherine Fay, Patrick Kuo, Monica Lamacchia, Sophie Mahan, Anthony Marchetta, Alexandra Markiewicz, Callum McDonell, Christian Palermo, Kyle Rakoczy, Delaney Ras, Jacob Russo, Megan Shih, Zoe Szabo, Mason Vaccari, Megan Wahl and Wan Yun Xue. Thanks also to my friend Viva Singer for her expertise about all things dog related and for letting me talk through another story with her. Finally, many, many thanks to the entire team at Orca, especially my editor and friend, Sarah Harvey, for her wise guidance.

  Forensics Squad Unleashed is Monique Polak’s nineteenth novel for young people. Monique is a two-time winner of the Quebec Writers’ Federation Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature. She has taught English and humanities at Marianopolis College in Montreal for thirty years. She is also an active freelance journalist whose work appears regularly in the Montreal Gazette and in Postmedia newspapers across the country. In 2014, Monique spent a week at the University of Toronto’s forensics camp, doing research for this novel. Monique lives in Montreal. For more information, visit www.moniquepolak.com.