Colin took a swig of milk. “Why do you say he’s had a sad life?”
“Because it is true.” She stirred her tea. This time it was a Mickey Mouse mug. Bergita was partial to cartoon characters when it came to her dishes. I wondered if this was another trait she adopted to annoy her son and daughter-in-law. She blew on the hot liquid. “I don’t know the particulars, but something must have happened to him to give him that constant hangdog expression. He doesn’t look much different in the face from his beagle.”
Now that she mentioned it, Polk did resemble Curie a little.
“Did you ever ask him what was wrong?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I figured he would tell me if he wanted to. I wouldn’t say that we were particularly close, but we were neighborly, just like everyone in Killdeer is. But you rarely learn the deep dark secrets about your neighbors. That’s probably for the best. We have conversations is all. We chat when I see him out and about, but that doesn’t happen as often as it used to. He’s getting up there in age. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was pushing eighty.”
Colin took a big gulp of milk before he spoke. He swallowed. “Do you think Polk would steal from the chemistry lab?”
“My first thought would be ‘no,’ but I can’t say for sure. If a person is desperate enough, they will do some crazy things.”
“What kind of things?” I asked.
She shook her head as if she didn’t want to discuss it.
Colin eyed my half-eaten piece of cake. I pushed the plate toward him without a word. “Where does he live?” Colin asked.
She frowned. “I don’t know. I guess somewhere close to campus. There are a lot of apartment buildings and small houses for rent on that side of town for the university students.” Her brow knit together as if she were disappointed in herself for not knowing the answer to Colin’s question. “The bottom line is I know very little about Polk, other than he’s a janitor at Michael Pike and has been for decades. I wish I could tell you more.” She squinted at me. “I recognize that sparkle in your eye, Andi. You want to get to the bottom of this, don’t you? I won’t tell you not to because I know it won’t do any good. Just remember, Polk has had some hard times. Don’t push him too far.”
I wanted to ask Bergita what she meant by not pushing Polk. What would happen if we pushed him too far? And push him where?
But before I could ask any of the dozens of questions buzzing through my head, the back door opened and the Drs. Carter stepped into the kitchen. Both of them looked tired from an extra-long shift at the hospital. I stole a glance at Colin. His face brightened with the arrival of his parents, and he jumped out of his chair.
Colin’s father nodded at me. “Nice to see you, Andi.” He turned to Bergita, “Mom, we’re headed straight to bed. We both have early rounds.” He clapped Colin on the shoulder.
I blinked. I hadn’t noticed until they stood side by side how much Colin resembled his father, who was a handsome man in a studious sort of way. They had the same floppy brown hair, and the top of Colin’s head was level with his father’s nose. Hadn’t he been shorter at the beginning of the summer? I examined my cake plate.
“But I made upside-down pineapple cake. It’s your favorite.” Bergita stood and made a motion to cut them each a colossal piece of cake.
Colin’s father frowned and dropped his hand from his son’s shoulder. “You know we don’t eat refined sugars.”
Bergita set the knife on the table.
Colin’s mother said with a yawn. “Like Nate said, we both have early shifts tomorrow and then meetings into the evening. We might not even cross paths at all tomorrow.” She patted her son on his head as she followed her husband out of the room.
Colin watched them go.
I jumped out of my chair. “I’d better go home. The streetlights are on and Amelie is going to come looking for me.” I said goodnight to Bergita and Colin and left through the back door, taking the casebook with me. Colin didn’t even notice. His eyes were fixed on the doorway where his parents had disappeared, and I couldn’t stop thinking that Colin must be taller than I was now. For some weird reason, that bothered me.
It wasn’t until I changed into my pajamas for the night that I remembered the little piece of plastic I found in Colburn’s hallway. I set it in the middle of my desk. Mr. Rochester and I stared at it until we couldn’t keep our eyes open.
CASE FILE NO. 10
The next morning, I was in the kitchen eating Cheerios straight from the box, and Amelie was blinking at her iPad when Bethany flew into the room. “She’s coming!”
I dropped the box of Cheerios on the counter and o’s scattered over the granite surface.
“Who’s coming?” Amelie replaced the cover on her iPad.
“Kaylee!” she squealed. “I called her last night after you said that I could invite a friend over from back home. Her mom just said that she can come. They are meeting us at the mall in Canton today.”
Kaylee Vee was Bethany’s best friend. She’d lived down the street from us most of our lives, and she and Bethany had been inseparable since kindergarten.
Amelie folded her hands on the countertop. “Today? Bethany, I have meetings on campus all day. I can’t leave work early to pick up your friend. Canton is over an hour away.”
Bethany’s shoulders bent forward and the excitement drained from her face. “But you said I could have a friend over.”
Amelie licked her lips. “I know, but . . .”
I cleaned up the Cheerios from the counter. “I’d like to see Kaylee too,” I whispered.
Amelie turned to me.
I arched my eyebrows at her. Come on, Amelie, Bethany is happy, just go with it.
Amelie sighed. “Let me see what I can do. I can ask a colleague to cover for me, and maybe we can hang around the mall for a while and do some shopping. You can pick out a couple of things for back to school.”
“Really?” Bethany beamed. I hadn’t seen her this happy since the last Christmas with our parents.
Amelie’s broad mouth widened into a smile. “Yes.” She glanced at me. “What about you, Andi? Do you want to come with us too?”
“I can’t,” I said. “I have Discovery Camp. I’ll stay at Colin’s after camp until you guys get home. Bergita won’t mind.”
“You’re probably right, but I will give Bergita a call anyway.”
Bethany danced in place. “I’m going to call Kaylee back now!” She grabbed a granola bar off of the counter and ran out of the room.
Later that morning as Colin and I rode our bikes up the sidewalk toward Colburn Hall, a security guard in a golf cart zoomed by, swerving from the sidewalk onto the grass to avoid hitting us.
Colin hit the brakes and dropped his feet from his bicycle pedals. “Whoa!”
“Maybe someone stole a library book,” I said, thinking of my aunt’s books, which I still needed to return to the library, inside my backpack.
Colin laughed.
“Come on.” I pedaled after the golf cart. “We have a few minutes before camp starts. I need to drop off those books, and we might just find out where the security guard was headed.”
Colin followed me without arguing.
Unfortunately, I lost sight of the guard after less than a minute. I was about to head to the library when I spied Curie’s tail sticking out from around the corner of the dining hall. There was a narrow sidewalk between the dining hall and library.
I slowed and hopped off my bike, walking it through the narrow spot. Colin did the same a few feet behind me. We propped our bikes on the building’s stone wall.
Curie stuck her head around the corner of the dining hall. Her tail wagged a greeting before she returned her attention to whatever was around the corner.
I examined the two men at the far side of the building. “A security guard is talking to Polk.”
“Can you hear what they’re saying?” Colin whispered.
I shook my head. “Their voices are too low, and I’
m too far away. I need to get over there.”
Colin pulled on the back of my T-shirt. “You can’t do that. They’ll see you.”
I smoothed my T-shirt. “No, they won’t. See that dumpster over there?” I pointed to an enormous blue dumpster ten feet behind the two men. “I’ll run to it and hide behind it. Then I’ll be close enough to hear what they are saying. You stay here as the lookout.”
“Okay,” Colin sighed. “But that dumpster is going to stink.” He brushed his bangs off his glasses. “Just hurry up. We can’t be late for a second day in a row.”
“I’ll be fast,” I promised.
The security guard’s back was to me. He shook his meaty finger at Polk. The older man was half the guard’s size, but he wasn’t any less angry and pointed right back at the guard as he spoke. The two were so involved in the conversation I could have tap danced right by them and they wouldn’t have noticed me.
Without a backward glance at Curie and Colin, I dashed across the small parking lot behind the cafeteria and dove behind the dumpster. My elbow banged on the side of the dumpster. I clapped one hand over my mouth and the other over the sore spot on my arm. There was a small gash on my forearm, but it wasn’t bleeding that badly. Hopefully I wouldn’t need a tetanus shot.
“So, you’re telling me,” the security guard said between snaps of bubble gum, “you had nothing to do with the theft at Colburn last night.”
“Yes, Kip. That is what I am telling you. I left campus at seven and didn’t see anything strange.” Polk spoke slowly as if the security guard would understand better if he slowed his speech.
“We have you on camera going in and out of the building on other nights. Do you deny you’ve been inside the building long after hours.”
“No,” Polk said in a low gravelly voice. “But I wasn’t there last night. I’m sure your video camera tape will show that.”
He folded his arms. “Last night, the camera malfunctioned, or someone made it malfunction. What would you know about that?”
Polk held onto his side as if it helped him stand upright and didn’t reply.
Kip scowled. “What has sparked your sudden interest in Colburn?”
“What sudden interest? I’ve always checked in on that building. I work for maintenance. It’s my job.”
“Oh, I know that,” Kip said with a nod.
I glanced back at Colin. He was waving one arm wildly and holding his nose with the other.
What was going on? Was he having some kind of fit?
Colin pointed at the ground.
I looked around my feet and saw nothing. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the two arguing men.
Kip loomed over Polk. “If you are behind these incidents I will find out.”
A warm, furry body brushed against my leg. Had Curie come over to sit with me?
I scooted away from the dumpster to see if Curie was there. It was an animal all right, but it wasn’t the beagle. A small skunk wiggled out from under the dumpster. I froze. Now I knew what Colin was trying to tell me. Slowly, I turned my head to Colin. He was waving at me frantically to run over to him. I shook my head and the skunk toddled a few inches away, stopping to sniff the dumpster. The skunk seemed friendly for the moment. But I was afraid if I made a break for Colin, he would turn his tail on me, and that would be bad, very bad.
Kip and Polk continued to argue a few feet away. As Kip told Polk to stay away from the science building, I noticed the janitor’s eyes were focused on a spot behind me.
I looked back to the corner of the building where Colin and Curie were, just in time to see a lock of brown hair disappear around the corner. He saw Colin. I knew it.
The skunk waddled a few more steps away.
“Please leave,” I breathed. “Please.”
Kip grimaced. “What were you doing in Colburn after hours?”
“What do you think I was doing? I fixed stuff. It’s my job.”
“What stuff?”
“Anything that was broken. I don’t keep a list of everything I do throughout the day in my pocket.”
“What did you take from Colburn last night?” the guard’s voice was friendlier than before.
Polk wasn’t fooled by the other man’s trick question. “Nothing! Why would I take anything? And I’ve already told you three times that I wasn’t in that building last night.”
“Was anyone inside the chemistry lab when you went inside there?”
“I was never there,” Polk said through gritted teeth. “What need would I have for anything from a chemistry lab?”
“If you didn’t take it, how do you know about it?”
Polk’s face dissolved. “I don’t.”
The skunk moved a few more paces. Maybe I would be okay. Maybe the skunk would be happy with waddling about near the dumpster. That was fine with me as long as it didn’t point its behind in my direction.
Kip said something under his breath I didn’t catch.
“I. Wasn’t. There.” Polk dug his fingers into the sleeves of his shirt. He was still wearing the gloves. I had yet to see him without his gloves on. He had to be hot in that outfit. It was the end of summer, and the temperature was already eighty degrees and climbing. I was warm in my shorts and camp T-shirt.
I inched closer to them, still in a crouched position along the side of the dumpster. When I moved, the skunk looked at me. I froze again.
Polk stepped back from the security guard and braced his hands on his upper thighs for support. “You’re not going to put this on me.”
Kip scowled. “I know your history.”
Polk wobbled back and forth as if Kip had pushed him. “Your fa — ”
“Don’t even say it. You have no idea what I went through because of you.”
Polk’s wrinkles appeared deeper. “Not because of me.”
“Yes, because of you, and — ” The radio at Kip’s hip crackled. He ripped it from his belt. “This is Kip.”
He listened to the crackling and garbled words for a moment. “Ten four. I will be there in three.” He strapped the radio back onto his belt. “You had better not be lying to me.”
Polk said nothing.
The security guard marched to his golf cart and climbed in. My heart was in my throat as he started it up. If he came my way he would see Colin or me. Even worse, he might scare the skunk.
Kip revved the engine. I let out a breath when he made a tight turn and went the opposite direction from our hiding places. The skunk ran away at the noise. Thankfully, it didn’t spray as it went.
Polk gave a low whistle and Curie trotted over to him. “You kids can come out now,” Polk said. “The guard is gone.”
I shot a worried look back to Colin. He held up his arms and shrugged. “What do we do?” he mouthed.
That was a good question. I wished I knew the answer.
CASE FILE NO. 11
“Andi, you can come out too,” Polk said in his gravelly voice.
He had seen Colin, and he’d seen me too. So much for my clean run to the dumpster. Before I moved, I scanned the area to make double sure the skunk was gone.
I glanced back at where Colin was, but I couldn’t see him anymore around the corner of the dining hall.
“I know you are there. I saw both of you,” Polk said.
Colin’s head popped out around the building. “How did you see us?”
Polk frowned. “How could I miss you with you waving your arms about like a maniac.”
“There was a skunk by Andi.”
Thanks for giving me away, Colin.
“That would do it. If I saw a skunk, I’d be flailing too. Now, Andi, you come on out.”
I sighed and popped out from behind the dumpster.
Polk stood straighter. “Were you two spying on us?”
“Umm . . .” Colin said.
I winced.
Polk watched us with the same interest with which he had examined the parched grass yesterday morning.
“How do you know Dr.
Comfrey?” Colin blurted out.
I wanted to smack Colin on the backside of his head. Polk didn’t know we’d spied on him and Dr. Comfrey yesterday too, and he didn’t need to know that we had.
Polk didn’t seem surprised by the question though. “Meg is a professor here at the college.”
“Meg?” Colin asked.
He smiled and showed off two missing lower teeth. “Dr. Comfrey to you.” He frowned. “You two should hurry, you will be late for camp.”
Curie sat at her master’s feet.
I stuck my hand into my shorts pocket and removed the piece of plastic that I found the day before. I thrust it at Polk. “What’s this?”
The older man peered down at my hand. “Looks to me like a piece of plastic.”
Colin’s forehead creased. It was the first he had heard about the plastic.
“I know that,” I said. “But what is it from? Yesterday, I thought I was in the hallway alone on the third floor of Colburn until I heard someone drop something and run away. I think this was a part of whatever was dropped.”
He picked it up with his gloved fingertips. “I know what this is.”
“What?” Colin and I asked at the same time.
“It’s part of a mineral scale. This is the plastic slide that moves back and forth to balance the weight.”
Colin gasped. “Like the scale that was stolen.”
Polk nodded. “Exactly.” He dropped the piece back into my open palm. “You most likely heard the person who took the scale.”
“It wasn’t you,” I said.
He shook his head, “No. It wasn’t, but why do you think I am innocent?”
“Because you couldn’t have run away that quickly. I would have caught you.”
This brought a smile to Polk’s face. “You’re right. Now, you should both go on to class.”
“He’s right, Andi.” Colin pulled on my arm.
I shook him off. “If you didn’t take the scale, why does the security guard think you did?”
The older man frowned. “You will know soon enough. Now, go on. They will wonder where you are.”
Colin finally pulled me away from Polk and Curie. We raced back to our bikes. We didn’t say a word as we pedaled to the science building.
Andi Under Pressure Page 5