Andi Under Pressure

by Amanda Flower

  “I’m still not living up to his Asian expectations of straight A’s.” She sighed.

  “You’re only half Asian,” Bethany said.

  “Yeah, but not according to my dad. He thinks my Vietnamese half should cancel out my Polish half.”

  Bergita whistled from her front porch. “Colin, your parents are here. They both got off early from the hospital. We are going to the steakhouse in town for dinner.”

  Colin’s face lit up. “I’ll see you later, Andi. We can talk about the case tomorrow.” Colin ran across the lawn.

  “But — ”

  He was gone before I could finish my argument. I knew Colin wanted to spend time with his parents, but we had a case to solve. We were so close.

  “The case?” Kaylee propped herself up on her elbows. “What did he mean by that?”

  Bethany grinned. “Andi and Colin think they are detectives. It’s a boyfriend/girlfriend thing.”

  “Just because you don’t have any friends in Killdeer doesn’t give you the right to punish me because I do.” I stomped past them into the house.

  “She is so sensitive sometimes,” Bethany said, but I heard the pain in her voice.

  If I were a better sister, I would have said I’m sorry, but I wasn’t.

  That night, Kaylee and Bethany bounced around my sister’s room to music. Every so often, one of them would burst out laughing. I crammed my pillow over the top of my head. It didn’t help.

  I dropped the pillow. Mr. Rochester, who was snoozing at my feet, lifted his head and blinked at me.

  “How can you sleep with all that noise?” I asked.

  The orange tabby yawned.

  Reaching under my bed, I pulled out the casebook. I flipped through the notes Colin and I had made over the last couple of days and turned to today’s events. Colin had recorded our conversation with Kip and the one we overheard between Dylan and Madison. In the margin he wrote, “Polk never showed up on campus on Thursday.”

  I let the casebook fall on my stomach. Where was Polk today? I hoped he was alright.

  I tapped the casebook with my pencil. Dr. Comfrey had to be the key to this case. I had to talk to her, and I knew in my gut Dylan and Madison were involved somehow too. I hated to think that Dylan pulled off any of the incidents. Madison, on the other hand, I could believe. Susan had said that Madison held a grudge. A grudge over what?

  I remembered the argument I overheard between Madison and the dean about the think tank. I pictured the display case outside of the chemistry lab with the three smiling faces: Madison, Fletcher, and Dylan. Fletcher was in Washington, DC. Madison and Dylan were here. I had to talk to Dr. Comfrey.

  I jumped out of bed and opened up my computer to email Colin. “Going to camp early to talk to Dr. C. You in?” I typed. I knew it was late, but I hoped he’d check his email before camp. If not, I would pound on his front door in the morning. Bergita always got up super early anyway.

  Three long minutes later, Colin emailed back, “I’m in.”

  “Meet me in driveway at 7:20.”

  “Ok.”

  Now I just had to wait until morning. I groaned. That would go much more quickly if I was able to get some sleep.

  Bethany and Kaylee shouted something, and I punched the mattress. That was it. My feet hit the blue and green rug Amelie had bought for my room. I needed to do something about Kaylee and my sister. How was I supposed to sleep with all this noise?

  Mr. Rochester followed me down the attic stairs.

  I placed my hand on my sister’s doorknob.

  “Mrs. Cragmeyer said that I could stay with her for the school year. Won’t that be awesome?” Bethany asked.

  I froze and listened.

  “Why would you want to do that?” Kaylee asked.

  “Why wouldn’t I? I can go to high school with you and all my friends.”

  Mr. Rochester butted his head against my leg and lowered his eyelids.

  “Don’t judge,” I whispered and listened harder, wanting to hear everything over the music.

  “I think your aunt is cool, and you get to start over in a brand new place. You can be whoever you want to be here. Everyone already knows me back home. I can’t change now.”

  “You don’t want me to go to school with you?” Bethany sounded hurt.

  “I do,” Kaylee said. “But you should think about what you are giving up here first.”

  “I don’t have anything here.”

  “You have Amelie. And what about Andi?”

  “She’s doesn’t want to hang out with me. She spends all her time with Colin, solving little mysteries.” She snorted.

  I stepped back in surprise. I didn’t think that Bethany wanted to hang out with me. I was the annoying little sister. I didn’t know that she saw me as anything else.

  “You could be nicer to her, and she would stay around more,” Kaylee said.

  “What do you know?”

  Kaylee sighed loudly. “I’m the oldest of five kids. I know how to keep the peace.”

  “It’s different with Andi and me.”

  “It should be better because you only have each other.”

  Because of the boy band music blaring on the other side of the door, I didn’t catch what Bethany said next.

  “Just think about it,” Kaylee said. “Don’t throw all this away to live with the Cragmeyers, whose house smells like cheese and mothballs, in case you didn’t notice.”

  “It does not!” Bethany squealed, and their conversation dissolved into giggles.

  I crept back up the attic steps to my room. Mr. Rochester was at my heels.

  CASE FILE NO. 23

  The next morning, I left a note for Amelie on the island in the kitchen that Colin and I were heading to camp early. My aunt wouldn’t be up for another half hour. Waking her to tell her I was leaving early was out of the question because I didn’t want her to ask me why.

  I grabbed two packs of cold Pop-Tarts from the box and was out the door. Colin was sitting on his bike in the middle of the driveway. I tossed him one of the Pop-Tarts.

  “Awesome. Strawberry is my favorite.” He ripped open the silver package.

  “How was your dinner with your parents last night?”

  “Great!” he said around a mouthful of Pop-Tart. “We went to that steakhouse downtown. The one with the plastic bullhead sticking out of the side of the building.”

  I nodded.

  “We ate dinner, and then afterward, Mom and Dad hung around the living room and we watched the Science Channel.”

  I smiled. “That’s great.”

  “I think Bergita gave them a lecture about spending time at home.”

  “That’s her job as your grandma.”

  Colin frowned. “I guess. I hope they weren’t guilted into it.”

  “They weren’t.” I crumbled my Pop-Tart wrapper into the front pocket of my backpack. “Let’s go. Dr. Comfrey should be in the lab by now.”

  Campus was quiet when Colin and I rolled our bikes through the front gate. There wasn’t even a sign of Kip. I would have thought he would be lurking on campus.

  We went straight into the science building and up to the second floor. Our footsteps echoed in the hallway. Light shone from the chemistry lab. Dr. Comfrey was there.

  I peeked inside the lab. The destroyed Bunsen burner and glass from the explosion two days ago was swept up. The only sign of anything wrong was the burn mark on Dr. Comfrey’s lab table. With the hand not in the sling, she scrubbed at the stain with a hard bristled brush, but it made no difference.

  The chemistry professor looked up from the stain. Her hair was pulled back from her face in a ponytail, which only made the white bandage on her cheek stand out more.

  “Andi, Colin, did you two stop by to help clean up the lab?”

  Colin nodded.

  “We were all too late to do it.” She dropped her scrub brush. “By the time I got here this morning, everything was done, except this stain which isn’t going anywhere, I’m
afraid. I hate that you came out so early for nothing.”

  “That’s okay,” Colin said.

  She sat at her desk and sighed at the mound of papers on it. “Look at this paperwork. You would not believe the amount of paperwork an incident like this creates.”

  “Does security and the police still think Polk is behind it?” I asked.

  “I’m afraid so. I can’t believe it myself.”

  Colin perched on one of the lab stools. “Who do you think tampered with the Bunsen burner?”

  She eyed us. “So they told you what happened, did they?”

  “Kip did,” Colin said.

  I sat on the edge of one of the lab stools. “Is someone upset with you?”

  “Me?” She picked up her pen. “Why would someone be upset with me?”

  “You were hurt in the explosion.”

  Dr. Comfrey stood up and walked to the first lab table. With her good hand, she opened the cupboard underneath and pulled out a box of sterile test tubes. “That is ridiculous. It’s farther fetched than Kip’s idea that Polk is behind all of this.” She set the box of test tubes that she was holding onto her desk.

  “Except for the crickets getting loose in Dr. Ruggles’s biology class,” I said, “everything that has happened has been directed at you. It makes me think that the crickets were just a coincidence or something to throw us off track. Is someone upset with you?” I asked again.

  She frowned. “I really don’t think I should be talking about this with either of you.”

  “What about Madison? Why is she mad at you?”

  “Why do you think she is?”

  “I overheard her complaining to Dean Cutter.”

  Dr. Comfrey pursed her lips. “You shouldn’t eavesdrop, and Madison has no reason to be upset with me. If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t have this job as a Discovery Camp counselor. I was the one who talked her into it.”

  Colin shifted on his stool. “What was she planning to do this summer instead?”

  Her brow wrinkled. “She desperately wanted to go to the Chemistry Think Tank in DC. The university could only send one student, so I recommended one of my seniors. I know Madison was disappointed, but I hoped that this camp would keep her mind off of it, and she would still be able to work in chemistry.” She paused. “True, being a camp counselor is probably not what she was hoping for when she planned for the summer, but it is still a good experience.”

  “Why didn’t you recommend Madison?” Colin asked. “Did the senior have higher test scores or grades?”

  She shook her head. “No. In fact, Madison is clearly the best student in the program. I chose the senior because he was a solid student as well, maybe not as naturally gifted as Madison, but someone who worked hard for his grades and studied harder. Also, he was a graduating senior and this was his last shot at the think tank. He wouldn’t be eligible next summer like Madison would. She’s only going into her senior year. She will have another opportunity to attend the think tank. I explained this all to Madison at the time. She’s a shoo-in for next year.”

  “I thought you said it was suspended for next year,” I said, remembering our earlier conversation.

  The chemistry professor sat behind her desk again. “Yes. That was unexpected. The college has sent students to the think tank for over a decade, but university enrollment is down for next year. Every department was asked to slash its budget. I had to take funding from the think tank. It would have the least impact on the most students.”

  I shivered. “Does Madison know?”

  She nodded. “I told her. I thought she had a right to know.”

  “When did you tell her?”

  “The Friday before camp.”

  “And then markers started disappearing from the lab, and a couple days after that, there was an explosion in the lab.” I pointed at her cheek.

  “One of my students would never do such a thing, especially not Madison. She is my best student.”

  “Would Madison know how to make a Bunsen burner malfunction?” Colin asked.

  “Of course she would, but so would anyone who could Google.”

  There was a scraping sound at the back of the lab, like someone pushed a stool aside.

  Dr. Comfrey stared at someone behind me. “Polk? What are you doing here? Are you all right?”

  I turned, and Polk looked terrible. There were bags under his eyes and his jowls seemed even longer than they had the day before. “Is it true? Did one of your students frame me for all of these misdeeds?”

  Colin mouthed to me “misdeeds?” It was an old-fashioned word.

  “Polk?” Dr. Comfrey said. “What are you doing here? The police and security are looking for you.”

  “I know.” He dropped his head. “I was here much earlier this morning and cleaned your lab. It was the least I could do. Now I am headed to my supervisor’s office to turn in my resignation. I can’t work here anymore. I need to leave.”

  “Where have you been?” Dr. Comfrey asked. “Where were you yesterday?”

  “I had to escape for a little bit. All of this has brought back so many terrible memories about Doug’s death.” His head snapped up. “Tell me the truth. Did your student do this?”

  Dr. Comfrey pursed her lips. “We can’t be sure.”

  I was sure. Madison had means and opportunity, and she had the best motive.

  Polk shook as if he was physically holding himself back — from what, I didn’t know. “I remember Doug’s death every single day. Do you think I want to relive it out in the open like this? Do you think I want to be asked about it by people on campus and in town? Will I be forced to live this nightmare twice?” He shuddered. “Meg, I am grateful to you for letting me pretend even for a moment that I was a chemist again, but I am not. I’m a janitor and that is all. Even that has been taken from me.” He marched out the door.

  Colin and I followed him.

  “Polk,” I said.

  He held up his hand. “A long time ago, one ambitious student ruined my life, and now, it has happened again.”

  Dr. Comfrey stood in the doorway of the chemistry lab. Her cell phone was to her ear. “Hi, Kip. It’s Meg Comfrey. Polk was just here in Colburn.”

  She held the phone away from her ear as Kip yelled into it.

  “He is not dangerous. I am only telling you because he’s upset, and I’m afraid he might hurt himself. He’s extremely upset.” She paused. “And you might want to talk to my student, Madison Houser. She might know something about the incident in the lab.”

  Colin and I shared a look and ran for the stairwell. We had to reach Polk before Kip did.

  When Colin and I burst out of the building, Polk was nowhere in sight.

  “How could he have disappeared so fast?” I asked.

  Colin glanced back at Colburn. “He could still be inside the building.”

  Curie’s howl broke the still quiet of the morning.

  “Where did that come from?” Colin asked. “It sounded far away.”

  The howl came again.

  “I think Curie is behind the cafeteria.”

  Colin and I ran across the green just as we saw Kip and two security guards stomping across campus.

  Kip pointed at us. “Matt, follow them.”

  “Colin, run faster!” I pulled on his arm.

  We followed Curie’s bays.

  “Hey,” the guard called. “Stop!”

  That wasn’t going to happen.

  We raced down the narrow alley between the cafeteria and library. Curie’s howling was deafening now. I skidded to a stop in the small loading area behind the cafeteria. The dumpster where I spied on Kip and Polk just days ago was to my right. Polk was in front of me in the middle of the parking lot, yelling at Dylan and Madison.

  A produce delivery truck blocked the only other way out. The two college students were trapped.

  Polk shook his right fist. The other he had buried into his side. “How could you do this to me? Do you think of anyone other
than yourself?”

  Dylan and Madison stood by the dumpster. Their faces were white.

  “I’m sorry. We never meant to hurt you or anyone,” Dylan said.

  Madison shoved him. “Shut up, Dylan. We didn’t do anything.”

  “I can’t keep lying like you can, Madison, I can’t.”

  She stepped away from him. “Fine. I can’t lie for you anymore either.” She pointed to Dylan. “He did it. He did it all.”

  Dylan’s mouth fell open. “How could you say that after everything I’ve done for you?”

  She snorted. “What have you done other than follow me around campus like a lovesick dog?”

  “Harsh,” Colin whispered.

  No kidding.

  “You asked me to steal those things, and when I refused to mess with the Bunsen burner on Dr. Comfrey’s lab table, you did it yourself,” Dylan said.

  Madison folded her arms. “That’s ridiculous. You’re trying to blame me? How dare you!”

  Matt, the young guard, doubled over to catch his breath when he rounded the building. Kip and the third guard were just a few steps behind. “What’s going on?” Kip demanded.

  Polk pointed at Dylan and Madison. “They are the ones that caused the explosion, not me.”

  Madison folded her arms. “Are you going to listen to a senile old man or me?”

  “Why should we listen to you, Madison?” I asked. “Because you are the best chemistry student?”

  Her eyes flashed. “I am the best chemistry student this campus has ever seen!”

  “And you deserved to go to the think tank this summer.”

  “Yes, I deserved to go! I earned it. Dr. Comfrey took that away from me. Another professor would see there are other, better ways to save money in the budget.”

  “So you stole items from her lab,” I said, “and when that didn’t get rid of Dr. Comfrey, you planned the explosion.”

  “She asked for it.” Her mouth fell open as she realized she’d just confessed. She pointed her finger at me. “I didn’t do anything. I see what you are doing. You are trying to trick me.”

  A tuft of black and white fur brushed against the side of the dumpster. I pulled on Colin’s arm. “It’s Big Mama skunk!”