Case File 13 #2 (7 page)

“Metal detector?” Nick asked.

“Something a little more helpful,” Angelo said.

Dana raised an eyebrow.

“Make up your minds already. It's cold out here.” Tiffany rubbed her hands together.

“Not as cold as the bodies in there,” Angie said ominously. When it was clear none of them were backing out, she led the way through the double doors and down a green-tiled hallway. Angie pointed to a window covered from the inside by a curtain. “That's where they let people look in to identify the bodies.”

Past the window was a door with a round metal grate and a card reader beside it. Angie pushed the button and spoke into the grate. “Hey, Mom, it's us.”

Angelo reached into his bag and handed Nick the video camera. “Get as many shots as you can. You never can tell when we might need to splice in a good morgue shot. Especially if there's anything gruesome.”

“Who said you get to take pictures?” Angie asked.

“It's for the Building a Brighter Tomorrow contest,” Nick said.

Angie gave him a suspicious glare.

Nick wasn't sure what he'd expected Angie's mom to look like. Tall, with glittering eyes, a bloody apron, and a scalpel maybe. So he was surprised when the woman who opened the door was short with red hair and a warm smile. She wore a dark blue pantsuit and stylish glasses attached to a beaded chain. Mostly she looked like an older version of Angie, except without the attitude.

“Well, this is a surprise,” she said. “What are you kids doing here?”

“Don't you remember?” Angie said. “You told me you'd give us a tour for our career report?”

Dr. Hollingsworth ran her fingers distractedly through her hair, taking in the group. “When you said you had a homework assignment, I thought you were bringing Tiffany and Dana.”

Angie shot Nick a warning look. “Nick is very interested in a medical career. But if it's any trouble they can come back another time.”

Nick got the message. Angie hadn't told her mother the real reason they were at the hospital. He'd better keep his mouth shut about the fact that this wasn't exactly a school project or risk getting booted out.

“We're also filming for a school project,” Nick said, holding up the video camera. “Kids need to know how important doctors are to our future.”

Carter jumped into the role enthusiastically. “Doctors are the bomb. So do you really cut people open? Is it cool or totally gross?” He pointed to a row of square metal lockers set into the wall. “Is that where you put the bodies? What do you do with the guts?”

Dr. Hollingsworth chuckled uncomfortably as though not quite sure how to respond. Carter tended to have that effect on adults.

“I'm sure as a pathologist you do a lot more than autopsies,” Dana said.

Angie's mom relaxed visibly. “As a matter of fact I do. If you want to follow me, I'll show you the laboratory where I examine biopsies and test tissue samples.”

What do you do with the guts?
Tiffany mouthed silently as the kids followed Dr. Hollingsworth. Carter held out his hands palms up.

Angelo, who was fiddling with the dials on his box again, whispered to Nick, “Keep her occupied with the camera. I want to check something,” before disappearing back into the morgue.

For the next thirty minutes, the doctor pointed out microscopes, test tubes, and a bunch of equipment Nick was sure his science teacher would go gaga over. Nick had hoped for something a little more shocking to put in their movie. He suspected she was purposefully avoiding certain parts of her job. Halfway through the tour Angelo slipped back in with the group.

“Did you find anything?” Dana whispered.

“Maybe,” Angelo whispered back, mysteriously. “I won't know for sure until we get outside.”

“That was really interesting, Mom,” Angie said, when they finished the tour. She waved her hand behind her back in a
come-on
gesture, and the other kids quickly joined in.

“Yeah.”

“It was great. Kids will be so inspired.”

“Thanks for the tour. I bet we'll get an A.”

“I was especially fascinated by the cytometer,” Angelo said. Personally Nick thought that was a little over the top. But Dr. Hollingsworth seemed pleased, and knowing Angelo, it might be true.

Angie ran a hand across her mother's desk, and shifted around a stack of paper clips. “So, is it, um, true that a pair of bodies really disappeared last night?”

The doctor's eyes immediately went from kind to suspicious. Nick quickly turned off the camera. “Where did you hear that?” Dr. Hollingsworth demanded.

Angie shrugged. “Oh, just around.”

The skin across the doctor's forehead tightened. “Well, I don't know who's saying what. There
may
have been a slipup in paperwork by an assistant who is no longer employed here. But I can tell you for a fact that no bodies
disappear
from this morgue.”

“Is it possible someone snuck in?” Nick asked.

Angie's mother pointed to the entry door. “Did you see the card reader out there?”

Nick nodded.

“No one comes in or out without scanning their I.D. I've been chief pathologist here for nearly ten years. And not once during that time has a body gone missing under my watch.” It was clear the tour had taken a direction she wasn't happy with.

“Well, thanks for the information,” Nick said. “This will make an awesome report.”

“If I ever die, I hope you're the one who cuts me open,” Carter said.

Dr. Hollingsworth noticed Angelo's notebook. “I can assume you won't be putting anything about missing bodies in your report?”

“Absolutely not.” Angelo tucked his notebook quickly away in his pack. “I'm going to write about what an amazing service pathologists provide to the community and how honored I would be to follow in your footsteps.”

The doctor bit her lower lip. “Yes, well, it's time for all of you to be getting home. You've got reports to write.”

“Sure.” Angie gave her mom a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I'll see you in the morning, Mom.”

As the kids filed out into the hallway, Nick inspected the door more closely. The lock looked solid and he couldn't think of any way someone could trick the card reader. “Maybe it really was just a paperwork mistake,” he said when they were back outside. “It might not have anything to do with the cemetery at all.”

“My mom wouldn't lie,” Angie said, daring anyone to disagree with her.

“I'm sure she believes it was a clerical error,” Angelo said. “But someone took one or more bodies through this door recently. And from what I can tell the corpses were at least a couple of days old.”

Nick stared at his friend. He knew Angelo was smart, but this was too much.

“There's no possible way you could know that,” Dana said.

“
I
couldn't. But
this
can.” Angelo held up the metal box. Looking at it more closely, Nick could see a dial going from one to one hundred. Two knobs beside it were labeled
BASE
and
SENSITIVITY
. At the top of the box was a red light, and underneath it was a kind of funnel-looking thing with a tiny fan inside.

“Let me guess,” Carter said. “It's a Super Deluxe Automatic Body Finder. As seen on TV.”

“You are so lame,” Tiffany said.

“Actually he's not as far off as you might think.” Angelo adjusted the sensitivity dial until the red light began to flash slowly. From somewhere inside the box came a soft,
beep, beep, beep
. “This is sort of an electrical bloodhound. It uses A.S.T. to track different smells.”

“A.S.T.,” Dana said, her eyes lighting up. “I thought it looked familiar.”

Angie didn't seem impressed. “Does someone here want to tell me what ast is?”

“Not ast, A.S.T.” Dana put a hand gently onto the device as though it were the Holy Grail. “Aroma sensing technology. It's a high-tech, extremely sensitive tool for comparing one smell to another. Perfume companies use it to develop their scents. And car companies use it to make sure their cars have the right ‘new car' smell. But these things cost like a hundred thousand dollars.”

“Retail,” Angelo agreed. “Maybe even a little more. I built it for about sixty bucks using stuff from Radio Shack, parts from a broken laptop, and some old biology equipment my mom's college was getting rid of.”

Nick shook his head. “Buddy, I'm not gonna lie. You are a freaking genius. But what does any of this have to do with finding a body?”

“Let me guess,” Dana said. “You calibrated your device to sniff out the aroma signature of a decaying corpse. Pure genius!”

Angelo blushed.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Nick said, his head spinning. “You're saying this box of yours can tell us where the stolen bodies are?”

“It's not that easy.” Angelo adjusted the sensitivity and the beeping got a little louder. “I can't tell you what body I'm following. Or who took it. But I can tell you, based on the aroma signature, approximately how long the body was dead. I adjusted my settings based on a corpse from one of the lockers inside the mortuary. If we're lucky, we might be able to follow where the body was taken from here. Like a dog tracking a scent.”

Angelo began swinging the box left and right. Depending on where he moved the box, the dial went up or down and the red light flashed quicker or slower. “It looks like they took the bodies down the ramp,” he said. “And across the parking lot.”

Slowly, the six of them crossed the asphalt away from the light of the building.

“You think maybe we should come back in the morning?” Carter asked. “You know, when we can see better, in case some crazed maniac decides he'd rather have live bodies than dead ones?”

But Angelo wasn't listening. “I think I've got something.” He jogged to the edge of the parking lot, his sensor beeping more and more quickly. “Right here,” he said, stopping at the edge of a field of high, dead grass.

Nick leaned forward and pushed back the grass. There, just where Angelo had led them, was a pile of bones with bits of flesh still clinging to them.

Tiffany screamed and backed away from the grisly scene.

“
Now
can we call the police?” Carter begged, looking like he was going to throw up.

Angie stared at the pile of bones, ash-faced, and Nick's stomach rolled over with a sick thudding that felt like he'd gone on the carnival Tilt-A-Whirl ride one too many times. “Carter's right,” he said softly. “This is something we need to turn over to adults. Preferably adults with badges and guns.”

Angelo cradled his sensor, his dark eyes huge. Surprisingly, Dana seemed hardly affected at all. She knelt at the edge of the grass, examined the bones, and actually picked one of them up.

“What are you doing?” Nick yelled. “This is a crime scene.”

Dana turned the bone over, smearing her fingers a dark red and Nick knew he was going to hurl. Dana returned the bone to the pile, and picked up a ball of wadded paper smeared with the same dark red. Nick had seen enough TV crime shows to know they were going to be in huge trouble for interfering with clues.

Dana unfolded the paper, looked at what was on it, and nodded. “The police might be interested all right. But only if they're really hungry.”

“What are you
talking
about?” Nick asked.

“My nose might not be quite as sensitive as Angelo's box, but . . .” She sniffed a red stain on the paper, and Carter slapped a hand to his mouth, gagging. “If I'm not mistaken it's sweet and tangy.”

Nick was sure she'd gone totally off her rocker until she showed them the paper and he read the words printed on it. “Big Al's Southern Bar-B-Q.”

For a moment no one said a word. Then Tiffany began to giggle. Carter made a sound that was half laughter, half moan.

Ribs
. Barbecued ribs. Nick couldn't believe it. But now that he wasn't scared out of his mind, he saw what Dana had seen all along. The bones were far too small to be human. What he'd taken for torn flesh was bits of pork and what his mind convinced him was blood was only sauce.

“Barbecue.” Angie guffawed. “Your high-tech gizmo led us to somebody's leftover lunch. Maybe if you readjust the settings it can find Carter another pizza.”

Angelo stared at his device, dumbfounded.

Nick knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help laughing. First a little chuckle. Then louder. Finally, he was laughing so hard, tears rolled from his eyes. All around him everyone except Angelo was doing the exact same thing—fear turning to relief. Carter fell on the ground, pounding the asphalt with his hands and howling, “Call the cops. Somebody stole a perfectly good meal!”

“I don't understand how this could have happened,” Angelo said.

That just made the other kids laugh all the harder.