Amanda Lester and the Pink Sugar Conspiracy

  Chapter 26

  Body Snatching

  So Professor Kindseth wanted to be in film. Amanda was overjoyed, and surprised. She’d never expected to find one fellow enthusiast at the school, let alone two. Legatum was turning out to be something rather different than she’d expected. The way she’d felt when she saw that letter from Drusilla Canoodle could only be described as despairing. Now she was despairing about her father, but funnily enough no longer about the school. In fact she was quite liking being there, in an odd sort of way. She looked forward to discussing film with Professor Kindseth when all this died down, if it ever did. Maybe that was a poor choice of words. When all of this was resolved. That was better.

  She was over the moon about the way things had gone in the lab. She didn’t know what she and Simon would have done if Professor Kindseth hadn’t turned up. He’d been so eager to help and had been incredibly useful. She could see that the faculty was pretty good at their jobs, even if some of them were a bit strange.

  She thought about the conversation she’d heard outside the lab. Professor Feeney had seemed upset and secretive. There wasn’t anything particularly new about the secretive part. That was de rigeur for Legatum. But the things she’d said and the tone in which she’d said them, those were disturbing. If something else, something Amanda didn’t already know about, was wrong at Legatum, things might deteriorate even more. What had the Criminals and Their Methods teacher said? Everything would change unless something or other happened. What everything, and what something or other? That sounded serious. At least as serious as a kidnapping. Maybe as serious as murder. What was going on around here anyway?

  Amanda wanted to tell Nick about their findings in the lab but she was worried about Simon. The two boys didn’t get along, or at least Simon didn’t like Nick. Nick had never indicated any particular feelings about Simon.

  To be honest she was feeling rather queasy about all her important relationships. It was her own fault that she’d drifted away from Ivy, Amphora, and Editta lately, but she’d had things on her mind and it couldn’t be helped. Then Simon had been on suspension for two weeks and she’d turned to Nick. Of course the whole thing with her father hadn’t helped.

  Her father. She hadn’t heard anything from Thrillkill. Maybe she should go talk to him and find out what was happening. He’d told her he’d let her know, though, so maybe she shouldn’t bug him.

  Simon was right. Whatever the Met was or wasn’t doing, nothing seemed to be happening with the case. She needed to find her father herself, and the best way to do that was to follow Darius Plover’s advice: figure out the why and everything else will follow. That meant she needed to understand why the cook was involved in all of this and why her father had been in the secret room. She knew about the virus-tainted sugar, and she was pretty sure they’d figured out the reason for that, but how had the school become involved?

  The way to solve that mystery was to find out who had killed the cook, and why. She decided to go back to the kitchen to look for more clues, which wouldn’t be easy considering that it was still a crime scene. She’d just have to sneak in at some odd hour. That was the only way.

  She decided to case the joint to see what state it was in. As she was heading down the hall, Amphora came running up to her. She looked frantic.

  “Amanda! Stop. You can’t go in there.” Amphora barred the door with her arm.

  “I know. I’m just checking out the outside.”

  “No, you don’t understand,” Amphora said, practically spasming with excitement. “Something’s happened.”

  “Something else has happened?” Amanda wasn’t sure she could take one more thing.

  “Yes. The cook’s body has gone missing!”

  Amanda could see terror in her eyes. “What do you mean ‘missing’?”

  “I mean she disappeared. They took her to the autopsy room. The doctor left her there for an hour or so, and when he came back she was gone.” Amphora wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed as if to keep herself from exploding.

  “And no one saw anything?” said Amanda. It was possible. It was a big school and things could happen when everyone was in class or asleep.

  “Apparently not,” said Amphora.

  “Wow.” One weird thing after another. Was this normal?

  Amphora bit her lip. “You know what this means, of course.”

  “What?”

  “They’ve put the school on lockdown.”

  This wasn’t good. In fact it was a disaster. How could Amanda investigate her father’s disappearance if she couldn’t leave? How could the police investigate?

  Then she had a chilling thought. What if whoever had taken the cook’s body did it for exactly that reason—to disrupt the investigation? Suddenly the hall seemed darker, more threatening. What had been quaint and interesting in a filmic sort of way was no longer endearing. Amanda felt like she was going to jump out of her skin. Now she truly was confined, with no escape.

  “Yes,” said Amphora. “No one can go out, and no one is allowed in except the police.”

  “This is just amazing. Who do you think did it?” Now both girls were hugging themselves and fidgeting like they had to pee.

  “I have no idea. Probably whoever killed her.”

  “Yes,” said Amanda. “You must be right. I wonder. Maybe we can figure out who that was.”

  “I’d say that’s a jolly good idea. What if one of us is next?”

  “I don’t think that will happen. That cook was involved with some very bad people. We’re not.” She didn’t want to alarm Amphora, but the truth was that you couldn’t tell about anyone. For all she knew, Amphora herself had killed the cook and made off with the body, although that sounded pretty far-fetched.

  “I suppose you’re right. But how did they get in without anyone seeing them?”

  “It has to be someone here at the school.” Now she’d said it. Let the hysterics fall where they may.

  “Oh no!” said Amphora. “I think you’re right.”

  “It has to be. Someone would have noticed a stranger.” Unless they were well disguised. She didn’t even want to go there.

  “Yes. Of course. So who, then?”

  “Good question. Let’s think this through.”

  “Fine, but I’ll tell you one thing. At this point, we can’t trust anyone.”