Little Susie and Trent Tuttle both arrived in front of Ms. Collette’s classroom at the exact same time that something, which sounded incredibly close to a small explosion, shook the glass window in her door. They turned to each other; Little Susie gave a wary look and Trent grinned from ear to ear and pushed open the door as smoke started pouring out into the hallway. They entered the room and remained low to the ground as they heard coughing mixed with muttering coming from what would have been the front of the room if they could see through the smoke.

“Well, I guess I miscalculated.” *coughcough* “It should have worked though! I’ll have to check my notes yet again.” *Exasperatedcough* “It has to be perfect! It must be complete before—”

“Ms. Collette?”

“Oh! Who’s there? Is that you again Donnie? I told you I am not giving up my growth formula for all the coupons in the world!”

“Ms. Collette, it’s Trent and Susie.” The smoke finally cleared and the three of them were now standing face to face. Ms. Collette was standing between the blackboard and the counter she used for instruction, while the other two were on the opposite side facing her. There were a few glass beakers and bottles sitting on the counter with multi-colored liquid inside each, still doing its best to bubble over. The smoke had cleared, but only away from where they were all standing. Anyone else would have a difficult time peering in through the doorway.

Once she caught her breath, Ms. Collette finally spoke, “Oh, well hello you two. What brings you to my classroom during the lunch hour? Susie, if you’re looking for another example of our lesson. I’m afraid you will have to wait until tomorrow just like the rest of your classmates.” She distractedly said this; waving away the leftover smoke and remained staring at the glass bottles and beakers on the counter in front of her with her brow scrunching and scratching her nose.

Trent spoke first, “Ms. Collette, we came to ask you some questions about Little Susie’s pumpkin being stolen.”

That pulled her gaze from her previous point of interest as her eyes went right to Little Susie. “Someone stole your pumpkin, Susie?!” Eyebrows raised to match the pitch in her voice. “But you were so close to getting it to 90lbs, it was at 89.6 last time you told me right? You worked so diligently too! Watering and making sure it got proper sunlight. Remind me again, what exactly was the order of the steps you took to grow your precious gourd? I am quite curious.” While talking and maintaining eye contact, her hands somehow grabbed her pencil and notepad on the other side of the counter and started writing.

“Well I-“

“Actually, I would like to ask you some questions about her ‘precious gourd’ Ms. Collette. What were you doing two nights ago?” Trent chimed in, interrupting Little Susie mid sentence and ignoring her sticking out her tongue at him. She crossed her arms and gave a little huffing sigh as she waited for Ms. Collette’s response.

“Oh, well yes of course. I’ll help you in any way I can. Though I don’t know how much help I’ll be, I was here in my lab from the end of school until my alarm went off to remind me to water my own pumpkin.”

“Did anyone else see you in here after school hours ended?”

She placed her hand on her chin with her head tipped back, “You know, Donnie did stop by after a few hours of me working on—uh-um, well my own work.”, she stumbled over her words, but quickly recovered, “And he stopped by to give me my weekly issue of ‘Sciences for Kids’. That’s where I get many of my good ideas for our classroom experiments from there. Donnie’s always asking about the formula I’m currently perfecting, he asked about it even when he dropped off my magazine.”

“And what time did Donnie leave?” Trent was recording her answers in his own notepad.

She waved both hands in the air like she was smacking something away, “An hour or so before I left myself, around 6 o’clock. He never stays for too long. Just long enough to ask me if I’ve made progress. He’s convinced I’m going to sell him my formula once it’s finished. He asks me the price every single time I see him and I always say—NO DON’T TOUCH THAT!!”

Little Susie’s finger was poised above the glass beaker closest to her with a blueish-gold liquid inside. She stilled, but did not take back her hand, “I just wanted to see how soft it is, it looks squishy!” Her unleashed squeal was concealed by her grin.

“Susie Sumpter, you take your hand away right now unless you want to be burned! That is far more hot than it looks.” Little Susie pulled her hand away and clutched it close to her chest with an accompanied gasp.

Trent closed his notepad at that and placed his pencil back into its case, “I think we got everything we need for now anyway. Thank you for your cooperation Ms. Collette. Come on Susie, we should be getting back to lunch.”

She gave the students a nonchalant wave as her attention was once again pulled towards her jars and bottles. “Anytime.”

The two students quickly left the classroom and entered the hallway.

“What next?” Little Susie said, still staring at her unburned hand.

“We still have one more person to question next. And then I believe I’ll have all the clues to find the thief. Meet me after school outside the animal shelter.”