Free The Wrong Chemistry by Carolyn Keene Page B

one in Emersonville we could call.”
    â€œWell, I guess so,” the nurse said uncertainly.
    â€œI’ll pay for the call,” Karen burst out. The nurse nodded and went inside.
    Karen stood silently next to Nancy, avoiding her eyes.
    â€œIs it your dog?” Nancy asked lightly, trying not to put Karen off.
    Karen shook her head. “I found it. I was hiking all morning, and when I returned I saw it beside the highway on the edge of the campus.”
    â€œAnd you carried it here?” Nancy was surprised.
    â€œDoes everyone think I’m crazy to help this dog?” Karen challenged. “If it was your dog, you’d be happy.”
    â€œSorry,” Nancy offered. “You did the right thing.”
    The nurse returned, smiling happily. “I reached a vet, and he said he was going out and would stop by here.” She bent down and put her hands on the dog’s side. “He said to check hisgums to make sure they aren’t too white or too red, take his pulse, and keep him warm.”
    As Karen bent to stroke the injured animal, Nancy backed away. Karen was certainly sincere in her love for animals. She was even softhearted about animals that didn’t belong to her. Perhaps Nancy was wrong to distrust POE and its members. Ned might be confusing his concern for Angela with his feelings about the group.
    There was too much going on, Nancy told herself with a sigh. First the CLT mystery, now the trouble with Angela and POE. At least she felt closer to solving one mystery now.
    Nancy decided against tackling the tunnels under Emerson without more information. She went to the library and buried herself in a pile of books about the architecture of Emerson. After two books, she found what she was looking for—a series of drawings showing the extensive tunnel system. It spread to every one of the original buildings on campus. The map also confirmed that none of the tunnels went beyond the campus. The thief had to be holding the stolen CLT somewhere on the grounds, Nancy decided.
    She was eager to begin her search of the tunnels, but an uneasy feeling nagged at her. She had to check a little further. On a hunch, she went to the section where microfilms of thelocal newspapers were kept. In the Emersonian , the school’s paper, she found a feature article on Josef Maszak. It mentioned that he had come from Jamison College, another midwestern school, where he had taught for three years. The Jamison students had given him the Beller Award for excellence in teaching three years in a row.
    Nancy remembered the loyalty both Sara and Angela had shown toward Maszak. He really did inspire his students, she realized. Jamison College was in the same sports league as Emerson, and the library kept a record of its rival’s papers. Nancy searched that microfilm, too, stopping at the issues that came out when Maszak was at Jamison.
    A headline caught her eye: B ACTERIA D ESTROYED IN L AB . She felt a tingle of excitement as she read.
    One of the school’s most important experiments involving five different kinds of bacteria had to be destroyed yesterday in the science lab. A sample of rheumatic fever, a disease caused by bacteria, had begun growing out of control. Professor Aaron Miller, who was in charge of the project, was quoted as saying, “We have no idea what happened. The bacteria grew so quickly that we had to take extreme measuresto destroy it. Unfortunately, by destroying the bacteria, we also destroyed the cause of its abnormal growth. Now we’ll never know what brought this about.” No damage or injuries were reported.
    There was no mention of Josef Maszak, but he had been at Jamison at this time. Nancy flipped through the rest of the film. Toward the end of the reel, an ad caught her eye. It announced a lecture series on Third World countries. Dr. Pranav Mohammed would discuss famine relief that Tuesday, and consumer advocate Philip Bangs would lecture on the evils