Mindy Solved and the Case of the Missing Professor

I’m Mindy Solved, a detective, and I was just sitting down in my big, comfy chair when it all started. The phone rang and I answered the call of a frantic student.

“Hello how may I help y—,“ she had cut me off in mid sentence.

“Mindy, we need your help. Professor Carlinson is missing!” the girl wailed. “I’ll come as soon as--, Hello? Are you still there?” I said. She had already hung up without saying who or where she was. It was just by a stroke of luck that I knew where Professor Carlinson worked. He worked at William’s college in town.

The next day, at the college, everything was a mess. The whole campus was being searched for the missing teacher and classes were cancelled for the day so that the students could help out. I went to the girl’s dorms to ask who had called me.

I found out that her name was Cari from dorm 610. Darn it! There was no elevator and dorm 610 was on the sixth floor; the very top.

When I finally reached the summit…..just kidding. When I finally got to the dorm, I was huffing and puffing. She welcomed me in and explained what had happened.

Cari was in the professor’s first class and was picking up her books when she heard a strange “off” from outside the door. When she reached the door and looked out, two people were running out the front doors carrying something big.

“I tried to catch them but they were too far ahead,” she then commented. “ It’s alright, I’ll find out who those people were, Cari.”

Just as I was leaving, I saw a briefcase with the initials “C.C.” on it.” What was Professor Carlinson’s first name?” I thought to myself.

Later I went to find out who was absent for the first class and came up with three names; Jake, Mel, and, Tom. The tardy list only had one name; Mary. I decided to pay these suspects a visit.

On my way to Jake and Tom’s shared dorm, I found a trail of some blue substance. I took a sample and stuck it in my bag “ What is this?” I thought.

I got to the dorm and was ready to question within five minutes. Jake said he was at a funeral and Tom was obviously sick since he was laying in a bed, so Jake did the talking. I then asked if they knew Mel.

“He lives across the hall,” Jake said. “What was your grade on the last paper?” I asked. “I got a C- but I’m not the only one. Cari, Tom, and Mel also got the same grade,” he replied.

I then decided to go to see Mel. This was confusing. They all had a motive. Why were two boys in the same room gone? What about the briefcase? I needed a confession or a lot of proof so I interrogated Mel next. “Did you hear anyone leave?” I asked. “Twice. I knew Jake had left but then someone else left.” “Why were you missing from class?” I said. “I was on the phone with my family,” he said. ”I only get to talk to them once a month.”

This wasn’t getting anywhere so I was leaving but I saw blue stains on his carpet. “What is this?” I asked casually. ”Um… oh that’s from my chemistry kit. I forgot about that,” he replied.

Mary was only tardy by a minute so I didn’t go to see her. Instead, I went home to figure this out.

The sample in my pocket was just a common lab chemical usually found in chemistry sets. Did this mean that the chemistry set that the professor always carried had spilled on Mel’s floor? What about the briefcase? I grabbed a phone book and looked up all the Cari’s I could find until I found the number that matched the one on my caller I.D.; Cari Charles. The briefcase was hers. I had figured it out. The culprits were going to be caught today.

After Mel and Tom were taken to the office to get their punishment, I was being asked how I had figured it out. Mel obviously didn’t have his own chemistry set since he wasn’t enrolled in chemistry and hated the class. The blue substance was Professor Carlinson trying to leave a trail for me to follow. Mel also said he heard someone leaving so that Tom would be caught and not him but Cari had said that their were two people involved. Tom was playing sick so that he would have an alibi.

With the culprits in detention, I decided to go home to sit in my big, comfy,red chair. Oh no! Not the phone again!