09 The Clue at Black Creek Farm by Carolyn Keene Read Free Book Online Page B

was beginning to wonder where these questions were coming from. “It looked totally normal,” she affirmed. “Um, why are you asking?”
    Bess cleared her throat. “Nancy’s trying to get to the bottom of what happened at the buffet,” she explained breezily. “She’s, like, a teenage sleuth.” She made a big show of looking over at me and then back at Lori and shrugging, like What can you do? “Keeps her off the streets,” she added.
    Lori smiled. “Um, is that a real thing? Teenage sleuth?”
    While I turned red, Bess grinned and leaned close to Lori. “I know, it sounds like a bad TV series or something, right?” she asked. “Anyway, do you work for the Heyworths a lot? Sam says you’re into organic farming.”
    Lori nodded. “Yeah, I kind of wish my parents would give it a shot here, but they’re afraid they’d lose money.”
    â€œWhat’s so much better about organic?” Bess asked. Her tone was totally casual, but I could see the focus in her eyes. She was information-gathering.
    â€œIt’s better for everyone, basically,” Lori said, her dark eyes serious. “It’s less harmful to the environment, to wild animals. It’s more sustainable. And there’s some evidence that the produce is actually more nutritious.”
    â€œI thought those studies were inconclusive,” I piped up, channeling Ned.
    Lori rolled her eyes. “They’re conclusive enough for me,” she said. “So yeah, since my parents wouldn’t budge, I spend some time at Sam’s farm volunteering and learning how organic farming works.”
    â€œDo you want to be a farmer?” Bess asked.
    â€œEventually,” she said, “definitely. I have a year of high school left, and then I want to go to college to study agriculture. My plan is, after that, I’ll work atother organic farms until I can raise enough money to start my own.”
    Bess smiled encouragingly. “You don’t think your parents would let you run part of theirs?”
    Lori shrugged, then looked away. “Maybe,” she admitted. “If I come back with a college degree and still say we should go organic, maybe they’d take me more seriously.” She paused, looking from Bess to me. “Hey, have you guys been at Black Creek today?” she asked.
    Bess and I said that we had.
    â€œHow’s Julie doing?” Lori asked, her expression serious again. “She was still kind of weak yesterday.”
    â€œShe’s better,” I explained. “It looks like she had E. coli poisoning.”
    â€œE. coli?” Lori asked, her voice as incredulous as if I’d just said that Julie had bubonic plague. “Julie got E. coli from Sam’s produce?”
    â€œYep,” I said, watching Lori’s eyes carefully. She looked completely stunned.
    â€œHow?” she asked.
    â€œWe don’t know,” Isaid honestly. “Do you?”
    She shook her head, then brought her hand to her mouth. “It just . . . it doesn’t make sense.”
    Bess glanced at me, then back at Lori. “Is there any chance,” she said, “that the food was contaminated at the community center?”
    Lori’s eyes looked unfocused as she thought. “I guess it’s possible,” she said finally, “but not on my watch. Holly and I were really careful. I worked in a restaurant last summer; I know about safe food preparation.” She paused. “Really, this just doesn’t make sense.”
    â€œDo you think that maybe the produce was contaminated on the farm?” I suggested.
    Lori frowned, looking back at me. “I guess,” she said, “but how ? Sam runs a clean farm. It would be really weird for any bacteria to show up on his produce, much less E. coli. You know E. coli comes from animals, right? And Sam only keeps a few chickens.”
    I nodded, looking down at