Trashed!

CONTENTS Cover Title Page Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Chapter Thirty-Eight Chapter Thirty-Nine Chapter Forty Chapter Forty-One Chapter Forty-Two Chapter Forty-Three Chapter Forty-Four Chapter Forty-Five Chapter Forty-Six Chapter Forty-Seven Chapter Forty-Eight Chapter Forty-Nine Chapter Fifty Chapter Fifty-One Chapter Fifty-Two Chapter Fifty-Three Chapter Fifty-Four Chapter Fifty-Five Chapter Fifty-Six Chapter Fifty-Seven Acknowledgments About the Author Copyright Guide Cover Start of Content Title Page Dedication Acknowledgments About the Author Copyright I II III V VI VII VIII 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 
 
 What Does It Take to Solve the Perfect Crime?
 Trashed!
 by Martha Freeman
 
 
 
 
 
 For the Pearsall-Christman family:
 Zach, Hamil, Arthur, and Simon—best neighbors ever
 
 
 CHAPTER ONE
 Ramona’s mouse died suddenly.
 Friday night it had been scrabbling around the sawdust in its cage, whiskers twitching, eyes bright.
 Saturday morning it was paws-up, eyes shut.
 “Rigor mortis,” said Arthur. He had heard those words in a movie and wanted to test them out.
 “Okay, and it’s a girl, and why did she die?” Ramona Popper was six. She didn’t know what “rigor mortis” meant, but she would never ask her brother. She figured he was showing off, which he was.
 Arthur Popper was eleven. He and his sister mostly ignored each other. But Ramona had gone to him when she’d found her mouse. Now they were standing in Ramona’s bedroom, which was in the back of the family’s apartment. Through the window was a view of hills, the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Arthur’s room was on the other side and looked out on the street, cars going by.
 “Do you know if the mouse was old?” Arthur asked.
 Ramona wiped her nose with the back of her hand and sniffled. They were standing by the mouse’s cage, which rested on a table by the window. The mouse didn’t look peaceful exactly. The poor thing looked uncomfortable.
 Ramona and Arthur were still wearing their pajamas, Ramona’s blue with tiny red triangle trees, Arthur’s red with a big green Grinch on the shirt—Christmas pajamas in April. Like a lot of Arthur’s and Ramona’s clothes, the pajamas had come from the store, which always had a good supply of kids’ Christmas pajamas—worn once, outgrown by the next year.
 Ramona didn’t know if her mouse had been old.
 Arthur could think of things besides old age that might kill a mouse. Things like germs and viruses and cancer. But Ramona was only in first grade. She didn’t need to hear such bad stuff yet.
 Arthur was not the best big brother, but he wasn’t totally heartless.
 “Should we bury her?” Ramona asked.
 “Yes,” Arthur said. “For a fact, I think we should have a funeral.”
 Ramona widened her eyes. “I’ve never been to a funeral before,” she said.
 Arthur hadn’t either, but he’d seen them in movies. Organizing a funeral couldn’t be that hard. Besides, Ramona wouldn’t know if he got it wrong.
 “The service will be at one o’clock,” he announced. “After breakfast you can find a coffin—a box to bury the mouse in.”
 “I know what a coffin is, Arthur,” Ramona said.
 Arthur didn’t have to say where Ramona would find a coffin. They both knew there would be a box in the store. That was a good thing about having the store downstairs. When you needed something, you could usually find it.
 Arthur and Ramona ate cereal for breakfast at the big table in the kitchen. Even though it was Saturday, their mom, a lawyer, had gone to work to catch up. She had to do that a lot. Arthur pictured being a lawyer as one big race, with their mom a few steps behind.
 As for Dad, the store didn’t open till ten, but some rich Boulder citizen had died the week before, and Dad was downstairs sorting possessions the man’s