The Clue at the Zoo (2 page)

“What does it mean?” Jill asked.

Dawn wrinkled her forehead. “The stop sign may mean
don’t read
.”

“What about the bottle?”

Dawn tried to think.

“There are letters on the bottle,” Jill said.

“P-S-N,” Dawn spelled out.

They looked at each other. “Poison,” they said at the same time.

“The white lumps must be—” Dawn began.

Jill screeched. “Poison.” She dropped the book on the ground.

They stood there staring.

Jill waved her hands in the air. “I’ve got this stuff all over me.”

Dawn looked down at her own hands.

She could feel the gritty lumps under her fingernails.

Jill looked as if she were going to cry.

Jill cried a lot.

This time Dawn felt like crying too.

“I think we’d better wash our hands.” She tried to sound calm.

Just then she thought of something else.

“Where’s Arno?”

Jill was thinking the same thing. “What happened to that kid?”

Dawn spun around.

He was nowhere in sight.

They started to run.

Dawn poked her head into the snake house. A zillion snakes were slithering around in cages.

“Arno,” she yelled.

The sound echoed through the room.

No one answered.

She raced up to the seal pool.

He wasn’t there either.

She shaded her eyes and stared up the hill.

It was no use.

Arno was gone.

D
AWN STOOD ON TIPTOES.
She looked down the path. “What will Noni say? We have to find him.”

Jill shook her head. “Not yet. We have to wash our hands. Right away. This minute.”

“Wait. There’s something else.”

Dawn raced down the path. She looked for the book.

It was still there . . . right where Jill had dropped it.

She rubbed her hands on her jeans.

She had to solve the mystery, but she didn’t want to touch the book.

She nudged it under a bush with her toe.

She’d find a way to look inside . . . after they washed their hands . . . after they found Arno.

“The girls’ room is over here,” Jill said. She held her hands out in front of her.

Dawn held her hands out too. She followed Jill inside.

She let the water run over her fingers for a long time.

Then she picked up a sliver of soap and began to scrub.

The door banged open.

A girl with a mud spot on her jeans was standing there . . . the girl who had been on the path.

The girl reached for a paper towel. She dabbed at her knee.

“Look at that,” she said. “Some kid knocked me over a few minutes ago.”

Dawn raised one eyebrow at Jill. “Arno.” She reached for a towel too. “Did you see where he went?”

The girl pointed. “Toward the alligator swamp. Horrible place. I hope he found it. I hope they chomped his head right off.”

Dawn’s eyes widened. “Well, I don’t hope that. Noni would—” She broke off. “Where’s the alligator swamp?”

“I’ll show you.” The girl stuck out her hand. “My name is Candy.” She grinned. “That’s because I love you-know-what.”

She raced ahead of them . . . past the seal pool . . . past the zebra’s den.

Suddenly she stopped.

Dawn bumped into her.

Jill bumped into Dawn.

“What’s the matter?” Dawn asked.

“I have to close my eyes as we go around the cotton-candy stand,” she said. “Otherwise I’ll have to stop for some.”

They went around the stand, Candy looking in the opposite direction.

“I don’t want to worry you,” she said. “But all that kid has to do is jump over the rocks, climb the iron bars, and . . .”

Dawn ran her tongue over her lips. “He’s too smart to walk into an alligator swamp.”

“Some other kid thought he was smart too.” Candy rubbed her nose. “Squish.”

Dawn looked at Jill.

Jill’s face was turning green . . . green as her bows.

“Don’t worry,” said Dawn. “She doesn’t mean it.”

“She’s right,” Candy said, winking.

“There it is,” Dawn said. “I see it.” She pointed to a bunch of rocks and an iron fence with sharp points on top.

She took another look. In the center was a small pond in a circle of mud.

Brown alligators were lying half in the water, half in the mud.

One raised its head to look at her.

Dawn shivered. “We’d better find Arno right now.”

“Right.” Candy stopped and slapped her forehead. “Hey. I’ve got to go back. I think I lost . . .” She dashed off down the path.

“Your book?” Dawn asked.

“A to Z?” Jill asked at the same time. “Initials R.L.?”

It was too late.

Candy was running past the zebras.

“Come back,” Dawn yelled. “We know where . . .”

The girl waved her hand. She disappeared around the path.

“Should we go after her?” Jill asked.

Dawn sighed. The mystery of the A-to-Z book had been solved too fast. “I think we’d better go after Arno first.”

“I’ll go this way,” Jill said. “Straight around the swamp.”

“Good,” said Dawn. “I’ll go the other way. We’ll meet in the middle.”

D
AWN STARTED AROUND
her side of the swamp.

Ahead of her she could hear a roar.

It sounded like a lion . . . or maybe it was Arno.

She started to run.

A moment later, she bumped into something.

“Oof.”

“Arno?” said a voice.

It was Jill.

“No, me,” Dawn said as soon as she could talk.

“I heard—” Jill began.

“Me too,” said Dawn.

Just then something dashed past them.

“Arno,” yelled Dawn. “Arno Eliot.”

“Can’t stop,” he yelled. His yellow knapsack bounced against his shoulders. “I’m looking for Fred’s mother.”

“Who’s Fred?” Dawn yelled after him.

“It’s a mystery,” Arnold yelled back.

“We’re supposed to be watching you. . . .” Dawn began.

But Arno had run around the curve.

He was gone.

“This is ridiculous,” Jill said. “Everyone’s running away.”

“Never mind that,” Dawn said. “Did you hear what he said? He has a mystery. I’ll bet it’s better than ours.”

“Mystery shmystery,” said Jill. “I’m dying to see the anteaters.”

“Why don’t you go to the movies?” asked a voice behind them.

Dawn twirled around.

A woman was smiling at them. She was wearing a tan uniform.

“I love the movies—” Jill began.

“Especially mysteries,” said Dawn.

“It’s about alligators.”

“I don’t think we have time,” said Dawn.

“I hate alligators,” said Jill.

The woman waved a paper in the air. “This tells all about it.”

Dawn took one of the papers.

Jill took another.

“And there’s the movie house,” said the woman.

Dawn saw a boy with a yellow knapsack. “Arno.”

He was pulling open the door of the movie house.

Dawn grabbed Jill’s arm. “There goes Arno.”

“And Candy too,” said Jill, pointing.

Dawn nodded at the woman. “We’ll try the movies.” She turned to Jill. “You go ahead. There’s something I have to do.”

Dawn rushed back along the path. It was a long run.

She looked under the bush for the A-to-Z-is-me book.

At first she thought it wasn’t there.

Then she saw it.

She wrapped the movie paper around it.

She picked it up with two fingers.

She wasn’t taking any chances with that poison.

She ran back to the movie house. It was cool inside. It was dark too.

She couldn’t see Arno.

She couldn’t see Candy either.

Jill was there, though. She was sitting near the back.

Dawn could see her green plaid bows.

Dawn tiptoed down the aisle. She slid into a seat next to Jill.

The A-to-Z book was still in her hand.

She leaned over and dropped it on the floor in front of her.

Then she sat back.

The cushions were scratchy on her legs.

She moved around trying to get comfortable.

A moment later, music blared. A picture of a fat alligator came on the screen.

Someone in front clapped.

“Yuck,” said Jill. “Who’d clap for an alligator?”

“Arno, maybe,” said Dawn.

She stood up to take a look.

“Will you sit still?” a woman in back of them asked. “You’ve been wiggling around since you got here.” Dawn ducked down. “Sorry.”

A voice was telling everyone about alligators. “The female lays her eggs in the grass,” it said.

“I’m never going to take my shoes off again,” said Jill.

“Ssh,” said the woman in back of them.

“About fifty eggs are laid,” said the voice. “The young alligators are about nine inches long when they hatch.”

“I can’t look anymore,” said Dawn.

Just then a hand tapped her on the shoulder.

She jumped.

It was Candy, in the aisle. She had a bottle of soda in one hand. She had a chocolate bar in the other. “Want a sip?” she asked.

Dawn shook her head. “No, thanks. Too many bubbles.”

“Good grief,” said the woman behind them.

“I have your book,” Dawn whispered. “The poison one.”

The girl looked down at the book.

She dropped the bottle of soda on the floor.

Soda sprayed over the seat. It spilled onto the carpet.

“Get me out of here,” Candy said. She began to scream.

D
AWN LOOKED DOWN.

Soda was running all over the floor.

The book was a soggy mess.

She wrapped the movie paper around it again, scooped it up, and dashed outside after Candy.

The woman with the rose in her hair was kneeling in front of a bush.

Dawn hoped she wasn’t cutting any flowers. She’d be in a lot of trouble.

“Wait for me,” Jill yelled.

They looked around. Candy wasn’t in front of the movie house. She wasn’t on the path either.

“Where did she go?” Dawn asked.

Jill’s lip was quivering. “Don’t worry about her,” she said. “Worry about us.”

Dawn glanced down at the book in her hand. The poison was soaking through the wet paper.

Detectives had to face danger, she thought.

That’s what her detective book said.

That’s what she was doing.

Maybe the soda had drowned the poison.

She spotted Candy. She was bent over a drinking fountain.

She was scooping water and splashing it over her feet.

At the same time she was hopping up and down.

“I’ve been poisoned,” she yelled.

“Let’s go,” Dawn told Jill. “We’ve got to find out what’s going on.”

At that moment the door of the movie house burst open.

Something flashed by.

It crashed into the bushes.

Jill grabbed her arm. “What was that?”

Dawn looked back over her shoulder. “Something yellow. Arno?”

Jill raised her shoulders in the air. “I guess so.”

“Never mind him now,” Dawn said.

She raced over to Candy and grabbed her arm. “Stop jumping for a minute, will you?” she asked.

“Don’t touch me,” Candy said.

Dawn tried to be calm.

Detectives are always calm.

“Tell me about your book,” she said. “Why is it poisoned?”

“
My
book?” Candy screeched. “
My
book?”

Dawn nodded. “Your book.”

Candy backed away from her. “It’s not mine. I never saw it before.”

Dawn shook her head. “I don’t understand.” She blinked. “You said you lost—”

“My purse.” Candy held it up. “I left it on a bench.”

She took another quick step away from Dawn. “Don’t come near me. Crazy kid. Trying to give me a poison book. Trying to poison me! I ought to call the police.”

Dawn stood there looking as she dashed away. “Ridiculous,” she said.

Then she grinned at Jill. “Good. The mystery’s still not solved.”

“Do you hear what I hear?” Jill asked. She looked as if she were going to cry.

Then Dawn heard it too.

Horrible noises. Grunts. Snuffles.

“What’s that?”

“It sounds like an animal. A horrible . . .” Jill began.