The Clue at the Zoo (3 page)

They started to run.

They didn’t stop until they had passed the snake house.

They stopped for a quick breath.

“Something’s gotten loose,” said Jill.

Dawn looked around.

People were wandering around all over the place.

No one else seemed to be worried.

“Maybe it was something in a cage,” she said.

“Maybe it wasn’t,” said Jill.

“I think we should go sit with Noni,” Dawn said. “Just in case. I think we should look at this book again too. We may find another clue.”

Just then the woman with the rose raced by.

The rose had fallen down over her ear.

“Have you seen a boy?” Dawn began.

The woman shook her head. “Have you seen a dog?”

“No, sorry,” said Dawn.

The woman turned the corner and disappeared.

“A
RRRR-NO,” DAWN SCREAMED
at the top of her lungs. “It’s lunchtime.”

She waited a minute. “Arrrr-no Eliot.”

Jill tapped her shoulder. “Even Noni’s going to hear you screaming.”

“That kid is the worst pest,” said Dawn. “Too bad about him.”

They went down the path.

Dawn carried the book with two fingers.

Noni was still sitting on the bench. She was bent over her crossword puzzle.

She looked up when she heard them.

Dawn and Jill sank down on the bench. Dawn dropped the book underneath it and wiped her hands. Then she took a breath.

Noni wasn’t going to be happy when she heard Arno was missing.

“I have to tell you—” Dawn began.

“I have your favorite sandwiches,” Noni said at the same time. “Peanut butter and jelly.”

“Bll-ech,” said a voice behind them.

“Arno,” Dawn said.

He sat down on the end of the bench. “Sardine sandwiches are my favorite,” he said.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” said Jill.

Noni stood up and poured juice for everyone.

“Too bad it’s not the red kind,” said Arno. “I’m not too crazy about orange.”

Dawn crossed her eyes. “I’m not too crazy about him either,” she whispered to Jill.

She took a bite of the sandwich Noni gave her. “Deee-licious.”

She leaned back against the bench and tried to think. How was she going to solve this mystery?

“I think I need some dessert now,” Arno said.

Noni frowned. “You didn’t eat much of your sandwich.”

Arno shook his head. “I’m saving it for my friend Fred. You don’t have any crackers, do you? Fred loves them.”

Jill looked up. She had peanut butter all over her mouth. “Did he find his mother yet?”

“Nope,” said Arno. “He’s hanging around the alligator pool, waiting.”

“I hope he doesn’t go near—” Noni began.

“Don’t worry,” said Arno. “He’s not as smart as I am . . . but he isn’t that dumb.”

Dawn finished the middle of her sandwich. She hated crusts. “What does he look like?”

“Fred?” Arno looked up in the air. “Brown hair. Runs around a lot. Kind of nasty till you get to know him.”

Dawn rolled her eyes at Jill. “He’s not the only nasty one,” she said under her breath.

Arno reached into the picnic basket. “Bananas? For dessert? I don’t even like bananas to begin with. I bet Fred will hate them.”

He stood up, grabbed two, and stuck his sandwich in his pocket. “See you later.”

“Whoa,” said Noni. “Wait a minute. You have to stay with the girls.”

Arno took a step. “I’m just going to the alligator swamp. It’s safe as anything.”

Noni closed her eyes. “It doesn’t sound safe to me.”

“It is,” said Dawn. “Really. It has a high fence.”

“Well . . .” Noni nodded.

Arno took off down the path.

“Now I can think,” said Dawn.

She picked up the book. The only way to solve this mystery was to look inside.

That’s what she had to do.

Poison or no poison.

“You don’t have any gloves,” she asked Noni, “do you?”

“Gloves?” said Noni. “It’s eighty degrees in the shade. I’m dying of the heat. Why would I—”

“Never mind,” said Dawn.

“I know what you’re thinking,” said Jill. “I know exactly . . .”

Dawn drew in her breath. She flipped the book open with one finger.

She looked at the stop sign and the P-S-N bottle for a moment.

Then she stared at the initials. R.L.

Dawn squinched her eyes together. “Maybe his name is Richard.”

“Or Robert?” Jill twirled a braid with one finger.

“I went to school with a Ruth,” said Noni. “She had yellow boots and a silver bracelet.” She looked up at the trees. “What was her last name, anyway?”

“Yes. It could be a girl,” said Jill. “Rachel.”

“It could be anything,” said Dawn. She bent over and flipped to the next page.

“What is that mess?” Jill asked. She looked over Dawn’s shoulder.

“Two arrows,” said Dawn. “Two thick pieces of paper pasted in like boxes. Two D’s.”

She reached for her private eye box. She opened it and fished around for her magnifying glass. “Let me take a look. . . .” she began.

“Two of everything,” said Jill.

Noni picked up her crossword puzzle. “Just like twins.”

“And nothing else in the rest of the book,” said Jill.

“Wait a minute,” said Dawn. She dropped the magnifying glass back in the box. “I just thought of something.”

D
AWN AND
J
ILL HURRIED
up the path.

“Stop at the alligator swamp,” Noni called after them. “Make sure Arno’s all right.”

Dawn waved back. “Don’t you see?” she asked Jill.

“No.” Jill tossed her braids in the air.

“One,” said Dawn. “No poison.”

Jill stopped at a fountain for a quick drink.

“How do you know?”

Dawn sighed. “I’m a detective. I figured it out. Those boxes. They were thick. Pasted on.

Jill raised one shoulder.

“Paste,” said Dawn. “White paste. All those gritty little things . . .”

“They were paste?” Jill asked.

Dawn nodded. “Now we’ve got to look for something else.”

“Arno.”

Dawn stood on tiptoes. “I have to get up that hill across from the snake house. Then I’ll be able to see—” She broke off. “No, not Arno.”

They started up the hill.

“What are we looking for?” Jill asked.

A whistle blew.

It blew a second time.

Dawn turned around.

“Off the hill,” said a voice.

It was the woman with the tan uniform. “You’ll mess up the grass,” she said.

“No, we won’t,” Dawn promised. “We’ll tiptoe. We have to look for balloons. Two of them. Red ones.”

The woman looked up in the air. Then she nodded. “Go ahead.”

Dawn led the way up the hill.

Jill puffed behind her. “I don’t understand,” she said. “I just don’t—”

“Two boxes,” said Dawn. “Two boys.”

“Of course,” Jill said. “Two boxes. Two boys.” She shook her braids. “What does that mean?”

They reached the top of the hill.

Dawn shaded her eyes with one hand. “Now listen. First we were on the path. Then we found the book. Right?”

“I guess so.”

“So who was on the path? Who could have dropped it?”

Jill pulled on her braid. “Candy.”

“Yes.”

“The woman with the dog and the rose in her hair.”

“Yes.”

Jill nodded. “And that’s it.”

Dawn shook her head. “No.”

“You can’t count us,” said Jill.

“What about—” Dawn began.

Jill grabbed her arm. “You’re right. There was somebody else. Two other people.” She pointed. “And there they are.”

Dawn looked across the zoo from the hill.

There was a crowd in front of a building.

Above the crowd two red balloons were floating along.

“Twins,” said Jill. “Twins were on the path too.”

“Good thinking,” said Dawn. About time, she said to herself.

They raced down the hill, over the rocks, and back onto the path.

The balloons disappeared.

“Inside,” said Dawn. “They’ve gone inside.”

Dawn darted in between a group of people. “Bat house,” she said.

“Not me,” said Jill. “If you think I’m going near those bats, you’re crazy.”

Jill plunked herself down on a bench. “I’ll wait right here.”

Dawn took a breath.

She didn’t think bats were so bad.

Not nearly as bad as snakes.

She opened the door to the bat house.

Inside, everything looked red.

“Special lights,” said the guard. “Bats sleep in the daytime. With these lights, the bats think it’s night. They stay awake so you can see them flying around.”

Dawn nodded. She stopped to look at a few bats hanging upside down.

It almost looked as if one were winking at her.

She winked back, just in case.

Ahead of her, she saw the balloons.

Carrying them were the twins.

“Wait up,” she yelled. Her voice echoed in the huge room. “I’ve found your book.”

T
HE BOYS TURNED TOGETHER.

They looked mean.

Dawn held out the book. “Is this yours?”

Blue Eyes took the book. “What a piece of junk,” he said.

He began to turn the pages.

He looked at the arrows and the two boxes.

He picked at one of the boxes. “Look,” he said. “There’s money underneath. A dollar.”

“Look under the other box,” said Brown Eyes.

“Wait a minute,” Dawn said. She put out her hand. “That’s not your book.”

“Sure it is.” Blue Eyes winked at his twin.

Dawn grabbed the book. She started to run. She darted around a bat case and out the door.

“Get her,” shouted Brown Eyes.

Dawn raced up the hill.

Where was Jill?

Where was the woman in the tan uniform?

Dawn didn’t see the rock in front of her.

She felt herself falling, rolling.

The book flew out of her hand.

“Grab it,” yelled Blue Eyes.

“No you don’t!” Jill yelled from somewhere.

Dawn reached out for something to slow her down.

Nothing was there, though.

Any minute she’d hit the iron fence at the bottom.