The Poison Frog Mystery Read online

  Henry shook his head. “No, but we’ve discovered a few things.” He went over the bit about the window possibly being too narrow for a normal-sized person to pass through, the missing bag of food from the mammal house, and the mysterious little dents on the floor. “But who knows if any of that stuff is important?”

  “Well, I’m sure Jordan and Lindsey are very happy you kids are trying to help out in the first place. And I’m happy, too. I’m very proud of all of you.”

  “Mr. Colby is hiring a night guard,” Jessie put in. “That should help, I guess.”

  Pausing between pencil strokes, Violet added, “Jordan wasn’t too happy about it.

  He said it made the zoo seem more like a prison.”

  “Maybe so,” Grandfather told her, “but as Jessie said, it should help. If I were a thief, I’d think twice before breaking into a place that had a security guard.”

  “Mr. Colby doesn’t really like the idea that much, though,” Henry said, “because it’s going to cost the zoo more money. He wasn’t too thrilled about that.”

  “He’s very money-minded,” Jessie added. “That’s what Lindsey said.”

  Grandfather nodded. “Well, every business needs someone like that. Without him, the zoo might not even exist.” Grandfather laughed. “He’s going to go broke buying new locks for the cages before anything else.”

  Benny, who had been playing on the carpet with Watch, looked up. “Why’s that, Grandfather?”

  “Because the thief is breaking them all, right?”

  Benny said, “But they still work.”

  Grandfather, Henry, Jessie, and even Violet, who had been concentrating on her artwork, looked at Benny at the same time.

  “What do you mean, Benny?” Henry asked.

  Benny shrugged. “They still work.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I closed them again,” Benny replied. “Both of them. They clicked shut, and I couldn’t open them.”

  His grandfather stopped rocking and leaned forward. “Are you sure about that?”

  Benny nodded. “Uh-huh. I was just playing with them. I didn’t think anyone would care because they were going to be thrown out anyway.”

  “I’m sure they ended up in the garbage,” Jessie told her grandfather.

  “Well, I think you should get them back and take a good look at them,” Grandfather said. “If what Benny says is true, then something very strange is happening.”

  “I don’t understand, Grandfather,” Jessie said. “The locks were all banged up, as if someone had hit them with a hammer or something.”

  “Right, I remember when we were in the mammal house. But if the thief really did break them open with force, then—”

  “They shouldn’t work anymore!” Henry said excitedly.

  “And Benny’s saying both locks still work,” said Grandfather.

  Benny nodded. “They both do, I’m sure of it.”

  “In that case,” Grandfather said, “you should all take a look at them first thing in the morning. If Benny’s right, then you’ve got a whole new mystery on your hands.”

  Jessie got up quickly. “I’ll call Lindsey right now.”

  Early the next morning they returned to the little room in the mammal house where the black-footed ferrets had been stolen. Lindsey was so intrigued by what Jessie had told her on the phone that she and the Aldens got there a full hour before the zoo opened. Jordan Patterson, who received a call from Lindsey right after Jessie made her call, showed up, too.

  Wearing a pair of yellow rubber gloves, Jordan dug through the large plastic garbage can. The lock was at the bottom.

  “We’re very lucky,” he said as he pulled it out. “The garbage is emptied every three days, and the janitor is very good at keeping on schedule. If we’d waited even a few more hours, this can would have a new bag in it, and this lock would be gone forever.”

  He brushed it off and handed it to Lindsey, who had brought a set of master keys from her office. The lock was, as Benny had said, closed. Lindsey tried to pull it open, but it held tight. Jessie patted her little brother on the shoulder. That part of his story had now been proven true.

  Lindsey slipped the key into the hole and turned it. Sure enough, the lock, in spite of looking like it had been run over by a large truck, popped open. Lindsey tested it a few more times, and each time it worked fine.

  “Incredible,” Jordan said, scratching his head. “I just don’t get it.”

  “We’re not through yet, though,” Lindsey said.

  They all went over to the back room in the Bird Barn. The cage lock there was still sitting on a table near the sink, waiting to be thrown out. Lindsey tested it, and the same thing happened.

  “Yeah, it works fine,” she said. “It’s pretty banged up, but it works.”

  Henry said, “Wow.”

  “Now I’m really confused,” Violet said.

  “So am I,” Benny added.

  Jessie, on the other hand, was standing by herself near the condor cage, arms folded, deep in thought. She had a weird feeling that a big piece of the puzzle was close now—but she couldn’t quite get hold of it. How frustrating!

  It suddenly became clear when she looked one more time at the door to the condors’ cage, in particular at the two little rings where the lock attached. One ring was on the door. The other was on the door frame. When the door was closed, the two rings were side-by-side, and the arm of the lock was slipped through both of them.

  In a flash, everything made sense.

  “Oh, my goodness!” she said, putting her hands to her mouth. The others, who had been talking quietly among themselves, turned.

  “What’s the matter?” Lindsey asked.

  Jessie smiled. “The locks! I think I know what happened!”

  “Well, tell us,” Jordan instructed.

  She pointed to the rings on the cage. “See these?”

  Henry nodded. “Yeah.”

  “They should be bent. If the thief really broke the locks off by force, like with a hammer or something, these little steel rings should be bent downward. If the thief hit the locks hard enough to break them open, there’s no way these rings could’ve remained straight. They’d be all beaten up, too.”

  Jordan came over and examined the rings. “I think you’re right, Jessie,” he said slowly. “There isn’t even a scratch on them.”

  “And I’ll bet there isn’t a scratch on the ones on the black-footed ferrets’ cage, either.” Jessie was really smiling big now. “That means the thief never broke the locks open. He or she had a key!”

  Everyone froze. “A key?” Jordan asked. “That’s impossible! Only the people who work here have keys, and I’m sure none of them would steal any animals.”

  “Are you positive?” Henry asked, but Lindsey was already nodding.

  “Positive,” Jordan said firmly.

  “Yeah, I agree,” Lindsey added quickly. “We’ve got a dynamite staff here. I’m just as sure as Jordan is.”

  “I had thought about that before,” Violet mentioned, “about someone using a key, but I didn’t think it was possible, either.”

  “And besides,” Jordan went on, “the zookeepers only have keys to the buildings in which they work. At least, usually. The young woman who runs the mammal house can’t get into the Bird Barn. Although sometimes if one keeper is out sick, another will fill in for them.”

  Jessie nodded. “Whoever did it must have had a key. It’s the only way to explain all this. The thief opened the ...”

  Her voice trailed off as her eyes went to the little cluster of nicks and dents in the floor.

  “Of course!” she said loudly. Benny, whose attention had wandered toward a pair of parakeets, jumped.

  “What now?” Henry asked.

  “The little dents in the floor! Jordan, may I see that lock, please?”

  She took it from him and turned it upside down. One edge was discolored by some chalky white powder. She knelt down and ran her finger over the dents on the cement floor. Sure enough, she found the exact same chalky powder.

  “Okay,” Jessie explained. “First the thief opened the locks with a key! Then, to make it look like he didn’t have a key, he placed the locks on the floor”—she pointed to the dents—“and kept hitting them until they looked as though they’d been broken open. But the thief forgot to bend the little silver rings on the cage where the lock hangs.”

  “But now we’ve got an even bigger problem on our hands,” Lindsey cut in. “We’ve got to figure out who has a key to all the cage door locks and who also happens to be an animal thief.”

  Jordan got to his feet again. “Well, there are only four people who have keys to all the cages,” he said matter-of-factly. “Lindsey, myself, Mr. Colby, and Alan Parker, the head keeper. But again, I would stake everything I own that none of us is the thief.”

  “But ... does anyone else have access to your keys?” Henry asked. “Anyone who can get a hold of them?”

  “It’s possible,” Lindsey said. “I’ll have to think about that.”

  “Hey,” Henry said excitedly, “I’ll bet the thief had keys to all the door locks, too.”

  “That’s right!” Jessie agreed. “You thought that the window was probably too small! I’ll bet the thief came right through the door!”

  Violet added, “That’s why the window was left: open. The thief wanted us to think he or she came through there, too.”

  “But wasn’t the window lock twisted and broken?” Benny asked.

  “Only in here,” Henry said. “In the mammal house it wasn’t.”

  “A very inconsistent and absentminded thief,” Jordan pointed out.

  “Jordan, how old are these locks?” Jessie asked.

  “Which ones?”

  “All of them. The locks on the cages, the door locks ...”

  “Hmmm. I think they’re all pretty old. We haven’t bought new locks in a long time. No reason to, not as long as the ones we’ve already got are working okay. Why do you ask?”

  “I had this idea—maybe the person who has the keys isn’t someone who works here now, but did before.”

  Jordan’s eyebrows rose. “I hadn’t considered that.”

  Lindsey patted Jessie on the shoulder. “You’re really batting a thousand today, kid.”

  Jordan said, “Jessie’s right. Anyone who worked here in the past could’ve gotten copies made of all the keys. We’ve been open for nearly six years, and in that time we’ve had a total of almost a hundred employees. Everyone from head keepers to janitors. Any of them could, if they were careful, get a copy made of each key.”

  Lindsey held hers up. There were about fifty keys on one large silver hoop. “They’re too heavy to carry around all the time.”

  “Exactly,” Jordan agreed.

  “Someone could’ve sneaked into our offices while we were taking care of business in the zoo somewhere, and taken off a few keys at a time. We’ve got so many, we probably wouldn’t even notice.”

  “Well, I’m going to get out a list of all our past employees and go over the names one by one,” Jordan said. “Maybe someone will stick out.”

  Just as he got to the door, he turned back to the Aldens and said, “Lunch is on me today, kids. Who needs the police? You’re the best detectives around.”

  “Thanks, but the mystery is far from solved,” Henry pointed out. “There’s still a lot of work to do.”

  “Yep,” Jordan agreed.

  “All this thinking is making me hungry,” said Benny. “Can we go to lunch early?”

  Everyone laughed. “Sure,” said Jessie.

  “You three go on ahead,” Henry told them. “I’ll meet you at the food court. I just want to look around a little more.”

  As Henry was getting ready to head over to the food court about half an hour later, he spotted Beth, the intern, in the bushes along the outside of the Bird Barn. She was pushing against each window, apparently to see if they would open or not.

  I wonder what she’s up to, Henry thought.

  He turned and headed in her direction, not really sure what he would say when he got to her. It didn’t matter, though, because before he reached her, she turned and hurried off. Henry was sure she hadn’t noticed him, but now he was more confused than ever. Was Beth trying to solve the mystery, too? Or was she part of it?

  CHAPTER 6

  A Waiting Game

  Lindsey had to meet with Jordan again to discuss a few details. Then she caught up with the Aldens at the food court at noon for their free lunch.

  “Jordan was really impressed with the things you came up with,” she told Jessie as they ate.

  Jessie smiled, almost embarrassed. “I’m just trying to help the zoo. Any of us could’ve thought up that stuff. It just happened to be me this time.”

  “Well, he really appreciates your help, all of you.”

  “Did he come up with any suspicious names on that employee list?” Henry asked.

  “He didn’t get a chance to look at it for very long. I looked it over, too, and no one jumped out at me.” She tucked a loose strand of blond hair back behind her ear. “We’ve been lucky here, we really have. We’ve had a lot of good people on staff. Very few who didn’t work out. When someone’s left, it’s usually been because he or she found a different job, went back to school, or moved. We haven’t had to let too many people go.”

  “Of the ones you did let go, were any of them, you know ... angry?” Henry asked.

  Lindsey thought about it for a second, then shook her head. “No, not really. We’ve never had any nastiness, if that’s what you mean. The few times we’ve had to let people go, it was because they just didn’t seem to be working out. They cared for the animals very much, but they didn’t have the knack for taking care of them properly. It takes a very special type of person to be a good zookeeper. Anyone can be a zookeeper, but only a few can be good zookeepers.”

  “Like you!” Benny said.

  Lindsey blushed. “I’m not as good as I’d like to be, and there are people here who are better. Jordan’s one of the best zookeepers in the world.” She took another sip from her soda. “Jordan and Mr. Colby personally interview everyone who applies to work here. Between the two of them, they’re very good at judging people. I still find it hard to believe someone who used to work here could be the thief.”

  “What are they going to do about the keys?” Jessie asked.

  Violet nodded. “And what about the locks?”

  Lindsey sighed. “I guess we’re going to have to change all of them. The cage locks, the door locks. It’s going to be very expensive.”

  “Mr. Colby won’t be too happy about that, I’ll bet,” Jessie guessed.

  “No, he certainly won’t,” Lindsey agreed. “But it’s better than losing more animals. That would be a disaster.”

  Henry, who had been deep in thought for the last few minutes, said, “You know something? It might be better for you not to change any locks, at least not yet.”

  Lindsey stopped short of taking a bite from her sandwich. “Why would that be better?”

  “Because you’ll never catch the thief if you do.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Look, if you change all the locks now, and the thief tries to take some more animals, he or she will know you’ve figured out what’s going on. Then that person will disappear for good, and you’ll never get the ferrets or the condors back.”

  “Okay...”

  “So leave everything the way it is for now, let the thief think everything’s fine. The thief has already made one big mistake with the “broken” locks. There’s bound to be another, if we can just wait a little longer.”

  Jessie asked, “Has the night guard started yet?”

  Lindsey shook her head. “No. He’ll start on Monday.”

  “Maybe we can figure something out before then,” Henry said. “Let’s see ... well, you know the thief is going after the endangered species...”

  “They’re the most valuable,” Lindsey pointed out, “so it makes sense.”

  “So what animal will be taken next?” Violet asked.

  Lindsey frowned. “It gets much more serious now. I’m afraid this time the thief might go for the toads.”

  “Toads?” Jessie asked, surprised. “I thought there were lots of toads around.”

  “No,” Lindsey said. “Some toads and frogs are very rare. And we have one of the rarest kinds in our program right now.” She hesitated. “I think we’d better go talk to Dr. Hunziker. Come on.”

  They all met in the keeper’s room behind the amphibian enclosures. It didn’t take long for the Aldens to realize these back rooms all looked pretty much the same—bright lights, a cement floor, a long table, a pair of steel sinks, and a wall of supply shelves. There was something different in this room, however—the long table had rows and rows of plastic cups on it.

  “What are they for?” Benny asked as the Aldens walked in with Jordan and Lindsey.

  A man of about thirty with dark hair and glasses was going from cup to cup, sprinkling what looked like pink powder into each.

  “This is Ray Hunziker, kids,” Jordan said. “He’s been the zoo’s head reptile and amphibian keeper since the very first day it opened.”

  The Aldens and Dr. Hunziker exchanged hellos. Then Ray turned to Benny to answer his question. “They’re nursery cups,” he said with a warm smile.

  “Nursery cups?”

  “Yep. Come on over and have a look.”

  Benny peered into the first cup and saw something moving in the water. It was a little black oval with a squiggly tail.

  “Is that ... ?”

  “A tadpole?’’ Ray asked.

  “Yeah ...”

  “Sure is.”

  “Wow!”

  The others gathered around, looking into the other cups. Each one contained about two inches of clean water and a single tadpole.

  “How long until they’re big?” Benny asked.

  “Oh, about six months. In a year they’ll be full-grown.”

  “What kind of toads are these?” Violet asked.

  “These are Wyoming toads,” Ray told her. “They’re truly endangered. There are none left in the wild at all.”