The Clue at the Zoo Read online

  The Clue at the Zoo

  Patricia Reilly Giff

  Illustrated by Blanche Sims

  For my daughter, Laurie, with love

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  A Biography of Patricia Reilly Giff

  CHAPTER ONE

  “WHAT DO YOU want to do today?” Dawn Bosco asked.

  “I don’t know.” Jill Simon shook her head. The green plaid bows on her four braids shook too.

  Dawn squinched her eyes almost shut. She peered out the screen door. “I have to find a mystery before school starts next week. Just one little—”

  Dawn’s grandmother put a bowl of grapes on the table. “I know what we’re going to do today,” Noni said. She pointed to the street.

  A car was stopping in front of the house.

  Jill leaned forward. “Is that Arno? Arno Eliot and his mother?”

  “I don’t believe it,” Dawn said. “What’s that kid doing here?”

  They had met Arno and his mother at the beach two weeks ago.

  Noni and Mrs. Eliot were friends now.

  Too bad.

  Arno had to be the worst six-year-old kid in the world.

  Dawn jammed her Polka Dot Private Eye hat down over her eyes.

  She and Jill made gagging noises.

  “Ssh,” said Noni. “Here they come.”

  Arno was hopping up the path in front of his mother.

  He had a yellow knapsack over his shoulders. The straps were flying all over the place.

  Arno had long skinny legs.

  He had big fat knees.

  He had a button that said:

  I CAN SPELL . . . ALMOST.

  Arno’s mother looked worn out.

  Anyone would be worn out if she had to take care of Arno, Dawn thought.

  “Now, listen, girls,” Noni whispered. “Don’t make a fuss. Mrs. Eliot has to work. She needs a baby-sitter for Arno.”

  Dawn wiggled her nose. She made an anteater face. “I’m not going to baby-sit that—”

  “Of course not,” said Noni. “I am. I’m going to watch Arno all week.” She smiled at Dawn. “And you can help.”

  Arno reached the top step.

  He gave the screen door a kick.

  “Open up,” he yelled.

  Dawn shuddered. She pushed open the door.

  Behind Arno came Mrs. Eliot.

  She was carrying about a hundred games and toys.

  She dumped them on the floor. “Games that make you think,” she said. “Arno always wins. He likes to think.”

  Dawn looked at one of the games.

  She hoped she didn’t have to play with him.

  She didn’t want to be beaten by a six-year-old boy.

  “I like to spell too.” Arno pointed at Dawn. “B-g n-s.” He laughed. “Big nose.”

  “Almost right,” said his mother. “Very good.”

  Dawn wiggled her nose again. She tried to make it look smaller.

  Jill was grinning.

  Arno pointed at Jill. “U-t-u,” he said. “You too.”

  Dawn and Jill looked at each other. “Some kid,” said Dawn.

  “Bye, Arno,” said his mother. She waved her hand.

  She looked glad to go.

  Arno didn’t even notice she was leaving.

  He was headed for the stairs.

  “What’s up there?” he asked.

  “My bedroom,” said Dawn. “It’s private. Keep out.”

  Noni clicked her tongue at Dawn. “Let’s be n-i-c-e,” she spelled.

  Arno looked back. “Let’s be nuts?” he asked.

  Dawn tried not to laugh.

  She and Jill followed him up the stairs.

  He stopped short at Dawn’s bedroom door. “Just what I thought. Girl’s stuff. Junk.”

  Dawn started to shut the door.

  “Never mind,” he said. “I’ll take a look anyway.”

  “Look doesn’t mean touch,” she said.

  Arno got down on the floor. His head disappeared under the bed . . . and then his shoulders.

  “Get out of there,” Dawn said.

  He backed out again. “What’s this?” He was dragging a polka dot box.

  “It’s a private eye box,” said Dawn. “It has lots of stuff to solve crime.”

  Arno looked interested. He tried to open it.

  “Locked,” said Dawn. “The key is around my neck.”

  He held his hand out. “How about—”

  “No.” Dawn shook her head. She shoved the box under the bed again.

  Arno stood up. “I bet you couldn’t solve a crime.”

  “I solved one two weeks ago. Remember?”

  “Bet a nickel you can’t solve another one,” said Arno.

  “Don’t bother.”

  “I’m rich,” said Arno. “I can bet a dollar. Two dollars.”

  Dawn narrowed her eyes. “If I had a mystery to solve, I’d do it.”

  Arno didn’t answer. He raced downstairs again.

  “Can we go to the zoo?” he asked Noni.

  Noni thought for a minute. “Why not?” she said.

  “Good,” said Arno. He stuck out his tongue at Dawn. “They’ll probably put you in the alligator swamp.”

  Dawn gritted her teeth. “I’d like to put you in a lizard tank.”

  “I think we’re ready to go,” said Noni.

  “Don’t forget your private eye box,” said Jill.

  “You’re right.” Dawn started for the stairs.

  With Arno around, there probably would be trouble.

  CHAPTER TWO

  NONI PARKED IN THE zoo lot. “Don’t forget anything,” she said.

  Arno climbed out over Dawn.

  His knapsack strap hit her in the nose.

  “Ouch,” Dawn said. “Why don’t you close that thing?”

  He crossed his eyes. “I’m going to look for alligators.” He started across the lot.

  Another car pulled in.

  A woman got out with a dog.

  She had a rose pinned to her hair.

  So did the dog.

  Dawn and Jill began to laugh.

  The dog growled.

  The girls ran to catch up with Arno.

  “Wait,” said Noni. She sank down on a bench under the trees. “My big toes are squished in these shoes. I think I’ll sit here.”

  Dawn dropped her private eye box on the bench next to Noni. “Whew, that’s heavy.”

  She opened it and grabbed her private eye hat. “I’ll put this on, just in case.”

  “Let’s go, let’s go,” said Arno. He ran halfway up the path, then back again. “Hurry.”

  Noni took a breath. “Tell you what. The three of you go together.” She took out a crossword puzzle and a pencil. “You can leave your things here, Arno.”

  Arno thought about it.

  He shook his head. “Someone might steal my stuff while you’re not looking. My dollars too.”

  “Why don’t you stay with Noni?” Dawn said. “You can watch everything yourself.”

  Noni lowered one eyebrow. She stared at Dawn.

  “I guess not,” Dawn said. She raised her shoulders in the air.

  She and Jill started up the path.

  Arno stopped to make faces at the monkeys. Then he dashed in front of them.

  The path curved ahead of them.

  Arno disappeared around the curve.

  “Yeow,” yelled a voice.

  Dawn and Jill looked at each other. “What now?”

/>   They raced to look.

  A girl was rubbing her knee.

  Two boys were sprawled on the ground. They looked like twins. Red balloons were tied to their wrists.

  The woman with the rose was dashing up the path.

  “Sorry.” Arno raised his shoulders in the air. “Now I need a drink,” he said.

  He went back to the water fountain.

  He straightened up. He looked at Dawn.

  His cheeks were puffed with water.

  “Don’t try it,” Dawn told him. “Don’t even think about it.”

  Arno stared at her for another minute.

  Then he spit the water onto a rosebush.

  “Gross,” said Jill.

  “Double gross,” said Dawn.

  “Plants need water,” said Arno.

  He danced around them, then ran ahead again.

  He kept yelling something back over his shoulder . . . something about alligators.

  Dawn didn’t pay attention.

  She was looking for a mystery . . . looking hard.

  At first everything seemed ordinary.

  A green hill stretched up on one side of her. It was covered with shady trees.

  On the other side was a stone house with a picture of a snake. Its tongue was darting out.

  Dawn shivered a little.

  She looked up the path toward the seal pool.

  A seal with whiskers stared back at her.

  Dawn smiled. Seals were fun.

  “Hey,” said Jill. “What’s that?”

  Dawn twirled around. A notebook was lying in the middle of the path.

  “I don’t think it was here a minute ago,” Jill said. She bent down and picked it up.

  Dawn looked over Jill’s shoulder.

  On the front, in yellow, it said:

  FROM A TO Z

  IT’S ME

  Underneath, someone had written in crayon: R.L.

  Jill ran her fingers over the cover. “What’s all this white stuff?”

  She handed the book to Dawn.

  Dawn could feel lumps stuck to the book. Small white lumps.

  Jill opened to the first page.

  There was no writing.

  Just pictures . . . two of them.

  “A red stop sign,” said Dawn. “And a bottle.”

  “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.

  CHAPTER THREE

  DAWN 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.”

  C
HAPTER FOUR

  DAWN 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.