“Blake still may have lost the camera,” Henry said to his sisters. He laid his head all the way back on his beanbag chair, looking up at the boxcar clubhouse ceiling. “We might not have searched hard enough. Or maybe someone picked it up. Did anyone check the zoo’s lost-and-found?”
Jessie typed a note into her computer. “Let’s do that first thing tomorrow.”
“In case we don’t find it, it’ll be good to get a list of suspects ready,” Violet said. “That way, we’ll know who to keep an eye on while we finish the zoo babies tour. Maybe one of us will see something suspicious.”
“Like when we thought Sophie was acting suspicious?” Jessie asked, typing Sophie Webb under a heading that said: Suspects.
“Exactly,” Violet agreed.
Henry sat up a little. “Suspicious?” he asked. “Tell me what you saw.” But before the girls could answer, Benny came bounding into the clubhouse. He was carrying a big bowl of popcorn. Watch, the Alden children’s dog, was right behind him.
“Snack time!” he announced, setting the bowl on a small table and dragging his own beanbag chair over. Watch lay down on the floor.
“We just had dinner,” Jessie said.
“Eating popcorn is like eating air,” Benny told his sister. “It takes up no room in your tummy.” He patted his belly before stuffing a handful of the treat into his mouth. “Mmmm.”
Violet took a few kernels before turning to Henry and answering his question. “Sophie disappeared at the giraffe cage when we were seeing the babies.”
“And then,” Jessie went on, “she stayed away from the giraffes when we went back there the second time.”
“That is odd,” Henry said. “But it doesn’t make her a thief.”
“I still think we should ask Sophie about the giraffes,” Violet told Jessie. “Write that down, okay?”
“Got it.” Jessie saved the document, then scrolled down the page. “Sophie is our first suspect. Who should be next?”
“Blake said he wanted Annika to be suspect number one,” Benny said. “See? I’m a good witness and a good rememberer, too.” He grinned.
“Show-off,” said Henry, laughing. He took a single piece of popcorn and tossed it at Benny playfully. Benny caught it and gobbled it down.
“Are there any clues that lead to her?” Jessie asked.
“Only that she and Blake both want to win the contest,” Henry said.
“She didn’t want Blake to have two cameras,” Violet added. “He could be right. She might have taken one to make things more fair.”
“Or to win their deal that I was the witness for!” Benny said. “But Annika keeps telling Blake she’s innocent.”
“But isn’t that what all thieves do?” Violet asked. “Say they are innocent?”
“Hmm.” Henry rubbed his chin, thinking. “It’s also what innocent people say.”
“I’ll put her down as suspect number two for now,” Jessie said, typing.
“Who else?” Violet looked at her brothers and sister.
“Well,” Henry said after a quiet pause. “There’s Nico. He really wished he had a camera. And he was all alone at the picnic table at lunch when everybody’s stuff was on the table. Maybe he took Blake’s camera then. I guess we’ll know whether or not he took Blake’s camera if he has his own camera tomorrow and he doesn’t buy one from Mr. Newton.”
“We need to watch everyone coming in tomorrow morning,” Jessie said. “Some kids will buy new cameras. But we have to be on the lookout for anyone who might have a zoo camera but did not buy it.”
Benny petted Watch’s head and thought for a moment. “I am Mr. Newton’s assistant zoologist,” he said. “I helped him sell the cameras today. Tomorrow, I’ll be able to help again and make sure everyone who has a camera paid for it.” Then he added, “This has been a very exciting spring break. Maybe the most exciting one ever.”
“It certainly has been interesting,” Henry agreed. Turning to Jessie he asked, “So we have three suspects, right?”
“We can add one more,” Jessie said. “I think Griffin should be on our list.” She typed his name down. “He and Matthew got into that big fight at lunch over the camera they were sharing,” she explained.
“So you think one of them took Blake’s camera?” Henry asked her. “Why Griffin and not Matthew?”
“Well,” Jessie said, “he was the one who stomped off without a camera saying he’d get himself one.”
“Oh!” Violet said, figuring out what her sister was thinking. “But when Simio was running around loose, it was Griffin who took the picture! Where’d he get the camera?”
“That’s right,” Henry said. “I remember thinking that a picture of the monkey might be a good one for the contest. But I was helping with the fruit trap. Okay, then, Griffin is suspect number four.”
Benny finished the last little bit of popcorn. “I need a drink,” he said, standing and picking up the bowl. “All that popped air made me thirsty!”
“Are we done for tonight?” Violet asked.
Jessie nodded yes. She printed out the suspects page and taped it into her notebook, ready for the next day at the zoo. “I could use a drink, too,” she added.
“Hot chocolate?” Henry suggested.
“Yum!” Jessie said, turning off the lights in the boxcar. “And then to bed!” She gave Benny a kiss on his head. “We all need a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow, we are going to find Blake’s camera.”
When they arrived at the zoo the next morning, Violet and Henry put all the Alden lunch bags in the cooler. Meanwhile, Jessie and Benny got permission to go to the main office to check the lost-and-found.
Benny dug deep through a cardboard box filled with lost items. There were sweaters and hats and other things the zookeepers had found after the zoo closed.
“Here’s a tennis shoe!” Benny said, reaching to the bottom of the collection. “How do you think someone lost a shoe? Did they wear only one home?”
“That’s an interesting mystery for another time,” Jessie said with a laugh. “Any cameras?”
Benny sorted through everything. “Nope,” he said. “But wait a second.” Benny leaned so far over the side of the box that his feet came off the floor. He rummaged around for a minute, but then he couldn’t get out on his own. “Pull me out, Jessie. I’m stuck,” he said.
Jessie grabbed Benny’s feet and tugged. He tumbled out of the box holding a bracelet. It was a silver link chain with a charm on it.
“What’s that charm?” Jesse asked, looking carefully at the bracelet. “Why, it’s a tiny swimmer, isn’t it?” She flipped the charm over. There was an S engraved on the back.
“I think it might be Sophie’s,” Benny said. He took a closer look. “But she didn’t say anything about losing a bracelet yesterday.”
Jessie nodded at Benny, then turned and asked a nearby attendant if it was okay to take the bracelet. “We think we know who this belongs to,” Jessie told the woman.
“Please bring it back if you can’t find the owner,” the woman said.
Jessie agreed and tucked the bracelet into her pocket.
“We better get back to the group,” Jessie told Benny. “We have questions to ask Sophie Webb.”
The two of them hurried back to the Educational Center’s red barn.
Mr. Newton was already selling cameras.
“Oh no,” Benny said. “Some kids have new cameras, but I didn’t see them pay.”
Benny pointed at Griffin, who was snapping pictures around the barn. “Like Griffin. How do I know if he just bought that one or if it’s Blake’s?”
“Let’s hope that Henry and Violet saw who stood in line,” Jessie said.
Jessie hurried over to Violet. She was standing with Nico. Jessie almost didn’t recognize him. Nico had his shaggy hair tucked under a baseball cap.
“Did you see who bought cameras?” Jessie whispered to her sister.
“No,” Violet admitted. “We were early, but other kids were even earlier! When we showed up, Mr. Newton had already started selling cameras. We saw Griffin and a few others buy cameras. But mostly . . . we missed it.”
“Hmm,” Jessie said. “I’m not sure how we’re going to solve this mystery now.”
“It was too easy thinking that we could just watch for who has a camera but didn’t buy one,” Henry said, coming over to the girls. “Mysteries are never that easy.”
“It might be a little harder to figure out, but we’re very good detectives!” Violet said.
Jessie noticed that Nico had a camera now. He was busy writing his name on it in pen. “After what happened yesterday with Blake,” he was saying, “I’m not taking any chances. This is my camera.”
“Did you just buy that?” Jessie asked Nico.
“Yes,” he said, handing the pen to Sophie.
Then Jessie saw that Sophie had a camera, too. But just yesterday she said her parents wouldn’t let her get one, Jesse thought.
“Did you just buy that?” Jessie asked, pointing to Sophie’s camera.
“It’s mine,” Sophie said, writing her name on the camera.
Henry pulled Jessie aside. Benny followed them. “Asking everyone if they bought a camera is not going to work,” Henry said. “If someone stole Blake’s camera, he or she might lie about whether or not they bought one.”
Jessie shrugged. “I was hoping someone would just confess.” She took out her notebook. Flipping it open, she turned to where she had taped the printed suspects list they had typed up the night before. “I suppose we should go ahead and interview the suspects like we planned.”
“That’s right, Jessie,” Benny said. “We have more questions for Sophie.”
Jessie agreed and pulled the bracelet out of her pocket. She led Benny back over to Sophie. “Is this yours?” Jessie asked. She held out the little charm bracelet for Sophie to see.
“Yes! Thank you!” Sophie took the bracelet. “Where’d you find it?”
“In the lost-and-found,” Benny said.
“Well, I am so glad. I didn’t know how I was going to explain to my parents that it was missing. They spent a lot to get it for my last birthday.” Sophie clasped the bracelet around her wrist and began to move over to the chair area.
“Wait, Sophie,” Violet said. “Yesterday I noticed that you stayed far away from the giraffes. Is there a reason?”
Sophie stopped and shuddered. A shiver went all the way through her. “I don’t like giraffes.”
“You don’t like them?” Jessie asked. “Really?”
“Ugh,” Sophie said. “When I was little, my parents bought me a stuffed giraffe toy. At night, in the dark, it looked so creepy with that long, long neck! I used to have bad dreams about giraffes. My parents finally had to take the toy away and give it to another kid.” She wrapped her arms around herself and said, “I know it’s silly, but those things still scare me!”
“That explains everything!” Benny said.
“What?” Sophie asked.
“Why you acted strange and disappeared at the giraffe’s habitat,” he told her. “We thought it might be because you took the camera and didn’t want to go back to the scene of the crime.”
“That’s what you thought?” Sophie said with a small laugh. “I just didn’t want to go see the giraffes.” She shook her head and walked away. “I can’t believe you thought I was the thief,” she muttered.
Jessie took out her notebook. “Sophie isn’t a suspect anymore. She said that the camera was hers, and I think I believe her. Sophie also explained that she acted weird yesterday because she was scared.” With her pen, Jessie drew a line though Sophie’s name. “One down, three to go. Annika’s next.”
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