By the start of the pizza party, the Aldens hadn’t solved the mystery. Blake’s camera was still missing.
Jessie opened the door to the Greenfield Zoo Education Center’s red barn. The place was decorated with balloons and streamers.
“I smell pepperoni,” Benny said. “And veggie pizza. And . . .” He sniffed the air. “. . . a couple of plain cheese pies, too.” Benny rubbed his belly and smiled.
“You have an amazing nose,” Violet said, pointing to a table along a side wall. On top of it were the three types of pizzas Benny’s nose had predicted.
“Pizza makes every party perfect,” Benny told Jessie.
“The only thing that would have made this party better,” Henry said, “is if we’d solved the mystery of Blake’s missing camera.”
Jessie agreed. “I’m disappointed, too. I went over the suspect list a thousand times. I just can’t figure it out.”
Violet shrugged. “I hope Blake’s not too sad at how things turned out. There’s still a possibility that one of his other pictures will win.”
“Well, I hope one of our pictures wins,” Benny said. He grabbed Henry’s arm. “Come on, Henry. The pizza’s getting cold, and everyone’s waiting for me to take the first slice, just like Mr. Newton promised.”
The Aldens went to the pizza table and everyone grabbed a few slices, following Benny. Then they sat in the circle of folding chairs.
Matthew and Griffin came to sit beside them. They were dressed in twin zoo shirts with monkeys on them.
“It’s a picture of Simio,” Matthew told Benny.
“It does kind of look like him,” Benny said, leaning in to study the shirt.
“We wanted to always remember that funny monkey,” Griffin said.
Sophie joined the circle. She had her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail.
Sophie was wearing her swim charm bracelet. When Mr. Newton showed up, he was wearing his tennis shoes.
“We did solve a few mysteries,” Benny told Jessie. “We found a bracelet and a missing shoe!”
Jessie smiled. “I guess it wasn’t all bad detective work, huh?”
“No,” Violet said. “We did pretty well. Two out of three.”
Blake was sitting at the opposite side of the circle. “No one will ever know how great my giraffe picture was,” Blake said sadly. “It was an artistic masterpiece!”
“Oh, give it up already,” Annika told him. “You lost the camera. The contest results have been decided. Stop complaining.”
“I wouldn’t complain if you hadn’t taken it,” Blake said, standing up and waving his pizza crust at her.
“They’re fighting again,” Violet said to Henry. “Can you get them to stop?”
“I think once Mr. Newton announces the winner, it’ll be over,” Henry said. “There won’t be anything more to argue about.”
All the remaining children took seats in the circle. Annika came to sit by the Aldens, as far away from Blake as she could.
“I got all of your photos developed after the tour ended,” Mr. Newton said. “The zoologist judges looked at all the pictures. It was hard to decide because there were so many good ones.” He took out a zoo pass and held it up. “There is only one grand prize, but today we’ll also award second and third place winners.”
Mr. Newton asked the kids to make drum roll sounds by patting their hands against their thighs.
“Third place, for his picture of Simio, is . . . Griffin!” Mr. Newton told Griffin to come to the front of the room.
“Thank you,” Griffin said, taking a bow. “Third place is good for me!” Mr. Newton gave Griffin a coupon for a free ice cream at the snack bar.
“Oooh,” Benny said. “That’s a yummy prize!”
“You have to share the cone with me,” Matthew told his brother. “It was my camera.”
“I do not have to share,” Griffin said. “I was the one who took the picture.”
“They’re as bad as Blake and Annika,” Henry whispered to Jessie.
“They are worse,” Jessie whispered back. “I bet they fight all day!”
Mr. Newton went on with the presentation. “In second place,” he said, “with a shot of her brother and a butterfly on his head is . . . Violet Alden!”
“How’d you know I took the picture?” Violet asked Mr. Newton with a huge smile. “I was sharing the camera with Henry, Jessie, and Benny all day.”
Mr. Newton showed her the winning shot. The butterfly was on Benny’s head, and Henry and Jessie were in the background of the photo.
“You were the only one not in the picture,” Mr. Newton said. “It wasn’t too hard to figure out.”
“Oh,” Violet said with a smile. “Good detective work, Mr. Newton.”
“Thanks.” Mr. Newton gave Violet a coupon for a supersize popcorn bucket.
“Yippee!” Benny cheered. He held out his hand to take the ticket from Violet.
“No way,” she said. “I’m keeping it in my purse. I know you,” she winked. “You’ll eat the whole thing by yourself.”
Benny laughed, rubbing his hands together. “You read my mind,” he said.
Mr. Newton brought out an easel that was covered with a sheet. “Here’s the grand prize winning photo,” he said. “I had a big poster of it made. Are you ready to see?”
The children all got up from their chairs and gathered around.
“And in first place, winning a year pass to the zoo, is . . .” Mr. Newton whipped off the sheet.
Beneath it stood a picture of a baby giraffe, wobbly on its legs, standing next to its mother.
“Annika Gentry!”
“Oh my gosh!” Annika jumped up and down. She danced around and cheered.
Mr. Newton handed her the zoo pass and a small blue first-place ribbon. “Congratulations,” he said, shaking her hand.
“Thanks so much,” Annika told him. Annika went over to Benny. “You were my witness!” she said. “Tell Blake that he has to let me be a photographer for the newspaper.”
“You made her a deal,” Benny said to Blake.
“Oh, fine,” Blake said. “I’m not a sore loser. You can take pictures for the paper.”
Annika was so excited, she jumped forward, grabbed Blake, and hugged him.
He quickly stepped backwards out of her arms. “No hugging on the newspaper.” Annika laughed.
“I want to see your picture close-up,” Blake said, moving through the crowd. “It’s good,” he started to give Annika a compliment, but stopped. “Mr. Newton!” he called in a loud voice. “Hold everything! Annika didn’t win the contest.”
The room went silent.
“I won the contest.” He pointed at the photograph. “I took this picture!” |