Lindsey knew the Alden children had solved quite a few mysteries, so she brought them to the scene of the crime. It was a good-sized room in the small-mammal house. It was brightly lit, with a cement floor and pale yellow walls. A bank of cages lined the left side of the room along with a double sink with a hose, a large garbage can, and a long table. The wall to the right was filled by shelves of supplies, bags of food, and some cleaning chemicals. The faint scent of animals hung in the air.
Lindsey paced from the shelves to the sink and back again. She was obviously upset.
Grandfather had known her since she was a small child. She’d always loved animals, so it came as no surprise that she ended up working for a zoo. Eventually the Alden children got to know her, too. Jessie and Violet particularly admired her. She was tough and smart, and she stood behind the things she really believed in. Her sharp green eyes didn’t miss anything, and she usually wore her long blond hair in a ponytail to keep it out of her face.
“They were in here,” she told the Aldens, stopping at one of the cages. There was a little paper card in a slot on the door. It read, BLACK-FOOTED FERRETS. Under that, someone had written, TINA AND TIM. “They were going to be shown this morning,” she added.
She crossed the room and unhooked a small brass latch on the wall. A broad panel dropped down. It looked like a secret door. “Take a look in here.”
The Aldens came over and peered into a tiny landscape. There were sand, dead tree branches, tiny bushes, and piles of rocks. Inside one rock pile was a little pool of water. At the far end, in a dark corner, was a small hill with a hole in the center. The hole was about as wide as a baseball.
“This is cool!” Benny gawked. Suddenly being a zookeeper seemed like the greatest job in the world.
“Beautiful,” Violet added. “And so real.”
“I guess this is where Tina and Tim were supposed to go,” Henry volunteered.
Lindsey nodded. “That’s right. We were going to show them for the very first time today. But now ...”
She pointed to the front of the enclosure. The glass had been covered by big sheets of brown paper. The Aldens could see the shadows of passing visitors on the other side. One of the zoo workers had written something on the paper. Although the words were backward, the Aldens could still tell what they said: THIS DISPLAY TEMPORARILY CLOSED. SORRY!
“Some of our visitors are going to be upset!” she told them. “Black-footed ferrets are very rare. Some people have traveled a long way to see them. We’re one of only three zoos in the world that has them!”
She went back over to their empty cage and closed the door. There was a bowl of water inside. It made the cage look emptier somehow.
“Is there any chance the ferrets got out on their own?” Jessie asked. “Maybe someone forgot to lock it?”
Lindsey shook her head and took something off the long table.
“No. Look at this.”
She handed Jessie an ordinary lock—ordinary except that it was all beaten up. It looked like it had been struck with something very heavy, like a large rock or a brick.
“Someone definitely came in and broke that off the cage.”
“Did they use something in here?” Henry asked, looking around the room.
“I don’t think so,” Lindsey answered. “They probably brought something with them. A hammer, perhaps.” She nodded in the direction of the supply shelves. “They also took a bag of food. One is missing, and we keep very careful track of how much we have. We need to, because we need to know how much the animals are eating.”
“Which food did they take?” Violet asked.
“A bag for the herbivores,” Lindsey answered. “Herbivores are the animals that eat plant matter, like berries and fruits and leaves.”
Henry went over to the window that was still open. “I guess the thief came in here, right?”
“Probably. Only one window was unlocked when we checked; but then, the thief would’ve needed only one.”
Just then the door opened and a young woman hurried in.
“Is it true, Lindsey, about the ferrets?” she asked.
“I’m afraid so, Beth,” said Lindsey, and she introduced the young woman to the Aldens. She explained that Beth was an intern at the zoo, helping the mammal keeper while going to college to learn to be a zookeeper herself. Beth looked to be in her early twenties, and instead of the usual green zoo uniform, she wore overalls covered with decorative patches that declared her love of animals. SAVE THE WHALES, EXTINCT MEANS FOREVER, and ANIMALS ARE PEOPLE, TOO, some of them stated.
She was clearly upset about the ferret theft. She suggested that perhaps the carelessness of the other keepers was to blame. “I hate to say it, Lindsey, but most of the people around here just don’t take their jobs seriously enough,” she was saying. “And no one takes their job as seriously as I do.”
“I know you’re upset, Beth, and that the ferrets were your special favorites. But we shouldn’t go around wildly blaming one another. For now let’s just stay calm and keep our eyes and ears open.” Then, to gently change the subject, Lindsey asked, “Are the morning feedings finished yet?”
“Almost,” Beth said, taking a bag of food from the shelf. She gave Lindsey a meaningful look and added, “I’ll let you know if I see anything suspicious,” then left the room.
“She sure does care a lot about the animals!” said Benny. “I bet she’ll make a good zookeeper someday.”
“She does care a lot about animals, Benny,” said Lindsey, “but if she is going to be a good zookeeper she will have to learn how to get along with people a little bit better. I’m afraid she thinks she knows more about animals than she really does—and that might keep her from learning more.”
Upon hearing this, Jessie couldn’t help but ask, “Do you think it’s possible that because she loves the animals so much, and because she thinks no one else can care for them better than she can, maybe she took them? I mean, I don’t want to go around accusing anyone already, but is it possible?”
Lindsey gave this some thought. “I guess it’s possible. Anything’s possible at this point.” Then she shrugged. “But we’ll see. Let’s get some more evidence together before we start drawing conclusions. Now, where were we?”
“I was wondering what time you think the theft occurred,” Grandfather said. “Do you have any idea?”
Lindsey shook her head. “It must have happened sometime between when we all left last night and when we came back in this morning. Aside from that ...” She shrugged. “Who knows?”
“Maybe we could take a guess based on how much water the ferrets drank,” Henry suggested.
Everyone looked at him, waiting for an explanation.
“How much water they drank,” he said again. “If you know how much they usually drink during one night, we can figure it out from there. How much did you give them before you left, how much is there now, and how much do they usually drink in a night?”
Lindsey smiled—probably for the first time all day. “That’s pretty clever.”
“Good detectives need to be clever!” Benny told her.
“I’ll have our head mammal keeper work on it,” Lindsey went on. “I’ll be seeing her later.”
Violet shook her head. “But who would want to steal ferrets? Who would want to steal animals at all? That’s so mean.”
Lindsey said, “My guess is they stole the ferrets because they’re valuable. Remember that they’re a very rare species. There are only a few thousand black-footed ferrets left in the wild. There was a time, in fact, when scientists thought they were extinct. But then a little group of them was discovered. So they were almost all gone once before. We really can’t afford to lose them again.”
“But that still doesn’t explain why they’re valuable,” Henry said. “Valuable to whom?”
Lindsey frowned. “You’re never going to believe this, but ... sometimes people buy rare animals to show them off, just to prove that they have them.”
“Really?” Jessie asked.
“I’m afraid so. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it does happen.”
“That’s awful,” Violet said.
Henry crouched down, looking curiously at some little dents in the otherwise smooth cement floor. “Do these have anything to do with the theft?” He ran his hand over them. The surface of the floor was cold. “Were they here yesterday?”
“No,” Lindsey answered. “The mammal keeper noticed them, too. She’s sure they weren’t there before. But no one has a clue as to how they got there or why.”
“The thief could’ve dropped something heavy,” Jessie suggested. “No one would’ve heard it.”
Lindsey nodded. “I suppose that’s possible.”
“How many people knew the ferrets were here?” Grandfather asked.
“Not many,” Lindsey answered quickly. “We were very careful about that. We wanted to advertise the breeding program, but we certainly didn’t want to make a big deal about where exactly the animals were being kept until today. There was no reason to.”
“I noticed the zoo guards searching people’s bags at the exit when we first came in,” Henry mentioned.
“Yes, I noticed them, too,” said Grandfather.
“Actually, they’re not zoo guards,” Lindsey told them. “They’re the local police.”
“The police!” Violet exclaimed.
“Uh-huh.” Lindsey let out a long, weary sigh. “Boy, are we ever going to be in trouble if we don’t get those ferrets back. Big trouble.”
Jessie went over and put her hand on Lindsey’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll help you find them.”
“Of course we will,” Violet said.
“That’s right,” Henry added.
“Hasn’t been a mystery yet we couldn’t solve!” Benny assured her.
Lindsey smiled. “I hope this one isn’t any different,” she said.
Then her smile disappeared again.
After the hectic day, Lindsey invited the Aldens back to her apartment for dinner. Grandfather Alden politely declined because he wanted to get some rest. He had a busy week of business ahead. Fortunately, Lindsey’s apartment was only a few blocks away from home, so the children were allowed to go without him.
After dinner Lindsey showed the children her huge collection of nature books and the dozens of colorful paintings and photographs on her living room walls. Some were animal pictures but others showed plants, particularly flowers.
After talking all day about the stolen ferrets, Lindsey was ready for more cheerful topics. So she told the children stories about funny things that had happened to her at the zoo. She started with one about a koala bear. The keeper had forgotten to lock the cage, and it found its way out. It was missing for three days, and for a while the zoo thought they’d never find it again. Then a woman visitor stopped by Lindsey’s office and told her how much she liked the “live outdoor exhibits in the lunch area.” Lindsey was speechless—the zoo didn’t have any live outdoor exhibits in the lunch area! Hurrying to the scene, she discovered the koala in a small tree. About a dozen visitors were standing around it, taking pictures.
When listening to Lindsey’s funny story, Violet looked at the gorgeous framed pictures and the books. Certainly there were more beautiful pictures in each of them! Lindsey told Violet she could look through any book she wanted.
When she spotted a book about small mammals, she thought of the black-footed ferrets. Sure enough, there was a section on ferrets at the back. Violet looked through it and was surprised at how much she already knew about black-footed ferrets from what Lindsey had told them today:
Adults weigh about a pound and a half ... They live in burrows and are very secretive ... Light brown with black markings on their feet, giving them their name ...
She kept reading, hoping maybe she’d come across something she didn’t know. It didn’t take long, and when she got to that information, her heart jumped:
Black-footed ferrets are carnivores, which means they eat meat.
“Oh, no,” she said to herself.
“What’s the matter, Violet?” Jessie asked.
“Huh? Oh, nothing, sorry.” She didn’t want to bring up the ferrets again, at least not today. She knew Lindsey was tired of talking about them.
But she still looked worried, and Lindsey noticed this. “C’mon, Violet. What’s up?”
“Um, well ... I don’t mean to bring this up again, but I read something here about the black-footed ferrets, and I don’t know if it’s important or not.”
“What’s it say?”
“It says that they only eat meat. They’re carnivores.”
“So?” Henry asked.
“You mentioned that the thief stole a bag of food. That was food for—”
“Herbivores!” Lindsey said.
“What are herbivores again?” Benny asked.
“Herbivores are plant-eaters,” Lindsey told him. “They only eat plant leaves, berries, nuts, and stuff like that.”
“So if the thief took only a food bag for a herbivore,” Jessie cut in, “then that means—“
“That means the ferrets don’t have anything to eat,” Lindsey said in almost a whisper.
“Will they ... will they get sick?” Benny asked timidly.
“I don’t think so,” Lindsey replied. “If you had gone to the trouble of stealing them, wouldn’t you make sure you knew how to take proper care of them? As soon as they see that the ferrets won’t eat any of the stolen food, they’ll probably check a book for more information. Just like you did.”
The children still looked worried about the ferrets’ health.
“Look,” Lindsey said, “whoever stole the ferrets obviously cares about them. If the thief didn’t care, he or she wouldn’t have bothered to take any food at all. Please don’t worry. They’ll be all right.”
“Well, at least we have another little clue to build on,” Jessie said.
“What’s that?”
“The thief doesn’t know what ferrets eat.”
This was a little clue. It certainly ruled out the possibility that one of the more experienced zookeepers in the mammal house was the thief.
“Good point,” Lindsey said. “Very good point.” |