A Thief at the National Zoo (3 page)

KC shook her head. “It’s a chimpanzee, Marsh,” she said.

Marshall popped the chimp into his mouth. “So why did you make me get out of bed so early?” he asked.

“I’ve been thinking about the missing jewel,” KC said.

“You mean the security guys didn’t find it yet?”

KC shook her head. “I don’t think so. And the president made a bunch of phone calls to China last night.” She gestured toward the president’s study. “I think he’s talking to Mr. Chu right now.”

Marshall swallowed a mouthful of Fruiteez. “So what did they say?”

“Marshall, I don’t listen to other
people’s private phone calls!” KC said.

“You don’t?” Marshall asked with big eyes.

KC wanted to be a TV anchorperson when she grew up. She was preparing herself by reading newspapers, watching news on TV, and being extra observant.

KC sighed. “Well, I did hear a few things,” she admitted. “By accident!” she added as Marshall gave her another look. “I think the president was talking to the premier of China. The president promised he’d find the Tiger’s Eye, even if he had to call out the National Guard.”

Marshall gulped some orange juice. “Maybe the thief swallowed it,” he said. “I saw a movie once where some crook swallowed a gold ring.”

“Marsh, the Tiger’s Eye is too big,” KC
said. She grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl. “It was bigger than this!”

She got up and began pacing around the kitchen. “We both saw the Tigers Eye in the box, right?”

“Right,” Marshall said, still eating his cereal.

“And the only time anyone could have taken it out of the box was when the lights went out,” she went on.

“Right,” Marshall repeated. “But the room was totally dark. How would anyone be able to find a black box in a black room?” He took the last sip of his orange juice. “Do you think the crook knew the lights were going to go out?”

“How could he know?” KC asked. “Unless …”

“Unless he knew that someone else
was going to make the lights go out!” Marshall said. “Someone who wasn’t in the room!”

KC stared at Marshall. “Of course,” she said. “The thief was working with a partner!”

“They must’ve planned the whole thing in advance,” Marshall said. “They had to know about the Chus, the emerald, the party last night, everything!”

KC was staring at her Fruiteez box.

Marshall snapped his fingers in front of her face. “KC? Anyone home?”

KC looked at him. “I think I touched him in the dark,” she said quietly.

“Who?” Marshall asked.

“When the lights went out, someone smacked into me,” KC told Marshall. “I grabbed for the table to keep from falling.
I felt someone’s hand in the dark. At the time, I didn’t think much about it. But now I think it was the thief’s hand. I touched him when he was reaching for the black box!”

“Wow!” Marshall said. “Was it a man or a woman’s hand?”

KC shook her head. “It could have been either, I guess,” she said. “I just know my fingers touched skin, so I backed away.”

Marshall nodded. “So, we know the crook had skin,” he said wisely.

“Very funny, Marsh,” KC said.

“So now what?” Marshall asked.

KC made a decision. She grabbed Marshall by the arm. “Let’s go,” she said.

“Go where?”

“To the scene of the crime!” KC said.

“Why are we going back there?” Marshall asked.

KC scribbled a note for her mom and grabbed her backpack.

“I have a plan,” KC said. The kids left the kitchen, waved to Arnold, the marine guard, and hurried toward the exit.

“Okay, what’s the plan?” Marshall asked as they headed toward the Metro train that would take them to the National Zoo.

“We’ll figure out how to shut off the lights, then re-create the crime,” KC said.

“Like on TV?” Marshall asked.

KC nodded.

“But those TV stories are fake, KC, and this is real,” Marshall said. “Besides, how are you going to get all those people to come back?”

“I’m not,” KC said. “It’s just going to be me and you. You’ll be the crook, and I’ll do what I did last night when the crook bumped into me in the dark. Maybe we’ll remember something important that happened while the lights were out.”

“Oh brother,” Marshall said.

A half hour later, they walked through the zoo’s front entrance. KC and Marshall hurried past the pandas, the elephants, and the wolves to the tiger enclosure. They slipped through the back door and made their way to the room where the party had been.

“Wow,” Marshall said.

The furniture had been taken away. The stereo speakers had been taken down from the walls. Dangling wires were all that were left.

The red carpet had been rolled up and was lying against one wall. The only other things in the room were the fish tank, one chair, and the same small table that had held the black box.

The table was now next to the fish tank. Someone had taken all the rocks and fake plants out of the tank and left them on the table.

Inside the tank there were a few tropical fish. They swam around, probably wondering what happened to their rocks and plants.

“Looks like someone even searched
this tank,” KC said. “Help me move this stuff.”

KC and Marshall placed the rocks and plants on the floor. KC examined each rock carefully. Then they carried the table to where it had been standing last night.

“Okay, pretend you’re Mr. Chu,” KC said. “Put the black box on the table.”

“You told me I was the crook,” said Marshall.

“Just please cooperate, okay?” KC said. “Where’s the black box, Mr. Chu?”

Marshall shook his head. Then he pretended to pull a box out of thin air. “Why, it’s right here, Miss Corcoran!”

“Thank you, Mr. Chu!” KC said. “Now put it on the table.”

Marshall did as she ordered. He mimed placing the box on the table.

“Go shut off the lights,” KC said.

“Are you talking to me, the crook, or Mr. Chu?” Marshall asked.

KC giggled. “I’m talking to you,” she said.

Marshall headed for the light switch, which was by the room’s only door.

“Wait a sec,” Marshall said. “At breakfast, we agreed that someone outside the room had to shut off the lights. But there’s a switch right here. It could have been someone in the room!”

Marshall flipped the switch, and the room grew dark. He hit the switch again, and the lights came on.

KC stared at the light switch. “Do you remember anyone standing over there when the lights went out?” she asked.

Marshall shook his head. “I think I saw
one of the secret service agents here by the door, but I’m not sure,” he said.

“Okay, shut them off again,” KC said. “Then pretend you’re the crook. Come to the table, open the box, and take the jewel.”

“There is no box,” Marshall said with a grin.

“Just please do it, okay?” KC said.

Marshall plunged the room into darkness again. KC positioned herself where she had been standing last night. She put her hands out, as she had when she touched the thief’s hand.

She heard Marshall’s feet on the wood floor. “Are you here yet?” she asked him.

“How am I supposed to know?” Marshall yelped. “I can’t see the stupid table, and I can’t see the stupid box!”

“Walk toward my voice,” KC said. “When you feel the table, reach for the box.”

A few seconds later, KC felt Marshall bump into the edge of the table.

“Okay, I’m here,” Marshall muttered. “And I feel like a jerk.”

“Are you reaching for the box?” KC asked.

“Reaching,” Marshall muttered.

Suddenly KC felt one of Marshall’s hands brush against her own. She pulled her hand back, as she had last night.

“Okay?” Marshall asked. “Can I turn the lights on?”

“Not yet,” KC said. “Last night, something else happened, but I can’t remember what. It was right after I touched that creepy hand.”

“Well, I’m not standing in the dark all day while you—”

Just then the lights went on again. KC turned toward the door, and there was Dr. Tutu. He was holding his briefcase.

“Well, hello,” he said to KC and Marshall. “What are you doing here?”

KC thought of about ten excuses, but decided to go with the truth. “We were trying to figure out how someone could have stolen the emerald in the dark.”

Dr. Tutu looked at the table. Then he glanced at the fish tank and the rocks and plants on the floor.

“And did you figure it out?” Dr. Tutu asked.

KC shook her head.

Dr. Tutu smiled. “My staff and I have been doing the same thing,” he said. “I
even thought the thief might have dropped the thing into the fish tank. But as you can see, that didn’t happen.”

“Maybe the crook sneaked out of the room in the dark,” Marshall said.

Dr. Tutu shook his head. “I don’t think so. When the lights went out, I walked over and stood in front of the door,” he said. “Nobody came past me.”

KC blinked.
Unless
you
are the crook, Dr. Tutu
, she thought.
You could have zipped out of the room, then slipped hack in again
.

“Um, we were wondering if the crook was working with someone else,” Marshall said. “See, we thought the partner turned off the lights from outside the room.”

“I believe that is exactly what happened,” Dr. Tutu said. “As you can see, it’s
also possible to turn them off from that wall switch. But since the music went off when the lights did last night, I have to guess that it was done from the main power board.”

Dr. Tutu stared at KC and Marshall. It looked as if he was trying to make a decision.

Finally he opened his briefcase and slid out a sheet of paper with typing on it.

“I faxed a copy of this to President Thornton,” Dr. Tutu said. He held it out toward KC. “Don’t be afraid to touch it. We already checked for fingerprints.”

“What is it?” KC asked, reaching for the paper.

“A ransom note,” he said. “Our thief in the dark wants a million dollars.”

KC read the words while Marshall looked over her shoulder.

“What does he mean, wire the money?” Marshall asked.

“Whoever wrote this note has a bank account in Grand Cayman,” Dr. Tutu said. “That’s one of the Caribbean Islands. If we go along with his plan, a bank here in Washington will send a message to his account there. Within minutes, the thief will be one million dollars richer. It’s sort of like sending money in an e-mail.”

“Why couldn’t the cops just wait for the crook to get the money, then go there and arrest him?” Marshall asked.

Dr. Tutu shook his head. “In this country, we could do that,” he said. “But not in the Cayman Islands. Bank accounts there are totally private. That means we can’t learn who opened the account, and we can’t get at the money.”

KC handed the note back to Dr. Tutu. “Where did you get that?” she asked him.

Dr. Tutu put the ransom note back into his briefcase and set the case on the floor behind the table.

“I found it slipped under the door of my office this morning,” he said. “I got there at eight o’clock. The thief left the note either very late last night or before eight this morning.”

Dr. Tutu stared at the fish swimming around in the tank.

“The lights were only out for about a minute,” KC said. “Marshall and I think the thief had to be standing pretty near the table.”

“I was closer to the table than anyone,” Dr. Tutu said. “Do you suspect me?”

KC felt herself blushing. She nodded. “We didn’t know what to think,” she admitted. “Now I don’t think it was you!”

“Thank you,” Dr. Tutu said. He smiled for the first time since he came in.

“Dirk was standing near the table, too,” Marshall said. “Or maybe one of the waiters was close enough, so when the lights went out, he could grab the thing.”

“But Dirk had his hands full of the tiger cubs, and the waiters were carrying trays of food and drinks,” Dr. Tutu said. “I’m afraid the police think I am the most likely choice, because I had nothing in my hands.”