The Orange Outlaw (4 page)

CHAPTER 9

Uncle Warren was in the kitchen looking glum when Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose rushed in.

“Forest Evans just called,” Uncle Warren said. “He’s coming back tomorrow! What will I tell him?”

Dink grinned. “Tell him we know who stole his painting!”

Uncle Warren nearly dropped his coffee cup. “Do you really know, Donny? Who?”

“The orangutan did it!” Josh said.

Interrupting each other, the three
kids told Dink’s uncle what they thought had happened.

“But how would an ape recognize a valuable Monet?” Uncle Warren asked.

Dink unbuttoned his shirt and carefully placed the snapshot on the table.

“We think his trainer taught him to recognize the painting,” Dink said.

His uncle studied the photograph. “It’s Forest’s painting, all right,” he said. “And look, that’s the Eiffel Tower in the background. This picture was taken in Paris!”

Uncle Warren shook his head. “I find this very hard to believe,” he said. “An orangutan climbed up to my balcony, ate my oranges, then stole my friend’s painting? Incredible!”

“Orangutans are very smart,” Josh said. “I saw a nature program about them once. One orangutan learned to
count. They taught another one to turn on a VCR and pop in a video!”

Uncle Warren nodded. “I’ll give this photo to Detective Costello,” he said.

“But how do we find the orangutan’s owner?” Ruth Rose asked. “We don’t even know his name.”

“Wait a minute!” Dink jumped up and ran into the living room. He came back carrying the jeans he’d been wearing the night before.

“I took one of their flyers,” he said, digging into the pocket. “Here it is!”

He opened the flyer and spread it on the kitchen table. In large block letters were the words:

Below the words was a picture of
the man and woman they’d seen the night before. Their names were printed beneath the picture:

Beside that picture was another one. In it, the orangutan was riding the pony. The caption said:

At the very bottom of the page were a telephone number and address.

“They live in Ossining, New York,” Dink’s uncle said. “That’s not far from here. Excellent, Donny!”

“Now all we have to do is get that detective to arrest them,” Josh said.

“I’m afraid not,” Uncle Warren said. “We have no proof that these people trained their animal to steal Forest’s
painting. We have a lot of theories, a photo, and hairs that
might
have come from that orangutan. Still, I doubt that’s enough for Detective Costello to make an arrest.”

“If only we could get Mr. or Mrs. Fowler’s fingerprints,” Dink said. “Then we could see if they match any of the prints on the snapshot.”

“That would be a start,” Uncle Warren said, “but still no proof that their animal stole the painting.”

“What if we got a hair from Ollie?” Ruth Rose said. “If the hair matched the one we found in the kitchen, wouldn’t that prove he was in this apartment?”

Dink’s uncle smiled. “I think that would be enough to convince Detective Costello,” he said. “But how do we obtain this hair?”

Ruth Rose grinned. “I thought you’d never ask,” she said.

CHAPTER 10

Half an hour later, Uncle Warren handed Ruth Rose the telephone. “Good luck,” he said.

“Don’t worry,” Josh said. “She’s really good at tricking crooks!”

Ruth Rose smiled into the phone. “Hello, is this Mr. Harvey Fowler? My name is Ruth Rose. My birthday is tomorrow, and my parents want to hire Ollie and Polly. My father is Forest Evans, and he’s very rich!”

Two minutes later, she hung up. “They’re coming!” she said.

“Do you think Mr. Evans will mind if we use his property?” Dink asked.

His uncle beamed. “He’d love it! I can’t wait to tell him when he returns from Europe.”

“How will we get there?” Josh asked. “I’ve never even heard of Larchmont, New York.”

“It’s not far, Josh. I’ll rent us a car,” Uncle Warren said. “Now I have to make a few phone calls. This is going to be such fun!”

Early the next morning, Roger called to let them know the rental car was downstairs.

Ruth Rose was in disguise. She was wearing Uncle Warren’s beret and a pair of his glasses.

“You look great!” Dink said. “Mr. Fowler will never remember you from the block party.”

Uncle Warren and the kids went downstairs and climbed into the rental car. Dink’s uncle drove them out of the city. They saw plenty of traffic and crossed a couple of bridges. Finally Dink saw a sign that said:

“Almost there,” Uncle Warren said. “Forest has a beautiful home and a lot of land.”

A few minutes later, he turned into a long driveway lined with trees. At the end of the driveway stood a large brick house. Behind it, Dink could see a pool and tennis courts.

“Awesome,” Josh said.

“Yes, it’s lovely out here,” Uncle Warren said. “But I’d rather have people around me than trees.”

He parked the car, and everyone got
out. Two men and a woman walked out of the garage.

Dink recognized Detective Costello but not the other two.

“This is Detective Rita Frost, my partner,” Detective Costello said.

“And I’m Dr. Ted Parker,” the other man said.

“Dr. Parker is the curator for primates at the Bronx Zoo,” Detective Costello explained. “After the arrest, he’ll take charge of the animals.”

Detective Frost wore a blue dress and heels. She smiled at Ruth Rose. “Are you ready to act like a rich kid?” she asked.

“I’m a little nervous,” Ruth Rose said. “What if the Fowlers recognize me?”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” the woman said. “If what you’ve told us is true, they won’t even look at you. He’ll
be thinking about how to break into this beautiful house.”

“Okay, this is the plan,” Detective Costello said. “Our backup car will let us know when the Fowlers drive in. Rita and I will pretend to be Mr. and Mrs. Evans. Ruth Rose is our daughter, the one who’s having the birthday. Everyone else will stay in the garage until I give the word to come out. Any questions?”

Just then, the cell phone on Detective Costello’s belt rang. He answered it, listened, then hung up.

“The Fowlers’ trailer just entered the property,” he said. “Inside, please, and no talking.”

Dink, Josh, Uncle Warren, and Dr. Parker stepped into the garage.

“Good luck,” Dink whispered to Ruth Rose.

Ruth Rose gave them a thumbs-up
as the garage door came down in front of her.

Two shiny black cars were parked inside the garage. Dink sat on the bumper of one of the cars. He could hear the trailer approaching. Then he heard car doors slamming and some muffled voices.

Josh had his ear to the garage door. He started to giggle when he heard Ruth Rose beg “Daddy” for a pony of her own.

“She gets to have all the fun,” he whispered.

Dink gave Josh a nudge. “No talking!” Dink whispered back.

Josh lost his balance and backed into the wall, striking a button. Making a whirring sound, the garage door began to open.

CHAPTER 11

Dink felt himself blushing as everyone outside the garage turned to look at everyone inside.

The trailer stood a few yards away Through a thick mesh screen, Dink saw Ollie and Polly

“Say what’s going on here?” Harvey Fowler asked.

“Hey wait a minute,” his wife said. “They were at the block party! What’s this all about, Mr. Evans?”

“I’m not Mr. Evans,” Detective Costello said. He pulled his wallet out
and flipped open his badge. “I’m Detective Frank Costello, New York City Police Department.”

Detective Costello nodded at Dr. Parker, who walked over to the trailer. Dink watched him take out a pair of scissors and snip a few hairs from Ollie’s arm. Then Dr. Parker went back into the garage.

Detective Frost took a plastic bag from inside her jacket. Through it, Dink recognized the Polaroid picture of the painting.

“I’m sure we’ll find your fingerprints all over this photograph,” she told Harvey Fowler. “Recognize it?”

Harvey Fowler glanced down at the picture. Dink saw his Adam’s apple go up and down. “So? Big deal. What’s wrong with having a picture? I’ve got lots of pictures.”

“Trouble is, you have one picture too many,” Detective Costello said. “You taught your ape to steal the painting in this photograph.”

Harvey Fowler smirked, showing a gold tooth. “I got one word for you:
proof.
You got any?”

Dr. Parker walked back to the group. “I think so,” he said. “The hairs match. The ones I just snipped from Ollie are the same as the one found in Mr. Duncan’s kitchen. They’re both like the hair the kids found in front of the apartment building.”

“Thank you, Dr. Parker,” Detective Frost said. She looked at Harvey and Ginny Fowler. “You’re both under arrest for grand theft.”

“We didn’t steal nothing and you can’t prove we did!” Harvey Fowler yelled. “I can’t help it if Ollie took some dumb painting.”

“Give it up,” sighed Ginny Fowler to her husband. “It’s over.”

She turned to Detective Frost. “Everything you said is true. Harvey’s cousin works for an insurance company in Paris. Last week, he insured a Monet painting. When he saw that it was being shipped to New York, he took a snapshot and sent it to us. He also sent the address where the painting was going.”

“Ginny, be quiet!” Harvey shouted. “We’ll get outta this. I got another cousin who’s a lawyer.”

Mrs. Fowler ignored her husband. “Anyway, when Harvey saw the balconies on the back of Mr. Duncan’s building, he trained Ollie to climb up there,” she said. “The painting is hidden in the trailer.”

Detectives Costello and Frost handcuffed the Fowlers. Then everyone walked over to the trailer.

It was divided in half. Ollie sat on one side, gazing out through the wire. On the other side, Polly stood munching hay. She didn’t seem interested in what was going on in the human world.

“Where is it, exactly?” Detective Frost asked Ginny Fowler.

“There’s a false bottom in Ollie’s cage,” Mrs. Fowler said. “You’ll find a handle under the straw.”

Detective Costello looked at Josh. “You want to climb in there, kid?”

Josh gulped. “Um, sure. He won’t hurt me, will he?”

Ginny Fowler smiled at Josh. “Go ahead. Ollie likes kids.”

Detective Frost opened the trailer’s rear door and Josh crawled in. Ollie shuffled over and smelled Josh’s hair.

Josh moved some of the straw and found a small, round handle. He tugged and a part of the floor lifted up.

Just then, a taxi pulled up next to the trailer. A short man with a brown beard stepped out. “Warren, who are all these people? What’s going on?”

Uncle Warren shook Forest Evans’s hand. “Welcome home, Forest. Make us a pot of tea, and we’ll tell you the whole story!”

•     •     •

“What will happen to Ollie?” Ruth Rose asked. They were in the rental car. Dink’s uncle was driving them back to the city. “He won’t go to jail, will he?”

Uncle Warren shook his head. “Not at all. Dr. Parker will see that Ollie goes back to Borneo,” he said. “There are special camps there where orangutans are taught to live in the wild again. Ollie will have a safe, happy life from now on.”

“What about Polly?” Dink asked.

“She could be a problem,” Uncle Warren said. “Dr. Parker hasn’t been able to find anyone who wants a ten-year-old pony.”

“I know someone who wants a ten-year-old pony,” Ruth Rose said. “Me!”

“You?” Josh said. “Where will you keep her?”

“I don’t know,” Ruth Rose said. She nudged Josh with her elbow. “If only I
knew someone with a barn!”

Josh laughed. “Oh, I get it. Okay, I’ll ask my folks if Polly can live in our barn. But the twins will want to ride her.”

“So will my little brother,” Ruth Rose said. “We can all own Polly and we can all ride her!”

Josh leaned forward and patted Dink’s head. “And Dinkus can clean out her stall!”