A Thief at the National Zoo (4 page)

“Are they going to arrest you?” KC asked.

“I don’t know,” Dr. Tutu said. “They questioned me last night and took my fingerprints.”

“Why’d they take your fingerprints?” Marshall asked.

“To compare them with prints they found on the box,” he said.

“But you didn’t touch the box,” KC said. “Only Mr. Chu did.”

“I did, too, I’m afraid.” Dr. Tutu shook his head. “When the room suddenly went dark, I reached out and placed my hand on the box,” he said. “I wanted to make sure it was still there. Then I went and stood in front of the door.”

KC felt confused. If Dr. Tutu admitted he had touched the box when the lights were out, maybe it had been his hand she had felt—and not the thief’s hand. Or maybe he was lying about why he touched the box. Could Dr. Tutu be the thief after all?

“Did the police search this room last night?” KC asked.

Dr. Tutu nodded. “We were all here till two o’clock in the morning.”

KC was getting a headache. “So if the guests and the room were searched, then the thief must have hidden the emerald somewhere else, outside this room,” she said.

“But Dr. Tutu said no one got past him at the door,” Marshall reminded KC.

“You see the problem,” Dr. Tutu said sadly. “Mr. Chu’s treasure has simply disappeared. It’s not in this room, and no one could have taken it out of the room.”

The door behind Dr. Tutu opened. Two police officers came into the room. “Dr. Phillip Tutu, please come with us to the police station,” one of the officers said.

“I gave my statement last night,” Dr. Tutu said. “I allowed my fingerprints to be taken. How else can I help you?”

The other officer stepped forward. “Your fingerprints were found on the box,” he said. “Last night, you didn’t mention touching it.”

Dr. Tutu took a step backward. “I can explain that!” he said.

“I’m sure you’ll be given a chance to do
just that,” the taller officer said. “Now please come with us.”

The officers escorted Dr. Tutu from the room. When one of them opened the door, KC saw Mr. Chu standing in the hallway.

“Thank you, officers,” KC heard Mr. Chu say. Then he followed the officers down the hallway.

“I can’t believe this!” Marshall cried. “Sunwoo’s father thinks Dr. Tutu stole the emerald!”

“I have to call the president and tell him,” KC said. “Come on, there’s a phone in the gift shop across the path.”

The kids left the tiger building and dashed over to the gift shop. KC was given permission to use the phone, and she dialed the president’s private number.

“Busy,” she said as she hung up. She tried again, but all she heard were more annoying busy sounds.

“He must be talking to China again,” KC said.

“Or the bank in Grand Cayman,” Marshall added.

KC tried the number a third time, got another busy signal, and gave up. She walked over to the gift-shop clerk, who was rearranging a row of stuffed panda bears on a shelf.

“Excuse me,” KC said. “My friend and I are helping the president find something. I’m his stepdaughter, and I was—”

“I know who you are, dear,” the woman said. “And all of us are just sick about what happened last night! How can I help you?”

“Can you tell us where the main electric power board is?” KC asked.

“Why, I believe it’s in the security room,” the clerk said. “It’s that building over there.”

KC thanked the woman. She nudged Marshall toward the door.

“Why are we going there?” Marshall asked.

“Dr. Tutu told us the lights were shut off from the main power board,” KC said. “So maybe we can find out who was in the security room at seven-fifteen last night.”

They came to a door with the words ROOM 15—SECURITY—KEEP OUT stenciled onto it.

KC knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” a muffled voice asked.

“Um, it’s KC and Marshall,” KC said.

The door swung open. A woman was standing there dressed in coveralls over a T-shirt. A wide leather belt was cinched around her waist. Tools, a cell phone, and a walkie-talkie hung from the belt. A chain around her neck held a plastic ID card. KC could see the woman’s picture and her name, Connie, on the card.

“Who are you?” the woman asked KC and Marshall. She leaned against the door frame. A thin silver bracelet gleamed on her tanned arm.

“I’m KC Corcoran,” KC said. “The president’s stepdaughter.”

Connie nodded. “Right. I know Dirk lets you play with the new cubs,” she said. “What can I do for you?”

“Did you hear about the theft last
night?” KC asked. “When the lights went off?”

“Everyone on staff knows about it,” Connie said. “Have they caught the guys who stole that emerald thing?”

“No, and we’re trying to help find it,” KC went on. “Dr. Tutu told us he thinks the lights might have been turned off from in there.” She pointed into the room behind the woman.

Connie was shaking her head before KC finished. “Never happened,” she said. “I was home last night, and my keys were with me. This room was locked up from six o’clock on, and only one other person on staff has a key.”

“Who’s that?” Marshall asked.

“Dr. Tutu,” Connie said.

KC and Marshall stared at her.

“He just got arrested,” KC said. “But we don’t think he did it, so we’re trying to help!”

“Dr. Tutu was arrested?” the woman said. “When?”

“Just five minutes ago,” Marshall said. “Two police came. They said they found his fingerprints on the emerald box.”

“I’m shocked,” the woman said, shaking her head. “Well, good luck, kids.” As she started to close the door, she added, “Say hi to the president for me.”

KC and Marshall headed down the hallway. “We’re missing something,” KC said.

“What do you mean?” Marshall asked.

“Well, there’s something weird about those lights going off,” KC said. “Did someone in the room shut them off, or did
someone sneak into that security room and do it? Or maybe it really was just a power outage.”

“I’m beginning to think Dr. Tutu
is
guilty,” Marshall said. “He could have given his key to his partner.”

“Maybe,” KC said. “And who did I touch when the lights went out? Was it Dr. Tutu or the crook reaching toward the box? Or is Dr. Tutu the crook?”

“But the biggest mystery is, where is the emerald now?” Marshall added. “Dr. Tutu said no one got past him at the door.”

KC stopped in her tracks. “Wait a minute!” she said. “I just remembered! When Dirk took the cubs back to their mother, Dr. Tutu was with him. They went across the hall to room three before we all got searched!”

“So?” Marshall said. “Dr. Tutu had to unlock the door because Dirk had the cubs in his hands.”

“Don’t you see, Marsh? If Dr. Tutu is the thief, he could have hidden the emerald when he left the room,” KC said. “Let’s go ask Dirk if he noticed Dr. Tutu doing anything weird.”

They stopped at room number 3. KC and Marshall peeked through the window. KC saw Dirk sweeping up some straw and throwing it into a trash barrel. The twin tiger cubs were on the floor by his feet, trying to attack the broom. The mother tiger was nowhere in sight.

KC knocked on the little window, but Dirk didn’t turn around. KC knocked harder, but Dirk went on sweeping.

“He can’t hear us,” Marshall said.

“Okay, we’ll ask him when he comes out,” KC said. They went across the hall to wait. KC used a fish-tank rock to prop open the door.

Next to the table, they saw a leather briefcase standing on the floor.

“Dr. Tutu forgot it,” KC said. Then she noticed a rounded bulge in the soft leather. She knelt down by the briefcase for a closer look. “I wonder what that is.”

Marshall shrugged. “It could be anything,” he said. “Like a baseball, Dr. Tutu’s lunch …”

“Or a priceless hunk of amber with an emerald inside,” KC whispered.

KC reached for the briefcase.

“Um, I don’t think we should be doing this,” Marshall said.

“Marsh, this is a matter of national security!” KC said. “It’s our duty to open the briefcase!”

She turned around to make sure they were alone in the room. Then she flipped the latch on the briefcase. She pulled out the ransom note and a folder with a bunch of papers in it.

She stuck her hand in all the way to feel for the lump.

“Well, did you find it?” Marshall asked.

KC pulled out a big red apple and set it on the table.

“Rats,” Marshall said. “I thought we just solved the mystery.”

“Not me,” KC said. “I’m glad it’s not Dr. Tutu!”

KC put the apple back in the briefcase, closed it, and returned it to its spot by the table. Then she went across the hall and peeked through the window again. “He’s still sweeping,” she told Marshall.

“Can I help you, miss?” a voice asked.

A man was walking up the hall toward her. He was short, with a wrinkled face and a bald head. He was dressed in the same brown shirt and cargo pants that Dirk was wearing. The name JAMIE was stitched over the shirt pocket.

“We’re waiting for Dirk,” KC said. “He’s
in there with the tigers, but he couldn’t hear us knock.” Then she sneezed.

Jamie looked at KC with piercing green eyes. “You’re one of the kids Dr. Tutu has playing with the cubs, right?” he asked.

KC nodded. “We have to ask Dirk something important,” she said, fighting back another sneeze. It didn’t work. She sneezed again.

Jamie chuckled. “You’re allergic to pepper, right?” he asked.

KC’s eyes got wide. “Pepper?” she said. “I thought I was allergic to baby tigers!”

Jamie pulled a plastic water pistol from his pocket. “This thing is loaded with pepper and water,” he told KC and Marshall. “I carry it in case I run into an animal who wants to play rough. One squirt of this stuff and most of them back off.”

“Do Dirk and Dr. Tutu have one, too?” she asked.

“Yep. We all do,” Jamie said. “Well, Dr. Tutu doesn’t carry his very often.”

KC sneezed again.

The man looked through the window. “I guess you can wait for Dirk inside,” he said. Jamie pulled a ring of keys from a pocket and stuck one into the door’s lock.

“Aren’t you afraid of the tiger?” asked Marshall.

“Don’t worry, she’s behind thick glass,” Jamie said. He opened the door and the three of them walked in.

A wall of glass separated them from where Dirk was working. Next to it was a panel of buttons, a telephone, and a tall refrigerator. A monkey magnet held a list of phone numbers on the refrigerator. Set
into the glass wall was a door with a lock on the handle. A sign on the door said: DANGER—ZOO EMPLOYEES ONLY—ALL OTHERS STAY OUT.

KC and Marshall watched the baby tigers playing on the other side of the glass. Now that KC and Marshall were inside, they could see more of the tigers’ zoo home. There were boulders, terraces, a dark cave, trees and bushes, even a moat with water in it. Dirk still had not noticed the kids or Jamie.

“Where’s the mother tiger?” Marshall whispered.

“There’s no need to whisper,” Jamie said. “This glass is two inches thick. The tigers can’t hear us, and even a charging rhino couldn’t break through it.”

Jamie pointed to the left. “The mother
tiger is in her cave,” he said. “But that’s behind glass, too. We can move the glass over the cave entrance by pushing that red button. She’s locked in her cave while Dirk’s cleaning. He’s perfectly safe. When he comes back out here, he’ll push the blue button to raise the cave glass so mama can join her cubs again.”

“Can they see us?” KC asked. She stood as far from Jamie as she could so she wouldn’t keep sneezing.

Jamie shook his head. “Nope. The glass is one-way,” he said. “We can see Dirk, but he can’t see us.”

KC pointed to the telephone on the wall. “Can we talk to Dirk?” she asked.

“It’s probably best not to bother him,” Jamie said. “He should be done in a few minutes. If you want, you can wait right
here for him. I have to go see to the lions.”

Jamie left, closing the door behind him. Through the thick glass, KC and Marshall watched Dirk while the cubs scampered around his feet.

“So now you know why you’ve been sneezing,” Marshall said. “It wasn’t the tigers at all.”