A Thief at the National Zoo (5 page)

KC nodded. “It was Dirk’s pepper gun,” she said. “I only sneezed when I was around him.”

Dirk finished sweeping the tigers’ yard. He leaned his broom against a tree and got down on his knees. The two cubs charged him, eager to play. Dirk scooped them up, holding both in one large hand. He used his other hand to tickle them behind their ears.

“That’s funny,” Marshall said. “Dirk has
a silver bracelet just like that woman’s.”

“What woman?” KC asked.

“Connie, the lady in the security room,” Marshall said.

KC looked closer at the bracelet on Dirk’s wrist. Marshall was right. It did look a lot like the one Connie wore. She watched as Dirk lifted the cubs in the air, both in one hand.

“Oh my gosh!” KC gasped. “It’s Dirk!”

“Duh, I know it’s Dirk,” Marshall said.

“No, I mean Dirk is the thief!” KC said. “I just figured it out!”

“And you’re going to tell me, right?” Marshall cracked.

“I know how he stole the emerald,” KC went on. “When the lights went out, he held both cubs in one hand, like he’s doing now. He reached for the box with
his free hand, and that’s when our hands touched. When the lights came back on, he had a cub in each hand again. Marsh, he must’ve stuck the emerald under one of the cubs!”

Marshall stared at Dirk through the glass. “So when he brought the cubs over here, he hid the emerald someplace.”

“Yes, but he had to do it without Dr. Tutu noticing,” KC said. “And I’ll bet a million dollars Connie is his partner, and she shut off the lights. She must have been lying when she said she wasn’t at the zoo last night.”

“How do you figure it was her?” Marshall asked. “Dirk’s partner could be anyone.”

“Their bracelets match!” KC said. “I’ll bet Connie is Dirk’s girlfriend.”

The kids watched Dirk spread clean straw on the ground.

“So it was Dirk who left the ransom note,” Marshall said. “I wonder where he put the emerald.”

“Wherever it is, he’ll leave it hidden till he gets his ransom money,” KC said.

“So what do we do now?” Marshall said. “The cops won’t arrest Dirk just because we think he’s guilty.”

“We have to find the emerald,” KC said. She stepped closer to the glass. “It could be anywhere in the enclosure.”

“Yeah, like under that straw, buried in the ground, even in the tiger cave,” Marshall said. “And before you even think about it, I’m not going in there to look!”

“I have a better idea,” KC said. She reached for the telephone.

“Who are you calling?” Marshall asked.

“Him,” KC said, nodding toward Dirk. She glanced at the list of phone numbers on the refrigerator.

“What? You’re calling Dirk?” Marshall squawked. “Are you nuts? He’ll feed us to the tigers!”

KC shook her head. “Dirk won’t know who’s calling,” she said. “He can’t see us through this one-way glass, remember?”

KC dialed Dirk’s cell phone number.

They watched him unclip his cell phone from his belt and flip it open. “Hello?”

KC felt weird talking to Dirk this way.
She could see him, but he had no idea where his caller was calling from.

“Hello, Dirk,” KC said, disguising her voice so she sounded older.

“Who’s this?” Dirk asked.

“A friend,” KC said. She made a face at Marshall.

KC watched Dirk lean his broom against a tree. “Yeah? I have a lot of friends. You got a name?”

“I have some information for you,” KC said.

Marshall shook his head at KC.

“You do, huh? Listen, lady, I don’t like salespeople, and I don’t buy stuff over the phone,” Dirk said.

KC almost laughed. “I’m not selling anything,” she said. “I know you and Connie stole the emerald.” KC’s heart was beating
a jillion times a minute. She could feel sweat making the phone slippery in her hand.

Dirk didn’t say anything. But he didn’t end the conversation, either.

“I know you put the ransom note under Dr. Tutu’s door,” KC went on. “But you’re not getting that million dollars. You’re going to share it with me.”

KC and Marshall saw Dirk yank the phone away from his ear as if it had bitten him. He looked at the phone, then glanced around the tiger enclosure.

“Keep talking,” Dirk said into his phone.

“Don’t worry, I will,” KC said. “And by the way, I have the emerald. I found where you hid it. If you don’t give me half the ransom, the emerald goes to the cops. And I tell them all about how you and
your girlfriend planned the whole thing. I’ll call you later and tell you where to leave my half million dollars.”

KC hung up the phone. Her hand was shaking. “I feel a little sick,” she said.

“Think how
he
feels!” Marshall said, pointing to Dirk.

Dirk stared at his cell phone. He stood perfectly still with the phone in his hand. Finally he flipped it shut and clipped it back onto his belt.

On the other side of the glass, KC crossed her fingers. “Come on, Dirk,” she whispered. “Show us where you hid it.”

After a moment, Dirk walked toward the moat. He knelt down and plunged his arm into the water, up to his elbow. Checking to make sure he wasn’t being watched, he pulled his arm out.

KC gasped. Dirk was holding the Tiger’s Eye in his dripping hand.

“You did it!” Marshall cried.

“Quick, Marsh, lock the door!” yelled KC. She reached for the phone again.

Twenty minutes later, KC and Marshall stood with some other tourists outside the tiger enclosure. The mother tiger was cooling off in the moat. Her two cubs played with a soccer ball nearby.

KC had finally gotten through to the president’s private phone. When she told him how she’d tricked Dirk, he sent the police to the zoo.

“Come on, we have to meet the president,” KC said. “He’s bringing Dr. Tutu and Mr. Chu.”

Olmstead Walk wound through the zoo
past many of the animal enclosures. KC and Marshall passed the reptile center and the ape house. A few minutes later, they walked onto the porch on the front of Dr. Tutu’s office. He was serving glasses of lemonade to Sunwoo, her father, and the president.

“You’re just in time,” Dr. Tutu said. He passed KC and Marshall each a glass.

Just then three police officers walked past, leading Dirk and Connie toward the exit gate.

“Look, KC,” Marshall whispered. “They’re wearing matching handcuffs!”

“You are very smart!” Sunwoo said to KC and Marshall. “How did you know that man was the thief?”

“I didn’t know anything!” Marshall laughed. “KC figured it out and called his cell phone. I just stood there shaking.”

Everyone looked at KC. She blushed. “It had to be Dirk,” she said. “Once we knew that the Tigers Eye was hidden outside the party room, the rest was easy. Dirk dropped it into the moat when he took the cubs back to the enclosure. He was the only one who could have done that.”

“Mr. Chu has agreed to let the zoo keep the Tigers Eye for a year,” the president said. He looked at Dr. Tutu. “Where will it be displayed?”

“Someplace near the tigers,” Dr. Tutu said. “Right, Mr. Chu?”

Sunwoo’s father nodded. “Yes. People will come to see the tigers. They will also see the Tigers Eye and read its history. This will be a good thing for the tigers.”

Mr. Chu winked at KC and Marshall. “It has already brought luck!”