A Thief at the National Zoo Read online

  This is for my niece, Desiree Roy.

  —R.R.

  Contents

  Map

  1. The Tiger’s Eye

  2. Creepy Fingers in the Dark

  3. KC Remembers

  4. The Scene of the Crime

  5. Million-Dollar Ransom

  6. The First Arrest

  7. Please Pass the Pepper

  8. Matching Bracelets

  1

  The Tiger’s Eye

  “Here they are,” Dirk, the zookeeper, said. He placed a small tiger cub in KC’s lap and handed another cub to Marshall, KC’s best friend. “They’ve just eaten, so they should fall asleep.”

  “Thank you,” KC said. Then she sneezed. Twice.

  “Are you allergic to cats?” Dirk asked KC. He was tall and his long arms were tanned. He wore a short-sleeved shirt and cargo pants with zippered pockets. A thin silver bracelet dangled around one wrist.

  KC sneezed again. “No, we have three cats at home and they never make me sneeze,” she said. “But maybe I’m allergic to tigers!”

  Dirk laughed. “See you in twenty minutes,” he said. “I need to check on mama tiger.” He left the room and closed the door.

  The tiger cub on KC’s lap opened its mouth and yawned. The two-month-old Sumatran tiger was the size of one of KC’s cats.

  “You are so cute!” KC said, tickling the drowsy tiger’s belly.

  “Gee, thanks, KC. You’re kind of cute, too,” said Marshall with a grin.

  “Not you!” KC said. “I mean little Lucy here.”

  “Lucy is a dumb name for a tiger,” Marshall commented. “I mean, I guess it’s okay for a tiny cub. But can you see calling a five-hundred-pound tiger Lucy?”

  KC Corcoran and Marshall Li were at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Their friend Dr. Phillip Tutu was the zoo’s head veterinarian. He had invited them to play with the baby Sumatran tigers in a small room across from the tiger enclosure.

  “Ricky is a pretty silly name, too,” KC said. Lucy’s twin brother, Ricky, was curled up on Marshall’s lap. “But in a little while they’ll get their real names.”

  “Tell me again about this party tonight,” Marshall said.

  “A rich family from China is coming here to donate a lot of money to the zoo to help the tigers,” KC said. “They have a daughter who’s twelve. She gets to pick names for the tigers.”

  “Cool. Maybe she’ll name this little guy Fang,” Marshall said.

  KC shook her head. “The president said she’s giving them special Sumatran names,” she said. KC’s stepfather, Zachary Thornton, was the President of the United States. She lived in the White House with him and her mom.

  Marshall looked at the sleeping tiger cub in his lap. “Where is Sumatra, anyway?” he asked.

  “Somewhere in Indonesia. It’s part of Asia,” KC said. “I found it on the big map in my room.”

  The door opened again and Dr. Tutu stepped inside. He wore a loose shirt and crisp white pants. He was carrying a leather briefcase in one hand and a half-eaten apple in the other.

  “How are you two getting along with these famous babies?” he asked. He set his briefcase on the floor.

  “Fine,” KC said. “So far all they want to do is sleep.”

  Dr. Tutu laughed. “You’re lucky,” he said. “When they wake up, they’ll be running all over the place.”

  Dr. Tutu moved aside. A girl with dark hair was standing behind him. “KC and Marshall, say hello to Sunwoo Chu,” he said. “All the way from China.”

  The girl was a little bit taller than KC. She wore a T-shirt, dark blue shorts, and sandals on her feet.

  “Hello, I am happy to meet you,” Sunwoo said. She sat on the floor next to KC. “My father and your stepfather are having a meeting at the White House today. They will talk about how to help save tigers from extinction.”

  Marshall gave Ricky a pat on the head. “It’s hard to think of the world with no tigers,” he said.

  “My father and President Thornton are trying to find ways to make the people happy, and the tigers as well,” Sunwoo said. “Perhaps the Tigers Eye will bring luck.”

  “What’s the Tiger’s Eye?” KC asked.

  “A special magic jewel,” answered Sunwoo. She nodded at the baby tigers. “May I hold one, please?”

  “Sure.” Marshall transferred Ricky to Sunwoo’s lap. The little cub opened its eyes, then let out a small growl.

  “Oh, I’m sorry I disturbed your nap!” Sunwoo said.

  The tiger growled again, making the kids laugh.

  “Just a few more minutes,” Dr. Tutu said. He picked up his briefcase and walked toward the door. “We have to return Ricky and Lucy to their mama across the hall.”

  “Um, what’s this magic jewel?” asked Marshall after Dr. Tutu, chomping on his apple, had left the room.

  Sunwoo stroked the tigers belly. “It is a legend in my country,” she said. “Two thousand years ago, a Chinese boy was digging roots to help feed his hungry brothers and sisters. Their parents had died, and the children were alone. Buried in the dirt beneath a tree, he discovered a smooth ball of amber. The amber was the color of light tea, and the boy could see something inside. It was an emerald.”

  “What’s amber?” Marshall asked.

  “It is like sap that comes from a pine tree,” Sunwoo said. “Over time, it hardens like plastic.”

  “So this emerald got covered in this sap stuff, then it hardened?” KC asked.

  Sunwoo nodded. “But it’s very, very rare,” she said. “No one thought emeralds and amber came from the same place. And neither is found in China. It’s a mystery. Or maybe the legend is not true.” Sunwoo shrugged.

  “How big is this Tiger’s Eye?” Marshall asked Sunwoo.

  She made a circle with her fingers. “Like a peach,” she said. “But inside, instead of the pit, there is an emerald.”

  “Cool!” Marshall said.

  “The boy raced home with the beautiful thing he had found,” Sunwoo went on. “The people in his town came to see the emerald. When they saw how poor and sick the children were, they brought food and money. His brothers and sisters became strong and healthy. The boy himself grew up to become the mayor of his village. He made sure that no one ever went hungry again. He told everyone that he owed his good fortune to the Tigers Eye emerald.”

  “What happened to the emerald?” Marshall asked.

  “It has been passed down from generation to generation,” Sunwoo said. “It has always brought health and luck. The premier of China gave the Tiger’s Eye to my father to bring here. He will lend it to the zoo for one year. It will bring good luck to your people, but especially to the tigers.”

  The door opened and Dirk came in. He was talking to someone on a walkie-talkie. He finished and clipped the device to his belt. “Time for them to go back,” he said.

  KC placed Lucy in Dirk’s hand. She sneezed. Dirk scooped up Ricky in his other hand.

  “The cubs are beautiful,” Sunwoo said as Dirk took them away. “I have perfect names for them! Now I must leave. My mother and father are waiting to take me sightseeing.”

  “We have to get home, too,” KC said.

  The kids left the room. They were in a long hallway with a wall on one side and tall, wide doors on the other.

  “Excuse me, but I don’t know the way,” Sunwoo said. “Dr. Tutu brought me here, but I was not paying attention.”

  “Well show you,” KC said. “This hallway runs under the spaces where the lions and tigers live.”

  “What’s in there?” Sunwoo asked. A door stood directly across from the room they’d just left. A number 3 was painted on the door, below a small window.

  “Take a look,” M
arshall said.

  Sunwoo stood on her tiptoes and peeked through the thick glass window. “Goodness, this is where the tigers live!” she cried, jumping away from the door.

  Marshall laughed. “Don’t worry, it’s locked,” he said. He put his hand on the knob and twisted. The door didn’t budge.

  The three kids walked down the long passageway. They passed several more doors, each with a window and a number painted in black. At the end, Marshall opened a normal-looking door into the public part of the zoo.

  “Where are you staying?” KC asked. “We can walk you back to your hotel.”

  “Thank you, but my fathers driver is waiting out front.” She looked around and giggled. “Where is the front?”

  “Follow me!” Marshall said. He led them past the tiger enclosure. They stopped to look at the huge mother tiger. She was lying next to her twin cubs.

  “Can you believe little Lucy and Ricky will grow up to look like that?” Marshall said.

  They watched the tiger and her cubs for a few more minutes, then walked down paths past other animal exhibits to a gate. “Is this where you came in?” KC asked.

  “I think so,” Sunwoo said. “Oh, there’s my driver!”

  Sunwoo shook hands with KC and Marshall. “I will see you tonight!” she said.

  Sunwoo passed through the gate and walked up to a white stretch limo. The driver, dressed in a dark suit, opened the rear door for her.

  KC and Marshall watched the stretch limo leave.

  “Wish we had one of those,” Marshall said.

  “Not me. I like riding on the Metro trains,” KC said. She pulled her subway ticket out of a pocket. “And that’s where we have to go now. We have a party to get ready for!”

  2

  Creepy Fingers in the Dark

  At seven o’clock, KC and Marshall were back at the zoo. They came with the president and KC’s mom, Lois, in a presidential car. Two other cars followed. Each held four secret service agents.

  The president was wearing a tuxedo. Lois wore a long white dress. A flower was tucked into her hair.

  KC and Marshall wore their best dress-up clothes.

  Dr. Tutu was waiting at the entrance of the zoo. He had dressed in a black tuxedo and white shirt. He carried his leather briefcase.

  “Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. President,” Dr. Tutu said. He escorted them, and the presidents secret service agents, through the empty zoo to a room near where KC and Marshall had played with the tiger cubs.

  There were about twenty-five well-dressed people already there. Waiters carried trays of food and drinks across a thick red carpet. A crystal chandelier cast a soft light. Music came from a pair of speakers mounted on the walls.

  When the president and Lois entered, everyone clapped. The secret service agents moved into the room and stood where they could keep an eye on the president and his family.

  “Look, KC, there’s Sunwoo and her parents,” Marshall said.

  Sunwoo and her mother wore matching yellow dresses. Sunwoo had a small purse with a thin gold chain slung over one shoulder. Her father was dressed in a tuxedo, like most of the men in the room.

  “Let’s go say hi,” KC said.

  KC and Marshall walked across the deep carpet. Sunwoo saw them coming and smiled.

  “Mother, Father, these are my new friends,” Sunwoo said. “KC and Marshall, these are my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Chu.”

  They all shook hands.

  “I enjoyed my meeting with your stepfather,” Mr. Chu told KC. He winked. “And I like your big White House!”

  Marshall glanced around the room. “Is the Tigers Eye here?” he whispered to Sunwoo.

  Sunwoo nodded. “Father, I told them about it,” she said. “Can you show them?”

  Sunwoo’s father was carrying a small black box with a tiger painted on the lid. Mr. Chu opened the lid and removed a square of red silk.

  Nestled at the bottom of the box was a round yellowish object the size of a baseball. The roughly shaped emerald inside seemed to float in the amber.

  KC stared at the emerald through the amber covering. The green gem appeared to glow. She had never seen anything so old or mysterious.

  “Is it worth a lot of money?” Marshall asked.

  “To the Chinese people, the Tigers Eye is priceless,” Mr. Chu said. “We would not sell it for all the money in the world.”

  Dr. Tutu approached Sunwoo’s father. “If you’re ready, Mr. Chu,” he said.

  Dr. Tutu led Mr. Chu to a corner of the room, where a table stood near the door. A velvet cloth lay in the center of the table. Mr. Chu placed the black box on the cloth. Dr. Tutu set his briefcase on the floor and nudged it under the table with his foot.

  “Good evening, everyone,” Dr. Tutu said. “We are here tonight to accept a generous gift from this gentleman, Mr. Chien Chu. As you all know, many species of tigers are now extinct or endangered. Mr. Chu’s gift will help this zoo find more ways to protect the worlds tigers. Mr. Chu has also brought a surprise from his country.” All eyes went to the black box on the table.

  “But first, Mr. Chu’s daughter, Sunwoo, will give the tiger cubs their official names,” Dr. Tutu added. He motioned for Sunwoo to join him and her father.

  Everyone in the room smiled and looked at Sunwoo.

  “Come up there with me,” Sunwoo whispered to KC and Marshall. “This is very embarrassing!”

  KC looked at Marshall and nodded. They joined Sunwoo next to the table.

  Dr. Tutu pulled a walkie-talkie from a clip on his belt and spoke into it. A moment later, the door opened and Dirk came in carrying Lucy and Ricky. He stood behind KC, holding the cubs so everyone could see their cute faces.

  KC felt a sneeze coming on. Maybe she was allergic to tigers after all! She held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut. Please, she thought, don’t let me sneeze now in the middle of the ceremony!

  There were a lot of oohs and aahs as the guests admired the baby Sumatran tigers.

  Dr. Tutu smiled at Sunwoo. “Have you picked names?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Sunwoo said. “My family has chosen Indonesian names, because these are Sumatran tigers. The boy tiger will be Guntur. That is the Indonesian word for ‘thunder.’ We have named the girl Melati, which means ‘jasmine blossom.’”

  Everyone clapped again.

  “Those are fine names,” Dr. Tutu said. “Thank you, Sunwoo, for—”

  Suddenly the lights went out and the room was pitch-black.

  For a few seconds there was total silence, then everyone began talking at once. “I can’t see anything!” one woman cried. “What should we do?”

  “Please remain calm,” Dr. Tutu called out into the black room. “We seem to have lost power, but I’m sure it will be back on in a moment.”

  Just as KC turned to say something to Marshall, someone bumped into her, nearly knocking her off her feet. She reached out in the dark, trying to keep from falling.

  She felt the table, then her fingers touched a human hand. Startled, she pulled her own hands back. Then she sneezed three times in a row.

  Next to KC, Dr. Tutu began speaking to someone through his walkie-talkie. KC heard people moving about, jostling each other in the dark. A few people were laughing, like this was a party game.

  KC heard some of the secret service agents urgently talking to each other about POTUS. POTUS was their code word for her stepfather. The letters stood for “President of the United States.”

  KC had a scary thought. What if the lights going out were part of a kidnapping plot?

  “What’s going on?” Marshall said into KC’s ear.

  “Beats me,” KC answered. “Just stand still or you’ll get trampled!”

  The lights came back on.

  KC blinked in the sudden brightness. She looked up and saw Dirk holding Ricky and Lucy, one in each big hand. They were squirming and hissing. Their little legs were clawing the air.

  KC turned around and tried to find her mother and the president. She spo
tted them near a far wall, totally surrounded by secret service agents. KC’s mother waved.

  Sunwoo stood between her parents. “What happened?” she asked her father.

  “Just a power failure,” Mr. Chu said. He patted his daughter’s hand.

  “Now you see why we need your donations!” Dr. Tutu joked to the crowd.

  Everyone laughed.

  “Before the lights went out, I was going to ask Mr. Chu to tell us about his special surprise,” Dr. Tutu continued.

  Mr. Chu placed his hand on the black box. He told everyone how the amber-covered emerald had been found two thousand years ago. “When visitors come to China, they want to see the Great Wall first. Then they go to the Imperial Palace to see this Tigers Eye.”

  Mr. Chu placed his hand on the box. “I brought it to Washington, D.C., to bring luck to the people,” he said. “Then the people will bring luck to the tigers.”

  Mr. Chu lifted the box lid, facing it toward the crowd so everyone could see the Tigers Eye.

  KC looked at the box. Except for the small silk cloth, it was empty.

  Someone giggled nervously.

  Dr. Tutu and Mr. Chu stared into the box. To KC, they seemed frozen, as if they’d been playing statues.

  “The Tigers Eye is gone!” Mr. Chu said.

  3

  KC Remembers

  Everyone started talking at once.

  The president walked to the middle of the room. “Folks, may I have your attention?” he said in a loud but gentle voice. “Please, everyone, be calm. Please stay in the room until we get this sorted out.”

  The president, Mr. Chu, and Dr. Tutu stepped into the hallway. The president leaned against the door, holding it open. KC watched them talking in whispers.

  Soon the three men came back into the room. Dirk was still holding the wriggling tiger cubs. He mumbled to Dr. Tutu. KC thought she heard him ask something about the cubs. Dr. Tutu nodded, and he and Dirk left the room together.

  Before the door closed behind them, KC saw Dr. Tutu unlock door number 3 across the hall. In a couple of minutes, the two men came back without Ricky and Lucy.

  “I know this is going to be annoying,” the president said to the group. “But this room and everyone in it will have to be searched.”