“The only thing that would have made this party better,” Henry said, “is if we’d solved the mystery of Blake’s missing camera.”
Jessie agreed. “I’m disappointed, too. I went over the suspect list a thousand times. I just can’t figure it out.”
Violet shrugged. “I hope Blake’s not too sad at how things turned out. There’s still a possibility that one of his other pictures will win.”
“Well, I hope one of our pictures wins,” Benny said. He grabbed Henry’s arm. “Come on, Henry. The pizza’s getting cold, and everyone’s waiting for me to take the first slice, just like Mr. Newton promised.”
The Aldens went to the pizza table and everyone grabbed a few slices, following Benny. Then they sat in the circle of folding chairs.
Matthew and Griffin came to sit beside them. They were dressed in twin zoo shirts with monkeys on them.
“It’s a picture of Simio,” Matthew told Benny.
“It does kind of look like him,” Benny said, leaning in to study the shirt.
“We wanted to always remember that funny monkey,” Griffin said.
Sophie joined the circle. She had her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail.
Sophie was wearing her swim charm bracelet. When Mr. Newton showed up, he was wearing his tennis shoes.
“We did solve a few mysteries,” Benny told Jessie. “We found a bracelet and a missing shoe!”
Jessie smiled. “I guess it wasn’t all bad detective work, huh?”
“No,” Violet said. “We did pretty well. Two out of three.”
Blake was sitting at the opposite side of the circle. “No one will ever know how great my giraffe picture was,” Blake said sadly. “It was an artistic masterpiece!”
“Oh, give it up already,” Annika told him. “You lost the camera. The contest results have been decided. Stop complaining.”
“I wouldn’t complain if you hadn’t taken it,” Blake said, standing up and waving his pizza crust at her.
“They’re fighting again,” Violet said to Henry. “Can you get them to stop?”
“I think once Mr. Newton announces the winner, it’ll be over,” Henry said. “There won’t be anything more to argue about.”
All the remaining children took seats in the circle. Annika came to sit by the Aldens, as far away from Blake as she could.
“I got all of your photos developed after the tour ended,” Mr. Newton said. “The zoologist judges looked at all the pictures. It was hard to decide because there were so many good ones.” He took out a zoo pass and held it up. “There is only one grand prize, but today we’ll also award second and third place winners.”
Mr. Newton asked the kids to make drum roll sounds by patting their hands against their thighs.
“Third place, for his picture of Simio, is . . . Griffin!” Mr. Newton told Griffin to come to the front of the room.
“Thank you,” Griffin said, taking a bow. “Third place is good for me!” Mr. Newton gave Griffin a coupon for a free ice cream at the snack bar.
“Oooh,” Benny said. “That’s a yummy prize!”
“You have to share the cone with me,” Matthew told his brother. “It was my camera.”
“I do not have to share,” Griffin said. “I was the one who took the picture.”
“They’re as bad as Blake and Annika,” Henry whispered to Jessie.
“They are worse,” Jessie whispered back. “I bet they fight all day!”
Mr. Newton went on with the presentation. “In second place,” he said, “with a shot of her brother and a butterfly on his head is . . . Violet Alden!”
“How’d you know I took the picture?” Violet asked Mr. Newton with a huge smile. “I was sharing the camera with Henry, Jessie, and Benny all day.”
Mr. Newton showed her the winning shot. The butterfly was on Benny’s head, and Henry and Jessie were in the background of the photo.
“You were the only one not in the picture,” Mr. Newton said. “It wasn’t too hard to figure out.”
“Oh,” Violet said with a smile. “Good detective work, Mr. Newton.”
“Thanks.” Mr. Newton gave Violet a coupon for a supersize popcorn bucket.
“Yippee!” Benny cheered. He held out his hand to take the ticket from Violet.
“No way,” she said. “I’m keeping it in my purse. I know you,” she winked. “You’ll eat the whole thing by yourself.”
Benny laughed, rubbing his hands together. “You read my mind,” he said.
Mr. Newton brought out an easel that was covered with a sheet. “Here’s the grand prize winning photo,” he said. “I had a big poster of it made. Are you ready to see?”
The children all got up from their chairs and gathered around.
“And in first place, winning a year pass to the zoo, is . . .” Mr. Newton whipped off the sheet.
Beneath it stood a picture of a baby giraffe, wobbly on its legs, standing next to its mother.
“Annika Gentry!”
“Oh my gosh!” Annika jumped up and down. She danced around and cheered.
Mr. Newton handed her the zoo pass and a small blue first-place ribbon. “Congratulations,” he said, shaking her hand.
“Thanks so much,” Annika told him. Annika went over to Benny. “You were my witness!” she said. “Tell Blake that he has to let me be a photographer for the newspaper.”
“You made her a deal,” Benny said to Blake.
“Oh, fine,” Blake said. “I’m not a sore loser. You can take pictures for the paper.”
Annika was so excited, she jumped forward, grabbed Blake, and hugged him.
He quickly stepped backwards out of her arms. “No hugging on the newspaper.” Annika laughed.
“I want to see your picture close-up,” Blake said, moving through the crowd. “It’s good,” he started to give Annika a compliment, but stopped. “Mr. Newton!” he called in a loud voice. “Hold everything! Annika didn’t win the contest.”
The room went silent.
“I won the contest.” He pointed at the photograph. “I took this picture!”
Chapter 9
Picture Problem
Henry, Jessie, Benny, and Violet rushed over to where Blake and Annika were standing.
“What do you mean?” Benny asked.
“Her name was on the camera, right?” Violet asked Mr. Newton.
“Yes,” he said, confused. “I was very careful not to mix up one student’s pictures with the others. I’m certain that this photo came from Annika’s camera.” He squinted at the picture over his glasses. “How do you know it’s yours, Blake?”
Blake said, “I know how I framed the shot. I put the tree in the far left corner and the baby’s legs in the right. This is my picture. I am positive.”
“I was standing next to you,” Annika said. “It might be mine.”
“No way,” Blake told her. “This is not yours!”
“I—”
But before Annika could defend herself, Henry jumped in with an idea. “Mr. Newton, can we see all the pictures from Annika’s camera?”
Mr. Newton went to the back of the room and found the envelope that contained her photos. While he was gone, Annika and Blake stood like statues, silently glaring at each other.
Jessie took out her notebook and pen. She wrote down Annika’s name on a clean page and next to that, she wrote down Blake’s name. Underneath she wrote: “Winning picture?”
Mr. Newton came back with the photos from Annika’s camera. “I would search the pictures myself. But I don’t know what you’re looking for,” he said.
“I’m not exactly sure yet, either, but I’ll know when I see it,” Henry replied.
Mr. Newton nodded, then handed the envelope of photos to Henry.
Jessie helped Henry. They organized the pictures on the floor by which animals they’d seen during the spring break program. They grouped together the penguins, the giraffes, the butterflies, and all the other animals into small picture piles.
&nb
sp; “There are lots of photos,” Benny said once Henry and Jessie stepped back from the pictures. “But only one of a giraffe. That was a really great picture. No wonder it won.”
“Huh?” Annika said, scanning the photos. “I took lots of giraffe shots. Where are my other pictures?”
Henry’s head popped up. “That’s it! Benny, you are a genius!”
“I am?” Benny asked. “Oh, right,” he added. “I am.”
“What do you mean, Henry?” Jessie asked. “Why is it important that there’s just one giraffe photo?”
“Because Blake only took one giraffe picture on his camera,” Henry explained.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Annika pointed at some other pictures. “See how I shot the butterflies from many different angles? And I have all these alligator photos?” She touched the pictures as she remembered taking them. “I like to take multiple shots of each animal to be sure I get a good picture.”
“That’s right,” Henry said.” He pointed as he explained. “Look carefully. Penguins and giraffes are here.” He poked at two photos. “One picture of each. That’s all.” He pushed those pictures to the side. “Then we had lunch.”
Jessie picked up the story from there. “After lunch we saw butterflies.” She pointed to the five beautiful pictures of the butterflies. “Then three pictures of hummingbirds. Four of alligators.”
“You two somehow switched cameras at lunch,” Henry said to Annika and Blake. He pointed at the first two photos. “Those are Blake’s photos from before lunch. He only took one picture of each animal. Then, Annika took pictures after lunch on the same camera. We can tell because there are multiple photos of the same animal.”
“How could we have switched cameras?” Blake asked, looking carefully at each of Annika’s after-lunch photos. “I had one camera in my bag and the other camera in my hand the whole time.”
“Didn’t you put the one in your hand on the table at lunch?” Benny asked.
“Good memory!” Violet congratulated Benny. He beamed a happy smile.
“That’s when the switch must have happened,” Henry said. “When everyone was picking up their cameras.”
Annika wasn’t smiling. She took a sad, ragged breath. “It looks like Blake really did win the contest.” She handed him the zoo pass and the first-place ribbon. “I’m really sorry about the mix-up,” she told Blake. “It’s a good picture and you deserve to win.”
“Thanks.” Blake took the prizes. He smoothed down his red hair with one hand and then went with Mr. Newton to get his photo taken for the zoo newsletter.
“This means we successfully solved another mystery,” Henry said to his siblings.
“Wahoo!” Benny cheered.
Jessie closed her notebook. “We did it.”
Violet was very quiet.
“What’s wrong Violet?” Benny asked.
“Just thinking.” Violet turned to Henry, Jessie, and Benny. “At the beginning of the tour, Blake had two cameras and Annika had one. And we always knew where Blake’s second camera was. He was saving it in his over-the-shoulder bag for the second day. Right?”
The other Aldens nodded in agreement.
“Then one of Blake’s cameras went missing. So he had only one, and Annika still had one. Right?”
Again, her siblings nodded.
“So one camera is still missing. Annika accidentally took one of Blake’s two cameras. But where did Annika’s original camera go?”
Chapter 10
Another Mystery to Solve
“That is a good question,” Henry told Violet. He went running over to Mr. Newton. “Hey, Mr. Newton, can we see all the pictures from everyone’s cameras?”
“I thought the mystery was solved,” Mr. Newton said.
“We need to figure out what happened to Annika’s camera,” Henry explained.
“Ahh,” Mr. Newton said, pushing his glasses up with one finger. “I’ll go get them. The party’s nearly over, anyway. I was going to give the pictures to the students to take home.”
Mr. Newton went to get the photographs. When he came back, all the children gathered around as Mr. Newton passed the photos out to each of them.
“I can’t wait to see the shots I took,” Griffin told Matthew.
“I took better ones,” Matthew said to his brother.
Mr. Newton handed the twins two envelopes filled with the pictures from the cameras they shared. The envelopes were both marked Cho on the outside.
As the twins went through them, Henry stood over their shoulder looking. “That’s another great one of Simio,” he told Griffin, pointing at the photo of the escaped monkey. Henry watched as the boys flipped through all the other pictures. They were able to easily identify which ones each twin took.
“I think it’ll make things easier if we go around the room and look for Annika’s pictures,” Jessie said to Henry.
“Good idea,” Henry said.
“Let’s split up,” Benny suggested. “I’ll go over there.” He pointed at Nico, who was standing alone, looking at his pictures and giggling. He’d taken off his baseball cap, and each time he laughed, Nico’s shaggy hair bounced up and down.
Jessie and Violet each took opposite corners of the room. Henry noticed that Sophie was packing up her stuff, getting ready to leave. He headed over to quickly look at her photos.
“Can I take a look at your pictures?” Henry asked. When Sophie agreed, he took them out of her envelope and flipped through her pile. “You have a bunch of nice giraffe shots,” Henry told Sophie.
“Thanks,” she said. She took back the pictures and put them away.
A few minutes later, the Aldens got together.
“Nico took silly shots,” Benny told the others. “They are mostly of the kids in the tour group, not of zoo animals. So those couldn’t be Annika’s.”
“I didn’t find Annika’s pictures, either.” Henry said to his brother and sisters. “But I did see a lot of really great giraffe pictures. Everyone took some of the baby giraffe. Sophie showed me hers. She had a few that were taken straight on, from about the same place where Violet and I were standing. The baby was looking right at the lens and—”
“Wait a second!” Violet stopped Henry in the middle of his sentence. “Did you say Sophie had good giraffe photos?”
“Yes,” Henry said. “Pretty ones.” He put his hand over his mouth. “Oh no!”
The Aldens looked around the room for Sophie. She was almost out the door. “Stop! Sophie!” Benny shouted. “We need to see your pictures again.”
“You already saw them,” Sophie said. “My dad’s waiting outside.”
Jessie said, “It’s important.”
Violet and Benny stood in the doorway. Henry held out his hand until Sophie gave in, handing him the photos.
“You have lots of giraffe photos, but you couldn’t have possibly taken them, Sophie,” Jessie said.
“You didn’t have a camera the first day. That’s when we saw their habitat,” Violet said.
Benny added, “Plus, you don’t even like giraffes. You’re scared of them!”
Sophie’s face turned red. She opened and closed her mouth a few times to talk, but nothing came out. Finally she said, “Oh! I didn’t even realize it! These aren’t my pictures. They must be Annika’s. Mr. Newton, where are my pictures? I don’t have any giraffes on mine.”
“Those are yours,” Mr. Newton said, looking at the photos and the name on the envelope.
“Nope,” Sophie said, shaking her head. Her ponytail wiggled. “There must have been another mix-up. I don’t like giraffes. These can’t be mine.”
She tried to hand Mr. Newton the stack of photos, but they fell to the floor with a whoosh.
Henry bent to pick them up. “These are yours, Sophie.” He held up a picture of a baby chimp. “There’s your swimmer charm, dangling in the corner.”
Sophie lowered her eyes. She was caught.
“I am so sorry, Annika,” Sophie said. “I didn’t me
an to take your camera. Honestly. I meant to take Blake’s.”
“What?!” Blake said, hearing his name and rushing over.
“Well,” Sophie began. “It wasn’t fair that you got two cameras. I didn’t want to enter the contest. I just wanted to have photos for memories.” She went on, “So after lunch, when you were putting your sack in the cooler, I took one of yours. They were both in your over-the-shoulder bag, and I snuck one out.”
“But Annika had already switched cameras accidentally with Blake. That happened before Blake put the one he was using that day into his bag,” Jessie finished. “So the camera you stole was actually Annika’s, not Blake’s.”
Sophie looked down at her shoes. “I feel very bad about the whole thing.”
“You shouldn’t have stolen Blake’s camera,” Mr. Newton told Sophie. “Even if you thought it was unfair for him to have two, stealing is wrong.”
“I know,” Sophie said.
Mr. Newton went out to the front of the zoo to find Sophie’s father, Mr. Webb, and explain what had happened.
“I suspected you all along, and I was right,” Blake said to Annika. “Well, sort of. You did take my camera—”
“But it was an accident,” Annika reminded him.
“I know,” Blake said. “I’m sorry I accused you of stealing my camera. I looked at the pictures you took, and I have to admit, you are a really good photographer. I’m happy you are going to be a photographer for the school newspaper.”
“Really?” Annika asked. “You didn’t change your mind, even though yours was actually the winning photo?” She seemed doubtful.
“No,” Blake told her. “Welcome to the newspaper staff.” They shook hands for the second time.
Sophie’s dad came into the room with Mr. Newton.
Sophie rushed up to him. “I’m so sorry, Dad. I took a camera that wasn’t mine. And I lied to some kids earlier and said I bought my own. Both things were terribly wrong. I—”
“Whoa,” Mr. Webb put his arm around Sophie to slow her down. “I want to understand what happened. Why did you take someone’s camera?”
“I knew we couldn’t afford one. And I wanted photos for my memory album,” Sophie explained. A big tear rolled down her cheek. “I’m really sorry,” she said again.