“Is that what civet oil smells like? It’s awful,” Bess said. “I can’t believe it’s used in perfumes!”
“They must neutralize it first,” Nancy told her.
Owen gave Nancy and Bess a curious look. “How did you know about civet oil?” he asked.
Nancy explained what Felicity Willert had told her and Bess earlier that day. George let out a long, low whistle. “So that’s what this is all about,” she said.
“Maybe,” Nancy said. “Except that it doesn’t seem that civet oil is too hard to find. It’s just expensive.”
“And hard to cultivate,” Owen added, taking a large canvas bag stamped River Heights Zoo from the trunk of the car. “You have to scrape their glands to retrieve the musk. Unless you know what you’re doing, it’s an impossible job.”
Nancy listened carefully as she watched Owen take out a pair of leather gloves from the trunk. Next, he picked up a gun and loaded it with a long silver dart.
“It’s a tranquilizer dart,” he explained when Bess looked at him questioningly.
Motioning to the girls to stand back, Owen put on the leather gloves and opened the car door just a crack. The civet hissed at him. “Come on, girl,” he said softly. “This will only hurt for a minute.”
As the others watched, he managed to shoot a dart into the big cat’s flank. He waited a minute, then opened the car door. “It’s safe now,” he assured them. “She’ll be out for at least an hour.”
The civet was collapsed on the front seat, breathing slowly. “Is it a female?” Nancy asked, noting his use of the word she.
Owen nodded. “It’s the same civet that disappeared last night,” he said grimly, examining the animal through the car window. “She’s got a notched ear from a fight she was in a couple of months ago.”
“What should we do now?” George asked. “You can’t just take the civet home with you.”
“I think the best thing would be to return her to the zoo,” Owen said. “I have only one dart, so I don’t want to risk having her wake up,” he added.
“We’ll come along,” Nancy offered.
Owen nodded. “You’d better take George in your car,” he said. “Mine smells pretty raunchy.”
The girls piled into Nancy’s Mustang, discussing who might have planted the civet. “It had to be the man with the sunglasses,” George said. “Who else could have been driving that van?”
“But who is he out to get, Owen or Nancy?” Bess wondered.
“Maybe he thought we all came in one car,” George suggested.
“Or maybe he’s out to get all of us.” Bess shuddered. “This is starting to feel very scary.”
Nancy was only half listening to the conversation. Another thought had occurred to her—one she thought she’d better keep to herself for the time being. Why did Owen just happen to have leather gloves and a tranquilizer gun in the trunk of his car?
The equipment clearly belonged to the zoo—and Owen no longer worked at World of Africa. Maybe he had forgotten to return it, Nancy told herself. But why would he have been carrying a tranquilizer gun in the first place?
The questions nagged at her. She was sure Owen would never do anything to hurt the civets. But what if he thought they weren’t being treated well enough at the zoo? Or what if he had some special experiment that he wanted to do privately?
Bess’s voice penetrated her thoughts. “Earth to Nancy. Come in, Nancy,” she was saying.
“Huh?”
“You looked like you were on another planet,” Bess said. “I asked you three times why you thought someone else might have been driving the van.”
“No real reason,” she replied. “Still, since we didn’t see the driver, I don’t want to jump to conclusions. The man could be working with someone else.”
Bess nodded, satisfied, and Nancy let her thoughts wander again. Why did she keep wondering about Owen? She hated feeling suspicious about her friend’s boyfriend. Especially when George was so incredibly happy.
“Nancy!” George shouted in her ear. “Turn left!”
Quickly she turned and steered onto the street leading to the zoo. “You almost missed the turnoff,” George said. “Are you all right?”
“Maybe she’s still a little dazed from what happened,” Bess suggested. “I would be.”
“No, I’m fine,” Nancy told them. Just then she slammed her foot on the brake, so hard that the three of them lurched forward.
“Now what is it?” Bess gazed worriedly at her friend.
“Nothing. There’s a chain in front of the entrance to the parking lot, that’s all.” She pointed to the front of the car. Sure enough, the Mustang’s headlights shone brightly on a thick chain stretched across the road.
“Thank goodness. For a minute there I thought you were cracking up,” Bess said.
“I was daydreaming,” Nancy told her. “But I’m fine now.”
Owen drove up next to them. “What’s wrong?” he asked, rolling down his window.
“Chain across the road,” Nancy shouted back.
He got out to investigate, then came back to their car. “You need a key to open it. We’d better walk from here.”
“Will you be able to carry the civet?” Nancy asked.
Owen nodded. “She’s not that heavy.”
Nancy backed up and parked her car off the road, in the shadow of some trees. Owen followed. Then they climbed over the chain and started walking across the parking lot to the zoo.
“This is really creepy,” Bess whispered. The lot was deserted, and each footstep echoed twice against the buildings. On Owen’s shoulder the civet stirred and mewed.
“Is she waking up?” Bess asked in a frightened voice.
Owen shook his head. “She’s probably having a dream. Animals dream just like we do,” he told her.
“As long as she’s still sleeping,” Bess said, glancing nervously at the civet.
Finally the group got to the gate of the zoo, only to find it locked and the security guard’s booth empty.
“That’s strange. I wonder where the guard is?” Owen commented.
“How will we get in?” George asked.
Owen checked his pockets. “No problem. I’ve still got my keys,” he told her, fishing them out. “I forgot to return them to Zoe,” he explained.
He led them to a small door in the gate and slipped the key into the lock. It opened silently, and the door swung back.
The three girls followed Owen inside. “The zoo is even scarier than the parking lot,” Bess whispered nervously.
Nancy agreed. In the black night animals sighed or snored or groaned, but it was impossible to see them.
“There isn’t even a moon,” Bess noted.
They heard a loud squeal, followed by a splashing noise. Bess gave a little shriek. “What—what was that?” she cried.
“Probably a sea lion,” Owen assured her. “They’re in a tank right near here.”
World of Africa was close to the zoo’s main gate. They tiptoed around to the staff entrance, waited while Owen opened the door with his key, and slipped inside.
Inside it was dark and deserted. Not wanting to attract attention, Owen turned on only a small light near the door. “At least we’ll be able to see where we’re going,” he explained. The others followed him down the long hallway to the door marked Civets.
“Whew, we made it!” Owen said to George as he opened the door. He sounded relieved. They entered the supply room, and he opened the door to the exhibit. Nancy, Bess, and George watched as he gently placed the sleeping civet inside.
As Owen was straightening up, the exhibit was suddenly awash with bright light.
Then a voice shouted out, “Nobody move. You’re all under arrest!”
Chapter
Ten
NANCY SHIELDED HER EYES against the blinding light while Owen stood frozen in the doorway to the exhibit.
George pulled on Nancy’s arm. “What is going on?”
“I don’t
know,” Nancy said, “but I’m going to find out.” She pushed past Owen and stood just inside the civet exhibit, keeping a close watch on the animals. Owen and George followed her, while Bess stayed in the supply room, looking scared and confused.
“Don’t try anything!” the same man called out. “We’ve got you covered!”
Squinting, Nancy could see two figures approaching on the other side of the glass. They were running through the visitors’ part of the exhibit. As her eyes adjusted, she recognized Harper Anderson, the zoo security guard. With him was another guard she didn’t recognize.
“Just hold it right there while Joseph here comes around to get you,” Harper shouted at them through the glass. “And I’d advise you not to put up a fight.”
“Of course we won’t.” Owen had been silent, but now he exploded angrily. “We’re not criminals, for pete’s sake.”
“Oh, no?” Harper returned. “Then what are you doing here?”
“We’re returning a civet!” George cried.
“Tell that to the police,” said Harper, obviously unconvinced. Two other people had come up behind him. Nancy made out the features of Zoe Spelios and Maurice Berry.
With a sinking feeling Nancy looked around her. She, Owen, George, and Bess had sneaked into World of Africa in the middle of the night. Owen was carrying a tranquilizer gun. Nancy had civet scratches on her hand. All the evidence added up. It looked as if they were stealing a civet, not returning one!
“Let go of me, you creep,” Bess said. Nancy turned and saw Joseph pulling Bess out into the hall.
Nancy followed Owen and George out of the exhibit, through the supply room, and into the hallway. Joseph was standing there talking to Harper Anderson.
“You see, Maurice,” Zoe told the zoo director sadly. “The caller was right. Owen and his friends are behind the thefts.”
“Wait just one minute!” Owen shouted. He was about to go on when George shot him a warning look. Owen must have realized that now wasn’t the time for him to lose his temper, because he closed his mouth and sullenly looked down at the floor.
Nancy wasn’t going to give up so easily. “What caller?” she asked Zoe.
Zoe explained. “I received an anonymous phone call at the country club warning me that Owen and his friends were about to steal another civet, and that if I got to the zoo quickly I could catch them.”
She sighed heavily. “I thought it was a crank call, but I couldn’t just ignore it. When I told Maurice, he decided to come along.”
Mr. Berry said angrily, “You kids really made fools of us, didn’t you? Especially you, Nancy.”
Bess jumped to their defense. “We haven’t done anything,” she told him. “We were returning a civet, not taking one!”
“Returning it from where?” Berry asked scornfully. “Did you find it on the street?”
Nancy tried to reason with the zoo director. “Of course not. We—”
He motioned for her to be quiet. “I don’t want to hear it. I trusted you and gave you the run of the zoo. And this is how you repay my trust.” He shook his head, disgusted. “I’m turning this whole thing over to the police.”
“I’m afraid I have to agree with you,” Zoe said with resigned determination.
“Wait!” Bess said suddenly, surprising all of them. “Count them!”
“Count what?” asked Berry, confused. George looked at her friend as though she’d lost her mind.
But Nancy understood. “Count the civets!” she said. “After the last theft, there were only five. Now there should be six.” She smiled at her friend. Good old Bess! Leave it to her to come through in a crisis!
“The civets have been disturbed too much already,” Zoe said angrily. “I think this should wait until tomorrow.”
“It will take only a minute,” Owen pointed out.
“From a security standpoint, I’d rather get this resolved right away,” added Harper.
“Then let’s go,” Owen said, leading the way to the visitors’ entrance to the exhibit. “We’ll be able to count them more easily this way,” he explained.
The lights were still on in the exhibit when Owen stepped up to the glass with Nancy, George, and Bess at his heels. Zoe, Maurice, Harper, and Joseph followed reluctantly. Nancy could tell they thought this was crazy.
Three civets were immediately visible: the drugged one, who was just beginning to wake up, and two others, who were sniffing around her.
“That’s three,” Harper said. At that moment a fourth civet came out from behind a bush and joined the others.
“That’s the fourth,” Owen said. “And there’s a fifth one asleep on that branch.” He pointed to a tree in one corner with a civet crouching near the top.
“And the sixth?” Mr. Berry asked.
Owen looked around. “I don’t see it,” he admitted finally. “It must be hiding.”
“Or missing,” Zoe said.
“Look!” Nancy cried. “Didn’t something move over by the water bowl?”
The others leaned forward. “I don’t see—Wait, there is something,” Mr. Berry said.
“There it is!” Bess cried as the sixth civet crawled out from under a stand of shrubbery.
Nancy breathed a huge sigh of relief. “You see, we aren’t thieves,” she told Mr. Berry.
To her surprise the zoo director was still angry. “That doesn’t explain what you were all doing here in the middle of the night—after you were forbidden to come at all,” he added to Owen. “And one of those civets looks sick.”
“We had to drug it,” Owen explained.
Berry frowned. “There’s another thing I don’t understand,” he said. “How did you get in here?”
Zoe shot Owen a questioning look. “That’s precisely what I wanted to know.”
“I still have my keys,” Owen admitted quietly.
“Give them to me,” Berry said. While Owen was fumbling with his keychain, Berry said to Zoe, “I’m going to authorize a full-scale investigation into this case. I should have done it long ago, but you told me you could handle it.”
The zookeeper’s eyes narrowed. Nancy thought she was about to say something scathing, but instead, Zoe just nodded silently.
“In the meantime,” he said to the others, “I don’t want to see you on the grounds for any reason. You’re forbidden to enter the zoo, do you understand?” He glared at them. “Now, get out. Now.”
Nancy could tell the zoo director meant business. “Come on, guys,” she said. “Let’s go.”
George nodded. Under Berry’s watchful eye the four of them filed from the exhibit room and walked out to the parking lot in silence.
“I don’t think he believed us,” Bess said with a sigh.
“Me, neither,” Nancy confirmed. “We really need to talk this through. Let’s all go to my house.”
“I’ll ride with Owen,” George said. They hopped into his beat-up car, while Nancy and Bess got into her Mustang.
The two friends were silent on the drive to Nancy’s house, still somewhat stunned by Berry’s ultimatum. As she pulled up to her house and shut off the ignition, Nancy said, “Not being able to go back to the zoo is going to put a serious damper on this investigation.”
Bess nodded and got out of the car. Owen and George pulled up behind Nancy.
“So much for good deeds,” George said, coming up to them.
“Yeah, what a bust,” Bess agreed, staring at the ground.
“Let’s go inside and have some hot chocolate,” Nancy said, leading the way to the Drews’ front door. “The four of us should be able to come up with a plan.”
Within a few minutes the four were seated around the Drews’ kitchen table with steaming cups of hot chocolate in front of them.
“One thing’s for sure,” Nancy said, warming her hands on her mug. “Someone put the civet in Owen’s car on the assumption he’d bring it back to the zoo. Then that same someone called Zoe.”
Owen nodded silently and pursed his lips i
n thought.
“Setup city,” George agreed. “But who?”
“That’s obvious,” Bess said. “The man with the sunglasses.”
“We still don’t know that,” Nancy cautioned her. “We didn’t see the van driver. We’re not even sure that the person who was driving the van put the civet in the car.”
“But who would want to do such a thing?” George asked.
“I can think of at least one person,” Nancy told her. “Tyler Mack.”
“But he was at the movie,” Bess said.
“We’re not sure about that. We only saw him outside the theater. He could have planted the civet in the car, then called Zoe to set Owen up.”
“Why?” Owen wondered. “If Tyler was trying to get rid of me, he’s already succeeded. Why set me up for this, too?”
“Maybe he just hates you,” Bess suggested.
“That’s possible,” Nancy agreed. “Or maybe he wants to throw suspicion off himself,” she said thoughtfully. “There are some things about Tyler that don’t add up.”
“Like where does he get so much money?” Bess said. Seeing George and Owen’s confused looks, Nancy quickly explained what they’d seen at Daly’s.
“That’s very weird,” Owen said when she was finished. “He’s always complaining to anyone who will listen about how little he makes.”
“Well, somewhere along the way he got a raise,” Bess said.
“I don’t see how,” Owen said. “Zoe doesn’t like him, either, and she’s the one in charge of salaries.”
Nancy thought about it. “Maybe he found another way to make extra cash,” she said finally.
Bess asked, “But how?”
“I can think of one way,” Owen said ominously, obviously catching Nancy’s train of thought. “Selling stolen civets!”
Chapter
Eleven
WE CAN’T JUMP THE GUN,” Nancy said slowly. “Still, it’s a very strong possibility.” She laid out the facts. “One: Tyler Mack has access to the exhibit, and, two, he’s got a suspiciously large amount of money at his disposal.”
George gave a long whistle. “It does make sense. If only there was a way to keep an eye on him,” she said. “But with none of us allowed in the zoo . . .”