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  “Too late for that now!” Sophia jumped onto the stage. “Just pay attention and try to keep up!” She walked over to Tommy and coolly took the microphone out of his hand. Tommy watched her, his blue eyes calculating.

  “Let’s give another round of applause to our beloved councilman, Big Tommy Brown!” Sophia said into the microphone. The audience cheered. “He is truly a man of the people, isn’t he?” The audience cheered again. “We planned a little special surprise for everyone to let Big Tommy know just exactly what he means to us.” Sophia saw Tommy starting to relax. After all, he wouldn’t have been able to stay in politics for this long if he hadn’t learned to roll with the punches. Sophia passed the microphone to Vishal, and her eyes scanned the room. Where were Marvin and the money? They had to be here somewhere.

  “Councilman Brown has had quite the successful career,” Vishal said. “But did you know he’s a successful businessman, too?” A group of silver-haired businessmen let out loud whoops of approval. “He’s been able to form wonderful business partnerships all over our Twin Cities,” Vishal continued.

  Tommy preened. “Building successful partnerships! That’s what politics is all about!”

  “I believe some of his business partners are here tonight. Isn’t that right, Sergei?” Vishal asked. The Russian froze and stared daggers at Vishal. “In fact, Sergei gives a full thirty percent of all his illegal wildlife smuggling earnings to his old friend Tommy.” There were a few gasps in the audience. Vishal smiled. “Oh, I’m sorry. Twenty percent. You see, business had been going great for Sergei. Tommy was helping him find just the right animals to steal, and just the right buyers, and they were bringing in a lot of cash. He had even managed to secure a Tibetan mastiff—”

  “My missing dog!” a woman in the audience cried.

  “But then Tommy had to go and mess everything up by asking Sergei to steal the one animal he could never sell. An animal so famous and beloved that all of the Twin Cities knew him by name.” He waited a beat. “Marvin.” There were gasps of shock and confused murmurings from the crowd.

  “All right, kids, your little prank has gone on long enough!” Tommy said with a chuckle. His face was jolly, but his eyes were steely and hard. He yanked the microphone out of Vishal’s hand. “Everyone knows Marvin was killed by a bobcat, and no childish storytelling is going to change that. Now run along back to your parents.”

  “It’s not wishful thinking!” Sophia shouted. “We saw him!”

  Tommy turned off the microphone and walked over to Bermudez, who was watching from the edge of the stage. “Hey, Pedro. You’re part of my security detail, aren’t you? So how about doing your job and getting these brats offstage?”

  “The name’s Peter,” Bermudez said. “And I think everyone in the room would like to know what they have to say.” He picked up a spare microphone and handed it to Zach.

  “I guess that means you just tendered your resignation, because I’ll make sure you never work in this town again,” Tommy growled. “Or anywhere.”

  “B-17 is innocent!” Sophia shouted.

  Tommy turned the microphone back on and grinned at the audience. “Looks like we have a few animal activists in the house tonight.” He patted Sophia on the head condescendingly. “Ah, the idealism of youth. Let’s see if you still want that bobcat around when your own pet goes missing.”

  “I bet your own pet isn’t even missing,” Sophia snapped. “I bet you faked it just to get people to feel sorry for you!”

  Tommy turned off his mic and gripped Sophia by the arm. “This isn’t funny, kid,” he said through his teeth. “Now get off the stage before I make you get off.”

  “Oh, trust me, there’s nothing funny about it,” Sophia shot back. “I’m as serious as a heart attack, which is probably exactly what you’ll have as soon as we reveal to everyone in this room what a corrupt fraud you are!”

  “Listen, sweetheart,” Tommy said. “You already tried that, and guess what? Nobody’s buying it. You know what they call it when you make false accusations in public? Slander. So unless you want to find your family in the middle of a lawsuit, I suggest you shut your mouth.”

  “Those accusations aren’t false and you know it!”

  “Nice try, kid. But without any evidence it’s just your word against mine, and guess who everyone’s gonna believe?” He snapped his fingers, and a group of men in dark suits pushed their way onto the stage, including Sergei’s henchmen. He switched the mic back on. “Now if the rest of my security detail can please get these children off the stage, I think we’d all like to go home. Thank you all for coming. Good night.” The audience applauded, and Tommy switched off the microphone and put it back on the stand.

  Sophia knew she had lost. “Whatever you do, just please don’t hurt Marvin,” she said. “At least promise me you’ll find him a good home.”

  Tommy grinned at her and leaned close to whisper in her ear. “I wasn’t planning to hurt the little guy, but after your stunt tonight, I’m going to put that panda in his little carrier, tie a rock to it, and drop him in the bottom of the Mississippi.” He chucked her under the chin and walked off the stage.

  One of the men in black grabbed Vishal by the elbow, and Vishal recognized him as one of Sergei’s henchmen. “All right, kid. Let’s go.”

  “What are you gonna do, arrest me?” Vishal asked.

  “Oh, don’t worry about that,” the henchman said. “Where we’re taking you, you won’t have to worry about seeing the cops—or anyone else—ever again.”

  The security men crowded the stage, keeping the parents and Detective Bermudez away. “We just need to ask these children a few questions,” one of the men said, “to make sure they don’t pose a threat to the councilman, and then we’ll release them into your custody.”

  Evie and Zach looked at each other in a panic. “Nobody believes us,” Evie whispered. “He’s gonna get away with it.”

  “Look at us,” Zach whispered back. “He’s a city councilman, and we’re just four weird kids wearing dumb disguises. Would you believe us?”

  Tommy was already back on the floor, shaking hands and slapping backs while his private security team surrounded the four detectives. The voices of the party grew louder.

  Suddenly, Evie clutched Zach’s hand. “Do you still have the microphone?”

  “Yeah,” Zach said.

  “Give it to me!” Zach passed it over, and Evie switched it on. “Detective Bermudez!” Evie cried into it. “Marvin and the money are right here in this room!”

  CHAPTER

  29

  Evie watched the TV screen intently as a handcuffed Big Tommy Brown was marched out of court. “I tell you, I never get tired of a good perp walk.” She raised her voice to call into the other room. “Mom? Tommy Brown just got officially indicted. Can we go out and celebrate?”

  “No,” her mother called back. “You’re still grounded!”

  “Come on, Mom,” Zach said. “We caught a crooked politician and broke up an animal-smuggling ring. Surely that should be a mitigating factor?”

  Mrs. Mamuya popped her head out of her office nook. “I swear you’re going to grow up to be a lawyer.”

  “What about me?” Evie asked. “Can’t I be a lawyer?”

  “Not you,” Mrs. Mamuya said. “You’re going to be president.”

  “Does that mean we’re not grounded anymore?” Evie asked.

  “Even future presidents have to follow the rules,” Mrs. Mamuya said. “You promised me you would never go on another case without telling me first, and you broke that promise. You could have gotten kidnapped, or even killed!”

  “Plus we lost our phones,” Zach added.

  “Plus you lost your phones,” Mrs. Mamuya echoed. “Which could also have gotten you killed. By me.”

  “Don’t make it worse, Zach,” Evie said. “Besides, at least I lost my phone doing something heroic. You lost yours acting out your dumb cover story that we didn’t even need.”

  Mrs.
Mamuya’s phone rang. She answered it and handed it to Evie. “It’s for you.”

  “Hey, Evie, it’s me, Sophia.”

  “I know,” Evie said. “It says it on the caller ID.”

  “Oh, good. Hey, can you and Zach come over for a little while? I already called Vishal, too.”

  “We can’t. We’re still grounded.”

  “So am I, but I asked my parents and they said it’s okay as long as we don’t leave the house.”

  “Let me check.” Evie tucked the phone against her shoulder. “Mom, can we go over to Sophia’s for a little while, as long as we promise to stay inside her house and not go anywhere? Her parents said it’s okay.”

  “No. You’re still grounded.”

  Evie put the phone back to her ear. “Nope. Still grounded.”

  “Too bad,” Sophia said. “I was hoping we could celebrate Big Tommy’s indictment together.”

  “Me, too,” Evie admitted. “I hope they have enough to convict him. Detective Bermudez said that Sergei refuses to talk, and his men won’t say anything, either. The cops know the smugglers are part of a much bigger network of criminals, but they’re at a dead end.”

  “I hate thinking that we didn’t get them all,” Sophia said glumly. “Who knows how many animals are still out there suffering?”

  “Don’t worry, we won’t give up. It looks like Marvin is the only animal that Bitsy stole, but Bermudez says they’ve gotten leads on the animals stolen by Sergei’s smuggling ring. We’ll find them all someday.”

  “Together?” Sophia asked.

  “Of course together,” Evie answered. “That’s what best friends do.”

  ***

  A few months later, a big banner was hanging across the zoo gates when the Mamuyas and the Desais arrived: WELCOME TO THE TWIN CITY WILDLIFE FESTIVAL. The zoo was crowded with visitors checking out booths on butterfly gardens, vermicomposting, and building bat houses. Many guests were wearing furry-eared headbands in honor of B-17, who had recently been voted the official mascot of the Twin Cities.

  Evie waved to Sophia’s parents, who broke away from their conversation with Gideon and Dr. Chang to welcome them. “Wow,” she said. “This is amazing!”

  “Everybody worked really hard to bring it together,” Mareva said.

  “Especially Sophia,” Vishal said. “It’s all she’s been talking about for months. Where is she?”

  “She’s over in the MEOWS booth with Abby,” Gideon answered. He pointed to a small tent nearby where his fiancée stood in front of a big educational display. He blew her a kiss, and Abby blew one back.

  “Go on over and say hi,” Dashiell added. “Soph’ll be thrilled to see you!”

  The kids found Sophia and Abby answering questions and passing out pamphlets. Zach stopped and grabbed Evie’s arm. “Whoa. Is that who I think it is?”

  Jersey Sinclair was also manning the MEOWS booth. She was crouched down with a group of toddlers, holding out a stuffed bobcat toy for them to touch. Abby reached down to hand her something, and the two of them shared a smile.

  Sophia was chatting with a patron when she noticed Evie and the boys. She paused midsentence, and her face broke into a brilliant smile. “Excuse me,” she said to the patron, “my best friends just arrived, and I need to go say hello.” She waved wildly and then said something to Abby and Jersey. Jersey reached up to give her a hug before Sophia came over to join her friends.

  Zach tapped Vishal on the arm. “Am I living in a parallel universe, or did Jersey just hug Sophia?”

  “Don’t ask me, dude. I thought they were sworn enemies.”

  “You’re here!” Sophia chirped. “What do you think of the festival?”

  “Sophia,” Evie said with feeling, “it’s incredible! I can’t believe you pulled this whole thing together!”

  “Well, Abby and Jersey did most of it. They’re both part of MEOWS now. And then when Dr. Chang got the zoo on board, everything really fell into place.” She checked her watch. “I have about an hour break. Wanna go visit Marvin?”

  “Definitely!” Zach said. “And maybe if we have time, we can stop by Shakti’s exhibit, too?”

  Sophia laughed. “Of course! We can’t keep Zach away from his soulmate. Let me grab my bag and we’ll go.” She returned a few moments later with a look of confusion on her face and a package in her hands. It was wrapped in brown paper, and SOPHIA was written on the top in silver ink.

  “What is that?” Vishal asked.

  “I don’t know. It was just sitting there with my name on it.”

  “Well, let’s open it and see what’s inside,” Evie said.

  The group found a quiet spot with a picnic table, and Sophia unwrapped the box. She slid off the lid and pulled out a stack of papers and ledgers. “What is all this?”

  Evie opened up a ledger and slid her finger down the page. “Listen to this: pangolin, slow loris, hyacinth macaw. These are all endangered animals.” She leafed through the pages. “And there are also names, bank account numbers, lists of financial transactions, everything.” She looked up, beaming. “Zach, do you still have Bermudez on speed dial? Because I think we just found everything we need to take down the rest of Sergei’s crime ring!”

  Vishal whooped and high-fived Zach. “This is amazing, Sophia! Where did you get all this stuff?”

  “I honestly don’t know. It wasn’t there when I put my bag under the table with the others. Things got pretty busy, then you guys showed up, and when I went to pick up my bag, the box was inside.”

  “Is there any note or anything?” Zach asked. “Any idea of who might have given it to you?”

  “Just this.” Sophia held up a blank manila envelope. She opened it up and slid out two smaller envelopes. One was thick and heavy, and it had FOR THE ZOO printed on the front. Sophia opened it and peeked inside. “Oh!” she cried.

  “What is it?” Zach asked.

  Sophia held open the envelope. It was stuffed with stacks of cash.

  The other was an ordinary business envelope, addressed to the Gemini Detective Agency. Sophia pulled out the note that was folded inside.

  Acknowledgments

  This book is a work of fiction, but like all works of fiction, truth lies at the heart of it. As we keep expanding our reach into more and more wild spaces, plants and animals have had to work harder and harder to find ways to adapt to us. A classic example of this is P-22, a real-life mountain lion that makes his home in the eight square miles of Griffith Park, not far from the LA Zoo. P-22 is something of a legend in Los Angeles, and there is actually a festival there celebrating him each year. I extend my deepest thanks to the organizations that work to protect P-22 and other urban wildlife, especially Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife (CLAW) and the National Wildlife Federation. I am also grateful to the research of Dr. Laurel Serieys and all the scientists who study and protect P-22 and others like him.

  Poaching and the illegal wildlife trade are some of the biggest threats to plants and animals today, and we owe everything to groups that are fighting to stop it. There are too many to name here, but the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are two you should know.

  I am eternally indebted to the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens, a place that became my second home when I lived in Los Angeles. Folks like Dani, Lauren, Jill, Nicki, Roxanne, Francisco, Crystal, Megan, Robin, and Patricia showed me the incredible level of thoughtful tenderness that keepers and zoos put into caring for animals. Thanks also to the docents at the LA Zoo and its training program, particularly Kirin Daugharty, Beth McClellan, Dillu Ashby, Norm Mitchell, Bill Mandel, and Landes Bell. James Ponti, Grayson Ponti, Tige Hutcheson, Michelle Benson, and Tom Ness all helped me find answers to my many questions about red pandas. They made sure I had every piece of information I could want, and any errors you find in the book are entirely my own. Both the Trevor Zoo and the National Zoo gave me opportunities to work with incredible animals back when I was a young college stu
dent, and those experiences are treasured ones.

  My agent, Erin Murphy, and my extended EMLA family continue to inspire and delight, as does my wonderful team at Little Bee/Yellow Jacket. Huge thanks to Shimul Tolia, my editors Sonali Fry and Brett Duquette, my publicist Paul Crichton, and illustrators Kevin Hong and Damien Jones for putting so much love and enthusiasm into this series. It is a joy to work with you. And extra-fierce hugs to Erin Varley and Susan Sullivan for all of your support as readers, thinkers, and educators.

  Writing books is hard, and I can never adequately express my gratitude to my friends and family for all of your support. I simply could not do this without your encouragement and loving acceptance. You are my habitat and my home, and I thank you all from the deepest depths of my wild, wild heart.