The Case of the Tortoise in Trouble

by Nancy Krulik

  Unfortunately, I had no idea what my way was. I was just going to have to make it up as I went along.

  Chapter 12

  “Hey, Leo.” I sat down next to him beneath a big, shady tree at the far end of the picnic area. Most of the other kids were sitting in groups. But not Leo.

  “Nice of you to come back,” Leo said. “I had to eat lunch all by myself.”

  Which you wouldn’t have had to do if you hadn’t stolen Mia’s tortoise, I thought. But out loud I just said, “I was looking for clues. It takes time to solve a mystery.”

  “So you solved it?” Leo asked. He looked down at the ground.

  Wow. He couldn’t even look me in the eye. You didn’t have to be a Brainiac to know that was how a guilty guy acted.

  “I think so,” I said. “It was someone who was really mad about Tut being here.”

  “Like you,” Leo pointed out.

  “Or you,” I said. Well, actually, I kind of mumbled it under my breath.

  But Leo heard me. Loud and clear. And if he was mad before, he was furious now.

  “YOU THINK I STOLE TUT?” he shouted at the top of his lungs.

  “Well, you had motive,” I said. “And opportunity. And the goat—I mean someone—saw you hiding something under your shirt when you were near the petting zoo.”

  “Yeah. I was hiding my worksheet,” Leo said. “Trevor was there. I didn’t want to have to give him my answers. You know how he always wants to copy.”

  Then things got a lot worse. Trevor popped out from behind the other side of the tree. I hadn’t noticed him there. I never would have said anything about Leo stealing Tut if I knew Trevor would hear me.

  But he had heard me.

  “You’re a sorry excuse for a best friend!” Trevor told me. “How can you accuse your buddy of being a thief?”

  “Yeah!” Leo agreed.

  “Jack and his kissy-face girlfriend accused me of being a thief once, too,” Trevor told Leo. “They thought I stole your homework for the science fair. They were wrong then …”

  “And they’re wrong now,” Leo added.

  Oh boy. This was bad. Now Leo and Trevor were on the same side. I was too upset to even remind Trevor that Elizabeth wasn’t my kissy-face girlfriend. I was too upset to say anything.

  “So, Leo, did you get the answer to question eight?” Trevor asked. “The one about why males turkeys spread their tail feathers?”

  I waited for Leo to tell Trevor to do his own work. But that’s not what happened. Instead, Leo pulled his worksheet out of his backpack.

  “Here you go,” he said to Trevor. “Just make sure Jack doesn’t copy from it. He missed the turkey talk because he was working on his dumb old mystery.”

  As Trevor and Leo walked away, I wanted to shout out that I didn’t need Leo’s answers. I could just ask the turkeys myself.

  But I didn’t say that. Now was definitely not the time to tell Leo about my special talent.

  I raced over to the red barn to find Elizabeth. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much to tell her. It wasn’t like Leo had confessed or anything.

  Elizabeth ran up to the barn door just as I arrived. Her face was all red and sweaty. “Jack!” she shouted. “Have you talked to Leo yet?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “And he denies everything.” “That’s because he didn’t do it,” Elizabeth explained.

  “WHAT?!” I yelled. “But you said …” “I know,” Elizabeth said. “I thought he was the thief. But I studied the clues, and … well … Leo can’t be the one who took Tut.”

  “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” I shouted. “I didn’t think of this before,” Elizabeth admitted. “But the goat said that when he took the tuna sandwich out of the kid’s backpack, the kid smelled like a horse.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know,” I said. I knew I was being mean, but I couldn’t help it. Elizabeth had just made me accuse my best friend of being a thief!

  “The smell of horses had to come after we went horseback riding,” Elizabeth explained. “But Tut was already missing by then.”

  I stared at her. It was such as an easy thing. How could she have missed it?

  Of course I had missed it, too. But I’m not a genius.

  “I wish you had pointed that out before,” I told her.

  “Me too,” Elizabeth admitted.

  “This whole day has been so weird,” I told her.

  “I know,” Elizabeth agreed. “But once we solve this case, everything will go back to normal.”

  Back to normal? So far today I’d spoken to Scout, a snake, a cow, some horses, a fly, a sheep, three chicks, and a goat. There was nothing normal about this field trip. At least not for me.

  Chapter 13

  “Leo, we’re really sorry,” I told him for about the eighth time. Elizabeth and I had run back to the picnic area and were now sitting with Leo at one of the tables. It was almost the end of lunch, and I still hadn’t eaten. But I figured this was more important than food.

  “I can’t believe you accused me of stealing Mia’s tortoise,” Leo said.

  “Everyone makes mistakes sometimes—even detectives,” Elizabeth told him.

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “Remember, you accused Scout of stealing your homework, and he didn’t do it.”

  “That’s different,” Leo said. “Scout’s a dog.”

  “Dogs have feelings, too,” I told him. “Trust me.”

  Leo shook his head. “I can’t believe I let Trevor copy my worksheet.”

  “He would have gotten it from you eventually,” I told Leo. “He just didn’t have to work as hard.”

  Leo nodded. Trevor always got what he wanted—usually by just being Trevor the Terrible. Leo reached into his bag. “My mom gave me chocolate chip cookies for dessert. You want one?”

  I smiled. Our fight was over. “Sure,” I said. “Thanks.”

  “Do you guys have any other suspects?” Leo asked.

  My smile became a frown. “Not yet.”

  “But we will,” Elizabeth promised.

  I wasn’t so sure. The field trip was more than half over, and still no Tut.

  Just then, Sasha jumped up from a nearby picnic table and began swatting at some bugs. “There are so many flies at this farm!” she shouted.

  Suddenly, I wasn’t focused on my problems. My attention was on Sasha. Everyone’s was. She was so loud and angry.

  “Can’t they do anything about all the bugs?” Sasha’s long braid swung back and forth as she tried to shoo the flies away from her sandwich.

  Leo laughed. “Sasha’s hilarious,” he said.

  But Elizabeth wasn’t laughing. She was staring at her notebook. Suddenly, she gasped.

  “THE TAIL!” she exclaimed.

  Leo and I both stared at her. Neither of us had any idea what she was talking about. Sometimes it seemed like the Brainiac was talking in code.

  “In the pictures on the barn wall, all the show horses had their tails braided,” Elizabeth reminded me.

  Now it was my turn to smile. I knew exactly what Elizabeth meant. There was someone in our class who fit the description the horse had given me.

  “A tail on the head,” I muttered. “A braided ponytail.”

  “Exactly,” Elizabeth said with a grin.

  “What are you two talking about?” Leo asked us.

  “Um … Leo, do you mind if we go do some mystery work?” I asked him.

  “More?” he asked. “Why don’t you give up already?”

  “Come on, Leo,” I said. “You’d want me to find Mr. Sniffles if he was missing.”

  “Yeah,” Leo admitted. “I guess even Mia the Pain deserves to get her tortoise back.”

  “It won’t take long,” Elizabeth told him. “I think we’ve finally got this case solved.”

  Chapter 14

  One minute later, the Brainiac and I were standing in front of Sasha.

  “Where’s Tut?” Elizabeth demanded.

  “Where’s what?” Sasha asked. But I could tell b
y the way she was nervously biting her lip and looking away that she knew exactly what we meant.

  “My sister’s tortoise,” I said. “You stole him.”

  Sasha stuck her chin in the air and began to play with her long brown braid. “I didn’t steal anything,” she said.

  “Are you trying to tell us that you have no idea where that tortoise is?” Elizabeth demanded.

  “I didn’t say that,” Sasha said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked her.

  “You and your sister were holding that tortoise prisoner,” Sasha told me.

  Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Just answer the question, Sasha,” she said, sounding a lot like a real detective. “Did you take the tortoise out of the barn?”

  “He wanted me to,” Sasha said. “But I didn’t steal him. I said his name and he started to follow me. That’s not stealing.”

  Now it was my turn to sound like a real detective, because I knew Sasha was lying.

  “There’s no way he followed you,” I told Sasha. “Tut would never come when you called his name.”

  “How do you know?” Sasha said. “You weren’t there.”

  “No, but I know a lot about tortoises,” I told her. “My sister has all kind of books about them. I read them to her sometimes.”

  Elizabeth looked surprised. “You read to Mia?” she asked me.

  “Only when my parents make me,” I admitted. “But that’s how I know about tortoises. They can barely hear, if at all. Hearing is their weakest sense. So where’s the tortoise that you stole?”

  “You mean the tortoise I freed,” Sasha insisted. “There’s no way I’m telling you where he is.”

  “You have to tell us, Sasha,” Elizabeth pleaded. “Tut could be in big trouble.”

  “He’s fine,” Sasha said. “He’s in a place with lots of grass and clover to eat.”

  “But …” I didn’t know what to say after that. I’d been so focused on finding out who the thief was, I’d never considered what Elizabeth and I would do if the thief refused to give Tut back.

  “What’s going on here?” Mrs. Sloane asked as she made her way over to Sasha’s picnic table. “Trevor told me you kids were arguing.”

  Ordinarily, I would be angry that Trevor had tattled on us. But right now I was more angry with Sasha.

  “Sasha took Mia’s tortoise,” I said.

  Mrs. Sloane looked at Sasha with surprise. “Is that true?” she asked her.

  Sasha folded her arms across her chest. “I didn’t take him. I freed him.”

  Now even Mrs. Sloane looked worried.

  “He’s fine,” Sasha told Mrs. Sloane. “He’s got plenty of food. And it’s nice and warm out. Just like in a desert.”

  “It’s nice and warm now,” I told her. “But it’s not going to be warm tonight. If it gets too cold, Tut could get sick … or worse!”

  “What are you talking about?” Sasha asked me nervously.

  “Tut could die because the night is cooler than the day, and he needs to be in a warm environment,” I said, remembering what I had read in Mia’s tortoise books. “His tank in Mia’s room has a heater that’s on all day and night. And she feeds him special tortoise food, so what he eats is healthy for him.”

  Sasha looked at me. “But your sister stuck her tortoise in your backpack. That couldn’t have been healthy.”

  She had a point there.

  “That’s true,” I agreed. “But Mia only did it because she loves Tut and she wanted him to have an adventure.”

  I couldn’t believe I was saying that. I also couldn’t believe I meant it. Mia really did love Tut. And she took good care of him—usually.

  “He has definitely had an adventure,” Mrs. Sloane agreed. She looked sternly at Sasha. “Now tell us where you put the tortoise.”

  Sasha had no choice, and she knew it.

  “He’s over by the big tree,” she said, pointing to a tree not far from where we were picnicking. “At least, that’s where I left him this morning.”

  “It’s too bad animals can’t talk,” Leo said. “Then we could just shout out his name, and he could tell us where he was.”

  Elizabeth and I looked at each other.

  This was a big farm, and Tut could be anywhere. Finding him was going to be like looking for a tortoise in a haystack. And that’s never easy.

  Chapter 15

  I didn’t see Tut at first. All I saw was a lot of green grass, and a few leaves. But no tortoise.

  And then, my ears took over.

  BURP! The first thing I heard was a loud belch.

  “Aah, that’s better,” I heard a slow voice say. “Boy, this all-you-can-eat buffet is amazing.”

  All-you-can-eat buffet? Huh?

  “I wish they had something other than grass and clover,” the voice said. “Maybe an apple slice, or a carrot. Tortoises like carrots.”

  Tortoises! That had to be Tut talking. And he was pretty loud, so he had to be nearby.

  “Careful with your feet!” I called out. “I have a feeling Tut’s real close.”

  I looked down at the ground. Sure enough, just a few inches from where I was standing, I saw something green and brown. It looked kind of like a rock—except it had legs, a head, and a tail. Exactly the way the pony had described it.

  “I’ve got him,” I shouted. Then I bent down and lifted Tut off the ground.

  “Hey, I haven’t had dessert yet,” he said.

  I laughed. All the animals on this farm had pretty much the same thing on their minds. Food.

  Grrrrummmmble … Suddenly, my stomach started to growl. I hadn’t eaten a thing since breakfast. Food was pretty much the only thing on my mind, too.

  “Do I still have time to eat my sandwich?” I asked Mrs. Sloane.

  She nodded. “Why don’t you give Tut to me?” she suggested, taking the tortoise from my hands. “I’ll watch him. Then you and your friends can finish lunch and enjoy the rest of the day.”

  “Thanks,” I said. Then we kids started to walk toward the picnic area.

  “Wait a minute,” Mrs. Sloane called.

  We all stopped and turned around. What now?

  “Sasha,” Mrs. Sloane said, “you’re not going anywhere. You and I need to have a long chat!”

  For the first time ever, Sasha didn’t have anything to say. Which was okay, because I didn’t think Mrs. Sloane was going to let her do much talking, anyway.

  “I wonder if Tut was scared out there, all alone and so far from home,” Leo asked me.

  I laughed. “Nah. He was never far from home,” I said.

  “What are you talking about?” Leo asked. “This place is an hour away from your house.”

  “Yeah, but remember, Tut’s a tortoise,” I said. “So he’s always home. A tortoise carries his home on his back!”

  “And now you’ll be able to get him back home,” Elizabeth added with a grin. “Safe and sound.”

  The field trip was a lot more fun after that. Even Roy didn’t seem so scary anymore. Especially as I watched him trying to give a bunch of baby piglets a bath.

  “GET OVER HERE NOW, YOU SQUIRMING SQUEAKERS!” Roy shouted. He sloshed around in the mud, trying to catch the pink piglets. “I hate bath time!” the pig squealed back. To everyone else it just sounded like squeak squeal squeak, but I heard that piglet loud and clear.

  “It looks like Roy could use some help,” Mrs. Sloane suggested.

  Trevor shot our teacher a fake smile. “I’ll help him. How hard can it be to catch a baby pig?”

  Pretty hard, I thought. But I didn’t say that. I just watched Trevor step into the pigsty.

  “You can’t catch me!” the piglet squealed.

  Trevor reached for the squealing pig, and … splat! He fell face-first into the mud!

  Leo, Elizabeth, and I totally cracked up. Trevor shot us a really angry look—but that just made us laugh harder.

  A pig raced by. Roy was right behind him. “I got you!” Roy shouted. And then …


  Splat! Roy tripped over Trevor and landed in the mud.

  “Dumb kids,” Roy grumbled.

  “Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me!” the piglet squealed.

  Just then Buzzy the fly landed on my shoulder. “Hey, Jack,” he said. “Did you solve the mystery?”

  “Yep,” I answered. “Thanks.”

  “Good. Because I’m leaving the detective biz,” Buzzy told me. “I’m going to be a comic.”

  I’d never heard of a fly comic before. Then again, before today I’d never heard of a fly detective, either.

  “Why did the fly fly?” Buzzy joked.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because the spider spied ’er,” he answered.

  I started to laugh.

  “Hey! You better not be laughing at me!” Trevor shouted out suddenly.

  Gulp. I was definitely not laughing at Trevor. But I wasn’t going to tell him what I was laughing at. My whole talking-to-animals thing was going to stay a mystery to everyone except the Brainiac and me.

  Which makes sense. After all, mysteries are our specialty.

  CALLING ALL DETECTIVES!

  Be sure to read all the Jack Gets a Clue mysteries!

  Here’s a sneak peek of

  The Case of the Green Guinea Pig …

  Leo and I were about halfway down the hall when we suddenly heard a loud scream. It was coming from the end of the hall.

  I turned around and saw Nurse Kauffman standing in the doorway of the first aid room. She was covered in white confetti.

  We both started laughing. She looked like an abominable snow nurse.

  Principal Bumble hurried over to the first aid room. “What happened here?” she asked.

  “Someone put a bucket of confetti up there.” Nurse Kauffman spit a piece of white confetti out of her mouth and pointed to the top of her doorframe. “When I opened the door, the bucket tipped over, and it all poured down on me.” She looked down at the floor. “What a mess. I’ll have to call Mr. Broomfield to clean up. He’s not going to be happy.”