The brothers sat on the doorstep. Joe opened the clue book to a fresh page. Using the pen tucked inside the book, he wrote the five Ws: who, what, where, when, and why.
“Let’s start with what, as in what happened,” Joe said. “Izumi was on our doorstep last night. This morning he’s gone.”
While Joe wrote in the clue book, Frank said, “Where is the doorstep. But when did the crime take place?”
“It was ten thirty when I took Izumi outside last night,” said Joe. He drew a small clock on the page, with its hands on ten thirty.
“It was eight o’clock when you went outside for Izumi,” Frank said.
“How do you know?” Joe asked.
“I looked at the clock when your yelling woke me up,” said Frank with a frown. “Ten thirty at night until just before eight in the morning is a pretty big timeline.”
Joe shrugged and said, “Izumi is a pretty big bug!”
The brothers studied the page to see what they had so far. Frank pointed to where and said, “Whoever took Izumi would have had to come straight up to our house.”
“A creepy thought,” Joe admitted.
“Which brings us to our next W,” Frank said. “Who would have snatched an insect and run off with it?”
The word “insect” made Joe’s eyes light up. Insect… Insectarium… Carl!
“That guy Carl the Critter Curator followed us after I got Izumi!” Joe said. “He was on his phone, too, talking to someone about getting a beetle for his insectarium!”
“How would Carl know where we lived?” asked Frank. “I’m pretty sure he didn’t follow us home.”
“Pretty sure isn’t sure-sure,” Joe said.
“We have no proof Carl took Izumi either,” Frank pointed out. “And Dad always tells us not to accuse anyone until we have proof.”
“We’re not accusing Carl,” Joe said as he started the suspect list with the critter curator. “We’re suspecting him!”
Frank still wasn’t sold on Carl. “Okay, even if Carl knows where we live,” he said, “how would he know that you put Izumi outside?”
Joe shrugged his shoulders and said, “Maybe he got here and lucked out.”
“Luck!” Frank said, his eyes wide.
“What about it?” asked Joe.
“Phil wanted luck to win the Junior Inventors Challenge today,” Frank explained. “Remember how interested he was when Aki said Izumi was his lucky bug?”
“Phil also said he’d do anything to go to Camp Galileo,” Joe said. “And he knows where we live because he’s our friend.”
“He could have come by early this morning to ask us for Izumi,” Frank said. “And saw him on our doorstep instead.”
Joe was about to include Phil on the suspect list, but then he shook his head. “You know we don’t like suspecting our friends, Frank,” he said. “And Phil wouldn’t steal anything from us.”
“I know,” Frank agreed. “Unless Phil wanted Camp Galileo so bad he wasn’t thinking.”
Joe heaved a sigh as he added Phil to the suspect list. “Two suspects are a good start,” he said after shutting the clue book and standing up. “Let’s go inside, get dressed, and have breakfast.”
“Good idea,” Frank said. “Then we’ll look around the yard for clues.”
Joe was about to open the door when he spotted something lying against the side of the doorstep. “Uh… Frank?” he said, “I think I just found one.”
“Found what?” asked Frank.
Joe smiled as he said, “A clue!”
PLANT A CLUE
“What clue, Joe?” Frank asked. “Footprints?”
“Nope,” said Joe. He lifted a rolled-up newspaper and held it up. “The Bayport Penny Pincher!”
Frank wrinkled his nose in confusion. “What about the Penny Pincher?” he asked, “It gets delivered every Saturday morning.”
“And who delivers it every Saturday morning?” Joe asked. “Leif Bloomquist!”
Frank remembered seeing Leif at the Earth Day Festival. He also remembered what Leif had told them about Jaws.
“Leif wanted a big bug for his Venus flytrap,” Frank recalled. “Something like a tarantula or a beetle.”
“A beetle like Izumi!” Joe added. “If Leif was here early to deliver the Penny Pincher, he would have seen the tank right here!”
The brothers were about to high-five their latest discovery, when their hands froze midair.
“Um… Joe,” Frank said. “If Leif took Izumi for Jaws, you know what that means.”
“Izumi was breakfast!” Joe cried. “What will we tell Aki?”
“Take a deep breath,” said Frank. “Just because Leif is a suspect doesn’t mean he took Izumi to feed Jaws!”
“Then what do we do?” asked Joe.
“We question Leif,” Frank said. “And look for Izumi’s tank. If it’s empty, we’ll know what happened.”
“Yeah,” Joe groaned. “Plant chow.”
Joe wrote Leif Bloomquist’s name in their clue book, but quickly. If they were going to save Izumi from the jaws of Jaws, they’d have to act fast. After the boys got dressed and ate a super-quick breakfast, Joe found Leif’s name and address on his class roster. The brothers told their mom where they were going, and then they practically ran toward the Bloomquist house. Until—
“Frank, Joe!” a voice called.
The brothers turned. Their mouths dropped open when they saw—
“Aki!” Joe gasped.
“W-what’s up?” Frank stammered.
Aki wore his prize helmet as he rode his scooter up to the brothers. “How’s Izumi doing?” he asked.
“Why?” Frank blurted. “You don’t want him back, do you?”
“Not yet,” Aki said. “I do miss Izumi, but it’s okay that you keep him until tomorrow.” He tilted his head curiously. “Why isn’t Izumi with you?” he asked. “I carry his tank practically everywhere I go.”
Joe thought quickly. “Uh—Izumi wouldn’t want to go where we’re going!”
“Where are you going?” Aki asked.
“To a friend’s house,” answered Joe. “He’s got a pet that eats bugs.”
“A pet that eats bugs…,” Aki said slowly. Then his eyes lit up. “Is it a bearded dragon or a gecko? Can I come too and see it?”
“Not a good idea, Aki!” said Frank quickly.
“Gecky is very shy!” Joe added. “See you tomorrow!”
The brothers left Aki on his scooter and charged ahead to Leif’s house.
“ ‘Gecky’?” asked Frank.
“You come up with a better gecko name, Frank,” Joe complained. “Of all the kids to run into today. What will we tell Aki if Jaws really did eat—”
“Quit it, Joe!” Frank cut in. “Let’s hope for the best.”
The brothers reached Leif’s house, where Mrs. Bloomquist was struggling to pull a thick magazine out of the mailbox.
“Are you boys here to see Leif?” she asked cheerily. “He’s running an errand at the gardening store.”
Frank and Joe traded looks. If Leif wasn’t home, maybe they could look for clues.
“Actually, Mrs. Bloomquist,” Frank said, “we’re here to visit Jaws.”
Mrs. Bloomquist turned from the mailbox to look at the brothers. “You mean Leif’s Venus flytrap?” she asked. “Why do you want to visit him?”
“We heard he wasn’t feeling well,” Joe explained. “So we’re paying a sick call.”
“Oh, that’s nice,” Mrs. Bloomquist said with a smile. “But Leif told me Jaws is feeling much better today.”
“Why?” Joe asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
“Leif fed Jaws a big bug this morning and he perked up,” Mrs. Bloomquist said. “But if you still want to see Jaws, he’s in the back.”
Frank and Joe nodded slowly, too stunned to speak. Was the big bug that Leif had fed Jaws… Izumi?
The brothers walked glumly around the house to the backyard. They expected to see a few plants on
a table or in a garden. Instead they found a whole greenhouse filled with dozens of plants.
“Just our luck,” Joe groaned. “With all those plants, how are we going to find Jaws?”
“Don’t look for Jaws,” Frank said. “Look for Izumi.”
Entering the greenhouse, the brothers split up to search for Izumi’s tank. Frank checked out all kinds of potted plants, some with budding flowers, others that looked like miniature trees.
He was about to check out a thorny cactus when Joe’s voice shouted from the other end of the greenhouse.…
“Frank! I found a Venus flytrap!”
Frank couldn’t see Joe through all the high and thick leaves. “How do you know it’s a Venus flytrap?” he called out to his brother.
“Because,” shouted Joe, “it just trapped my finger!!”
UP A TREE
Frank zigzagged through the maze of plants, following Joe’s yells. He found his brother with his finger in between the jaws of Jaws!
“What happened?” Frank demanded.
“I wanted to look for traces of beetle in Jaws’s mouth,” said Joe, “so I stuck my finger in his trap and it snapped!”
“Joe, you’re not a tiny bug,” Frank said calmly. “Just pull your finger out.”
Joe drew his finger out, easily and in one piece. “That wasn’t so bad,” he said. “And we found Jaws!”
“Look what else I found,” said Frank.
Joe looked to see where Frank was pointing. There on the table next to Jaws was a bag labeled DR. BUGSBY’S GIANT FREEZE-DRIED INSECTS.
Frank lifted the clear plastic bag and said, “There are bugs in here that look like beetles. Dried-up beetles about the same size as Izumi.”
“Do you think that’s what Jaws ate for breakfast?” Joe asked hopefully. “Instead of Izumi?”
“Maybe,” Frank said. “If we don’t find his tank, then—”
WHOOOSH!!
Frank stopped midsentence as he and Joe yelped. Suddenly it was pouring inside the greenhouse!
Drenched from head to toe, Frank and Joe made their way through the plant jungle to the greenhouse door. Standing at the entrance was Leif. He was dressed in rubber boots and a canvas gardening hat. In his hand was something that looked like a remote.
“Leif, what did you do?” Joe cried.
“I’m using the overhead sprinkler system to water my plants,” said Leif. “What were you doing in my greenhouse?”
“Your mom said it was okay to go in,” Frank explained. “We wanted to visit Jaws.”
“Why?” Leif asked.
“We’re looking for a missing beetle,” Joe said. “But all we found were bagged bugs.”
“You mean Dr. Bugsby’s Giant Freeze-Dried Insects?” Leif asked with a smile. “Aren’t they great? I got them at the pet store yesterday, and Jaw loves them.”
He glanced down at his remote and said, “I think that’s enough water for today.”
While Leif turned off the sprinklers, Frank and Joe turned away to talk privately.
“Just because Jaws eats dried beetles,” whispered Frank, “doesn’t mean he didn’t eat a fresh beetle too.”
“The crispy beetles could have been the appetizer,” Joe whispered back, “with Izumi the main course.”
“What are you guys whispering about?” Leif asked.
“We want to know if you saw anything on our doorstep this morning,” Frank replied, “when you were delivering the Penny Pincher.”
“If you think I saw your missing beetle, the answer is no,” Leif said. “Besides, I didn’t deliver the Penny Pincher this morning.”
“You didn’t?” asked Frank.
“How come?” Joe added.
Leif pulled off his hat to reveal a wild and spiky haircut. “I was at barber Lou’s shop so I asked my cousin to deliver them for me,” he said. “I wanted to cut my hair to look like my favorite spider plant. What do you think?”
Joe studied Leif’s haircut. If spider plants looked like spiders, then Lou had definitely nailed it. “Cool, Leif,” Joe said, “but how do you get your hair to stick up like that?”
“With this!” answered Leif. He pulled a small tube from his jacket pocket. “Lou sold my dad this. It’s some kind of gunk to keep my hair spiky.”
Frank and Joe both wondered if Leif was telling the truth. Had he really gotten his hair cut this morning instead of delivering papers?
Just as Leif was about to pocket his hair gel, Frank saw something wrapped around the tube. “Is that a receipt, Leif?” he asked. “Can we see it?”
Leif pulled the receipt off the tube and handed it to Frank. As the brothers studied the receipt, Frank found what he was looking for.
“The date stamped on the receipt is today,” Frank said in a low voice. “The time stamp is nine o’clock in the morning.”
“If Leif was at the barber this morning,” Joe whispered, “he couldn’t have been delivering Penny Pinchers.”
“Duh!” Leif said. “Next time don’t bother whispering. I could hear every word!”
He took the receipt from Frank. “Now do you believe I didn’t take that beetle?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Frank. “Thanks for being a good sport.”
“And for letting us see your greenhouse,” Joe added with a smile. “I learned a lot!”
“Like what?” asked Leif.
“Like I’ll eat kale over freeze-dried bugs any day!” Joe chuckled.
The brothers left the Bloomquist house to walk home, stopping on the way to cross Leif’s name off the suspect list.
“I just remembered something,” Frank said. “We promised Mom and Dad we’d pull weeds out of the grass today.”
Joe sighed as he shut the clue book. “It is spring,” he said. “And spring means spring chores.”
Once home, Frank and Joe nibbled on leftover cookies from Aunt Trudy’s book club meeting. Then they went outside and started yanking straggly weeds from the front lawn.
“After we do this,” Frank grunted as he struggled with a stubborn dandelion, “let’s go to Phil’s house and ask him some questions.”
Joe frowned as he worked on some weeds around a tree. He still didn’t like suspecting their friend.
“What about Carl the Critter Curator?” he asked. “Why don’t we question him next?”
“Because I’m still not sure about Carl,” Frank admitted. “Even if he did know where we lived, how would he know you put Izumi outside?”
Joe gazed upward and said, “Because he was here?”
“What do you mean?” asked Frank.
Joe pointed up to a branch that had something purple dangling from it. Frank stepped up to it for a closer look.
“Hey,” Frank said, freeing the object from the branch. “This looks like one of those buggy antennas Carl wore to the Earth Day Festival yesterday.”
“It also means Carl was here,” Joe said. “And left something behind.”
“You mean his antenna?” Frank asked.
“That,” Joe stated, “and proof!”
UNDERCOVER DETECTIVES
“If it is Carl’s antenna,” Frank said, “how did it get up stuck in our tree?”
“Maybe Carl was walking under the tree and didn’t feel the branch tear it off,” Joe figured.
“I guess that makes sense,” Frank agreed.
Excited, Joe smiled and said, “That means Carl was here. We ought to question him next instead of Phil!”
The brothers worked fast, pulling as many weeds as they could find. When their chore was done, they hurried to the computer to search for Carl the Critter Curator’s Insectarium. The new bug museum had been built behind the bigger Bayport Museum of Natural History.
“There’s an ‘opening gala’ for the insectarium this afternoon at two,” Frank said pointing to the screen.
“Carl would have to be at that!” Joe said.
Frank and Joe leaned forward as they read about the gala. There would be party snacks from a place called
the Bug Appétit Café. There would also be an unveiling of the insectarium’s most unique specimen—a giant beetle!
“Frank, Carl’s got a beetle!” Joe said. “You know what that means?”
“Yeah,” Frank said. “Next stop: the insectarium!”
It was a warm spring afternoon, so Frank and Joe rode their bikes to Carl the Critter Curator’s Insectarium after getting permission from their mom. They would attend the opening gala and see the beetle with their own eyes.
But after they parked their bikes and approached the entrance…
“Sorry, boys,” a woman told them. “This party is for adults only.”
“You mean kids can’t go?” Frank asked.
“Your flyer says to bring the kids,” Joe said, “And as you can see, we’re kids!”
Pinned on the woman’s black-and-yellow bee-striped dress was a name tag reading LINDSAY.
“Kids can come any other day,” Lindsay said with a smile. “Just not today.”
Joe frowned until he remembered something in his pocket. He smiled at Lindsay and said, “Oh, actually, we’re not here for the gala. We’re here to give Carl the Critter Curator this!”
He pulled out the purple buggy antenna and held it up. When Lindsay saw it, she said, “Carl must have lost that. If you give it to me, I’ll make sure he gets it.”
“We’d like to give it to Carl, please,” Frank blurted.
“So we can see his happy face when he gets it back,” added Joe. “It’ll make our trip here worthwhile!”
Confused, Lindsay just nodded. “Fine,” she said. “Give Carl the antenna but leave right after, deal?”
“Deal!” Frank and Joe said in unison.
Lindsay stepped aside as the brothers entered the insectarium. A short hallway led to a main room, where fancily dressed guests chatted among glass tanks filled with live bugs.
“This place is so cool!” Joe said. “But I don’t see Carl!”
“Forget about finding Carl,” said Frank. “Let’s look for that beetle.”
“Frank, wait!” Joe said. He pointed to a flowing chocolate fountain in the middle of the room. “How can they have something yummy like that and not invite kids?”
Bug-Napped Page 2
