The Panda Puzzle by Ron Roy Page A

over to Irene Napper. Irene handed him her keys, and the man unlocked the fence gate. Carefully, he crossed over to the cave, knelt down, and looked inside.

    Then he reached in and pulled something out. To Dink, it looked like a round alarm clock. A small piece of paper was tied around it with a string. The man relocked the gate and handed the object to Irene. She removed the paper and silently read what was written on it.
    “This is so weird!” Josh whispered. “What’s going on?”
    Irene stepped back to the microphone. Dink noticed her hand was shaking.
    “This is a ransom note,” Irene told the crowd. “Winnie has been kidnapped!”

CHAPTER 2
    “KIDNAPPED!” Ruth Rose gasped.
    Everyone in the crowd began talking at once. Officer Fallon ran to talk to Irene.
    “Where’s Winnie?’ Nate asked. “I want to see Winnie!”
    “Winnie has gone away for a little while,” Ruth Rose told her little brother.
    “Where?” the four-year-old insisted.
    Ruth Rose put her arm around Nate’s shoulders. “We don’t know yet,” she said.
    Officer Fallon stepped up to the microphone. “Folks, you might as well go home,” he said. “We have every reason to believe that Winnie is safe. We’ll do our best to get her back.”
    Tom Steele, Flip Frances, and Irene Napper left Panda Park together.
    Officer Fallon and Jimmy began walking around the outside of the panda enclosure.
    The crowd slowly wandered away.
    “What a lousy thing to do!” Josh said, helping Nate down from the bench.
    “What’s going to happen to Winnie?” Ruth Rose asked. “Doesn’t she need her mother to feed her?”
    Dink glanced at the story in
The Panda Paper.
“It says Winnie’s almost six months old,” he said. “She’s eating by herself now.”
    “Come on,” said Ruth Rose. “Let’s go talk to Officer Fallon.”

    The kids caught up with the police chief and his grandson outside the fence behind the bamboo forest. Pal flopped on his belly and stuck his nose through the fence rails. Nate sat next to him and patted the dog’s head.
    “Hey, kids,” Officer Fallon said. “Some situation, eh?”
    “The kidnappers want a million bucks for Winnie!” Jimmy Fallon blurted out.
    “Jimmy!” his grandfather said.
    “Is it true?” Ruth Rose asked.
    Officer Fallon nodded. “I’m afraid that’s what this says,” he said. Holding the note by its edges, he let the kids inspect it.
    Josh read the note aloud:
    “Leave one million dollars in the hollow tree on Goose Island by midnight tonight. No tricks, or you’ll never see Winnie again.”
    “A MILLION DOLLARS!” RuthRose cried. “Where would Green Lawn get all that money?”
    “As I recall,” Officer Fallon said, “there’s still over a million left from the money Winifred Frances left. The kidnapper must know that.”
    Dink examined the note. “What does the kidnapper mean by ‘tricks’?” he asked.
    “He means we shouldn’t put any police officers on the island to catch him when he comes for the money,” Officer Fallon said. “Or tamper with the bills so we can trace them.”
    Ruth Rose studied the ransom note. “These letters were cut out of a newspaper,” she said.
    “Yes,” Officer Fallon said. “Which means we can’t trace the note.”
    Suddenly Pal let out a woof. He stuck a paw through the fence and began scratching.

    Josh bent down to see what Pal was doing. “Guys, look!” he said.
    Partly hidden among the bamboo stalks was something shiny.
    “It’s a knife!” Jimmy Fallon said.
    Officer Fallon got down on his knees. “It sure is,” he said. He scratched Pal behind the ears. “Good dog!”
    Officer Fallon stuck a long arm through the fence and picked up the knife. He brought it out, being careful not to cut himself.
    The knife had a thin blade and a fat handle made of cork.
    “Looks like a fishing knife,” Officer Fallon said. “If the knife gets dropped in the water, the handle will float.”

    “Can I have it, Grandpa?” Jimmy