Free Poison Frog Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

why exactly did he do this in the first place?” Danny asked.
    “Money,” Lindsey answered quickly. “It’s always been about money with him.”
    “I ... I don’t understand,” Danny said. “If he wasn’t planning on selling the animals, then why would he have done all this for the money?”
    “He wanted to spend the money that they put toward the animals on building a small amusement park at the zoo instead,” Henry told him. “Rides, games, a candy shop, stuff like that.”
    Lindsey nodded. “His way of thinking was this: Spending a lot of money on endangered species would bring in a few more visitors. But putting together an amusement park would bring in a lot more visitors, and more visitors meant more money. He and Jordan had argued about this quite a bit. Mr. Colby was only thinking of ways to make more money. And he planned to use the insurance money from the stolen animals to help pay for the building of the amusement park. Jordan wanted instead to make a little less money, but do more for the animals. That’s how it always was with those two—Mr. Colby only thought about money, Jordan only thought about animals.”
    Danny said, “So ... Colby wanted to make it look like the animals were being stolen because ...”
    “He needed a real excuse to shut down the breeding program,” Jessie finished. “Then he could say to Jordan, ‘You see what a bad idea that was?’ Then Jordan wouldn’t have any way to argue against his amusement park idea anymore.”
    “And his plan almost worked, too,” Lindsey said. “After he shut down the program, we thought that was it for sure. We figured the rest of the endangered species would be returned to the zoos where we first got them, and they’d start building the park right away.”
    Danny scribbled all this down on his pad. “But you kids came along and figured everything out, right?”
    Henry nodded. “I guess so.”
    “Don’t be so modest, Henry,” Grandfather said, eyes still closed. “My grandchildren are the finest detectives around. I pity anyone who tries to commit a crime around here. They don’t stand a chance.”
    Everyone laughed. “It makes for a great story, I’ll tell you that,” Danny assured them. “And I’m going to put it all in, too.”
    “Well, you don’t have to do that,” Jessie said. “We were just glad to help.”
    Hearing this warmed her grandfather’s heart.
    “So what happened to all the other animals that were first taken?” Danny continued. “The ferrets and the condors?”
    Violet giggled. “They were in Mr. Colby’s house. They made a mess.”
    “A mess?” Danny asked.
    Lindsey smiled. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been around ferrets, Danny, but they’re very mischievous animals. They love to hide things, chew things, tear things. Mr. Colby tried to keep them in their cages, but every now and then he had to take them out so he could do a cleaning. Of course, having no experience with animals or animal care, his attempts were always disastrous. The ferrets would scurry off and hide, and then Mr. Colby would find holes in his clothes or little things would be missing. They are very naughty creatures.”
    “The ferrets were pretty hungry because they had the wrong kind of food,” Benny said. “I felt really sorry for them.”
    “And what about the condors?”
    “He kept them in his cellar. They were very loud and very mean sometimes. They’re actually kind of dangerous and should be handled only by experts. He got a nasty scratch on his arm from one of them.”
    “But the animals are okay now?” Danny asked.
    “Yes,” Benny piped in. “I checked them myself.”
    Lindsey smiled. “Benny was my assistant when I gave them a checkup after we got them back. All the animals were in good health and happy to be home again.”
    “That’s wonderful,” Danny said, writing it all down. “So what happens to Mr. Colby now?”
    “He’s not a partner at the zoo anymore,” Henry said.
    “And