Fear Stalks Grizzly Hill Read Online Free PDF

asked.
    “Nobody’s going to admit it. Nobody’s going to confess,” Brian said.
    “Then how do we find the one who’s guilty?”
    Brian and Sean looked at each other and smiled. Sean knew they were thinking the same thing. “We capture the kinkajou,” Sean said.
    “Then we might find out who’s guilty when the smuggler tries to get him back,” Brian said.
    “Course, he might be hard to capture,” Sean admitted.
    Brian asked, “Sean, did you bring your camera—the one that takes night pictures without a flash?”
    “Yes,” Sean said and grinned. “Hey! Maybe we can at least get the kinkajou’s picture!”
    Brian grinned back. They were going to solve this case. He knew they would. “Okay,” he said. “Now it’s time to make some plans.”

9

    I MPATIENT BECAUSE THEY HAD to wait at least until dusk to carry out their plans, Brian, Sean, and Alan kept busy with other things. By early evening Brian had laid out his cleaned and labeled plaster casts on Alan’s bed and called Mr. Nash to take a look at them.
    “Very nice,” Mr. Nash said. He picked up one of the kinkajou’s prints. “So this is our mystery animal.”
    “Not a mystery anymore, Dad,” Alan said. “We found out it’s the paw print of a kinkajou.”
    “A kinkajou? In northern California?”
    Alan’s bedroom door flew open, and Lucy stormed in.
    “Dad!” she wailed. “Make them stop!”
    “Stop what?” Mr. Nash asked.
    “Throwing pinecones at me!” Lucy said. “I was out in the backyard, minding my own business, when they started throwing pinecones.”
    “No, we didn’t,” Sean said. “We were up here, working on Brian’s casts.”
    “Oh, sure,” Lucy said.
    “The boys are right,” Mr. Nash said. “I’ve been here with them.”
    “Were you with them ten minutes ago?”
    “Well, no, but …”
    “Ha!” Lucy shouted. She went to the window and pointed. “I was right there under that tree, when they started throwing pinecones. Three of them even hit me! I bet they threw them from right up here!”
    “We wouldn’t have thrown pinecones,” Alan said. “We would have thrown mushy, rotting banana skins, or dead frogs, or …”
    “That’s enough,” Mr. Nash said. “Lucy … Alan … I expect you to get along with each other.”
    “Little brothers are a pain!” Lucy said and stomped out of the room. Mr. Nash followed her.
    “Who threw the pinecones at Lucy?” Sean asked. “The kinkajou?”
    “Sure,” Brian said.
    “I knew I liked that animal,” Alan said.
    “Look, it’s just about dark,” Brian told Sean and Alan. “Thanks to Lucy we know what tree the kinkajou must be hiding in. Let’s carry out our plan.”
    Alan cut up some chunks of oranges, bananas, and apples. He put them into a plastic dish and carried it out to the backyard.
    “Put it close to that tree,” Brian whispered and pointed.
    He and Sean, who had his camera ready to go, hid in the nearby bushes. Alan joined them.
    In the moonlight they could see a long, thin animal crawl out of a hollow in the tree. It climbed head first down the trunk, its claws gripping the bark. Its tail, which was longer than its body, curled around a branch for support. Occasionally it stopped and raised its head cautiously. It had the face of a small bear cub, with the same rounded ears.
    With its back feet still clinging to the tree trunk, it reached out with its front paws and grabbed a piece of fruit.
    Sean was so fascinated by what the kinkajou was doing, he almost forgot about his camera. But Brian poked him, and Sean took four photographs in quick succession.
    Even though Sean stayed scrunched down in the bushes and tried to be very quiet, the kinkajou heard him. It stopped eating and looked around suspiciously. It hissed angrily at being interrupted before it scrambled up the trunk.
    Just before the kinkajou disappeared into its hiding place there was the sound of running footsteps, and the beam from a flashlight shone on the kinkajou.
    Someone in a