Gertrude Warner - Great Shark Mystery

“Yes,” said Mac.

“But they look so different from one another,” said Violet.

“There are hundreds of kinds of sharks, and they are very different,” Mac said. “The ones in this tank aren’t dangerous to people. See that bottom-feeder down there?” Mac asked, pointing.

The Aldens looked down toward one of the only piles of rocks that wasn’t covered with algae. A shark hovered next to it. “That’s a nurse shark. It’s named that because it sucks on sand the way a baby sucks on a bottle, searching for clams or crabs to eat. When I first started working with sharks, I lost my balance and accidentally sat down on one of those.”

“You did?” said Benny. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” said Mac. “I was afraid it might be mad, but it just moved away. De-spite what people think, sharks aren’t out to get you.” Mac pointed to one of the sharks higher up. “That’s a sand tiger shark, and the one with the white patch on its fin is a white-tip reef shark.” Mac checked his watch. “It’s their feeding time now, if you’d like to help me.”

“Sure,” said Henry.

“Um … okay,” said Benny quietly.

Mac gave each of the children a bucket of fish. They followed him up to a raised platform next to the tank and he showed them how to drop the fish in.

The Aldens watched the sharks grab the fish as they fell through the water, tearing at them with their sharp teeth.

“They still look pretty fierce,” said Benny as he climbed down from the feeding platform.

“Sharks have a bad reputation as blood-thirsty killers,” Mac said, “but actually, most species aren’t dangerous to people at all.”

“Hear that, Benny?” Jessie said. “He’s been afraid of sharks ever since he saw the movie Danger in the Deep.”

“That shark is dangerous, though,” Benny said, running toward the larger tank, where the great white was swimming by itself.

“It’s very rare for sharks to attack people,” Mac said. “Each year only about fifty people in the whole world report being attacked by a shark. Sharks don’t hunt people—it’s just that sometimes they mistake a person for a seal, which is what they usually eat.”

“In your book you said you’d been in the water with a great white shark,” said Henry. “What’s it like?”

A faraway look came over Mac’s face. “It’s an amazing experience,” he said. “They’re such beautiful, powerful animals. Once one bit me—but when it realized I wasn’t its usual dinner, it swam away. I went right back in the water as soon as the wound healed.”

“Weren’t you scared?” asked Benny.

“I make sure to be careful,” Mac said. “But I wouldn’t let fear keep me from my exciting work. I did all kinds of research out in the open sea, swimming with all kinds of sea creatures.”

“Do you go in the tanks with them here?” Jessie asked.

“We sure do,” Mac said. “Not just me, but the other divers also. We have to clean the windows, do repairs, help injured animals, things like that. When we first brought the great white in, we had to walk it around the tank.”

“You were in there with that shark?” Benny asked him, amazed. “Weren’t you scared?”

“It’s frightening, yes,” Mac said. “But we had to keep the shark alive. Unlike other kinds of fish, sharks need to move, to have water go down their throats, in order to breathe. The shark was sluggish, so we took turns swimming it around, until it was swimming on its own.”

Mac was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice sounded weary and sad. “We worked so hard to keep this shark alive, and now someone wants to kill it.”

As the others watched the great white shark, Violet went back to take another look at the other shark tank. She’d noticed something—something that was different from the way that tank had looked the day before. But she couldn’t figure out what it was.

On their way back to their cabin, the Aldens stopped by the Dolphin Arena. Emily was in her small office next to the stands, looking through some papers on her desk.

“What did Mac say?” Emily asked as soon as she spotted the children.

“He went to speak to Ms. Carver but she was out,” Henry said.

“She’d better have a pretty good explanation,” Emily said.

“Are you all done here?” Jessie asked.

“Just about,” Emily said. “That was my last show for the day. If you’ll wait a minute, I’ll walk back to the cabin with you. We can go as soon as I find my card key. It’s been missing all day.”

“It has?” Jessie said.

“Yes,” Emily said, looking puzzled. “It’s very strange. I never lose things.”

“We found one in town,” Violet said. “We didn’t know who it belonged to, so we turned it in to Ms. Carver.”

“Really?” Emily said quickly. “Where did you find it?”

“In front of Wilson’s,” said Jessie.

“Wilson’s?” Emily repeated. A strange look flickered across her face.

“Have you been there lately?” Violet asked.

“Have I?” Emily said. “No, um—”

“It was robbed!” Benny interrupted.

“Oh, my goodness,” Emily said. “Do the police know who did it?”

“No,” said Benny, “but they said it looked like an outside job.”

The other children laughed. “An inside job,” Jessie corrected him.

“Oh, yeah,” Benny said, his face turning red.

“What was stolen?” Emily asked.

“Some diamond jewelry,” said Jessie.

“Diamond?” Emily asked.

“Yes,” said Jessie. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” Emily said. “It’s just … I’m just surprised, that’s all.”

“So anyway we found a card key there,” Jessie said, pulling the key out of her pocket and showing it to Emily. “Ms. Carver said we could use it.”

Emily took the key and turned it over. “No, this isn’t mine.”

“How can you tell?” Henry asked. “Don’t they all look the same?”

“I put my initials on the back,” Emily said.

“Why don’t you just go get another card from Ms. Carver?” Violet suggested.

“Oh, well …” Emily paused. “I’m so busy. …”

“We could go ask her for you,” Jessie offered.

“No!” Emily said quickly. Then she smiled. “I mean, that’s okay. I’m sure mine will turn up. So—what are you guys doing for dinner tonight? I can give you the name of a great pizza place in town. I’d join you, but I’ve got some, um … things to do.”

Jessie wondered why Emily was suddenly so eager to change the subject. But as usual, Benny was hungry. “Pizza sounds great!”

Emily grabbed a scrap of paper off her desk. “It’s called Chariot Pizza. I’ll write down the address for you,” she said. “It’s right off Stewart Avenue.” Emily wrote something on the paper and then handed it to Jessie.

“Thanks,” Jessie said, tucking the paper in her pocket.

Emily and the Aldens walked back to their cabins. “Tomorrow morning I can take you guys over to see the manatees, if you’d like,” Emily suggested.

“Sounds fun,” said Violet.

“What are manatees?” Benny asked.

Emily smiled. “They’re a kind of sea animal. You’ll see tomorrow.”

When they reached the gate, Jessie used their card key to open it. As Emily headed into her cabin, she said, “Have a good dinner. Oh, and, um, don’t mention to anyone that I lost my key, okay?”

“Sure,” Jessie said. But she wondered why it was a secret.

A few minutes later, the Aldens had left the park and were headed toward town. “What street are we looking for?” Henry asked.