Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 Uncle Warren was in the kitchen looking glum when Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose rushed in. "Forest Evans just called," Uncle Warren said. "He's coming back tomorrow! What will I tell him?" Dink grinned. "Tell him we know who stole his painting!" Uncle Warren nearly dropped his coffee cup. "Do you really know, Donny? Who?" "The orangutan did it!" Josh said.

Interrupting each other, the three kids told Dink's uncle what they thought had happened. "But how would an ape recognize a valuable Monet?" Uncle Warren asked. Dink unbuttoned his shirt and carefully placed the snapshot on the table. "We think his trainer taught him to recognize the painting," Dink said. His uncle studied the photograph. "It's Forest's painting, all right," he said. "And look, that's the Eiffel Tower in the background. This picture was taken in Paris!" Uncle Warren shook his head. "I find this very hard to believe," he said. "An orangutan climbed up to my balcony, ate my oranges, then stole my friend's painting? Incredible!" "Orangutans are very smart," Josh said. "I saw a nature program about them once. One orangutan learned to count. They taught another one to turn on a VCR and pop in a video!" Uncle Warren nodded. "I'll give this photo to Detective Costello," he said. "But how do we find the orangutan's owner?" Ruth Rose asked. "We don't even know his name."

"Wait a minute!" Dink jumped up and ran into the living room. He came back carrying the jeans he'd been wearing the night before. "I took one of their flyers," he said, digging into the pocket. "Here it is!" He opened the flyer and spread it on the kitchen table. In large block letters were the words: FOWLERS' FARM ANIMAL ACTS OF ALL KINDS FOR PARTIES AND SCHOOL EVENTS Below the words was a picture of the man and woman they'd seen the night before. Their names were printed beneath the picture: HARVEY AND GINNY FOWLER Beside that picture was another one. In it, the orangutan was riding the pony. The caption said: OLLIE THE ORANGUTAN AND POLLY THE PONY!

At the very bottom of the page were a telephone number and address. "They live in Ossining, New York," Dink's uncle said. "That's not far from here. Excellent, Donny!" "Now all we have to do is get that detective to arrest them," Josh said. "I'm afraid not," Uncle Warren said. "We have no proof that these people trained their animal to steal Forest's painting. We have a lot of theories, a photo, and hairs that might have come from that orangutan. Still, I doubt that's enough for Detective Costello to make an arrest." "If only we could get Mr. or Mrs. Fowler's fingerprints," Dink said. "Then we could see if they match any of the prints on the snapshot." "That would be a start," Uncle Warren said, "but still no proof that their animal stole the painting." "What if we got a hair from Ollie?" Ruth Rose said. "If the hair matched the one we found in the kitchen, wouldn't that prove he was in this apartment?"

Dink's uncle smiled. "I think that would be enough to convince Detective Costello," he said. "But how do we obtain this hair?" Ruth Rose grinned. "I thought you'd never ask," she said.