Chapter 2

Chapter 2 My phone rang. "Hello," I said. "Flytrap Detective Agency." A beautiful voice said, "Is this Mr. Flytrap?" "Actually, it's Inspector Flytrap," I said. "Do you have a mystery?" "Yes, I do," said the beautiful voice. "Is it a BIG DEAL mystery?" "Yes! It is a very, very BIG DEAL!" The beautiful voice told me all about it. I said I would be right over.

After I hung up the phone, I shouted for my assistant, Nina the Goat. She's a goat. "Nina! Get the skateboard! They've got a BIG DEAL mystery at the art museum!" "Big deal," said Nina, who was busy gnawing on my desk. She is always hungry. And she eats everything—old shoes, tires, broccoli, and cans of spaghetti. By that I mean she eats the spaghetti and the can! It's scary to have an assistant who eats everything, especially for a plant like me. But when she's not eating things and making me nervous, Nina is really helpful. She helps me get around. See, I can't just walk down to the crime scene or run after a suspect. Like I said, I'm a plant. Plants don't walk or run. We just sit. But I don't like to sit in one place too long.

Nina puts my flowerpot on a skateboard. Then she pushes me wherever I need to go. This time we were headed downtown to the art museum. It's always scary when Nina has to push me through traffic. She never wants to wait for the light to change or to cross at the corner. She just shoves me out into the street, right in front of speeding traffic! She always wants to go down one-way streets the wrong way, but I've told her it's too dangerous. I'd get run over, for sure!

I also like to avoid hills. When we have to go up a hill, Nina complains a lot. And when we go down a hill, she jumps on the board and we go way, way too fast. When we rolled up to the art museum, there was an emu waiting for us. "What a beautiful emu," I said. "Big deal," said Nina.

"Hello, Mr. Flytrap," said the emu. It was the same beautiful voice I had heard on the phone. "I am Lulu Emu." "Hello, Lulu Emu. I am Inspector Flytrap, and this is Nina the Goat. We're ready to solve your BIG DEAL mystery." "SHHHHHHHHHHHH! This is all top secret!" said Lulu Emu. "We can't let anyone hear about it. There could be spies around." I looked, but all I saw was a sloth reading a newspaper. It didn't look like a suspicious sloth, but then I'm not sure what a sloth looks like when it's being suspicious.

"If you'll follow me, I'll take you to the Top Secret Art Lab," said Lulu Emu. She started to push me into the museum. "We don't allow horned mammals in here," she said to Nina. Nina's eyes turned red. She gave Lulu a very, very nasty look. "Nina is my assistant," I said. "I cannot and will not work on your BIG DEAL mystery without her." "Oh, all right," said Lulu Emu. "But she has to be on her best behavior."