CHAPTER
3
"Why
would someone let a tiger loose?" wondered Willie.
Jack
answered, "I don't know, but I have a feeling Calvin wants to figure it
out."
"You
got that right, Jack. Follow me, I have
an idea I want to check out," Calvin replied as he started running to his
bike.
The
boys ran to their bikes, strapped on their helmets, pulled their backpacks over
their shoulders and followed Calvin. He
led them past all of the train cars, past the caboose, and kept riding,
following the tracks. Shortly after
passing the caboose, they rounded a tight curve. Calvin stopped, as did the other two.
"That's
what I thought," Calvin said as he looked up at a sign next to the tracks.
"Yeah,
there is a sign. So what?" Willie asked.
"It's
a speed limit sign. This curve is very
tight. Trains have to go real slow right
here. We heard the Sheriff talking about
an explosive going off, causing the wreck.
But, the wreck was fairly minor.
The cars basically just fell off of the tracks. It didn't look like anyone was seriously
injured. That's because the train was
moving so slowly. Someone purposefully
set the explosive where the train would be going slow so the wreck would
happen, but no one would get hurt. Then
he, or she, let the tiger loose."
"Makes
sense, but why set the tiger loose?"
Jack added.
"I
don't know yet. Let's look at the train
again."
They
rode back to the train, stopping at the caboose, and started looking
around. "What are we looking
for?" Willie queried.
"I
don't know exactly, just look for anything that does not look right,"
Calvin suggested.
Willie
threw his hands in the air, "I don't know what's normal on a circus
train."
They
looked around the caboose, but like Willie pointed out, they really did not
know what was abnormal.
They
climbed into the next car. This car
appeared to be some type of office.
Circus posters and tickets were scattered throughout the car. Pens and papers were littered
throughout. Two computers were upside
down, next to a printer. A couch and
chairs were upended. Spilled coffee
surrounded a broken pot.
Jack
noticed a large black box in the corner.
He approached, "Hey guys, I think I found a safe."
Calvin
and Willie scurried to the safe. It
looked normal. Calvin grabbed the door
to see if it was locked. The door did
not move, but the entire safe tumbled away from the wall, revealing the back of
the safe, which had a small hole in it.
"Wow! I don't think that is normal," Willie
pointed out.
Running
his fingers around the hole, Calvin suggested, "I think an explosive was
used to blow the hole." He reached
his hand inside, "It's empty."
Calvin
stood and faced his friends, "I am guessing someone purposefully derailed
the train so they could steal whatever was in the safe. They probably freed the tiger so everyone
would be forced to waste time capturing it instead of finding the thief."
Jack
nodded, "Makes sense, but unbelievable."
"Let's
go tell the Sheriff."
Calvin
climbed out of the train car, followed by Jack.
Willie emerged last. They started
to walk away, but Calvin hesitated and walked to a window of the wrecked
car. He bent over to look in the
window.
Willie
was not interested. He sat down on the
ground, laid on his back, stretched out on the ground, and closed his eyes.
Jack
walked up next to him. "What are
you looking at?"
"Probably
nothing. I just wanted to . . ."
Calvin
stopped mid-sentence. Suddenly, he felt
himself two feet off of the ground.
Someone had grabbed Calvin and Jack by the back of their shirts and
literally lifted them off the ground.
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