Henry, Jessie, Benny, and Violet rushed over to where Blake and Annika were standing.
“What do you mean?” Benny asked.
“Her name was on the camera, right?” Violet asked Mr. Newton.
“Yes,” he said, confused. “I was very careful not to mix up one student’s pictures with the others. I’m certain that this photo came from Annika’s camera.” He squinted at the picture over his glasses. “How do you know it’s yours, Blake?”
Blake said, “I know how I framed the shot. I put the tree in the far left corner and the baby’s legs in the right. This is my picture. I am positive.”
“I was standing next to you,” Annika said. “It might be mine.”
“No way,” Blake told her. “This is not yours!”
“I—”
But before Annika could defend herself, Henry jumped in with an idea. “Mr. Newton, can we see all the pictures from Annika’s camera?”
Mr. Newton went to the back of the room and found the envelope that contained her photos. While he was gone, Annika and Blake stood like statues, silently glaring at each other.
Jessie took out her notebook and pen. She wrote down Annika’s name on a clean page and next to that, she wrote down Blake’s name. Underneath she wrote: “Winning picture?”
Mr. Newton came back with the photos from Annika’s camera. “I would search the pictures myself. But I don’t know what you’re looking for,” he said.
“I’m not exactly sure yet, either, but I’ll know when I see it,” Henry replied.
Mr. Newton nodded, then handed the envelope of photos to Henry.
Jessie helped Henry. They organized the pictures on the floor by which animals they’d seen during the spring break program. They grouped together the penguins, the giraffes, the butterflies, and all the other animals into small picture piles.
“There are lots of photos,” Benny said once Henry and Jessie stepped back from the pictures. “But only one of a giraffe. That was a really great picture. No wonder it won.”
“Huh?” Annika said, scanning the photos. “I took lots of giraffe shots. Where are my other pictures?”
Henry’s head popped up. “That’s it! Benny, you are a genius!”
“I am?” Benny asked. “Oh, right,” he added. “I am.”
“What do you mean, Henry?” Jessie asked. “Why is it important that there’s just one giraffe photo?”
“Because Blake only took one giraffe picture on his camera,” Henry explained.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Annika pointed at some other pictures. “See how I shot the butterflies from many different angles? And I have all these alligator photos?” She touched the pictures as she remembered taking them. “I like to take multiple shots of each animal to be sure I get a good picture.”
“That’s right,” Henry said.” He pointed as he explained. “Look carefully. Penguins and giraffes are here.” He poked at two photos. “One picture of each. That’s all.” He pushed those pictures to the side. “Then we had lunch.”
Jessie picked up the story from there. “After lunch we saw butterflies.” She pointed to the five beautiful pictures of the butterflies. “Then three pictures of hummingbirds. Four of alligators.”
“You two somehow switched cameras at lunch,” Henry said to Annika and Blake. He pointed at the first two photos. “Those are Blake’s photos from before lunch. He only took one picture of each animal. Then, Annika took pictures after lunch on the same camera. We can tell because there are multiple photos of the same animal.”
“How could we have switched cameras?” Blake asked, looking carefully at each of Annika’s after-lunch photos. “I had one camera in my bag and the other camera in my hand the whole time.”
“Didn’t you put the one in your hand on the table at lunch?” Benny asked.
“Good memory!” Violet congratulated Benny. He beamed a happy smile.
“That’s when the switch must have happened,” Henry said. “When everyone was picking up their cameras.”
Annika wasn’t smiling. She took a sad, ragged breath. “It looks like Blake really did win the contest.” She handed him the zoo pass and the first-place ribbon. “I’m really sorry about the mix-up,” she told Blake. “It’s a good picture and you deserve to win.”
“Thanks.” Blake took the prizes. He smoothed down his red hair with one hand and then went with Mr. Newton to get his photo taken for the zoo newsletter.
“This means we successfully solved another mystery,” Henry said to his siblings.
“Wahoo!” Benny cheered.
Jessie closed her notebook. “We did it.”
Violet was very quiet.
“What’s wrong Violet?” Benny asked.
“Just thinking.” Violet turned to Henry, Jessie, and Benny. “At the beginning of the tour, Blake had two cameras and Annika had one. And we always knew where Blake’s second camera was. He was saving it in his over-the-shoulder bag for the second day. Right?”
The other Aldens nodded in agreement.
“Then one of Blake’s cameras went missing. So he had only one, and Annika still had one. Right?”
Again, her siblings nodded.
“So one camera is still missing. Annika accidentally took one of Blake’s two cameras. But where did Annika’s original camera go?”
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