Chapter 5

Shirley got up and went back to her hotel. Shirley put Electric Starfish's tape in the VCR and played it again. Shirley watched almost the whole thing through when she saw something strange on the video. Shirley said, "Wait a minute." Shirley pushed pause on the VCR's remote, and the tape stopped. Shirley walked up to the TV and looked closer at what she saw on the wall in the video. Shirley said, "Hawaii Animal Shelter. That must be where Electric Starfish recorded the tape."

Shirley went to the Hawaii Animal Shelter, walked in, and looked for where Electric Starfish recorded his tape. Shirley entered a door that said "Donations" and saw many circus animals in cages. Shirley said, "What are all these circus animals doing here? Why aren't they at the circus?" Shirley saw a piece of paper on the lion's cage, took it off, and read it. Shirley said, "'Donate to Circus Domino. Delivery from Electric Starfish.' I found Electric Starfish, the animal shelter's manager." Shirley went to the animal shelter's manager's office and read his name on the door. Shirley kicked the door open, and the manager saw Shirley. Shirley said, "Derek Francis, I want you to come with me." Derek said, "What for?" Shirley threw the donation note she found on the lion's cage on his desk. Shirley said, "Explain this." Derek pushed his desk away to throw Shirley off course and ran off, but Shirley chased after him. Shirley chased Derek into the room where they kept the dogs. Derek climbed up one of the cages, but Shirley followed him. Derek jumped off the cages to the window, opened it, and climbed out. When Shirley got to the top of the pens, she jumped to the window and climbed out of it, too.

When Shirley got outside, she saw Derek running for the back doors. Shirley ran in the opposite direction, and when Derek looked behind him, he thought he lost Shirley. Derek opened the rear doors and saw Shirley behind them. Shirley said, "Going somewhere." Shirley took Derek to his office, set up a tape recorder to record everything Derek said, and started questioning him. Shirley said, Why are you working for Electric Starfish?" Derek said, "Who's Electric Starfish?" Shirley put the delivery form she found on the lion's cage on the desk. Derek looked at the paper and read it. Derek said, "I don't know how this got here." Shirley said, "You don't." Shirley thought about what Derek had said. Shirley said, "Wait, somebody had to bring the animals here. I would guess that Electric Starfish did it." Shirley said, "What about the font?" Derek looked at the font on the form. Derek said, "This combines Times New Roman and Arial." Shirley said, "Interesting." Derek said, "Am I still in trouble?" Shirley said, "Not from me, but if I don't solve this case, Electric Starfish will do more damage than anybody can imagine."

Shirley let Derek go and went back to the Donations Room. Shirley looked around the room for clues. Shirley said, "The only thing in here are the animals." Shirley leaned on the wall when her hand went into the wall. Shirley looked ahead of her and saw part of the wall opening up. Shirley said, "I must have pushed a secret panel." Shirley took her flashlight from her backpack and went into the passageway. Shirley walked down the passage and cast her flashlight on the walls. Shirley said, "This doesn't look so scary." When Shirley reached the end of the tunnel, she found a cave with the Campaign Prank Squad, Mr. Fletch, and Sherry inside circus cages. Shirley looked at them inside their cells and saw they were fast asleep. Shirley said, "I'll free these guys later. Right now, I have to find Electric Starfish." Shirley saw a ladder, climbed up it, and opened a secret hatch above her. Shirley looked to see where she was and saw that she was in the big top. Shirley walked out of the big top and saw that the carnival looked deserted.

Shirley looked around the carnival and saw that nobody was there except her. While Shirley looked around the circus, Rex snuck up behind her and grabbed her arm. Shirley screamed a little, but when Rex turned her around, she saw that it was only him. Shirley said, "Oh, Rex, it's only you." Rex said, "If I didn't know any better, I would say you're scared." Shirley said, "What? I'm not scared." Rex said, "Follow me. I'll take you to a relaxing and not-so-scary place." Rex took Shirley to the beach, and they watched the sunset together. Rex said, "Enjoying yourself?" Shirley said, "Yep." Shirley un-ponytailed her hair and looked Rex in the eyes, and Rex looked into Shirley's eyes. Rex put his hand on Shirley's, but Shirley took her hand back. Rex said, "Did you feel something between us?" Shirley said, "Well, I got to go." Shirley left the beach and went back to the carnival to investigate. Shirley ponytailed her hair when she got back to the circus. Shirley took her flashlight out from her backpack and examined the big top. Shirley looked everywhere in the big top but found nothing unusual. Shirley went back to her hotel room upset and thought the case through.

Shirley said, "I don't get it. Even though I have lots of evidence, all of this points to nothing, and I still don't know who Electric Starfish is." Shirley looked at both Electric Starfish's recorded tape and videotape. Shirley said, "Why would Electric Starfish send me this stuff? I played the video in that secret room and then got ejected out. That meant somebody didn't want me to see what was inside that room. Looks like I'm paying that room another visit." Shirley went into the big top to wait for the show to start. The ringmaster said, "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Circus Domino. Please enjoy the show."

After the ringmaster introduced the show, Shirley got under the bleachers and crawled out. When the show started, Kyle and Brad dressed as clowns and did a lot of comedy to make the audience laugh. Kyle gave Brad a box with a crane. Brad cranked the crane, and it played music. A boxing glove popped out when the music stopped and punched Brad away. After that, the audience laughed. While they were laughing, Shirley sneaked out of the big top and went to the box that led to the secret room. Shirley walked into the box again, and it locked her in. When the box opened, Shirley ran out, took her flashlight from her backpack, and used it to look around. Shirley walked down to the end of the room and saw a row of windows. Shirley looked through them and noticed a lab behind them. Shirley said, "Maybe that lab can give me some clues."

Shirley found the lab door and saw it was on a number protection lock. Shirley said, "Usually something obvious. So, one, two, three, four, five." The scanner said, "Access Denied" Shirley said, "OK. zero, two, four, six, eight." The scanner said, "Access Denied." Shirley said, "Hmm." Shirley snapped her fingers. Shirley said, "Wait, I got it. Six, five, four, nine, four." The scanner said, "Passcode Accepted." Shirley crept down the stairs to the lab. When Shirley reached the bottom, she saw blueprints and a green belt on a desk. Shirley looked at the picture on the blueprints and saw that it looked just like the green belt on the desk. While Shirley was investigating, she heard somebody typing in the passcode. Shirley hid so the person coming in wouldn't see her. Shirley peered out of her hiding place and saw somebody dressed in black coming down the stairs with the ninja that almost killed her.

Shirley said, "That must be Electric Starfish." When Electric Starfish and the ninja walked by Shirley's hiding place, Shirley overheard them talking. Shirley crawled away and headed for the exit. Shirley walked up the stairs quietly, opened the door, and ran out. Shirley tried to escape the secret room as she came in, but the box wouldn't open. Shirley said, "There must be another way out." Shirley walked around the box and saw a door. Shirley said, "Maybe that's an exit." Shirley tried to open the door, but it was locked. Then Shirley took her library card from her pocket and used it to unlock the lock on the door. Shirley said, "Tough one, they locked it from the inside." Shirley pushed the door open, walked through it, and made it out. After she made it out, Shirley started to think the case through. Shirley walked into the carnival upset because she couldn't figure out Electric Starfish's true identity. Shirley looked at her notes on her notepad and reviewed them. Shirley said, "I don't get it. Who's Electric Starfish? Is he someone who goes out in public, or does he hide all day?"

Shirley turned the page on her notepad and looked at her other notes. Shirley was puzzled by the mystery and sat on a bench to think it through. Shirley said, "If I don't stop Electric Starfish soon, he'll use my old enemies as circus acts forever." Shirley gave the mystery some thought and remembered a few things. Shirley said, "Wait, Electric Starfish's tape showed up right after Rex visited my hotel room. Plus, Electric Starfish's videotape was recorded at the Hawaii Animal Shelter, and Rex said he works part-time there. I also found the secret passage where the villains were asleep in cages in the Donations Room. Bingo."

Shirley ran as fast as she could to her hotel room. Shirley turned on her TV and saw Rex doing a commercial for The Hawaii Animal Shelter. Shirley went to the Animal Shelter and saw Rex doing his commercial. Rex said, "And cut." Shirley said, "Rex, I must ask you to accompany me." Rex said, "What for? Let me guess, another date." Shirley said, "No, to pay for what you did, Electric Starfish." Everyone at the Animal Shelter gasped when Shirley revealed Rex's identity. Rex said, "Don't listen to her, she's lying." Shirley said, "Oh really, well, stop me when I go wrong. You used my past enemies as circus acts to attract people near the island. Knowing they would enjoy their performances, you could commit crimes all over Hawaii. You also promised the ringmaster 10% of all the money you made from the circus. Once I showed up in Hawaii, you decided to date me to keep me off track from solving the mystery. You also got your ninja to try to destroy me so I would never figure out who you were."

Rex clapped for Shirley since she figured out his plan. Rex said, "Excellent work, Shirley. Now, here's a gift for you." Rex held a metal box up to Shirley, pushed the button, and dropped the box on the floor. The box sprayed purple mist all around the room, but Rex put on a gas mask so he wouldn't smell it. Shirley said, "Well, I, I..." When the mist got near Shirley, she started to get woozy and fell to the ground. When the fog came near, everybody working at the animal shelter got dizzy and fell to the ground. Rex took off his gas mask when the mist vanished and approached Shirley. Rex said, "The knock-out gas worked perfectly. They'll be out for about twelve hours, but they'll think this whole thing was a dream once they wake up." Rex snapped his fingers, and his ninja came and grabbed Shirley while she was knocked out. The ninja put Shirley over his shoulder and carried her to a public location.