Spiders on the Case by Kathryn Lasky

scoundrels!” shouted Tom.
    The children and Edith had followed Tom as he raced to the three sites where they had constructed webs.
    â€œHe got it!” Felix cried out. Then they began to dance a celebratory jig.
    â€œOh!” sighed Edith. “I am so proud of all of you children. It won’t be long now!”
    â€œYou can call it spiderwebs,” Buster said. “But it’s truly a dragnet — and it’s Jo Bell’s. What a brilliant idea, Jo Bell.” He couldn’t conceal his admiration.

    â€œBut if it hadn’t been for Julep, none of us could have learned hieroglyphics. And” — Jo Bell paused — “if it hadn’t been for Felix, I would never have thought of the double-strand hoist.”
    â€œMission accomplished!” Felix said, and gave a snappy little salute with his pedipalps, his two forelegs.
    â€œWell, not quite accomplished,” Edith cautioned. “When the thread on the dragnet is pulled tight and the vandals ensnared, then we can truly say mission accomplished.” Edith turned to Jo Bell with gleaming eyes. “Thank you, dear,” she said.
    All five spiders had the same image in their minds: Agnes Smoot and Eldridge Montague ensnared in the sticky threads of a great big web with two spiderish cops arriving to haul them to jail.

A fter his quick translation of the call numbers, Tom Parker went immediately to the map section and then to the fashion journals. He felt weak when he saw the damage. In their haste, the vandals had destroyed binding threads and spines of the books. Beautiful pages of maps and fashion drawings were gone. Tom had to sit down, right down on the floor. This might only be the beginning , he thought. He had to act.
    He took the two violated books and, cradling them in his arms, ran down to the first floor and across the courtyard to the library trustees’ room. He burst in just as the trustees were taking a vote on cutting funding to the branch libraries.
    â€œI am sorry to interrupt, but I’m here to show you another kind of cutting!”
    A stunned silence enveloped the room as Tom lay the books on the table in front of the members of the board.
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    â€œI can’t believe it!” Buster gasped.
    â€œBelieve what?” Edith asked. Edith and her kids had retired to the display case to wait for Tom’s return.
    â€œThey’re back!”
    â€œWho?” Jo Bell asked. “Tom and the police?”
    â€œNo. Them! Eldridge and Agnes. Rosemary is fetching them both books right now!”
    Four minutes later, all the spiders were casting draglines through the air and scrambling toward the desk where Eldridge sat with yet another antique atlas. It contained priceless maps from the sixteenth century, showing the spice trade routes. They watched in horror as Eldridge took out his blade.
    Suddenly, a voice rang out. “How you got that blade in here, I’ll never know. But I insist that you drop it right this moment.”
    â€œIt’s Tom! He’s back!” Jo Bell cried.
    â€œThank heavens!” said Edith.
    The spiders’ exclamations of relief and joy set the air buzzing. Every hair on their bodies seemed to reverberate.
    â€œThere must be some mistake!” Eldridge Montague protested.
    â€œThere’s no mistake,” said Tom. “Now drop it.”
    They heard the X-ACTO blade hit the floor.
    â€œGreat silk!” Edith exclaimed. “Look who’s here!”
    It was Agnes Smoot, and she was not carrying a blade but a huge book raised above her head. Her intentions were clear. She was going to slam it down on poor Tom’s head. And there was no other human being in the room. Rosemary had gone off to fetch a book for Agnes.
    â€œWhat are we to do?” Edith said in a hysterical pitch that seemed to defy the laws of vibration.
    Jo Bell did not even think. She cast her dragline and landed squarely in the middle of Agnes Smoot’s