A Star Witness

by Carolyn Keene

  “Hey! Wait!” Bess yelled after her.

  But the girl kept going. Nancy and her friends ran through the Hall of Planets, across the museum, and into the Hall of Comets. The woman was pushing through a crowd of campers getting ready to leave. She didn’t turn back—not even once.

  “Hurry,” George said as she picked up her pace. “We’re losing her.”

  George was faster than Bess and Nancy, and she raced through the hall, passing the model of Halley’s Comet high above. The girl with the red scarf turned down another hall that led to the museum’s bathrooms. Because the museum was closing, both of the bathroom doors were locked. Their suspect was trapped!

  When the girl with the red scarf realized this, she turned around and sheepishly pulled the scarf away from her face.

  “I thought so!” Nancy said. “You’re the one who took Dr. Arnot’s telescope!”

  Bess and George stood there, frozen in shock. Could it really be?

  Clue Crew-and YOU!

  Can you solve the mystery of the stolen Starship 5000? Write your answers on a sheet of paper. Or just turn the page to find out!

  Nancy, Bess, and George came up with three suspects. Can you think of more? Grab a sheet of paper and write down your suspects.

  Who do you think took the Starship 5000? Write it down on a sheet of paper.

  What clues helped you solve this mystery? Write them down on a piece of paper.

  A STARRY ENDING

  The girl brushed her dark hair away from her face. Without the scarf, Nancy and her friends could see her glasses.

  It was Kirsten Levy—Dr. Arnot’s assistant!

  Three important pieces of evidence had helped Nancy solve the mystery: Nancy remembered that when they first met Kirsten she’d been wearing the scarf as a headband. She’d also kept the can of grape soda she’d been drinking that morning, using it to prop open the door. Then there were her black Mary Janes.

  “I can explain,” Kirsten said, her eyes filled with tears. “Please just give me a chance.”

  “Why would you, of all people, steal the Starship 5000?” Bess asked. “Dr. Arnot is your boss!”

  Kirsten twisted the scarf around in her hands, clearly nervous. “I wasn’t stealing it,” she said. “That’s the problem. This is all one big misunderstanding.”

  “What do you mean?” Nancy asked.

  Kirsten let out a deep sigh. “Remember how I told you about the group project I was working on at school? Well, my partner realized the Starship 5000 would be the perfect telescope to use during the presentation. I knew Dr. Arnot would be too nervous to let me borrow it, so I decided to lend it to my friend during the hour that your group was in the planetarium show. Our school is only five minutes away, so I thought she could bring it right back.”

  “Right,” George said, remembering what Kirsten had told them when they’d first met her. “The Starship is the best telescope to view the Andromeda Galaxy. That’s what your project was about.”

  Kirsten nodded. “That’s right. So I lent the telescope to my friend, but her car broke down on the way back to the museum. I wasn’t able to get the telescope here in time.”

  “So you lied about it?” George asked, crossing her arms.

  Kirsten wiped her eyes. “I didn’t mean to—at least not at first. It just happened. I was so scared Dr. Arnot would fire me. I was going to return it. I swear!”

  “Where is it now?” Nancy asked.

  Kirsten pointed behind them. “It’s on its way. My friend is dropping it off any minute. That’s why I was waiting by the side entrance. I’m meeting her there.”

  Nancy smiled at her friends. She knew Dr. Arnot wouldn’t be happy that Kirsten had lied to him, but the telescope would be returned. Igor, the famous astronomer in Germany, would never even know it went missing. Wasn’t that the most important thing?

  Nancy turned back the way they came, waving for her friends to follow. “Let’s go, then,” she said. “There are only a few minutes before the museum closes. No matter what happened, Dr. Arnot will be very happy to know the Starship 5000 isn’t gone forever.”

  • • •

  Nancy and her friends stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking out the side door. It led to a street behind the museum. Kirsten sat on the bottom step, waiting for her friend.

  After a few minutes a taxi pulled up. A girl with a brown ponytail stepped out, the Starship 5000 in her hands. Her skin glistened with sweat. “Kirsten!” she cried. “I’m so sorry! My car just stopped running, and I forgot my cell phone at school. I called you from the gas station I walked to.”

  Kirsten whispered something to her friend, who then looked over Kirsten’s shoulder at the girls. “Please—it’s not Kirsten’s fault,” the girl said. “I was the one who wanted to use the telescope.”

  “I’m sure he’ll just be happy to have it back,” Bess said. She always seemed to feel a little bad for the suspects when they were caught.

  “I’ll explain it to him,” Kirsten said sadly. She took the telescope from her friend and went back inside the museum, climbing the stairs to the roof. Her friend followed her, and Nancy, Bess, and George started up the steps after them. When they got to the roof the security guards were there, along with Lois and Dr. Arnot. The astronomer’s face brightened when he saw the telescope. “Thank the heavens!” he cried. “You found it! Kirsten, you’ve saved the day! What happened? Where was it?”

  Kirsten bit her lower lip. “Dr. Arnot,” she began nervously. “I have to tell you something. . . .”

  The man took the telescope from Kirsten’s hands, holding it like a mother would hold a baby. He cradled it back and forth in his arms and petted it lovingly. Suddenly he whipped his head around and furrowed his bushy eyebrows. “What do you mean? What’s wrong?”

  Kirsten took a deep breath and started speaking. Her friend stood right beside her. She explained the entire story to Dr. Arnot, saying that she’d only meant to borrow the telescope for a half hour. She was going to bring it right back.

  “I know I should have asked,” Kirsten said. “And I shouldn’t have lied when you found out it was missing. I’m so sorry that I made you so worried. I just didn’t know what to do.”

  For the first time, Nancy noticed that Kirsten’s hands were shaking. Dr. Arnot frowned, and then he finally spoke. “I’m very disappointed in you, Kirsten,” he said. “And we’ll have to discuss this later. But right now I’m just thankful that the telescope is back.”

  “It was always safe,” Kirsten’s friend said. “I took good care of it. If you want someone to blame, you should blame me—I asked Kirsten to take it!”

  Dr. Arnot set the telescope down on the roof, adjusting it so it pointed at the sky. “Let’s save the blame for some other time,” he said. “There are only a few minutes before the museum is closed for the night, and I haven’t seen a sky this clear and beautiful in a long time. What do you say? Should we all have a quick look at our celestial neighbors? Saturn and Venus are stunning through the scope.”

  That made Kirsten smile. “Thank you, Dr. Arnot,” she said, dabbing her eyes.

  “That would be lovely!” Lois clapped her hands together like an excited child. Almost as soon as she said it, the other members of the astronomy club climbed the stairs to the roof, looking for them.

  “You found it!” Celia cried. Marty and Hilda came up behind her. “We were wondering.”

  “Can I look too?” asked Trina. She stood on her tippy-toes, trying to see into the lens.

  Nancy wrapped her arms around her friends, squeezing them into a tight hug as she looked up at the sky. It was a deep navy blue, with stars scattered across it like glitter. Dr. Arnot was right—it was beautiful.

  “Good work, team,” Nancy said. “We did it.”

  “Yes!” George said as Dr. Arnot showed Lois some stars through the telescope. “The Clue Crew cracks yet another case! And this one was out of this world!”

  Test your detective skills with even more Clue
Book mysteries:

  Nancy Drew Clue Book #4:

  Big Top Flop

  “The best part of spring is spring break!” George Fayne said. “And the second best part is that it begins today!”

  “The best part of spring,” Bess Marvin said, “is spring clothes!”

  Eight-year-old Nancy Drew smiled as Bess twirled to show off her new outfit. Spring clothes and spring break were awesome. And there was one more thing about spring that she and her two best friends would totally agree on. . . .

  “The best part of spring is the Bingle and Bumble Circus,” Nancy declared, “which is why we’re here today!”

  Nancy, Bess, and George did agree on that. Each spring the circus came to River Heights Park. This year it came with something extra fun: a junior ringmaster contest by the big circus tent!

  “Don’t forget the rules!” Bess said. Her long blond ponytail bounced as she spoke. “The kid who blows a whistle the longest and loudest becomes junior ringmaster on opening day tomorrow.”

  “How can we forget, Bess?” George asked. “We’ve been practicing all week.”

  “I whistled so loud that my puppy, Chip, ran under my bed.” Nancy said.

  “That’s nothing!” George said, her dark eyes wide. “I whistled so loud I broke one of my mom’s catering glasses!”

  “How was your whistling practice, Bess?” Nancy asked.

  “I stopped when I found my baby sister sucking on my whistle,” Bess said with a groan. “Gross!”

  It was Friday after school, so the girls still had their backpacks. George pulled a plastic bag from hers. Inside were yellow candies shaped like lemons.

  “Are those Super-Sour Suckers?” Bess asked, scrunching up her nose. “Eating those candies is like sucking lemons!”

  “That’s what makes them so cool!” George exclaimed. “They’ve got sour power!”

  Nancy shook her head and said, “Sometimes I can’t believe you’re cousins. You two are as different as—”

  “Sweet and sour?” George cut in. She was about to pop a candy into her mouth when—

  “Excuse me,” a boy said, “but where can a future junior ringmaster find cotton candy around here?”

  Nancy, Bess, and George turned. Standing behind them was Miles Ling from the other third-grade class at school. Everyone knew that Miles wanted to be a ringmaster when he grew up. He even owned a ringmaster suit and tall black hat, which he wore today!

  “You want to eat cotton candy before the contest?” Bess asked. “Won’t it make your mouth too dry to whistle?”

  “I don’t want to eat the cotton candy,” Miles said. “I want to stuff my ears with it!”

  Nancy, Bess, and George stared at Miles.

  “Stuff your ears with it?” Nancy asked slowly.

  “That’s how loud I whistle,” Miles explained. “And when I whistle in the contest, you’ll need some too!”

  Nancy and her friends traded eye rolls. Miles may have been a good whistler, but he was also a very good bragger!

  “We don’t have any cotton candy,” George said. “But you can have a Super-Sour Sucker.”

  George held out the bag. When Miles looked down at it his eyes popped wide open.

  “N-no, thanks. . . . I’ve got to go,” Miles blurted. He then turned quickly and disappeared in the crowd.

  “Do you think Miles was serious about stuffing cotton candy in his ears?” Bess asked.

  “No,” George said. “But he is serious about winning the Junior Ringmaster Contest.”

  “Well, so are we!” Nancy said, smiling. “In fact, let’s make a deal. If one of us wins, we’ll bring the other two to the circus on opening night.”

  “Sure, we will, Nancy,” Bess agreed. “After all, we’re a team even when we’re not solving mysteries!”

  Nancy and her friends loved solving mysteries more than anything. They even had their own detective club called the Clue Crew. Nancy owned a notebook where she wrote down all her clues and suspects. She called it her Clue Book, and she carried it wherever she went.

  The girls turned to gaze at the big white circus tent with red stripes. Past the tent were rows of trailers.

  “That’s probably where the circus people and animals stay,” George pointed out. “Who are your favorites?”

  Nancy smiled as she remembered the circus from last spring. “Oodles of Poodles are the best!” she said.

  “I like Shirley the Seesaw Llama!” Bess said excitedly. “No one rides a seesaw like Shirley!”

  “The Flying Fabuloso Family rocks!” George said. “Especially the trapeze twins, Fifi and Felix!”

  “Fifi and Felix?” Bess said with a frown. “Those twins are trouble times two!”

  “When they aren’t on the trapeze,” Nancy said, “they’re playing tricks on other circus people!”

  “Last year Fifi and Felix put some trick soap in Ringmaster Rex’s trailer,” Bess added. “His face was blue throughout the whole show!”

  George shrugged and said, “The circus is all about tricks, right?”

  Nancy was about to answer when the crowd began to cheer. She turned toward the tent just as Ringmaster Rex stepped out, waving his tall black hat!

  “There he is!” Nancy said.

  “And his face isn’t blue!” Bess said with relief.

  Mayor Strong and more circus people filed out of the tent. Fifi and Felix Fabuloso marched behind their parents.

  “Will all kids please form a single line?” Mayor Strong asked. “Lulu the Clown is about to come around with a bag full of whistles.”

  The line formed lickety-split. The girls landed in the back with Miles right behind them.

  “The best always goes last!” Miles bragged. “And that would be me!”

  George groaned under her breath. “No wonder Miles is a good whistler,” she whispered. “He’s a total windbag!”

  Lulu the Clown, wearing a gray wig, baggy dress, and striped stockings, walked down the line with her bag of whistles. One by one the kids reached inside and pulled out a whistle until—

  “Eeeeeeeek!” a voice cried.

  What happened? Nancy, Bess, and George stepped out of the line to see.

  CAROLYN KEENE is the author of the ever-popular Nancy Drew series of books.

  PETER FRANCIS lives and works in the United Kingdom. When he’s not helping the Clue Crew solve mysteries, he can be found sketching frantically in his studio, investigating hidden landscapes, or growing his own vegetables.

  ALADDIN

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  Visit us at authors.simonandschuster.com/Carolyn-Keene

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Peter-Francis

  Don’t miss the other

  Nancy Drew Clue Books:

  Pool Party Puzzler

  Last Lemonade Standing

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  First Aladdin hardcover edition November 2015

  Text copyright © 2015 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Peter Francis

  Also available in an Aladdin paperback edition.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  NANCY DREW, NANCY DREW CLUE BOOK, and colophons are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschus
ter.com.

  The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  Designed by Karina Granda

  The illustrations for this book were rendered digitally.

  The text of this book was set in Adobe Garamond Pro.

  Library of Congress Control Number 2014954566

  ISBN 978-1-4814-3998-5 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-3750-9 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-3751-6 (eBook)