The Best Detective

by Carolyn Keene

  He winked at her. “The next time the weather report says rain, I’ll just keep the Bell closed.”

  Hannah dropped Bess and George at their houses. Then she drove home with Nancy.

  “You’d better get out of those wet clothes right away,” Hannah said. “In fact, a hot bath would be a good thing for you.”

  “Wouldn’t hot cocoa be even better?” Nancy asked.

  Hannah laughed. “Take a bath, and I promise you’ll find cocoa waiting for you.”

  After her bath and cocoa, Nancy read a library book until her father came home. Then they had dinner together.

  “How’s my soggy pumpkin?” Carson Drew asked Nancy. Pumpkin was one of his favorite nicknames for her. “Do you think all the rain today will make you grow round and orange faster?”

  Nancy giggled. “I didn’t get that wet.” Then she told her father about her day at school and about the rainstorm. She also told him about the free passes to Star Quest 2.

  “Sunday afternoon at four-thirty?” Mr. Drew asked. He pretended to frown. “Isn’t that when you and Hannah were planning to clean out your closet?”

  Nancy laughed at his teasing. “I wouldn’t miss this movie for anything,” she said. “Especially not for closet cleaning!”

  While Nancy was helping to clear the table, George telephoned.

  “Are you still coming over tomorrow morning?” George asked. George had promised to show Nancy how to turn and change directions on in-line skates.

  “Hannah says I can bike to your house at ten,” Nancy replied. “Is Bess coming, too?”

  “No,” George answered. “She says she doesn’t like in-line skating as much as ice skating.” Then George asked, “Do you have the movie passes? All three of them?”

  “Yes,” Nancy said. “They’re inside my blue notebook in my backpack.”

  “Are you sure?” George asked.

  “Of course,” Nancy said. “I put my notebook away before the lights went out at the Bell. I’ve left the passes inside so they’ll dry flat.”

  Nancy finished making plans with George and hung up the phone. She decided to check the movie passes. Her backpack was lying on the floor in the front hall.

  Nancy unzipped her pack and looked inside. Her heart skipped a beat. She turned the backpack upside down and shook it as hard as she could. Everything fell on the floor.

  Nancy gasped. Her notebook was gone!

  3

  Lost or Stolen?

  Nancy stared at the floor. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

  Mr. Drew walked into the hallway. “What’s wrong, Pumpkin?” he asked. “You look as though you’ve seen a ghost. Or two ghosts. Isn’t it too early for Halloween?”

  “Daddy!” Nancy cried. “I’ve lost my blue notebook!”

  “Maybe you left it at school,” her father said.

  Nancy shook her head. “No. I know I had it after school because I put our movie passes inside. They’re gone, too!”

  Mr. Drew hurried over to Nancy and put his arm around her. “Tell me everything that happened,” he said.

  Nancy liked to discuss problems with her father. He was a lawyer and gave her good advice. She described exactly what had taken place in the Bell that afternoon.

  “Pumpkin,” her father said, “I think there’s a good chance you lost your notebook at the Bell. There was a lot of commotion when the lights went out. The notebook might be lying on the floor. Or maybe Charlie or someone else found it already.”

  “Maybe,” Nancy said.

  Mr. Drew kissed her on the forehead.

  “Let’s check the car first to make sure the notebook isn’t there. Then you can call the Bell. Maybe Charlie is working late.”

  Nancy and her father went outside and searched the car. They didn’t find the notebook. Then Nancy tried calling the Bell. No one answered.

  “You can try again tomorrow morning,” Mr. Drew said. “I bet Charlie will have cleaned up the shop and found your notebook by then.”

  Nancy nodded, but she was still upset. She kept thinking about Bess and George. Missing the movie herself was awful. But making her best friends miss it was much worse.

  “I should call Bess and George now,” Nancy said.

  “Maybe not,” Mr. Drew replied. “No one can do anything until tomorrow. You can tell them first thing in the morning. Then they won’t be upset all night.”

  Nancy went up to her room. She put on her nightgown and robe. Then she sat at her desk, going over everything that had happened at the Bell.

  She picked up a pencil and tried to do her math homework. But she kept thinking about her missing notebook and the movie passes inside it. Nancy wrote a name on her math worksheet: “Jason.”

  Maybe he took my notebook, she thought. Maybe he took it when the lights were out and my pack was lying on the floor. He tried to grab the notebook just before that. Maybe he took it to tease me.

  Nancy dropped the pencil and ran downstairs to call Jason.

  As soon as he answered the phone, Nancy said, “My blue notebook is missing. It had three movie passes in it. So I’ve got to get the notebook back. Did you see it after the lights went out? Or . . . did you take it?”

  “Nope,” Jason said. “I didn’t see it or touch it after you took it back. Hey, is this a mystery?”

  “Yes, and I’ve got to solve it before four-thirty on Sunday,” Nancy said. “If not, Bess, George, and I will miss the movie.”

  “I’ll get your notebook for you,” Jason said.

  “You will? Do you know where it is?” Nancy asked.

  “Not yet,” Jason said. “But whoever finds a detective’s missing notebook must be the best detective. So if I find the notebook before you do, then I’m the best detective, right?”

  “I never said that,” Nancy answered.

  “Ha! It’s true,” Jason said. “It’s a fight to the finish. May the best detective win!”

  Jason hung up. So did Nancy. She put her hands on her hips. Her father walked into the room.

  “What’s up, Pumpkin?” he asked.

  “I think Jason might have my notebook,” Nancy said. Then she told her father all about Jason.

  “If he really has your notebook,” Mr. Drew said, “everything will work out fine.”

  Nancy made a face. “He’ll pretend to find the notebook. We’ll get the movie passes back. But everyone will think he’s the best detective.”

  Mr. Drew shook his head. “Don’t worry about that. You’ve solved more than one mystery. You’re the real detective. And the best!”

  Nancy felt a little better. But she was still worried. She went upstairs and brushed her teeth. That night she had trouble falling asleep.

  Nancy awakened early on Saturday morning. The first thing she thought about was the missing notebook and movie passes. She jumped out of bed. After she washed up, she put on comfortable jeans and a purple sweater, and went downstairs. Right after breakfast she called Bess.

  “Can you meet me at George’s house at ten?” Nancy asked.

  “You changed your mind. You don’t want to do in-line skating,” Bess guessed. “Super! Now we can do something that’s fun!”

  Nancy was upset, but she still laughed. “Well, that’s not exactly it,” she said. “But I’ll explain everything.”

  A few minutes later Nancy got ready to leave. She tucked her math notebook into her backpack. I may need something to write in, she thought.

  At exactly ten o’clock Nancy rang George’s doorbell. Her heart was beating fast. George opened the door. Bess was with her.

  “I’ve got really bad news,” Nancy told her friends as soon as she was inside the house. She took a deep breath and spoke as fast as she could. “My blue notebook is missing, and so are the movie passes.”

  Bess gasped. “The movie passes!”

  “Oh, no! What happened?” George asked.

  Nancy told her friends everything. Then she said, “I’m sorry. I wish none of this had happened. Are you really mad at me?
”

  “No,” George said.

  Bess shook her head. “It’s not your fault. Besides, I know you’ll find the passes.”

  “I hope so. I’m going right to the Bell,” Nancy said. “Keep your fingers crossed. Maybe Charlie has my notebook.”

  “I want to go with you,” Bess said. “Don’t you, George? We could be detectives, too, and help Nancy.”

  “Definitely!” George said.

  Bess and George got permission to bike to the Bell. The girls rode in a single file line with Nancy first. It was just a few blocks to the shop. Nancy kept thinking about her notebook.

  Please be there, she thought. Please be at the Bell!

  She pedaled faster. The Bell was around the next corner. Nancy got ready to turn.

  Suddenly another bike raced around the corner straight at Nancy. There was no time for her to stop.

  “Watch out!” George shouted.

  4

  The Race Is On

  Nancy swerved sharply to the left and braked hard. The other rider braked, too. Nancy’s back wheel grazed the other bike’s front tire. Her bike wobbled. She jumped off just as it fell.

  “Nancy, are you all right?” Bess cried.

  The other rider was Jason. He dropped his bike and ran over to Nancy. “Are you okay?”

  Nancy nodded. “I hope you’re detective work is better than your bike riding, Jason,” she said to him.

  “Jason Hutchings, you ride like a maniac!” George said.

  Jason picked up Nancy’s bike. “Sorry,” he said.

  “Have you found out anything about my notebook?” Nancy asked.

  “Detectives don’t blab information,” Jason answered. “Especially not to the competition. My lips are zipped.”

  He moved his thumb and index finger across his lips as if zipping them closed. Then he got on his bike and rode away, shouting, “It’s a fight to the finish!”

  “I guess his lip zipper is broken,” Nancy muttered.

  The girls rode around the corner. They parked their bikes in the rack in front of the Bell and went inside. Charlie was wiping the counter next to the cash register.

  “Look who’s here,” he said. “Been out in any good rainstorms lately?”

  Nancy laughed but then became serious.

  “Yesterday I lost my blue notebook here,” she said. “There were three movie passes inside. Did you find it anywhere?”

  Charlie stared at Nancy. “I’ll bet it had a pocket on the inside, too.”

  “Yes!” Nancy, Bess, and George shouted.

  “How did you know?” Nancy asked.

  “A boy just stopped by,” Charlie said. “He asked about the same notebook.”

  “Jason Hutchings!” Bess said.

  “He crawled all over the place searching for it,” Charlie continued. “I should have thanked him for polishing the floor.”

  “Did he find anything?” Nancy asked.

  “I don’t know,” Charlie answered. “He left while I was busy at the cash register.”

  “You didn’t find anything when you cleaned up after the storm, did you?” Bess asked.

  “Nope,” Charlie said. “Sorry.”

  “If it’s okay with you, we’d like to look around for the notebook,” Nancy said.

  Charlie laughed. “Why not? Let me know if you want to use the mop. We could kill two birds with one stone.”

  The girls began to look around the shop carefully.

  “You can see marks in the dust under the counters,” George said. “Zipper Lips must have searched under here.”

  Bess checked the tops of all the counters. Nancy looked at the shelves. She noticed that Charlie had refilled the overturned display rack. The store looked tidier than ever.

  Nancy sighed. “I don’t see it. Even if the notebook had been here this morning, I guess Jason would have found it.”

  The girls said goodbye to Charlie and rode back to George’s house.

  “I’m not in the mood for skating,” George said as they got off their bikes.

  “Me either,” Nancy said.

  “That’s one good thing,” Bess said.

  The girls went to George’s bedroom and talked about what to do next. Nancy got out her math notebook and turned to a clean page.

  “Okay, detective team,” she said, “let’s make a list of suspects. We’ll think of everyone who saw me put the notebook in my pack and had a reason to take it.”

  “Zipper Lips doesn’t go on the list,” George said. “If he took your notebook yesterday, he wouldn’t have gone to the Bell to look for it today.”

  “But he could have found the notebook there this morning,” Nancy said. “Maybe he sneaked it out of the Bell and put it in his bike pack. Maybe he’s keeping it to tease me.” Nancy wrote down Jason’s name.

  “How about Jenny March?” Bess asked. “She was standing with us. She really wanted another movie pass for her cousin Nina.”

  “Right,” Nancy said as she wrote Jenny’s name on the page. “Then there’s Brenda Carlton.”

  “Why Brenda?” George asked.

  “She said reporters could solve mysteries,” Nancy replied. “Maybe she took the notebook and will pretend to find it. Or maybe she won’t give it back. Maybe she wants to show that I’m not a good detective.”

  “That would be so mean!” Bess said.

  “That would be so Brenda-ish!” George said.

  Nancy added Brenda’s name to the list and shut the notebook. “Let’s go look for clues. We can start with Jenny,” she said.

  The girls got permission from George’s mother to bike to Jenny’s house. They left their bicycles next to a tall hedge near the Marches’ driveway. The driveway ran along one side of the house. The Marches’ car was parked in the driveway.

  “We have to get close to the house without being seen,” Nancy said.

  “What are we looking for?” Bess asked.

  “Anything that helps,” Nancy answered.

  The girls tiptoed along the far side of the hedge.

  “See all those bushes near the side door of the house?” Nancy whispered. “Let’s hide there.”

  A moment later all three girls were crouched in the bushes next to the March house.

  “I’m going to look in that window,” Nancy whispered. She pointed to the window right above where they were hiding.

  She slowly stood up and placed her hands on the window frame. She stretched up as high as she could on her toes.

  “What are you doing?” she heard someone say inside the house.

  Nancy gasped and dropped down. The side door to the house swung open. A man stepped out and walked to the car in the driveway.

  “I don’t know what’s taking you all so long,” he called back toward the house. “I’m starting the car.”

  “That’s Mr. March,” George whispered.

  A woman walked out of the house, carrying a large backpack. She got into the car next to Mr. March. She called back to the house, “Jenny! Nina!”

  Nancy, Bess, and George heard giggling inside. A moment later Jenny and a girl with short red hair hurried out the door. They each carried a backpack.

  “I can’t believe we pulled it off, Nina,” Jenny said. “You’ve got a pass to Star Quest 2!”

  5

  Toys and Clues

  She got a pa—” Bess started to say.

  Nancy clamped a hand over Bess’s mouth. “Don’t move or say anything,” she whispered.

  Nancy ran to the side of the Marches’ house that was opposite the driveway. Then she ran from the house down to the sidewalk. Jenny and the red-haired girl climbed into the car. As Mr. March backed the car down the driveway, Nancy walked along the sidewalk toward the car.

  “Pretty neat!” George whispered. “Nancy looks like she’s just walking up the street and happens to see them in the car.”

  “Jenny!” Nancy called. She waved. “Stop!”

  Mr. March put on the brakes. Nancy ran up to the car window.

>   “Hi,” Nancy said to Jenny. “I’ve got to ask you something. I lost my blue notebook at the Bell yesterday when the lights went out. There were three movie passes inside. Did you see my notebook or pick it up by mistake? You were standing right there.”

  Jenny shook her head. “Did you go back to the Bell? Maybe it’s still there.”

  “I looked for it at the Bell this morning,” Nancy said. She quickly glanced at the backpacks in the car. She was hoping for a clue of some sort. “I didn’t find anything.”

  “Girls,” Mr. March said, “I’m sorry to cut this off, but we’ve got to get going. We won’t have much of a hike at the state park unless we leave right now.”

  Jenny waved to Nancy as the car backed into the street. When it turned the corner, Nancy motioned Bess and George to come out.

  “What did she say?” Bess asked.

  “Not much,” Nancy answered. “She just asked if I’d been back to the Bell.”

  “Jenny March!” George said. “I always thought she was nice. But she must have taken your notebook. How else could she have gotten a movie pass for her cousin?”

  Nancy nodded. “That’s what I think, too. And now she’s gone for the day.”

  Bess groaned. “We’re stuck until she gets back, and the movie is tomorrow!”

  “We’d better investigate the other suspects,” Nancy said. “You never know what might come up.” She glanced at her watch. “Uh-oh! I’ve got to get home for lunch.”

  “I have an idea,” Bess said. “Come with me and my mom to the toy fair at the mall this afternoon. I heard Brenda say that she’s going. We could talk to her there.”

  “Okay,” Nancy said. “George, too?”

  George shook her head. “I have to go to the dentist. Maximum yuck.”

  The girls finished making plans and got their bikes. As Nancy rode home, she kept thinking, How could Jenny do something so awful? And how can we get the passes back?

  Hannah made one of Nancy’s favorite sandwiches—tuna salad with tomato. While Nancy ate it, she asked if she could go to the toy fair with Bess. Hannah said yes.

  An hour after lunch Mrs. Marvin picked Nancy up and drove her and Bess to the mall. She walked the girls inside. Half of the main court was filled with colorful display booths overflowing with toys. People strolled along the aisles between the booths.