Sleepover Sleuths (4 page)

“It was also green,” George said. “This stuff is white.”

“Then what is it?” Bess asked.

Nancy examined the wispy fuzz.

“I don't know,” she said. “But I think we just found our first clue!”

“Our first clue!” Bess exclaimed. “How cool is that?”

“Let's take some as evidence,” Nancy said.

“Evi-dance? What's that?” Bess asked.

“That's a fancy word for proof,” Nancy explained. “My dad explained it to me once when we were watching a mystery movie together.”

Nancy tried to pick up the fuzz. But the wisps kept slipping from her fingers.

“Wait here,” Bess said as she hopped off the bench. When she came back her hand was wrapped with sticky tape.

“What's that?” George asked.

“A clue mitt!” Bess said. “I built it myself.”

Bess ran her sticky mitt over the windowsill. Clumps of fuzz stuck to the tape.

“Thanks, Bess!” Nancy exclaimed.

The girls jumped off the bench. Bess pulled the sticky mitt off her hand. She dropped it into an empty goody bag that she found on a table.

“Let's see what else we can find,” Nancy said.

The girls moved the bench. They got down on their hands and knees and searched the cream-colored carpet.

Nancy saw something orange on the floor. She picked it up and rolled it around in her hand.

“It looks like a button,” Nancy said. “It might be a clue,”

“Two clues!” Bess squealed. “We're on a roll!”

“Now we have to figure out who would have taken Hollywood Heather,” Nancy said as she dropped the button into the bag.

“You mean suspects?” George asked.

“How did you know?” Bess asked.

“Nancy isn't the only one who likes mysteries!” George said with a grin.

Nancy looked at the clock. It was almost time for Hannah to pick them up.

“Let's work on the case in my room,” Nancy suggested. “We can keep our clues in my desk drawer. And we can use my computer to write down everything we find out.”

“Did you say computer?” George said. She gave a thumbs-up sign. “I'm there!”

Bess and George called home for permission to go to Nancy's house. Then Hannah picked the girls up and drove them five blocks to the Drew home.

Nancy, Bess, and George all had the same rules. They had permission to walk up to five blocks as long as they were together. But with
all their heavy sleepover gear, five blocks was too far to walk!

As soon as they reached the Drew house, the girls ran straight up to Nancy's room. Nancy carefully placed the clue bag in her top desk drawer. Then she turned on her computer.

George sat down at the keyboard. She opened up a new file and called it “Who Took Hollywood Heather?”

“What do we know so far?” Nancy asked.

“Hmm,” George said. “The doll was on the windowsill at six forty-five this morning when I came back from the bathroom.”

“Deirdre woke me up at eight,” Nancy remembered. “So Hollywood Heather must have disappeared between about seven and eight o'clock in the morning.”

“Type that in, George!” Bess said.

“I'm typing! I'm typing!” George said as her fingers flew across the keyboard.

“What about suspects?” Nancy asked.

“We have one already,” Bess said. “Cassidy Rubin.”

“Right,” Nancy said. “Cassidy could have stuffed the doll in her backpack. Maybe that's why she wouldn't let go of it.”

“Cassidy was also mad at Deirdre for not letting her have the last piece of birthday cake,” George said. “Maybe she took Hollywood Heather to get even.”

“That's it. Case closed!” Bess declared. “Cassidy took the doll!”

“We don't know for sure, Bess,” Nancy said, shaking her head. “So far she's just a suspect.”

George looked up the word “suspect” on the computer's spell-check. She typed it on the page, with Cassidy's name underneath.

“Who else could have taken Hollywood Heather?” Nancy asked.

Bess sat on Nancy's bed. She bounced a stuffed tiger on her lap. “Maybe Deirdre was right about Trina,” she said. “Trina
was
mad at her. And she was the only one who could reach the windowsill.”

“Anyone could have climbed up on something, though,” George said. “Just like we did.”

Nancy didn't want to blame Trina. But then she remembered something else….

“Trina's sleeping bag was empty when the doll went missing,” Nancy said. “Maybe she did go upstairs to hide the doll in her bag,”

George added Trina's name to the suspect list.

“Do you think Trina's doll was a fake, like Deirdre said?” Bess asked.

“Let's check out the City Girls Web site,” George said. “They have pictures of all the dolls. Maybe there's a picture of Indianapolis Ivy.”

George saved their case file before going online. She was about to search for the City Girls site when she heard a little jingling noise.

“You've got an instant message, Nancy,” George said.

Nancy leaned over to read her message. “It's from Pickles99,” she said.

“Pickles? Who's that?” Bess asked.

“Brianne Slotsky from school,” Nancy explained. “She puts pickles on all her sandwiches.”

“Even peanut butter?” Bess gasped.

“Why wasn't Brianne at the sleepover?” George asked. “Doesn't she have a City Girls doll?”

“Not yet,” Nancy said. “But that's all she ever thinks about!”

Nancy read the message out loud. “‘Nadine called me. She said she has a new Hollywood Heather doll. Is it true?'”

All three girls stared at the message.

“You guys,” Nancy said slowly. “Did she just say Nadine has Hollywood Heather?”

“I forgot about Nadine!” George said. “She said Hollywood Heather should belong to her.”

“Wasn't Nadine wearing orange pj's?” Bess asked.

“So?” George asked.

“The orange button clue!” Nancy exclaimed. “Good catch, Bess!”

Another message popped up from Pickles99. It said, “Hello? Are you there?”

“I forgot about Brianne!” Nancy said. She quickly typed, “It's news to me. Gotta go!”

“Now we have three suspects,” Nancy said as she logged off. “Cassidy, Trina, and Nadine.”

“Let's find them,” George said. “And tell them we think they took Hollywood Heather!”

“No way, George!” Nancy said. “Good detectives always ask lots of questions before accusing anyone.”

“What kind of questions?” Bess asked.

“That's what we have to figure out,” Nancy said.

“Can we figure it out over pizza?” Bess asked. “I'm getting hungry.”

“You just had scrambled eggs!” George said.

“That was three hours ago,” Bess cried.

Nancy printed out their notes.

“A real case file!” she said. “How cool is that?”

Nancy got permission from her dad to go to Pizza Paradise on River Street. Hannah drove Bess and George to their houses to drop off their gear. Then Mrs. Fayne drove the girls to River Street in her van.

Mrs. Fayne owned a catering business. The back of the van was filled with containers of coleslaw and potato salad.

“I have to drop off this food at a bridal shower, girls,” Mrs. Fayne said after she parked. “You
go straight to the pizza parlor and I'll meet you there at two o'clock.”

“Two o'clock?” Bess said. She glanced at her international watch. “Is that two o'clock in England, Italy, or China?”

“Show-off!” George said with a smirk.

Nancy glanced at her own watch. It said one fifteen. That gave them lots of time to eat pizza and talk about the case.

After saying good-bye to Mrs. Fayne, the girls walked up the block to Pizza Paradise. Halfway there Bess grabbed Nancy's arm and whispered, “Don't look now—but look who's there!”

“Bess!” Nancy said. “How can I not look and look at the same time?”

“Then—just look!” Bess whispered.

Nancy looked where Bess was pointing. Standing in front of a grocery store were Nadine Nardo and her mom.

“I don't want Nadine to see us yet,” Nancy said quietly. “Let's hide somewhere.”

River Street was lined with trees. Nancy, Bess,
and George ducked behind an oak tree with a thick trunk. They were close enough to hear Nadine and her mom talking.

“What you did was not okay, Nadine!” Mrs. Nardo was saying.

“But Mom!” Nadine said. “I had to have a Hollywood Heather doll. I just had to!”

The girls peeked out. Nancy saw Nadine holding a shopping bag at her side. She also saw two doll feet with white boots sticking out at the top.

“You guys,” Nancy whispered. “Doesn't Hollywood Heather wear white boots?”

“You bet,” George whispered. “If that isn't Hollywood Heather, I'll eat my socks!”

“Gross!” Bess cried.

“Shh!” Nancy said. “We have to see what's in the bag.”

Mrs. Nardo went into the grocery store. Nadine stayed out by the gumball machines. She put the shopping bag on the sidewalk as she searched in her waist pack for a quarter.

“Now's our chance,” George whispered. “I'm peeking inside that bag!”

“That's snooping!” Nancy said doubtfully.

“We're detectives,” George replied. “We're supposed to snoop.”

While Nadine put her quarter into the gumball machine, George tiptoed toward her. She grabbed a handle on the shopping bag. But just as she was about to peek inside, a gumball rolled out of the machine onto the sidewalk. Nadine turned to catch it and saw George with her hand on the bag!

“George,” Nadine said. “What are you doing?”

Oh, great,
Nancy thought.

George froze with her hand on the shopping bag. “Um … looking for Hollywood Heather?” she said, looking up at Nadine.