Sleepover Sleuths (6 page)

“Deirdre wants me to question Trina today,”
Nancy said. “But I don't want to embarrass her in front of everybody.”

“Me neither,” Bess said.

“She also wants us to look inside her basketball bag,” Nancy said.

“Nuh-uh!” George groaned. “That is one bag I'm definitely not looking into!”

“Did you bring our clues to school, Nancy?” Bess asked. “Maybe we can check them out some more.”

Nancy pulled the plastic clue bag from her jacket pocket. Inside were the fuzzy tape and the orange button.

“My dad says that clues can lead to other clues,” Nancy said. “But I still don't know what he means.”

She dropped the bag back into her pocket. Just then a basketball rolled against her foot. Nancy looked up and saw Trina standing on the basketball court. Next to her stood Ned Nickerson from the fourth grade.

Nancy and Ned went to the same pediatrician. They used to play in the waiting room together when they were little.

“Throw it here, Nancy!” Trina called.

“Yeah, Nancy,” Ned called. “Give it your best shot!”

“Okay,” Nancy said with a smile. She picked up the ball. She was about to toss it when someone snatched it out of her hands.

“Hey!” Nancy said.

She turned and saw Deirdre clutching the ball. Her mouth was a grim line as she stared across the schoolyard at Trina.

“You're not getting it back, Trina Vanderhoof!” Deirdre shouted. “Not until you answer all of Nancy's questions!”

“What do you want to ask me, Nancy?” Trina asked as she walked over. “Go ahead. Spill.”

Nancy opened her mouth but nothing came out.

“How come you left the basement yesterday morning when my doll disappeared?” Deirdre blurted out.

“I had to,” Trina said. “My nose was getting all tickly. Someone must have let Marshmallow in.”

“I may have left the door open when I went to the bathroom,” George said. “My bad.”

“It's okay,” Trina said. She raised an eyebrow at Deirdre. “Hey. You don't think I took Hollywood Heather, do you?”

Deirdre stared back at Trina. She tossed the
basketball back at her and said, “Ask Nancy. She's the detective.”

Nancy's jaw dropped as Deirdre ran away. She also saw Madison standing nearby. Madison was watching Deirdre as she ran away.

“Nancy?” Trina asked. “Do you think I stole Hollywood Heather?”

Nancy turned to Trina. She took a deep breath and said, “We thought you might have because you were out of the room. And you were the only one who could reach the windowsill.”

“Oh,” Trina said.

“And we found clues near the window,” George said. “Show her, Nancy!”

Nancy took out the plastic clue bag. “We found an orange button and some fuzzy stuff on the windowsill.”

“We're detectives now,” Bess said. “In case you haven't noticed.”

Trina stared through the clear bag. She frowned, stepped back, and said, “I know what that fuzzy stuff is!”

“What?” Nancy asked. Trina opened her mouth to speak when—

“Hey, Trina!” Ned called. “We're waiting for the ball!”

“I'm there!” Trina answered. As she ran back to the court, she shouted over her shoulder, “And I didn't take Hollywood Heather!”

Then who did?
Nancy wondered as she watched Trina jog toward the boys. Nancy noticed that Madison had disappeared.

“I believe Trina left because of Marshmallow,” Bess said. “But why do you think she looked so weird when she saw the fuzzy stuff in the bag?”

“Yeah!” George chuckled. “You'd think she saw a cat!”

Cat. Nancy thought.
That's it!

“Isn't Marshmallow a white cat?” Nancy asked.

Bess and George both nodded.

“And don't most cats like to sit on windowsills?” Nancy asked.

Her friends nodded again.

“Maybe Marshmallow came into the room, jumped from the gift table to the windowsill, and knocked down Hollywood Heather!” Nancy said.

“Okay,” George said. “But wouldn't Hollywood Heather have fallen down somewhere?”

“We did look everywhere for the doll,” Bess said. “So where did she fall?”

“That's the big question,” Nancy sighed.

The school bell rang. Recess was over. Nancy, Bess, and George walked to the door with the other kids.

“Maybe there's still time to talk about the case after school,” Bess said.

“Yeah,” George agreed. “I already got permission to go to your house at three o'clock.”

“Me too!” Bess said.

“Okay,” Nancy said. “But time is running out.”

They filed into Mrs. Ramirez's classroom. As Nancy sat at her desk, she tried not to look at Deirdre. She tried not to think about the case, but it kept popping into her head!

Where is Hollywood Heather?
Nancy wondered.
Why can't I figure it out?

After school the girls went to Nancy's house. After eating a snack of Hannah's yummy fruit salad, they went upstairs to Nancy's room. This time Nancy sat at the computer. Instead of opening the case file, she went online.

“There's got to be a site for junior detectives,” Nancy said. “Maybe it has some tips on solving cases.”

“Wait,” George said. She pointed to the little red mailbox on the screen. “You got an e-mail.”

Nancy clicked on the mailbox. Her e-mail was from KJack—Kendra Jackson. She wrote: “Check
out Deirdre's Web site. There are some neat pictures of all of us!”

Nancy found Dishing with Deirdre on the Web. There were lots of pictures from the sleepover. The girls smiled when they saw the group photo.

“Look!” Bess said. “There's Hollywood Heather on the windowsill before she disappeared.”

Nancy gazed at the picture. There were lots of backpacks and duffel bags against the wall too.

“You guys,” Nancy said. She leaned forward in her chair. “Could Hollywood Heather have fallen into a bag?”

“Maybe,” Bess said. “But which one?”

George squeezed next to Nancy on the chair. She grabbed the mouse and clicked on the picture. Soon the picture was three times its original size!

Nancy studied the photo. She saw flashes of orange between everyone's feet. Maybe there was an orange bag under the window. Nancy pulled out the orange button and held it against the screen. They were the exact same color!

“I think this button came from the bag we
can see in the picture!” Nancy exclaimed. “But who had an orange bag at the sleepover?”

“Can't remember,” Bess said, shaking her head.

“Let's check the other pictures,” George said. She found shots of the guests walking to the house. One was of Madison carrying an orange duffel bag. It had orange buttons on the front flap!

“Madison's bag was under the window,” Bess said.

Nancy couldn't take her eyes off the picture.

“Omigosh!” she gasped. “Does Deirdre's best friend have Hollywood Heather?”

“But Madison is Deirdre's best friend, Nancy,” Bess said. “If she found the doll, she would have told Deirdre.”

“Unless Madison didn't want to tell her,” Nancy said. “Let's go to Madison's house and ask her some questions. Anyone know where she lives?”

“She lives in that big blue house on Acorn Street,” Bess said. “But I don't know how to get there from here.”

“Piece of cake!” George said. With a few clicks of the mouse she found a site called Map Search. In a few seconds a map of River Heights was on the screen.

“Acorn Street is only four blocks away,” Nancy said.

“We're allowed to walk there as long as we're together,” Bess said, repeating their rules.

George printed out the map. “See?” she said. “There isn't anything you can't find on the computer!”

The girls asked Hannah's permission to go. Then they followed the map to the Foley house. Once there, Nancy rang the doorbell. Madison looked surprised when she opened the door.

“Hi,” Madison said. “What's up?”

“Madison, did you find Hollywood Heather in your orange duffel bag?” Nancy asked.

Madison's eyes opened wide. She stepped outside and shut the front door behind her. “No way!” she said.

“Okay,” Nancy said slowly. “Then did you lose a button?”

She pulled the orange button out of her pocket. Madison stared at it and said, “Maybe. So what?”

“We think Marshmallow the cat knocked Hollywood Heather off the windowsill,” Nancy
explained. “And since your bag was right under the window …”

“… accidents happen,” Bess finished.

Madison stared at the girls.

“It
was
an accident!” she finally said. “I found the doll in my bag when we were searching the room. I was going to tell Deirdre, but she seemed so mad. She would have thought I stole Hollywood Heather for sure!”

“But Deirdre's your best friend,” George said.

“That's just it,” Madison said. “I was afraid she wouldn't be my best friend anymore. And that would be awful!”

“So you let Deirdre think that Trina did it?” Bess asked.

When Madison heard Trina's name, she frowned. It made Nancy think of something else.

“Unless you were a little jealous of Trina,” Nancy said gently. “For becoming Deirdre's second-best friend.”

“I guess I was feeling a little sad about it,” Madison said.

Nancy felt bad for Madison. It must have been superhard to keep such a big secret.

“But I still can't tell,” Madison said, shaking her head. “Deirdre's dad is a big-shot lawyer. He could throw me into jail for stealing!”

“Nancy's dad is a lawyer too,” Bess said with a smile. “He could get you out!”

“No one is going to jail, you guys!” Nancy said. “We can help explain everything to Deirdre.”

“It's not that easy,” Madison said. “There's another problem.”

“What?” Nancy asked.

Madison ran into the house. She came back holding Hollywood Heather. Nancy looked at the doll. One of her arms was missing!

“How did that happen?” Nancy asked.

“It must have broken off when she fell into my bag,” Madison said. She held up the broken arm. “How can I bring her to Deirdre like this?”

“Give her to me,” Bess said.

Madison handed the doll to Bess. Everyone watched as Bess popped the arm right back in.

“How did you do that?” Madison gasped.

“Bess can build anything and fix anything,” Nancy said cheerfully. “Now let's all go to Deirdre's house.”

Deirdre lived around the corner from Madison. Mrs. Shannon greeted the girls and led them into the living room. Madison held Hollywood Heather behind her back as they waited for Deirdre.

When she came into the room, Deirdre was wearing a pink dress and black patent leather shoes.