“And remember how clean Kendall’s dress was?” Bess asked. “With a big chunk of cake like that, she would have gotten messy for sure!”
“She’s got a big mouth, too, remember?” George said. But she deleted Kendall’s name from their suspect list.
“That leaves us with Mr. Kernkraut,” Nancy concluded. “And we have his messy tie to prove it!”
Mr. Drew smiled as he stepped into the room. Nancy’s chocolate Labrador puppy, Chocolate Chip, scampered after him.
“How was the movie?” Mr. Drew asked.
“Awesome, Daddy!” said Nancy. “Henry the Hero Hound sniffed a boy’s sneaker—then tracked him all the way to the woods where he was lost!”
Chip jumped up on Nancy and wagged her tail.
“You’re a good dog too, Chip!” Nancy said, just in case her puppy was jealous.
“Well,” Mr. Drew announced with a smile, “I have another blockbuster film downstairs you might like.”
“Which one?” asked George.
“The film I took at the wedding last night!” Mr. Drew said. “Starring Nancy, Bess, and George!”
All three girls thundered down the stairs to the Drews’ den. They sat in front of the TV screen to watch the wedding movie. They giggled when they saw themselves dancing the Electric Train.
Suddenly Nancy noticed something in the background. A woman was stepping out of the cake room.
Grabbing the remote, Nancy pressed the pause button. She wiggled closer to the screen, pointed, and said, “Look, isn’t that Aunt Patsy?”
“What was she doing in the cake room?” asked Bess.
Nancy practically pressed her nose against the screen as she looked closer. There was something in Aunt Patsy’s hands. It looked like a purple container—the plastic kind that Hannah kept leftovers in.
“If you ask me,” Nancy said slowly, “Aunt Patsy is taking the cake!”
Chapter Six
Caught in the Act
Nancy pressed play. They watched as Aunt Patsy carefully shut the door behind her, then walked away with the purple container.
“Aunt Patsy can’t be a suspect,” Bess said. “She’s so nice!”
“Then she’s a nice suspect,” said George. She turned to Nancy. “Do you think Aunt Patsy still has that piece of cake?”
“Probably not,” Nancy said. “But we should go to her bakery today.”
“For cupcakes?” asked Bess excitedly.
“For clues!” Nancy answered with a smile.
The girls ran upstairs, where George added Aunt Patsy to their suspect list. Then they got permission to walk together to River Street. The girls were lucky that River Street was within their five-block range. The wide street had the best stores and places to eat—like Patsy’s Pastries!
As Nancy, Bess, and George walked toward the bakery, they spotted Adele. Famous François’s daughter was walking into Dapper Duds Dry Cleaners with something white draped over her arm.
“Let’s say hi to Adele,” Nancy suggested. “Maybe she found out something about the cake.”
The three friends entered the cleaners. Adele was handing her white smock over the counter to the store owner, Mr. Petruzzi.
“What is this stain?” Mr. Petruzzi asked as he held up the smock. “Some kind of whipped cream?”
“It’s buttercream,” Adele answered. Her eyes widened when the girls stepped up to the counter.
“Hi, Adele,” Nancy said. “Sorry about your dad’s cake yesterday.”
“Thanks,” said Adele. She paid Mr. Petruzzi and turned to leave. The girls darted in front of her before she reached the door.
“Adele, did you see anything weird before the cake was ruined?” George asked.
“Like somebody hanging around the cake?” Bess added.
“Or sneaking into the cake room?” Nancy put in.
“No!” answered Adele. “Nothing weird at all.”
“Excuse me, miss!” Mr. Petruzzi called. “These were in the pocket of your smock.”
Mr. Petruzzi held up two miniature plastic figurines. They were a bride and a groom!
“Whoops!” Adele said. She ran back and grabbed the figurines. Then, with a quick good-bye to the girls, she left the store.
The girls left the store too. Nancy watched as Adele made her way up River Street.
“What were a bride and groom doing in Adele’s pocket?” Nancy asked. “I thought her dad wanted those silly ice wolves!”
“Maybe Adele is saving them for her own wedding!” said Bess cheerily.
Patsy’s Pastries was a few stores away from the dry cleaners. The girls stopped in front of the door before going in.
“If Aunt Patsy still has the cake,” Nancy said, “it’s probably in her refrigerator.”
“The fridge is in the back room,” said George. “I helped my mom pick up pastries for a party once.”
A bell above the door jingled as the girls stepped inside. The store was warm and smelled sugary sweet.
Aunt Patsy came out from the back room. In her hand was a CLOSED sign.
“Oh, hello, girls,” Aunt Patsy said. “I was just about to close the store.”
“But it’s the middle of the day,” said Nancy.
“I know,” Aunt Patsy said as she hung the sign on the door. “But I have some important business to take care of.”
The girls exchanged worried glances. How would they go into the back room if Aunt Patsy was closing the store?
“Come back tomorrow,” Aunt Patsy told the girls, holding the door wide open. “I’ll have cupcakes fresh out of the oven!”
Nancy couldn’t take her eye off the back room as they made their way to the door. They were about to step outside when Aunt Patsy’s phone rang.
“I’d better get that,” Aunt Patsy said. She left the girls to answer the phone on the countertop. “Patsy’s Pastries, how can I help you?”
The second Aunt Patsy turned her back, Nancy whispered, “Let’s go.”
Very quietly the girls slipped past Aunt Patsy into the back room. A huge stainless steel refrigerator stood against the wall. In the middle of the room was a wooden table. On the table was a plate of frosted cupcakes.
“Are we lucky or what?” Bess said, running toward the cupcakes. “I want strawberry!”
“Stop, Bess!” Nancy hissed. “We’re not here to eat cupcakes. We’re here to find the missing piece of wedding cake!”
Bess looked disappointed as they passed the table to get to the refrigerator. Nancy grabbed the handle and pulled the door wide open. Peering inside, she saw a stack of cardboard boxes, bowls of frosting, and—
“The purple container!” Nancy whispered.
She reached inside for the container. It looked exactly like the container Aunt Patsy was holding in the wedding movie.
“The missing chunk of cake is probably in there,” George said. “Open it, Nancy!”
Nancy was starting to pry the lid off when she heard voices. Bess and George heard them too.
“Hide,” George whispered.
Quickly Nancy, Bess, and George slipped behind the side of the refrigerator. As the voices got louder, they scrunched closer together.
“Where are we going?” asked a kid’s voice.
“You’ll find out,” Aunt Patsy’s voice said. “But remember, what happens back here stays back here!”
Nancy raised an eyebrow at Bess and George. What was going on?
The girls peeked out from behind the refrigerator. Nancy gasped. Three kids from their third-grade class at River Heights Elementary School were sitting around the table. They were Quincy Taylor, Marcy Rubin, and Kayla Bruce. And they were all wearing blindfolds!
Chapter Seven
Hide and Peek
“I smell cupcakes!” said Quincy.
Aunt Patsy let out a chuckle. But Nancy wasn’t laughing as she turned to her friends.
“What are they doing?” Nancy asked.
“I wore a blindfold when I played Pin the Tail on t
he Donkey,” whispered Bess. “Maybe they’re going to play too!”
“Or maybe,” George whispered slowly, “they’re Aunt Patsy’s prisoners!”
The girls ducked behind the refrigerator. Aunt Patsy was walking toward it!
“Keep your blindfolds on, kids,” Aunt Patsy called. “I need to get one more thing.”
Nancy felt a rush of cold air as Aunt Patsy opened the refrigerator door. She couldn’t see Aunt Patsy. But she could hear her cry out, “Cheese and crackers! What happened to the container?”
Startled, Nancy dropped the purple container. It made a clunking noise as it rolled across the floor.
“Rats!” said Nancy between gritted teeth.
“I think somebody is back there!” Aunt Patsy called in a singsong voice. “Come out, come out, whoever you are!”
Nancy sucked in her breath. Why did she have to be such a klutz? She stepped out first, followed by Bess and George.
“I thought you girls had left,” Aunt Patsy said.
“We were just leaving!” Bess blurted. “But if we could grab some cupcakes on our way out . . .”
“No!” George interrupted. She threw back her shoulders as she looked Aunt Patsy in the eye. “We have important business too. We have to find the missing piece of Famous François’s wedding cake.”
Nancy pointed to the container on the floor. “And we think we found it,” she said.
George turned to the kids at the table and shouted, “Run while you can! We’ll take care of her!”
But the kids, still blindfolded, didn’t move.
“That sounds like Nancy, Bess, and George!” said Marcy.
“Must be another mystery,” Kayla said.
Aunt Patsy tilted her head. “Hmmm,” she said. “So you girls thought I took the piece from that wedding cake!”
“My dad caught you on his camcorder coming out of the cake room,” Nancy explained gently. “You were carrying that purple container.”
“I did go into the cake room, but not for cake,” Aunt Patsy said. “That nice girl Adele invited me to take one of her father’s cupcakes.”
“Cupcakes?” Nancy asked.
“Yes,” replied Aunt Patsy. “Mr. Kernkraut unlocked the door and let me in.”
Aunt Patsy picked up the container. She pried off the lid, reached inside, and pulled out a cupcake with white frosting. It was the same type of cupcake that had circled the bottom of the cake.
“It’s a bit lopsided from the fall,” Aunt Patsy said. “But it shouldn’t affect the way it tastes.”
“All this talk about cupcakes is making my mouth water!” Quincy complained.
“Bring it on!” Marcy declared.
Nancy looked at the kids, then at Aunt Patsy. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“I wanted to find out whose cupcakes were better,” Aunt Patsy said with a smile, “mine or the great Famous François’s!”
She nodded at the table of kids, even though they couldn’t see her. “So I invited my best customers for a little taste test,” she added.
“A taste test?” asked Nancy. “So you never cut a chunk out of Famous François’s wedding cake?”
“Absolutely not!” Aunt Patsy said. “As a baker myself, I could never ruin a cake!”
Nancy believed her.
And she believed in Aunt Patsy’s cupcakes.
“You don’t need a taste test, Patsy,” said Nancy. “All the kids in River Heights think your cupcakes rule.”
“Really?” Aunt Patsy asked excitedly. She turned to the table. “Is that true, kids? Are my cupcakes the best?”
“Sure!” Marcy said. “But can we please have some already?”
“And can we take off our blindfolds?” Quincy asked. “Mine itches!”
“Of course!” said Aunt Patsy. “Forget the taste test. Instead, it’s cupcakes all around!”
The kids cheered as they yanked off their blindfolds.
“Would you like some cupcakes too?” Aunt Patsy asked the girls.
“Yes!” Bess answered.
“No, thank you,” Nancy said. “We ate a ton of sweet stuff last night.”
“So did Bess,” George added, pulling her cousin away from the table.
As they made their way through the store, Bess complained, “Why couldn’t we have cupcakes?”
“Because we have to work on this case,” Nancy said. “Aunt Patsy is innocent, so the only suspect we have left is—”
BUMP! Nancy gasped as she crashed into someone. Looking up, she saw Mr. Kernkraut!
He was wearing a red parka and beige corduroy pants. His eyes widened as he stared at the girls.
“Hi, Mr. Kernkraut,” George said. “Can we ask you about something that happened in the cake room last night?”
“I—I must be in the wrong place!” Mr. Kernkraut stammered. “I thought this was the fish store!”
He turned and hurried up the block.
“Did you see the way he looked when George asked him about the cake room?” Bess asked.
“Yeah,” said Nancy. She watched as Mr. Kernkraut skidded around a corner. “Like a guy with something to hide!”
Chapter Eight
Nose Knows
Nancy, Bess, and George discussed the case as they walked down River Street. It was an extra-cold day, so their breath came out in wispy white clouds.
“We know Mr. Kernkraut was in the cake room, because we found his tie in the trash can,” Nancy said.
“Aunt Patsy said the cake room was locked,” George recalled. “And Mr. Kernkraut had the key.”
The pom-pom on Bess’s hat jiggled as she turned to Nancy. “We know he was snacking at the wedding,” she said. “Would he take a bite out of the wedding cake, too?”
“Maybe,” said Nancy. She rubbed her chin with her mitten as she thought. “I wonder if the cream on Mr. Kernkraut’s tie is the same cream that was on the cake.”
“Too bad we don’t have a piece of the wedding cake to see,” Bess said.
“We do have a piece!” said George. “My mom didn’t want to waste the wedding cake, so she cut some slices and brought them home.”
“Where are they?” Nancy asked.
“In our freezer,” George told her. “I ate a slice last night. The cherry filling was awesome!”
Bess stopped walking.
“Wait a minute,” she said with a frown. “I’ll taste the cake—but no way am I tasting the cream on that tie!”
“Me neither,” George chimed in. “That’s even too gross for me!”
Nancy agreed. There had to be another way!
“Eww!” Nancy cried after opening the plastic bag holding the tie. The cream had become crusty and funky-smelling.
Nancy pressed the bag shut. It was Saturday night, but she didn’t want to watch TV or play a game with her dad. All she wanted to do was think about the case.
“Too bad you’re not Henry the Hero Hound, Chip.” Nancy sighed. She tossed the plastic bag on her desk. “Then you could sniff the tie and the cake and see if it’s a match.”
Chip padded over to Nancy’s desk. With her paws against the desk, Chip jumped up and sniffed the plastic bag. Her tail was wagging as if she didn’t mind the smell.
“Unless,” Nancy said slowly, “you’re more like Henry the Hero Hound than I thought!”
Nancy raced downstairs to the kitchen phone and called George. Without even saying hello, Nancy explained what she had in mind.
“Bring a slice of cake to River Street tomorrow morning,” she told George. “I’ll bring the icky tie.”
“Don’t tell me we’re going to do a taste test!” George cried.
“Nope,” said Nancy. “We’re going to do a sniff test!”
“Chip better not have a cold!” Bess said. “Her nose has to work perfectly!”
“It will,” Nancy said, clutching Chip’s leash.
It was Sunday morning. Mrs. Fayne had a catering job on River Street, so she drove the three girls there too. Chip was allow
ed in the van as long as she didn’t sit near the food.
“What should I do?” asked George. Between her gloved hands was a piece of wedding cake wrapped in clear plastic.
“Unwrap the cake,” Nancy directed. “Then stand at the end of the block with it.”
George began unwrapping the cake as she walked to the end of the block.
Nancy pulled the tie out of the bag. She held it right in front of Chip’s nose.
“Take a good whiff, Chip!” Nancy said. She then whipped the tie away. “Now track that scent, girl!”
Chip let out a bark and kicked up her hind legs. Then, like a rocket, she took off down River Street.
“She’s running straight toward George!” Bess squealed.
“Good girl, Chip!” Nancy shouted. “Good girl!”
Chip bolted toward George and the cake. But halfway down the block, the puppy screeched to a stop. Her ears flopped as she made a sharp turn.
“Why did she stop?” asked Bess.
Nancy watched as her puppy charged through the open door of a store. It was the Hole in One Bagel Store.
The girls ran after Chip and into the store. The place was filled with people buying bagels and eating at small tables and chairs. But where was Chip?
“Woof, woof!”
Nancy turned to a nearby table. Chip was barking and jumping up at a man eating a bagel.
“She wants my bagel and cream cheese!” the man cried.
Nancy was too confused to do anything. Why was Chip going after cream cheese?
Unless, Nancy thought, looking at the tie in her hand, that’s what this icky stain is!
Chapter Nine
Art Smart
“Somebody grab that dog!” the man behind the counter shouted. “And get it out of here!”
Nancy tossed the tie to Bess. Then she ran to Chip, grabbed her collar, and tugged.
“Down, Chip!” Nancy scolded. “Down!”
Chip finally stopped jumping. Clipping the leash onto the collar, Nancy quickly walked Chip out of the store. Bess and George followed.