The Fashion Disaster

“Sure do!” Patsy said. “I had the most fabulous vegetable lasagna. And for dessert I ate these scrumptious chocolate brownies. Double chocolate, I think.”

  “Vegetable lasagna and chocolate brownies are correct!” George declared.

  Nancy smiled too. Patsy was at the lunch party. So she couldn’t have been in the trailer switching the biscuits!

  “I’ll tell my mom you liked the food, Ms. Ray,” George said. “She cooked all of it, you know.”

  “Your mom is a very good cook,” Patsy said. Then she added with a wink, “And you girls are awesome detectives.”

  “Thank you!” Nancy, Bess, and George said together.

  Maybe Patsy wasn’t so mean after all!

  The girls thanked Patsy and left the Funky Fido Boutique.

  “Now our only suspect is Nicki,” Bess said. “And we don’t have a clue where she is.”

  “Clue!” Nancy gasped. “I almost forgot!”

  She pulled the plastic bag from her pocket. Inside were the torn-up pieces of paper from the trash can.

  “Let’s put this note together and see what it says,” Nancy suggested. “Maybe it’ll give us some more leads.”

  The girls ran to an empty table in front of a café. Nancy poured the pieces out on the table. In a flash the girls were working at putting them together.

  “It’s just like a jigsaw puzzle!” Bess said.

  As the pieces came together, George read the first words out loud: “MAYA . . . WE . . . KNOW . . . YOUR . . . SE.”

  “Se . . . Se . . .” Bess thought out loud. “We know your seal! Your seahorse! Your set of crayons!”

  George added the letter C.

  “Sec . . . sec . . . secretary!” Bess shouted. “We know your secretary!”

  “Bess,” George complained. “Wait until all the pieces are together.”

  Nancy matched the last pieces:

  R . . . E . . . T.

  Then she read the message out loud: “MAYA. WE KNOW YOUR SECRET.”

  The girls traded looks. Secret? What secret?

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Backpack Attack

  “Maybe Maya’s secret is something embarrassing,” George said the next day. “Maybe she still sleeps with a teddy bear or something.”

  Bess planted her hands on her hips. “I sleep with a teddy bear!” she said. “And a dolphin, and a stuffed kitty with ruby eyes.”

  “Okay,” George said. “Then maybe she bites her toenails.”

  “Ew,” Bess said. “That I don’t do!”

  The girls were in the school yard for recess. But they weren’t playing tag or kickball or swinging on the swings. They were trying to figure out the mysterious note. Nancy had taped it together when she got home the night before.

  “The paper is orange with a dog paw-print design around the edges,” Nancy said. “Whoever wrote it might like dogs.”

  “Nicki likes dogs,” Bess pointed out. “And she probably knows some of Maya’s secrets, too.”

  A ball rolled over. Nancy kicked it back to the kickball game. A girl wearing an orange T-shirt waved thanks.

  Nancy’s eyes flew open. The shirt made her remember the Bow-Wow Brigade. They wore orange T-shirts too!

  “You guys,” Nancy said, “didn’t Maya say mean things about shelter dogs to the Bow-Wow Brigade?”

  “Yeah!” Bess said. “Maybe they switched Lola’s dog biscuits to get even.”

  “And while they were switching the biscuits,” George added, “one of them might have stopped to write the mysterious note!”

  “But what is Maya’s secret?” Nancy wondered.

  The end-of-recess bell rang. Nancy carefully folded the note and put it in her pocket. Then the girls lined up with the rest of their class. Their friends Nadine Nardo and Kendra Jackson stood in front of them in the line.

  “Hi, Kendra,” Nancy said. “Hi, Nadine.”

  Kendra and Nadine spun around to face Nancy. But they didn’t say hi back. Instead they glared at the girls with squinty eyes.

  “What’s up?” George asked.

  “We heard about it during recess,” Nadine said. “How could you do that to Lola?”

  “How could you switch her biscuits before the big fashion show?” Kendra asked. “That is so mean!”

  Nancy couldn’t believe it. Now their friends were blaming them for the biscuit brouhaha too!

  “We didn’t do it,” Nancy insisted.

  Kendra and Nadine hooked arms. With a huff they walked to the front of the line.

  “Great,” George groaned. “If we don’t find out who switched those biscuits, we’ll lose all our friends!”

  Now Peter stood in front of the girls. He turned around and said hello.

  “Hi, Peter,” Nancy said. “Are you ever going to walk Huey again?”

  Peter’s eyes flew wide open. “Huey?” he asked. “Why do you want to know?”

  “Just curious,” said Nancy.

  The line began to move. As they filed into the building, Nancy whispered to Bess and George, “Why was Peter acting so nervous?”

  “Are you kidding?” George said. “You’d be nervous too if you had to walk a dog like Huey!”

  The rest of the school day was busy with math, art, and social studies. But after three o’clock the Clue Crew was back on the case.

  “Why is Chip coming with us to the Rollover Rescue Shelter, Nancy?” Bess asked.

  Nancy held Chip’s leash as they walked away from the Drew house. The girls had gotten permission to go to the Rollover Rescue Shelter after school.

  “Because I have to walk Chip anyway,” Nancy said. “Besides, since they like dogs so much, the Bow-Wow Brigade might be nicer to us if we have one!”

  A rattling noise made Chip’s ears perk up. Nancy turned and saw a girl riding a bicycle down the street. As she rode closer, Nancy could see who it was.

  “It’s Nicki,” she said.

  “Are we lucky or what?” George whispered.

  “Nicki, stop!” Bess called, waving her arms.

  Nicki smiled as she slowed down. Her purple backpack was stuffed in her bicycle basket. The strap from the bag dangled over the side.

  “You guys were in the park on Saturday,” Nicki said. “What’s up?”

  “We’re trying to find out who switched Lola’s dog biscuits at the show,” Nancy said. “Maybe you can help us.”

  “Sorry,” Nicki said. Her helmet wiggled as she shook her head. “I have no idea who did it.”

  Chip suddenly jumped up. She caught the strap of Nicki’s backpack between her teeth.

  “Chip—no!” Nancy scolded.

  Too late. Chip pulled Nicki’s backpack out of the basket. Stuff spilled out as it tumbled to the sidewalk. Nancy noticed a wad of gum stuck to a tissue, a dollar bill, a pencil with a ladybug eraser, and a plastic comb.

  “Sorry,” Nancy said. But as she picked up the backpack, three more things fell out.

  Three dog biscuits!

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  It’s a Match!

  Nancy grabbed Chip’s collar as she lunged for the biscuits. They looked just like Lick My Chops!

  “Where did you get those?” Nancy asked.

  “They must be from Saturday,” Nicki said calmly. “I forgot to clean out my backpack as usual.”

  “But they’re Lick My Chops,” Nancy pointed out. “When you fed Lola you only fed her the fancy kind.”

  “Those weren’t for Lola,” explained Nicki. “After I told Maya I quit, I went to the Rollover Rescue tent to volunteer. Tracey gave me a bunch of biscuits to feed the shelter dogs.”

  Nancy watched Chip crunch the biscuits on the sidewalk. They were Lick My Chops all right!

  “You can keep the biscuits.” Nicki sighed. “I still don’t have a dog.”

  Nicki adjusted her helmet and pedaled away. The girls stared down the block as she disappeared around a corner.

  “How do we know she was telling the truth?” Nancy wondered.

  “Too bad we don’t h
ave a lie-detector machine,” George said.

  “Maybe I can build one,” Bess said. “Or invent a shampoo that makes a liar’s hair turn green!”

  “Thanks, Bess,” Nancy said. “But we still have other suspects to question.”

  “The Bow-Wow Brigade!” Bess and George said together.

  The Clue Crew went straight to the Rollover Rescue Shelter. Once inside they saw volunteers in orange T-shirts busy at work. They were walking dogs, cleaning cages, and showing adoptable dogs to possible owners.

  Tracey and Vincent were there. When they saw the girls and Chip, they walked over.

  “A brand-new puppy just came in,” Tracey said.

  “He’s a schnoodle,” Vincent said.

  “A schnoodle?” Nancy asked.

  “Part schnauzer, part poodle,” Tracey explained. “Would you like to meet him?”

  Nancy was curious about the schnoodle. But she shook her head and said, “We came to find out who switched Lola’s dog biscuits before the fashion show.”

  Nancy pulled the note out of her pocket. She held it up and said, “We found this note in Lola’s trailer. Did any of you write it?”

  Tracey and Vincent stared at the note.

  “That is our stationery,” Tracey said. “But I didn’t write it.”

  “Me neither,” said Vincent with a shrug. Then he pointed to a desk. “If you’d like to volunteer, just write your name on the sign-in sheet and we’ll put you to work.”

  The teenagers turned and walked away.

  “Sign-in sheet,” Nancy said. “That’s it!”

  “Don’t tell me you want to volunteer now,” George said. “We have a case to solve.”

  “And I’m not cleaning out any cages!” Bess said.

  “You’ll see,” Nancy whispered. She waved her friends over to the desk. Then she ran her finger down the sign-in list until she found Tracey’s and Vincent’s signatures.

  “What are you doing, Nancy?” Bess asked.

  “Comparing the note to Tracey’s and Vincent’s signatures,” Nancy explained. She held the note against the names and heaved a sigh. “The handwritings don’t match.”

  “Somebody had to write that note,” George said.

  Nancy compared the note to each name on the list. Finally she found a match.

  “Bess, George,” Nancy said. “The volunteer who wrote the note was that kid Rusty!”

  “Did somebody say my name?” a voice asked.

  The girls whirled around. Rusty was standing behind them. He was holding a leash in one hand and a bag of dog poop in the other.

  “I was just walking Champ,” Rusty said.

  “We can see that,” George said, wrinkling her nose.

  “Rusty, did you write this?” Nancy asked, holding up the taped-together note.

  “Here. Hold this,” Rusty said. He handed Nancy the poop bag and took the note.

  Nancy scrunched her nose as she looked down at the bag. Rusty studied the note. He nodded and said, “Yeah. I wrote this. So what?”

  “It’s not nice to leave creepy notes around!” Bess scolded.

  “I know, I know,” Rusty said. “But that Maya was making fun of shelter dogs. And shelter dogs are great!”

  “Is that why you switched Lola’s biscuits, too?” Nancy asked.

  “No way!” Rusty said. “That would be going against the Bow-Wow Brigade Pledge.”

  “What pledge?” George asked.

  Rusty spun around. Printed on the back of his T-shirt was the Bow-Wow Brigade Pledge. The first line read, “Never hurt or trick any dog.”

  “A pledge is a serious promise,” George whispered.

  “I took a pledge,” Bess said. “When I joined the Pixie Scouts.”

  “Well?” Rusty said, turning around. “Now do you believe me?”

  “I guess so,” Nancy said.

  “But what is Maya’s secret?” Bess asked.

  Rusty tossed the orange note on the desk. Then he flashed a sly grin. “It’s not nice to tell secrets, either,” he said. “Come on, Champ. Let’s go.”

  The girls watched as Rusty walked away.

  “Wait!” Nancy called. “You forgot your bag!”

  “Now we’ll never know Maya’s secret,” George said.

  “And now Nicki is our only suspect,” added Bess.

  “Maybe, maybe not,” Nancy said. She tossed the bag into a trash can. Then she flipped the pages of the sign-in sheet until she found the one from Saturday.

  “Look!” Nancy said. She pointed to a name near the bottom of the list. “Nicki Weidemeyer,” she read. “That’s got to be the Nicki we know.”

  “So Nicki was telling the truth,” George said. “She really did volunteer with the dogs on Saturday.”

  “Now we have no suspects,” Bess said. “And everyone still thinks we switched the dog biscuits.”

  The girls left the shelter. On their way out they ran into Mayor Strong.

  “Hi, Mayor Strong,” Nancy said. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m on my way to the vet stationed here,” Mayor Strong said. “To pick up a special toothpaste for my dog Huey.”

  “What makes it special?” George asked.

  “It’s superstrong,” the mayor said. “Huey has had the worst dog breath since Saturday. Sort of like cheese and onions!”

  “Cheese and onions?” said Nancy.

  Mayor Strong nodded. “Now if I can just get Huey to stop drooling like Niagara Falls,” he muttered.

  The girls said goodbye as the mayor entered the building.

  “Wasn’t the flavor of Lola’s favorite dog biscuits cheese and onion?” George asked.

  “Mayor Strong said Huey’s breath has been stinky since Saturday,” Nancy said.

  “The day of the fashion show!” Bess gasped.

  Nancy smiled as the pieces in her mind began to click together.

  “Maybe Lola’s biscuits weren’t switched,” she said. “Maybe they were eaten!”

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Newfie . . . Goofy!”

  “You mean Huey ate Lola’s dog biscuits?” Bess asked.

  Nancy nodded and said, “There were no crumbs, remember? A big dog like Huey could have eaten those biscuits in one gulp!”

  “And when the basket was empty,” George said, “Peter might have replaced them with the dog biscuits he had in his pocket.”

  “Which could have been Lick My Chops!” Nancy put in.

  “But why wouldn’t Peter say anything?” Bess asked. “He saw how everyone was blaming us.”

  “Because Huey is the mayor’s dog,” Nancy said. “And Peter was responsible for him.”

  “Maybe he was afraid to let anyone know,” said George.

  Nancy remembered how nervous Peter had acted in the school yard. No wonder he didn’t want to talk about Huey!

  “I do think Huey ate the biscuits,” Nancy said. “But before we accuse him, we have to do a little research.”

  “Research on what?” George asked.

  “On dogs!” Nancy replied with a smile.

  The Clue Crew raced to their headquarters. George found a website about different dog breeds. They couldn’t remember the type of dog Huey was, but they remembered what he looked like.

  “That’s him!” Nancy said. She pointed to a big black dog on the screen.

  “That’s a Newfoundland,” Bess said, reading carefully. “Newfie for short.”

  “It says they used to help fishermen pull in their nets,” George went on. “And that they love water.”

  “It also says Newfies drool in long, sticky ropes,” Nancy added.

  “Can you imagine having a dog like that?” said Bess. “He probably drools on everything—furniture, the floor—”

  “The floor!” Nancy said. “Maybe that’s what that sticky puddle in Lola’s trailer was.”

  “You mean that was Huey’s drool?” Bess asked. She scrunched up her nose. “What else does it say about Eww-fies, I mean, Newfies?”

 
George read out loud: “Newfies’ coats have long black hairs. They shed often, too.”

  “I wonder if Huey left hairs in the trailer too,” Nancy said.

  “Wonder no more!” exclaimed Bess.

  “Huh?” George said.

  Bess ran to her jacket. She pulled her Hairy Fairy Wand from her pocket.

  “I used this right after we were in Lola’s trailer, remember?” Bess said. “Huey’s hairs could be on it.”

  The Clue Crew examined the sticky white tape on the Hairy Fairy. There were lots of light hairs—just like Lola’s. There were also long, thick black hairs—just like Huey’s!

  “Maya and her parents have blond hair,” said Nancy. “So the black hairs must be Huey’s!”

  “Good work, Gizmo Girl!” George said.

  “Thanks!” Bess said.

  “Let’s question our new suspect,” Nancy suggested. “Peter Patino.”

  Nancy found Peter Patino’s address in the River Heights Elementary School yearbook. It was three blocks away.

  When the girls reached the Patino house, they found Peter in his front yard. Huey was also in the yard. He was sitting in a plastic kiddie pool, covered with soapsuds!

  “Peter’s giving Huey a bath,” Bess whispered. “It’s a good thing Newfies like water.”

  Peter stopped scrubbing as the girls walked over.

  “Hi, Peter,” Nancy said. “Hi, Huey.”

  The girls stepped back as Huey panted.

  His dog breath was pretty funky!

  “Mayor Strong asked me to wash Huey,” said Peter. “It took four dog biscuits to get him into the bath.”

  “What kind of dog biscuits?” Nancy asked. “Lick My Chops . . . or Bone Appetit?”

  Peter froze with his hands on Huey’s wet coat. “I don’t remember,” he said. “Dog biscuits are dog biscuits.”

  “Not to Lola,” George said. “Did Huey eat her fancy biscuits before the fashion show?”

  “Nuh-uh,” Peter said, shaking his head.

  Nancy didn’t always like tricking suspects into confessing. But sometimes it was the only thing to do. . . .

  “First Huey ate the biscuits,” Nancy said. “Then he got muddy paw prints all over Lola’s fancy dog bed. And after that, he ripped up some of Lola’s clothes. Right?”