A Star Witness

  Thunder cracked and lightning streaked across the dome. Then, just like magic, water came down from the ceiling. A few rows in front of them, Trina held her hands up to the sky. “How do they do that, Mom?” she asked, laughing. “It’s really raining!”

  When it was finished, Nancy and her friends stood and clapped. “We haven’t even gotten to the best part!” Dr. Arnot called out. The lights came on, and he led the group to one of the side doors. “Now we go up to the roof to do a little star gazing. This is where the Starship 5000 comes in handy. I own a few telescopes myself, but there’s only one Starship 5000 in the entire world! It’s such a special instrument.” He gazed into the distance, and Nancy thought he looked like he might cry with joy.

  “Dr. Arnot sure loves that telescope,” she whispered to Bess as they all climbed the stairs.

  “Can you blame him?” Bess asked. “It sounds totally cool!”

  “I read all about the Starship 5000 in Star Shine magazine,” Lois said once they reached the top. “It’s the best way to observe far-off galaxies, isn’t it?”

  “It’s very precise,” Dr. Arnot agreed. He stepped out onto the roof, the astronomy club following close behind him. “You can see Saturn and Jupiter up close and personal! A magnificent sight if you haven’t seen them through a scope yet.”

  “I have, but I don’t think George has,” Lois said. “She’s the group’s newest member.”

  “We haven’t either!” Marty said a little too loudly. He fiddled with his ear, adjusting his hearing aid.

  Nancy and her friends walked over to the far corner of the roof, leaning over the short wall and staring out across River Heights. From up high they could see everything: the town hall, Main Street with a dozen shops and restaurants, and even the amusement park.

  “Look! Our school!” Nancy said, pointing to a white building several blocks over.

  Bess squinted at a house down the street. “Is that your—”

  “Where is it?” Dr. Arnot yelped. He turned around, scanning the length of the roof. He checked behind Marty, as if the old man might be hiding something behind his back. “The telescope—it’s gone!”

  “Now, now, Dr. Arnot,” Kirsten said. “Maybe someone brought it downstairs. It’s probably just a misunderstanding.”

  Dr. Arnot’s face turned pale. “Misunderstanding, fishunderstanding!” he cried, holding his head in his hands. “Call security—quick. Someone must’ve stolen it!”

  A PLANET-SIZE PANIC

  Three security guards ran onto the roof. Nancy and her friends stood there with the rest of the group, watching as the guards searched every inch of the place, looking under benches and by the emergency exit stairs.

  “Creepin’ conundrums! Kirsten and I moved it here just before the planetarium show. That couldn’t have been more than an hour ago,” Dr. Arnot said, looking at one of the guards. “I thought someone was watching it!”

  A heavier man with a white mustache scratched his head. “I was guarding it. . . . I don’t know what happened. I was standing right by the entrance to the roof,” he said, staring at the ground. “I only let one group of people up while you were in the show.”

  “I checked on it once too,” a redheaded guard added. “I was down near the Hall of Planets at the bottom of the stairs. When I looked twenty minutes ago, it was still here.”

  Dr. Arnot put his face in his hands. “It’s not like it has legs. It couldn’t have just gotten up and walked away.”

  “Now, calm down,” the third security guard said. He was tall and thin, with spiky blond hair. Nancy noticed he was wearing a name tag that read STEVE. “It has to be here somewhere.” He turned to the man with the mustache. “That group you let up here . . . who were they?”

  The man shrugged. “They’re a group from River Heights Greens Retirement Home that comes here every week. They are all women. A bit older.”

  “My grandma lives at River Heights Greens!” Trina jumped in. Her mom nodded.

  “My friends Margie and Greta live there too,” Hilda said, and sat down next to Marty on one of the benches.

  Dr. Arnot started pacing the length of the roof. “Do you think they took it? It is quite valuable. Not to mention, beautiful,” he added.

  “I watched a bunch of them come down the stairs,” the redheaded guard said, “and I didn’t see anyone with a telescope.”

  “They were probably hiding it,” Dr. Arnot said, wringing his hands. “I do hope it’s all right.”

  Kirsten walked around the roof, checking under some of the benches, even though the guards had looked there already. She peered over the roof’s short wall and then returned to the group. “It’s like it completely vanished!”

  “We’ll start searching the rest of the museum,” Steve said, ushering the other two to the exit. “It has to be somewhere. Don’t worry, we’ll find it.”

  But as soon as the guards went down the stairs, the door falling shut behind them, Dr. Arnot shook his head. “This is terrible!”

  Lois sat down beside him. “There are still a few hours before the museum closes,” she said. “Hopefully they’ll turn up something soon.”

  “Whoever took it might already be gone,” Dr. Arnot said. “And that telescope is valuable! How can I go back to Igor and tell him I’ve lost it?”

  Lois’s eyes widened. “Igor Perchensky lent it to you? The famous German astronomer?”

  That didn’t seem to make Dr. Arnot feel better. When he looked up, his eyes were red. “Yes, Igor Perchensky!” he cried. “That’s exactly who. It was his telescope. Tell me, how is anyone going to take me seriously after this? Everyone will know I lost it. I’ll no longer be known as Dr. Arnot, world famous astronomer. I’ll just be Dr. Guy-who-lost-the-very-important-and-special-telescope-and-should-never-be-trusted-ever-again.”

  “That doesn’t have such a great ring to it, does it?” Bess whispered to Nancy.

  Nancy looked at Dr. Arnot. His gray hair was a mess, and his bow tie was crooked. It was hard not to feel bad for him.

  “What do you think?” Bess hissed to Nancy and George.

  “I think the Clue Crew has our next case,” Nancy answered. She didn’t look away from Dr. Arnot. He was telling Lois how he had finally become friends with Igor, an astronomer he’d admired for years. Now it would all be ruined.

  “Let’s get to it,” Nancy said, already glancing around the roof for clues. She knew they didn’t have much time. They had to find their suspect—whoever it was—fast. There were only three hours left before the museum closed and the telescope would be gone . . . forever!

  A PRIME SUSPECT

  Nancy walked up to Dr. Arnot and pulled the Clue Book from her bag. She always kept it there in case she needed to write down clues or leads on unsolved cases. “Dr. Arnot,” she said, “do you have any idea who would’ve done this?”

  Dr. Arnot threw up his hands. “Anyone who wanted an expensive telescope,” he said. “This one is worth more than five hundred thousand dollars.”

  Kirsten shook her head. “But not many people know that,” she said. “Someone might have just taken it because they thought it looked cool.”

  “Well, I can’t imagine it was anyone from River Heights Greens,” Hilda spoke up with a frown. “They wouldn’t do something like that.”

  Nancy wrote down “Motives” at the top of a page. It was just another word for why someone would commit a crime. She wrote everything she could think of underneath it.

  Motives:

  Wanted to sell the telescope

  Wanted it for themselves

  Thought it looked cool

  “Was there anyone suspicious walking around today?” Bess asked. “Anyone who looked like they might be up to something?”

  Dr. Arnot seemed to think for a moment and then shook his head. “Not that I can remember.”

  George perked up. “What about that security guard? You were talking about him when we first saw you near the Hall of Planets. You’d said you’d gotten into an
argument with him.”

  “Oh! Him!” Dr. Arnot said. “Yes, very rude fellow.”

  Kirsten clasped her hands together. “We were bringing the telescope in through the museum’s side entrance,” she said. “And he yelled at us. He was very annoyed that we didn’t go through the front door.”

  Dr. Arnot puffed up his chest, impersonating the guard. “He said, ‘Who do you think you are? What do you think you’re doing?’ ”

  “We explained to him we were just bringing it inside,” Kirsten continued, “but he was really angry.”

  “I told him who I was,” Dr. Arnot said, “and explained that I’d forgotten my ID. Then I asked to speak with the planetarium director, but that only made him angrier. He thought I was threatening him. I just wanted to bring the telescope indoors safely!”

  “What did the guard do?” Bess twisted her thick blond hair into a ponytail as she spoke.

  “His face got quite red—like a tomato!—and then he told me I’d be sorry,” Dr. Arnot said.

  George glanced sideways at Nancy. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she whispered.

  “Prime suspect,” Nancy said, flipping the page of the Clue Book to write down the new information.

  Suspects:

  Security guard

  “Can you tell us what he looked like?” Bess asked. “Do you remember his name?”

  “He was a short fellow,” Dr. Arnot said. “No more than five foot six. He was bald except for a tuft of blond hair in the center of his head. I can’t remember his name, though. I don’t think he had a name tag on.”

  Nancy wrote down the description in the Clue Book. “Do you remember anything else?”

  Dr. Arnot sighed. “I think he had blue eyes and a little goatee on his chin.”

  “We shouldn’t overlook other possible suspects,” George said. “It might have been someone from River Heights Greens. They were up here last.”

  Hilda shook her head. “I don’t think that’s right. Why would any of those ladies want an expensive telescope? Plus, most of them are old and small. They would have trouble even carrying it down the stairs!”

  Nancy wrote down “River Heights Greens,” but she knew it was unlikely. Hilda was right. Most older women wouldn’t be able to carry a telescope down the stairs without being noticed by security. Still, Nancy’s father, who was a lawyer, had always told her she shouldn’t judge a suspect by his or her looks.

  “We have to look at anyone who might’ve been involved,” Bess said. “It helps to be thorough.”

  “Someone might’ve wanted to steal it and sell it for money,” George added.

  “But someone’s grandma?” Marty asked. “Do you really think that’s likely?”

  Nancy glanced at her friends. She didn’t think it was likely. Not at all.

  Nancy, Bess, and George moved away from the group to discuss the case. Bess looked down at the Clue Book in Nancy’s hand, pointing to the person listed at the top: security guard. “He’s the one with a real motive. If he was angry after his fight with Dr. Arnot, he may have taken the telescope as revenge.”

  “But there must be two dozen security guards in the museum,” George said, “and we don’t have a name. What do you want to do, just wander around trying to find him?”

  Nancy shrugged. “We could cover the place in an hour,” she said.

  The girls looked at one another, knowing it would be a risk. If they couldn’t find the suspect, or if it took them a full hour to find him, that would be time they could’ve spent searching for clues. They weren’t even sure he was the one who did it. They only had a hunch—a feeling about him.

  “It’s the only lead we have so far,” Bess said. “So let’s track him down and see what happens.”

  Nancy and George nodded in agreement. “You’re right,” Nancy said.

  The girls said good-bye to Dr. Arnot and the rest of the group and then hurried down the stairs.

  BREAK ROOM BUST!

  “Didn’t we just pass that asteroid?” Bess asked with a groan, looking up at the giant black rock hanging from the ceiling. “I swear that’s the third time we’ve seen it.”

  Nancy spun around, staring at the comets on the other end of the atrium. The café was still bustling with people, some eating the last of their astronaut ice cream. “I don’t know,” she said. “I thought we were going the right way, but now I’m not so sure.”

  They’d been searching the museum for almost thirty minutes, going through every hall and exhibit, looking for the guard. They hadn’t found him anywhere. When they’d asked another guard if he’d seen anyone who fit the description, he’d gotten confused. “What do you mean he has a puff of blond hair in the center of his head?” he’d asked. “That’s so odd!” Then the guard had chuckled and walked away.

  Now they were near the café, which they’d already passed three times. They couldn’t figure out how to get into the other half of the museum. “I thought it was that way.” George pointed to an exit along the far wall. “Or did we come from over there?”

  Nancy noticed a crowd on the other side of the atrium, beyond the café. It took her a moment to realize what it was. The artist who’d drawn them earlier was still there, making caricatures of more people.

  “I have an idea!” Nancy said, starting toward him and motioning for Bess and George to follow. “We can have the caricature artist draw a picture of our suspect. That way we’ll have something to show people when we’re looking for him. It might help us find him faster.”

  Once they’d arrived, Nancy explained everything to the artist, whose name was Christo. She told him that he should draw a man who was five foot six, wore a security guard’s uniform, and had a blond goatee. She even described his tuft of hair. Christo leaned over the drawing, working on the man’s face. When Christo was finally done he spun the drawing around. “What do you think? Does this look like him?”

  Bess stared at the picture of the man in the security uniform. “It definitely looks like the guard Dr. Arnot described. Maybe it will be enough to help us find him.”

  “Ahhhhh,” Christo said. “So you don’t know him, but you’re trying to find him. Well, if he works here, the break room might be a good place to start.”

  “The break room? Where’s that?” George asked. She turned, scanning the café for anything they might have missed.

  “It’s actually right behind the café,” Christo said, pointing to a door. “It’s where all the museum employees hang out when we have fifteen minutes or so. I think I saw a few guards walking in there not too long ago.”

  Nancy raised an eyebrow. Now that they had the drawing, it would be easier to find the mysterious guard who’d threatened Dr. Arnot. All they had to do was ask around and show the picture. Surely someone knew him. “And he doesn’t look familiar to you?”

  Christo shook his head. “I haven’t seen him before.”

  Bess walked toward the break room. “Thank you!” she called over her shoulder. “You’ve been a huge help.”

  Nancy and George followed her. Nancy held the drawing in her hands. When they got to a door that read EMPLOYEES ONLY, Bess didn’t even knock. She just opened the door and slipped inside. Nancy and George shuffled in after her.

  The room they stepped into had a large table with chairs around it, and a hallway off the back that looked like it led to a kitchen. Two women in security uniforms were talking over turkey sandwiches. “She told me the red highlights would be best with my skin tone,” a woman with a short red bob was saying. She paused when she noticed the three girls standing by the door.

  “Excuse us for interrupting, but we were hoping you could help us with something,” Bess said.

  Nancy held up the picture of the security guard. “Does this guard look familiar? We wanted to ask him some questions.”

  The red-haired woman, who had a name tag that said ALMA, laughed. “Well, what do you know? That is one funny picture of Bill. Look at how big his head is!”

  The othe
r woman, whose name tag said LOUISE, smiled. “Hey, Bill!” she called into the kitchen. “Some kids are looking for you!”

  The man stepped into the room, scratching his bald head. Nancy could immediately smell his cologne—it was like a jar of oregano. “Me? Who’s looking for me?”

  Nancy rolled up the picture in her hands. “We were hoping to ask you a few questions,” she said, “about where you were about an hour and a half ago.”

  The man’s face went pale. “What do you mean?”

  “A very expensive telescope disappeared from the roof of the museum,” Bess explained. “The astronomer Dr. Arnot was borrowing it from a scientist in Germany. We have good reason to think someone stole it.”

  The man shook his head. Nancy noticed he wasn’t looking at them when he spoke. That was always suspicious! “I didn’t have anything to do with that,” he said.

  “Did you see Dr. Arnot bringing the telescope into the building earlier today?” George asked. “He told us you yelled at him.”

  “What does it matter?” the man said, pushing past them to the door. “I told you I had nothing to do with that telescope disappearing. Besides, I don’t have to explain myself to a bunch of kids. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a job to do.”

  He stormed out of the room, letting the door fall shut behind him. Nancy stared at Bess and George with her mouth open in surprise. “He wouldn’t even look at us,” she whispered.

  “I know,” Bess said. “He’s definitely hiding something.”

  George and Nancy went to the door, peering into the café. Bill was weaving in and out of tables. He started down the Hall of Comets and disappeared into the east wing of the museum.

  “Yeah,” Nancy said. “But what?”

  CAUGHT ON CAMERA

  Alma followed the girls to the door, watching Bill go. “If I explain what’s going on with him,” Alma said, “you have to promise not to tell our boss.”