The boy looked confused as Nancy and her friends ran over to him.
“Please!” Nancy said. “Tell us where the Mr. Swirly Head truck is.”
The boy took a long lick of his cone. “It's somewhere on Cherry Street,” he said.
“That's only two blocks away,” Nancy told Bess and George. “Let's hurry!”
“Wow!” the boy called as the girls ran down the block. “You must want ice cream really bad!”
Nancy, Bess, and George ran the two blocks to Cherry Street. Sure enough, the Mr. Swirly Head truck was parked in the middle of the block.
There were three kids in line. Nancy saw Mr. Swirly Head lean out of the truck with an ice-cream bar. He was wearing his pink swirly hat again.
“There's Mr. Swirly Head,” Nancy said. “But I don't see Ethan.”
“Maybe he's not helping his father in the truck today,” George said. She twirled the soccer whistle between her fingers.
Nancy stared at George's soccer whistle. She got an idea.
“There's one way to find out,” Nancy said. She grabbed George's whistle and blew into it hard.
TWEEEEEEEE!!!
“Yow!” a voice yelled from the truck. A hot-fudge sundae flew out of the window.
“Hey!” a kid in line shouted as he jumped back.
Nancy watched as a bright blue swirl rose slowly in the truck window.
“It's Ethan!” Nancy cried.
The girls excused themselves as they ran past the kids to the window.
“H-hi, Nancy,” Ethan stammered.
As he smiled nervously, Nancy could see he was missing a front tooth.
“Hi, Mystery Mouth,” Nancy said. “Now may I please have my walkie-talkie back?”
“What walkie-talkie?” Ethan asked.
Nancy looked into the truck. She saw Mr. Swirly Head making a vanilla Skyscraper. Then she saw a picture of a dog taped to the ice-cream machine.
Nancy looked closer. The dog was eating from a dish marked Jake.
“You have a dog named Jake!” Nancy declared.
“So?” Ethan asked.
Nancy heard the crackling noise. But this time it wasn't coming from her pocket—it was coming from Ethan's.
Ethan turned red as he clapped his hand over his pocket. Nancy could see a green antenna sticking out.
“There it is!” Nancy cried. “I'll bet that's my walkie-talkie!”
Mr. Swirly Head walked over. “What's this about a walkie-talkie, Ethan?” he asked. “You told us you didn't find one.”
“I didn't, Dad!” Ethan said.
Nancy frowned. Was Ethan lying?
“I didn't find it until after the girls left,” Ethan went on. “It was in the Frozen Swirly Bars bin. At first I thought it was a Lime Ricky Ticky.”
“Why didn't you give it right back?” Nancy asked. “You knew it belonged to me.”
“I was going to,” Ethan said. “But first I wanted to come up with some clues.”
“Clues?” Bess cried. “Why?”
“So I could see if the best detective really was the best,” Ethan said.
Nancy couldn't believe her ears. All this time Ethan was testing her to see if she was a good detective!
“Well?” George asked with a grin. “Is Nancy the best detective?”
Ethan pulled the green walkie-talkie from his pocket. He handed it to Nancy.
“She sure is!” he said.
Nancy smiled with relief. But she was still angry with Ethan.
“Your game might have been fun for you,” Nancy said. “But it wasn't for me.”
“Nancy's right, Ethan,” Mr. Swirly Head said. “And she deserves an apology.”
“Say it, Ethan,” George urged.
“Yeah, say it,” a girl in line called. “So we can have our ice cream!”
“Okay, okay.” Ethan sighed. “I'm sorry, Nancy.”
“Apology accepted,” Nancy said. “I just have one more question.”
“What?” Ethan asked.
“When did you lose your front tooth?” Nancy asked with a smile.
“Right after I found your walkie-talkie,” Ethan said. “On a frozen Lime Ricky Ticky. It was loose anyway.”
“Now I hope you girls will accept three free ice-cream cones,” Mr. Swirly Head said.
“Skyscrapers?” Bess gasped.
“The sky's the limit!” Mr. Swirly Head said with a grin.
While Ethan handed ice-cream bars to the other kids, Mr. Swirly Head made three Skyscrapers. Vanilla for Nancy. Chocolate for George. Strawberry for Bess.
Nancy knew her Skyscraper would taste awesome. Ice cream always tasted best after she'd solved a case.
“So, Bess,” Nancy said. “Do you still want to see how my walkie-talkies work?”
“No, thanks,” Bess said with a smile. “I think I already know!”
Later that day Nancy and her dad went to the mall. Nancy picked out a red fleece jacket, a denim skirt, and brown loafers.
Nancy didn't get lost. But now she had both walkie-talkies—just in case.
While Mr. Drew drove the car home, Nancy wrote in her detective notebook:
I love my new school clothes. But most of all I love havingtwowalkie-talkies. I guess I kind of expected to solve this case. What Ididn'texpect was a pop quiz!
And since school starts in just three weeks, three days, and sixteen and a half hours—I'd better get used to it.
Case closed—over and out!
Carolyn Keene, The Walkie Talkie Mystery
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