The Stinky Cheese Surprise

  “Yuck!”

  “Phew!”

  “Gross!”

  Everyone squeezed their noses. The cheese inside the bags was stinky cheese!

  “Bess, George!” Nancy cried. “What happened to our zippy bags?”

  3

  Say Cheese!

  You girls put stinky cheese in the zippy bags?” Herbie cried. “Why?”

  “And where are my toys?” Emily wailed. “How could you do this, Nancy?”

  “I-I didn’t!” Nancy stammered. She was just as shocked as everyone else.

  Nancy stared at the white V-shaped cheeses wrapped in clear plastic. How did they get inside the bags?

  Bobby kept the camera rolling as the kids dashed out of Hamburger Herbie’s.

  “You saw it here first!” Brenda said into the camera. “Hamburger Herbie packs a surprise stinker!”

  “Oh!” Emily groaned. She placed her hand on her forehead. “Another birthday party ruined!”

  Nancy watched as the kids stampeded out of Hamburger Herbie’s.

  “I don’t know how this happened, Herbie!” Nancy insisted. “We put toys inside those bags. Honest!”

  “Then where did the stinky cheese come from?” Herbie cried.

  Nancy didn’t have a clue. But she was sure going to find some!

  “It’s a mystery, Herbie,” Nancy said. “And I’m going to solve it.”

  “It’s too late,” Herbie groaned. “When word gets out about this, nobody will want to eat here. I’ll have to close Hamburger Herbie’s for good.”

  Herbie sulked behind the counter. Nancy could see Philippe through a crack in the kitchen door. He was peeking out with wide dark eyes.

  Philippe said something about a surprise, Nancy remembered. Could the stinky cheese be it?

  “We have to find out who did this,” Nancy told her friends quietly. “But first we need evidence.”

  Nancy squeezed her nose with one hand. With the other she picked up a wrapped wedge of cheese and slipped it inside her pocket.

  The girls left Herbie’s. They went straight to the Drews’ house to talk about what to do next.

  “I’m calling this case ‘The Stinky Cheese Mystery,’” Nancy announced.

  Bess and George sat around Nancy on the floor in the den. They watched as she opened her notebook to a clean page.

  “I know!” George said. “Maybe the culprit stole the toys, then replaced them with the hunks of stinky cheese.”

  “Or,” Nancy said, “the culprit could have switched our bags with new ones.”

  “Switched?” Bess repeated.

  “Remember the ribbons?” Nancy pointed out. “They looked pink, not red.”

  Nancy wrote both ideas in her notebook. Then she started a suspect list.

  “The boys wanted the Windup Wallys,” Nancy said. “They could have come back to steal the toys while we ate our snacks.”

  “But the boys said they were going to the movies,” George pointed out.

  Nancy twirled her pencil between her fingers as she thought. “Unless,” she said slowly, “they just said they were going to the movies.”

  “But why would the boys be carrying all that stinky cheese?” Bess asked.

  “I don’t know,” Nancy said. “But I do know that the boys are suspects.”

  Nancy added Jason, David, and Mike in her notebook under Suspects. “The boys are a very good start,” she declared.

  “Or as they say in French,” Bess giggled, “très bon!”

  French? Nancy’s eyes lit up as she remembered Philippe.

  “Philippe said he didn’t want to cook for kids,” Nancy said. “He also said something about a surprise.”

  “Maybe Philippe used the stinky cheese to scare the kids away!” Bess gasped.

  “Write down his name, Nancy!” George said, jabbing her finger on the page.

  Nancy added Philippe’s name to the suspect list. They tried to come up with more suspects but couldn’t.

  “Let’s take a TV break,” George suggested. “There’s a show on now about chimpanzees who write on computers.”

  “Cool!” Nancy said. She grabbed the remote. But when she gave it a click, she didn’t see chimps on the TV screen. Instead she saw—

  “Brenda Carlton!” Nancy cried.

  Brenda was on TV holding her microphone. Standing next to her was Queen Patty from Regal Burger!

  “Queen Patty?” Brenda asked. “What do you think happened at Hamburger Herbie’s?”

  “Herbie goofed!” Queen Patty said with a grin. “But mix-ups like his won’t happen at Regal Burger. And starting tomorrow we’ll be handing out our own goody bags!”

  “Copycat!” Bess snapped.

  “You heard it here first, folks,” Brenda went on happily. “This is Brenda Carlton for the Junior Reporter Brigade.”

  Nancy clicked off the television and frowned. Brenda was having too much fun with Herbie’s bad luck!

  “Could Queen Patty have messed with the bags?” George asked.

  “She couldn’t know where the bags were hidden,” Nancy said. “But we can ask Herbie if she was inside the store.”

  “Let’s ask him now!” George said.

  “I can’t,” Nancy said. “I promised Hannah I’d go to the supermarket with her this afternoon.”

  She reached into her pocket and pulled out the wrapped cheese.

  “And while I’m there,” Nancy said, “I might run a little sniff-test!”

  • • •

  “I’m so interested in cheese all of a sudden, Nancy,” Hannah said as she piled hunks of cheese into the shopping cart.

  So am I, Nancy thought. But only the stinky kind!

  “Please watch the cart while I run to the next aisle for soap,” Hannah said.

  After Hannah left Nancy pulled out the stinky cheese. She took a whiff.

  “Pee-yew!” Nancy said. Now if she could just match the smelly cheese she was holding with one of the cheeses in front of her!

  She leaned over the cheese display and sniffed the cheeses one by one. Until—

  “Whoa!” Nancy’s head jerked back as she sniffed a hunk of white cheese. The smell matched that of the stinky cheese!

  Opening her notebook, Nancy carefully wrote the name of the cheese in big letters: LIMBURGER.

  I found the name of the stinky cheese, Nancy thought. Now if I can just find the culprit!

  • • •

  “‘Limburger’ rhymes with ‘hamburger,’” Bess said Wednesday morning. “I think there’s a clue there, Nancy!”

  “Maybe,” Nancy said. She and her friends were on their way to Hamburger Herbie’s. Nancy carried the stinky cheese and her notebook in a small pink backpack.

  “Uh-oh,” Bess whispered. “We’re about to pass David Berger’s house.”

  “And look,” George whispered. “David got a new tree house.”

  But Nancy wasn’t looking at the tree house. She was staring at the boys. They were on the grass playing with three Windup Wallys!

  4

  Trouble up a Tree

  Nancy pulled her friends behind a tree on the sidewalk. They peeked out one by one.

  “Three Windup Wallys!” George hissed. “Guilty as charged!”

  “I just thought of something else,” Bess whispered. “‘Limburger’ rhymes with ‘David Berger’!”

  “We don’t know whether they’re guilty yet,” Nancy reminded them. “But if they are, where do you think they hid the other toys? Like the feathered pens and the stickers?”

  “In the tree house!” George said. “They probably keep tons of stuff up there.”

  Nancy saw the tree house jutting out from a tall oak tree. The small house was made of wood and painted red. A sign over the door read KEEP OUT! THIS MEANS YOU!

  “How can we search the tree house with them in the yard?” Nancy asked.

  “Oh, boys!” a woman’s voice called.

  The front door of the house swung open and Mrs. Berger stepped outside. “Who
wants some ice-cold lemonade?” she asked.

  “Thanks, Mom!” David called.

  The boys scooped up the Windup Wallys and followed Mrs. Berger into the house.

  “Are we lucky or what?” Nancy asked. “Let’s search that tree house—fast!”

  The girls hurried across the yard to the oak tree. They climbed up a wooden ladder and scurried into the tree house.

  “What a mess!” Nancy cried. She looked around and saw three jars of bugs, a huge wad of chewed bubblegum, a pile of Moleheads from Mars comic books, and a dirty sneaker hanging from the ceiling.

  “Ew!” Bess cried. “How are we going to find pens and stickers in all this?”

  “It’s a dirty job,” George sighed. “But somebody’s got to do it.”

  The girls searched the tree house for the zippy bag toys. But all they found was more yucky junk.

  “Hey!” George said. She pointed to three jackets piled in the corner. There were two denim jackets and one gray hooded sweatshirt. “Those are the same jackets the boys wore on Monday.”

  “Excellent!” Nancy said. “Let’s look through the pockets.”

  “No way!” Bess cried. “You never know what icky stuff we’ll find in there!”

  “It can’t be any ickier than the rest of the stuff in here,” George pointed out.

  The girls each took a jacket and reached inside the pockets. After pulling out Moleheads from Mars cards, rubber eyeballs, and packs of gum, they found three movie ticket stubs.

  Nancy studied the dates and times on all three tickets. “‘August fourteenth, three thirty,’” she read out loud. “And they’re all for the Moleheads from Mars movie.”

  “I guess the boys did make the movie after all,” George said.

  “Unless they got into the movie late,” Nancy said. “After they messed with our zippy bags.”

  “That explains the movie,” George said. “But where would they get all that stinky cheese?”

  Nancy shrugged. “I don’t—”

  “Eeeek!” Bess shrieked. “I think I just found Skeevy’s cage!”

  Nancy whirled around. Bess was pointing under a small table.

  “Is Skeevy inside?” Nancy asked.

  “No!” Bess said with a shudder. “Just some rat toys. And some lumps of cheese.”

  “Cheese?” Nancy gasped. She peeked under the table and inside Skeevy’s cage. Scattered on the bottom were about six hunks of cheese. Suddenly it clicked.

  “Hey!” Nancy said excitedly. “On Monday, David said he had packed tons of food for Skeevy. And Skeevy eats cheese!”

  “The stinky kind?” Bess asked.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” Nancy said. She pulled the cage out from under the table and examined a piece of cheese from inside. It was dark yellow with round holes.

  “It’s not the same cheese,” Nancy sighed. “It doesn’t even stink.”

  Nancy pulled her notebook out of her backpack and wrote:

  The boys aren’t guilty because:

  1) They had tickets to the movie.

  2) The cheese doesn’t match.

  “I still don’t get it,” George said. “The Windup Wallys have been sold out since July. How did the boys get three?”

  Nancy heard a rustling noise. It came from outside the tree house.

  “Uh-oh,” Nancy said. “We’d better climb down before the boys get back.”

  Gripping her notebook, Nancy hurried to the edge of the tree house. Bess and George followed. When they all looked down they gasped.

  “The ladder is gone!” Nancy cried.

  Jason, David, and Mike ran out from under the tree house. They were holding the ladder under their arms and laughing.

  “Put it back!” George yelled.

  “In your dreams!” Jason yelled back.

  “Nancy—do something!” Bess said. She shook Nancy’s arm and accidentally knocked the detective notebook right out of her hand!

  Nancy tried to catch her notebook. Too late! It fell out of the tree house—and into David’s hands!

  “Oh, no!” Nancy wailed. “Not my detective notebook!”

  5

  Cheese Grilled

  Awesome!” Jason cried. He flipped through the pages of the notebook. “Nancy’s notebook. Are we lucky or what?”

  Nancy’s heart sank. Her notebook meant everything to her. She couldn’t lose it to anyone—especially the boys!

  “Give it back!” Nancy shouted. “That notebook is private!”

  “Is not!” Jason shouted back. “Our names are written all over this book. Under the word . . . ‘suspect.’”

  “That’s because you’re always doing sneaky things!” Bess snapped. “Like taking the ladder away!”

  “Put it back!” George demanded.

  “No way!” David said. “You’re going to be up there forever!”

  “That’s what you think!” George muttered. She reached out and grabbed a branch. Then she climbed out of the tree house and down the tree.

  “Wow!” Nancy told Bess. “I forgot that George is the tree-climbing champ of River Heights.”

  “You go, George!” Bess cheered.

  George snatched the notebook out of Jason’s hand. Then she grabbed the ladder and put it right back where it belonged.

  “What were you doing up there?” David demanded as Nancy and Bess climbed down.

  “Looking for missing toys,” Nancy said. “And where did you get those three Windup Wallys you were playing with?”

  The boys looked at each other. Then they smiled sneakily.

  “Our lips are zipped!” David said.

  The boys shut their mouths tightly. Then they ran their index fingers and thumbs across their lips.

  “Zipper lips,” Nancy mumbled. “Now they’ll never talk.”

  George leaned over and whispered, “Nancy? Where’s the stinky cheese?”

  Nancy nodded over her shoulder at the pink backpack. What did George want with the stinky cheese now?

  She watched as George pulled out the cheese, unwrapped it, and waved it under the boys’ noses.

  “Yuck!” Mike shouted.

  The boys squeezed their noses as they backed up against the oak tree.

  “Get it away!” Jason groaned.

  George shoved the cheese under Jason’s nose and said, “Not until you tell us where you got those Windup Wallys!”

  Nancy giggled. Until she saw something pop out of David’s shirt pocket. It was his pet rat, Skeevy. The little rat wiggled his nose as he sniffed at the cheese.

  “Skeeeeeevy!” Bess shrieked as she raced out of the yard. The boys laughed as Nancy and George ran after her.

  “We got the Windup Wallys at Regal Burger,” Jason called after them. “Put that in your notebook, Detective Drew!”

  Nancy and George caught up with Bess two blocks away from the house.

  “Sorry!” Bess panted. “But you know how much I hate rats!”

  “And I dropped the evidence!” George wailed. “I dropped the hunk of Limburger!”

  “It’s okay, George,” Nancy sighed. “I’ll never forget that smell anywhere.”

  The girls discussed the case as they walked to Main Street.

  “How did Regal Burger get Windup Wallys for their goody bags?” Nancy asked.

  “Maybe Queen Patty had something to do with it,” Bess said. “She could have seen Herbie’s sign for the Windup Wallys.”

  Nancy gave it a thought. Queen Patty could have gone inside Hamburger Herbie’s—and switched new bags for the zippy bags.

  “Let’s ask Herbie if he saw Queen Patty inside his store,” Nancy suggested.

  The girls hurried to Hamburger Herbie’s. Once inside Nancy saw Herbie slumped over the counter.

  “I’m ruined!” Herbie moaned. “Next week I’ll be selling pretzels!”

  “I like pretzels!” Bess said.

  Nancy walked up to the counter. “Herbie?” she asked. “Has Queen Patty come into your store this week?”

/>   “Queen Patty?” Herbie cried. He laughed out loud. “If Queen Patty herself came in here I would have noticed.”

  Herbie’s right, Nancy thought. But if Queen Patty didn’t switch the bags, how did she get those Windup Wallys?

  “Can we look for clues, Herbie?” Nancy asked. “We’ll try to be quiet.”

  “Make all the noise you want,” Herbie sighed. “There’s nobody here to care.”

  The girls searched the cabinet underneath the ketchup and mustard counter. It was dark inside, so they carefully felt around.

  “Nothing,” Nancy declared.

  “There’s room between the counter and the wall,” George pointed out. “Let’s look for clues back there.”

  The girls squeezed behind the counter.

  “Ouch!” Bess cried. “I just stepped on something hard. Like a pebble.”

  Bess stepped aside. The tiny round object jingled as Nancy picked it up.

  “It’s a bell,” Nancy observed.

  The girls shimmied out from behind the counter. Nancy carefully held the bell between her thumb and index finger.

  Where did this come from? Nancy wondered. Suddenly it clicked.

  “Orson’s jester costume had bells on the cap,” Nancy said. “Maybe Queen Patty sent Orson here to switch the bags!”

  “No wonder Herbie never saw Queen Patty around here!” George said.

  “What do we do now?” Bess asked.

  “We have to compare this bell to the ones on Orson’s costume,” Nancy answered.

  Herbie was busy talking on the phone. So the girls left without saying good-bye.

  “Now let’s find Orson,” Nancy said. She began flipping the bell in her palm when—

  “Hey!” Nancy cried. She stared at her empty palm. Someone had snatched the silver bell right out of her hand!

  Nancy turned and saw Orson racing up Main Street. The bells on his cap were jingling and his fist was tightly clenched.

  “He’s got our clue!” Nancy shouted. “Stop him! Stop that jester!”

  6

  Pester Jester

  For someone with curly shoes,” Bess panted as she ran, “he sure runs fast!”

  Nancy, Bess, and George chased Orson down Main Street. Orson skidded around the corner. The girls turned the corner too.