“I don’t care.” Gina crossed her arms. “I’m bored. I hate skiing, and there’s nothing else to do here.”
She really seems upset, Nancy thought. But who could be bored in a cool place like this?
“There’s plenty to do,” Gina’s father said cheerfully. “We’re going to have lots of fun this weekend even if you don’t want to ski tomorrow. We could go on a nature hike.”
“Mr. Samuels says there are all sorts of winter creatures around,” Gina’s mother agreed. “Rabbits, deer, raccoons, squirrels …”
“Indeed,” Gina’s father said. “Why, a cute little rabbit ran across my path just a few minutes ago, and I’m sure I spotted deer tracks in the snow at the top of the hill. And look—aren’t those raccoon droppings over there near that bush?”
“Ew!” Gina shrieked. “Okay, Dad, you totally convinced me—skiing isn’t anywhere near as gross and lame as going around identifying animal poop!”
“Wow,” Bess whispered in Nancy’s ear. “My mom and dad would so ground me if I talked to them like that.”
Meanwhile Gina kicked off her skis and jumped to her feet. “I can’t believe you’re forcing me to stay here,” she cried. “I’d do anything to get back home. Anything!” She burst into tears and raced off.
“What a brat!” George said after Gina’s parents had hurried away too.
“Forget her,” Bess said. “We only have twenty-two minutes left to ski before lunchtime!”
The girls had time for two more trips up and down the hill before the lunch bell rang. Soon the benches by the equipment shed were crowded with kids taking off their skis. Nancy and her friends changed back into their regular shoes, and stacked their ski equipment neatly inside the shed with everyone else’s.
“Could I have your attention, everyone?” Mr. Samuels called out. He was standing in front of the benches with Margie and a couple of the other instructors. “Thanks all of you for helping make our first Half-Price Kids Weekend such a success! Now, I know that some of you will be leaving after lunch, so I want to hand out some awards from the morning session.” He held up three shiny gold trophies.
“Wow, those are cool!” George said. “I wish I was a better skier so I could win one.”
Mr. Samuels announced the first two winners: Best Under-Six Skier and Best Overall Skier. Then he held up the last trophy.
“This one is for Best New Skier,” he said. “That’s the person who has never skied before but is learning the fastest. And the winner is—Miss Bess Marvin!”
Nancy and George cheered loudly as Bess stepped forward to accept her award. Most of the other kids clapped too. The only one who looked unhappy was Jack. He was scowling and staring at the ground.
“Check out the spoilsport,” George whispered, nudging Nancy.
“I saw,” Nancy whispered back. “I guess he really thought that trophy was his.”
When Bess returned, Nancy and George gave her a hug. “You’re the best,” Nancy told her. “We always knew it.”
“Thanks.” Bess grinned. “Come on, let’s go to lunch. All this trophy winning makes me hungry!”
They headed for the walkway to the lodge. On the way, they passed Jack.
“Hey.” George smirked at him. “Did you see Bess’s trophy?”
“It should be my trophy.” Jack glared at Bess. “Mr. Samuels made a big mistake. He’ll see!”
George rolled her eyes. “Don’t be such a sore loser,” she said.
Jack stomped away without answering. The girls shrugged and headed inside.
The lodge dining room was set up family style, with guests sharing several long tables. A delicious selection of soups, sandwiches, and other tasty items was set out on a buffet table at one end of the room. The girls found George’s parents chatting with several other adults and a group of older teenagers at one of the tables.
As the girls ate, Nancy watched for Eddie, hoping he and his friends would arrive in time to claim the last three spots at their table. But before he could appear, Gina and her parents walked over and sat down.
“Ugh,” George whispered to Nancy. “Figures we get stuck with Miss Prissypants.”
George’s parents and the other adults were already exchanging introductions with Gina’s parents. Meanwhile Bess smiled at Gina.
“Hi, I’m Bess,” she said. “This is Nancy, and that’s George.”
“George?” Gina repeated. She hung her coat on her chair. “Is that really your name? You look like a girl.”
“I am a girl,” George said. “It’s a nickname.” She didn’t tell Gina her real name, which was Georgia. She hated when people called her that.
Gina didn’t seem very interested, anyway. She stared at her plate. “This food is gross,” she complained. “I wish I was at home eating something decent.”
Nancy picked up her sandwich and took a big bite. “I think it tastes great,” she said. Normally she didn’t talk with her mouth full. But she was getting tired of Gina’s complaining.
Gina turned to her mother. “My stomach hurts,” she announced. “Can we go home now?”
“That’s enough, Gina,” her mother said sharply. “Can’t we just eat lunch in peace?”
“Fine!” Gina jumped up, pushing back her chair so sharply that her coat fell to the floor. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be in the bathroom being miserable all by myself.”
She flounced off in the direction of the restrooms. Gina’s mother started to stand up, but Gina’s father put out a hand to stop her.
“Let her go, dear,” he said quietly. He picked up Gina’s coat and hung it back on her chair. “Just give her time. She’s only acting up because she’s disappointed.”
Nancy wondered what he meant. It sounded kind of mysterious. She glanced at her friends, but they hadn’t heard him.
Then she smiled at herself. She was here to ski, not to look for mysteries.
“Hey, Bess,” she said. “When we go back outside, will you help me practice that stop you were doing earlier?”
The girls spent the next few minutes chatting about skiing. They were all on their second helpings of lunch when they saw Eddie walking toward them holding a steaming mug.
“Hi! Where are you sitting?” Bess asked him.
“With Steve and his dad,” Eddie said. “They’re right over th—Oops!”
When he moved his arm to point to the next table, he accidentally tipped his mug. A blob of whipped cream and a dribble of hot chocolate landed on the shoulder of Bess’s sweater.
“Oh, gosh! I’m sorry!” Eddie cried, looking horrified.
“No big deal,” Bess said. “I’ll clean it off in the bathroom.”
Eddie still looked worried. “Are you sure?”
“Totally.” Bess smiled at him. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay. Sorry again. See you guys after lunch.” Eddie hurried off.
Bess stood up. “I’ll be right back.” After telling Mrs. Fayne where she was going, she headed for the restrooms.
“That Eddie sure is a klutz,” George said. “Someday he’s going to trip and fall into a pond full of alligators or something.”
Nancy laughed. “That’s okay. He’d probably end up accidentally poking the alligators in the eye trying to swim back to shore.”
Bess returned a few minutes later. The shoulder of her sweater was damp, but you couldn’t see the hot chocolate anymore.
“Did cranky Gina help you clean it off?” George joked.
“No.” Bess glanced at Gina’s empty seat. “Come to think of it, she wasn’t in the bathroom. I wonder where she went.”
“I don’t,” George said. “I’m tired of listening to her complain about being forced to spend the whole weekend at Mount Fun. I wish we could stay all weekend instead of just today. I’d definitely appreciate it more than that spoiled Gi—Ow!”
She stopped and rubbed her shoulder, glaring at Bess. “Why’d you hit me?” George asked. But Nancy saw what Bess had seen. Gina had finally returned t
o the table.
“Isn’t lunch over yet?” she complained. “Everything here takes forever.”
Nancy looked at her watch. Gina had been gone for over twenty minutes. If she hadn’t been in the bathroom, where had she gone?
Stop it! she told herself. No mysteries, remember?
“Uh-oh,” Bess said. “I think I have a mystery for us to solve.”
Nancy was surprised. Was Bess reading her mind?
Bess held up one blue mitten. “My other mitten is missing.”
George laughed. “That’s a tough one,” she teased. “We’ll have to look for clues to figure out whether you dropped it on your way to the bathroom, or outside while we were changing shoes.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll find it,” Nancy said. “It’s time to head back outside anyway.”
Sure enough, at that moment Mr. Samuels stood up from his seat near the buffet table and wiped his mustache with a napkin. “Everyone ready for more skiing?” he called out. “Let’s hit the slopes!”
Cheers rose from all over the room. Nancy and her friends joined the crowd heading for the doors.
“Watch for my mitten,” Bess reminded them.
They hadn’t spotted it by the time they reached the equipment shed. But Nancy forgot about Bess’s mitten when she heard gasps and cries of alarm from inside the shed. As soon as she looked inside, she understood why.
The equipment shed was a huge mess!
“Who could have done this?” someone cried.
“Don’t worry,” Mr. Samuels said, but he sounded worried himself. “I’m sure there’s an explanation. Maybe the wind …”
Nancy stared in amazement. There was no way the wind could have made such a mess. Skis were knocked over and lying every which way. Boots were flung everywhere. Helmets and poles lay scattered across the floor.
“Looks like a mystery,” Nancy said to her friends. “You know what that means …”
“Time for the Clue Crew to get to work!” Bess said, and George nodded.
Nancy hurried outside to get her backpack, then returned to the shed. She took out the purple detective notebook she carried with her everywhere.
“Let’s start asking around to see if anyone saw anything suspicious,” she told her friends. Jack was standing nearby staring at the mess. “Hey!” she called to him. “You were sitting at the table by the door, right?” She remembered passing him on the way in to lunch.
“Yeah,” Jack said. “So?”
“So you must’ve been one of the first ones out here,” Nancy said. “What did you see when you walked in?”
Jack gave her a strange look. “Why are you being so nosy?”
“I’m just trying to—Hey!” Nancy protested as George yanked on her arm, pulling her aside.
“Careful!” George hissed. “You-know-who could be a suspect.” She jerked her head toward Jack.
“Jack?” Nancy shook her head. “I doubt it. I saw him at lunch.”
“Were you watching him the whole time?” George asked. “He could have sneaked out here long enough to mess stuff up.”
“Why would he do that? He likes skiing, remember?” Nancy stared at her notebook. “We should list some suspects, though.”
“Mr. Samuels thinks it was the wind,” Bess said.
Nancy didn’t think so, but she wrote Wind at the top of the list. “Who else?”
“Blizzard?” George suggested. “Maybe he was looking for more breakfast bars and accidentally made this mess.”
“Okay.” Nancy wrote the dog’s name on the list.
Just then George’s father hurried over. “Better find your skis and get out there, girls,” he said. “We just heard the weather report in the lobby, and it’s supposed to get even windier. I’m afraid we’ll have to leave earlier than we planned—the road conditions could get dangerous.”
“Bummer!” George exclaimed. “We were planning to ski all afternoon!”
“I know.” Mr. Fayne smiled. “Don’t worry, we can stay another hour or so. But then we’ll have to hit the road.”
“Oh well,” Nancy said as Mr. Fayne hurried off. “I guess we won’t have time to solve this mystery after all.”
“That’s okay.” Bess shrugged. “It was probably Blizzard.”
“Probably,” Nancy said, though secretly she was a little disappointed. She loved solving mysteries. But she could do that at home. Today was her only chance to ski.
She stuck her notebook in her pocket. Then she and her friends dug through the mess trying to find their skis, boots, helmets, and poles. All around them, other kids were doing the same.
“I found my stuff,” George announced, digging into a pile. She pulled out a boot. “Hey Nancy, isn’t this yours?”
“Do you see any blue skis?” Bess asked.
Eddie was digging through a different pile nearby. “Did you say blue skis?” he called. “There’s a pair of blue and white ones over there—see? It’s practically the only set that didn’t get messed up.”
Nancy looked where he was pointing. Sure enough, a pair of blue skis was leaning against the wall right where Bess had left them.
Jack heard Eddie too. He stared from the blue skis to Bess and back again. “Weird,” he said. “How come yours are the only skis that didn’t get thrown around?”
“I don’t know,” Bess said. “Just lucky, I guess.”
“Did anyone lose a mitten?” someone called out.
Nancy glanced over and saw an older girl waving a blue mitten in the air. Bess saw it too.
“That’s mine!” Bess cried, hurrying over. “Thanks. Where did you find it?”
“Right here in the middle of this big pile of skis,” the girl said.
“Weird,” Jack said again, staring at Bess. “How would your mitten get under all that stuff?”
“Who cares?” George answered for Bess.
“I care!” Jack announced loudly. He turned and pointed straight at Bess. “It was her! Miss Best New Skier. She must have wrecked this place!”
“What?” George shrieked. “Are you crazy?”
Bess gasped. “I didn’t do it!” she cried. “I was inside eating lunch with everyone else.”
Nancy put her arm around Bess. “We know,” she said. “Plus you’d never do something like this.”
“Of course you’re going to say that,” Jack said. “You’re her friends. But I saw her leave the lunchroom. She probably sneaked out here then.”
“Kids, kids!” Mr. Samuels hurried toward them. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
But Nancy noticed he was staring at Bess with a dubious look on his face. Could he really believe Bess might have wrecked the equipment shed?
“Think about it,” Jack said. “Her skis weren’t messed up. And the mitten proves it.”
“Be quiet!” George clenched her fists.
Mr. Fayne came over. “What’s going on?” he asked. “Is Bess being accused of something?”
“Not at all,” Mr. Samuels said soothingly. “But maybe we should go outside for a private talk….”
Nancy watched worriedly as Mr. Samuels, Mr. Fayne, and Bess went outside. She glanced at Jack, who looked smug.
“Bess didn’t do anything wrong,” she told him.
“Whatever,” Jack said. “I don’t really care. I just want to ski.”
He hurried off. “What a jerk,” George muttered. “Next time I fall down the hill, I’m going to try to fall on him.”
Soon Bess and the adults returned. The two men were smiling, but Bess looked anxious.
“All right, everybody, let’s forget about this mess and get back to skiing,” Mr. Samuels called out cheerfully.
“What happened?” George asked Bess.
Bess shrugged. “Your dad told him I didn’t do it,” she said. “Mr. Samuels said he believes us.”
Nancy could tell Bess was upset about being accused. Kids were shooting Bess looks as they gathered their equipment. Some looked suspicious, and some just looked curious. N
ancy was sure they were all thinking the same thing: Did Bess do it?
Bess pulled on her mittens and frowned. “Look!” she cried.
She held up the mitten that had gone missing. Her fingers were visible through a big, ragged hole.
“Oh no!” Nancy exclaimed. “Those are brand-new!”
“It looks like something chewed on it,” George said, leaning closer for a better look. “Maybe it was Blizzard looking for crumbs.”
Nancy pulled her notebook out of her pocket. “Sounds like a clue.”
“I thought we were giving up on the mystery,” George said.
“We can’t,” Nancy said. “Bess’s reputation is at stake.” Suddenly the mystery seemed much more important than it had a few minutes ago.
“Thanks, you guys,” Bess said. “But we still don’t have much time. How are we going to figure it out before we leave?”
“The Clue Crew can do anything if we put our minds to it!” George said.
Nancy nodded. “Let’s get to work. The first thing we can do is add Jack’s name to the suspect list.”
“Told you so.” George looked smug.
“I didn’t think he had a motive before,” Nancy said. “But now I’m not so sure. Maybe he’s hoping Mr. Samuels will take away Bess’s trophy and give it to him instead.”
Bess’s eyes widened. “Do you really think so?”
“Maybe.” Nancy chewed on the end of her pencil. “But we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. What motives are there for the other suspects?”
George ticked them off on her fingers. “Blizzard’s motive is looking for food. The wind’s motive is, um, being wind.”
“Okay,” Nancy said. “Should we—”
Before she could finish, there was a loud crash. Nancy looked over and saw Eddie sprawled on the floor. He had just tripped over a pile of skis.
Bess bit her lip. “Do you think …”
“We should make Eddie a suspect?” Nancy finished. “I guess so. He seems nice, but he is awfully clumsy.”
“But why would he want to mess up the shed?” Bess asked.
“Maybe he came in here for some other reason and did it by accident,” George said. “He could be too embarrassed to own up to it.”