When they returned to the Grand Ballroom, the clock struck eight o’clock. Guests were pouring into the front entrance, oohing and aahing over the beautiful decorations. Geraldine DeWitt wore a full-length evening gown and ten strands of pearls. Mimsy shuffled in behind her. She was dressed in a silk dress covered with tiny flowers, but she still seemed a little sad. She kept dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief.
“What are you girls doing here?” she asked as she spotted Nancy and her friends.
“You’re not going to believe this . . .” George waved for Mimsy to follow them. “But we found your roses!”
As the band started a lively song, the judges stepped onstage. They were huddled with Helene Flossenhammer, showing her the tallies from their clipboards. “Wait!” Nancy called out to them. “We just need one more minute. There’s one late entry! Follow us!”
The judges seemed puzzled. Slowly, they stepped down from the stage and walked after the girls. A small crowd formed around the girls, who were the youngest guests at the gala by at least forty years. Pierre pushed past them to the dessert table, with Jean-Claude trailing behind. “There they are,” Pierre said. “Do you think you can still use them?”
“Where?” Bess asked. There were piles of éclairs on silver trays. Dishes of crème brûlée sat out. She could smell the burned sugar on top. But she didn’t see the flowers anywhere.
“What happened? What do you mean you found them?” Mimsy asked. She looked worried. “They’re not here.”
Pierre pointed to the five-tier mousse cake. There, on the very top of the chocolate frosting, was the cluster of peach roses. They were up so high Nancy hadn’t noticed them when she first glanced around the ballroom.
“I can’t believe it.” George laughed. “We searched everywhere. They were hiding in plain sight.”
Mimsy put her hand over her heart. “My little darlings! There they are! And they look just as good as they did this morning!” She grabbed one of the judges’ arms and pulled him closer to the dessert table. The man took out his clipboard and wrote down some notes. Soon the other two judges pushed beside him. One stood on a chair to get closer to the blooms.
“They found my roses!” Mimsy called to a few of her friends. Mrs. Canter and Geraldine DeWitt both came over to see. Geraldine didn’t look happy. Her red lips were twisted into a sneer.
“With not a minute to spare! What a relief,” Helene Flossenhammer said. “How in the world did they get on top of Jean-Claude’s cake?”
Nancy and her friends turned to Pierre. His cheeks were bright red. “It was a misunderstanding,” Nancy said. The crowd looked confused, but she didn’t go on. Even if he’d done something wrong, she didn’t want to embarrass him in front of everyone. It was only when Helene finally walked away that Nancy and Pierre explained to Mimsy what happened.
“I’m so sorry,” Pierre kept repeating. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Mimsy nodded. “I wish you’d told me the truth sooner. I was so upset. But that said . . . maybe this wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Jean-Claude.”
Jean-Claude straightened up at the mention of his name. “What does this have to do with me?” he asked.
“If you would’ve been nicer to Pierre, he wouldn’t have been afraid to tell you what happened. You can’t just yell at everyone all the time.” She pointed a finger in Jean-Claude’s face. The pastry chef stomped his foot several times.
“I will not explain myself. He is always forgetting what I tell him!” Jean-Claude yelled. Then he huffed off, slamming a side door behind him.
Mimsy just shook her head. She was so excited, nothing could shake her good mood. “I can’t thank you enough,” she said. She gave Nancy, Bess, and George a big hug. “If it wasn’t for you, all my hard work would’ve been for nothing. You really saved the day.”
Nancy smiled. “We’re so glad we could help.”
“Another case solved,” Bess said.
George was still laughing. “I can’t believe where we found them!”
She was about to go on, but the band stopped playing. The judges walked back onto the stage. They said something to Helene and she followed them up, grabbing a basket of ribbons from the stairs. She tapped the microphone before speaking into it. “It’s now time to announce the winners. First place for the Tulip Garden goes to . . .”
Nancy could barely listen. Helene went through the Tulip Garden winners, the Lilac Garden winners, and the Orchid Garden winners. She called out the winners of five other gardens before she got to the Rose Garden. She’d saved it for last.
Third place went to a woman Nancy hadn’t heard of. She climbed the stairs to the stage and took her yellow ribbon. “And second place goes to . . . ,” Helene said. “Geraldine DeWitt!”
“Could Miss Bouret have won?” George asked. Geraldine climbed onto the stage. Her face was serious as she took the red ribbon.
The crowd was silent. Nancy squeezed Bess’s hand. She was so nervous. It was like she had entered the Garden Show herself. Finally Helene looked back down at the paper in her hands. She took a deep breath. “And first place goes to Mimsy Bouret!”
Nancy cheered. People clapped as Mimsy took the stage. Helene passed her the blue ribbon. “Thank you,” Mimsy said into the microphone. “And thank you, Nancy Drew, Bess Marvin, and George Fayne. I owe it all to you.”
Nancy and her friends smiled. It felt good to see Mimsy so happy, and to know that they had helped make her day special. By solving the mystery of the missing roses, the Clue Crew had helped Mimsy finally get the ribbon she deserved.
“I know winning isn’t everything,” Bess said. “But it sure feels good sometimes.”
Nancy watched Mimsy take a bow. She was smiling so much her cheeks hurt. “Definitely,” she agreed.
