A silver rattle shaped like a moon. It’s one of the twins’ favorite toys. It disappeared on Monday after school.“What do you mean you solved the mystery?” Nancy asked Bess.
“You figured out who the thief is?” George piped up. “Tell us!”
Bess grinned. She reached out and patted Sir Barkalot, who was still sniffing at her T-shirt in search of Togo. “It’s Sir Barkalot!” she exclaimed. “He’s our thief!”
“Sir Barkalot?” Nancy and George said in unison.
Bess nodded. “Uh-huh. Remember what Mrs. Jacobs told us on Monday? That Sir Barkalot eats everything, including CDs?”
“Oh, yeah … ,” George said slowly. “So you think—”
“Sir Barkalot ate the Happy Baby Songs CD,” Bess finished. “He may have eaten the you-know-what and the other you-know-what, too,” she added, lowering her voice and casting a worried glance at the twins. But the babies were too busy petting Sir Barkalot to pay attention to what Bess and her friends were talking about.
Nancy considered Bess’s idea. “Mrs. Jacobs said Sir Barkalot tries to eat everything. She didn’t say he actually ate CDs,” she reminded Bess.
“Hmm, good point,” Bess admitted. “There’s one way to find out for sure, though.” She leaned forward and blew a puff of air at Sir Barkalot’s snout.
George frowned, looking totally confused. “Why are you blowing on Sir Barkalot?” she asked Bess. Nancy was confused too.
Sir Barkalot let out a great big yawn. Bess leaned forward and peeked quickly into his open mouth. “I’m making him yawn! I wanted to see if there are tiny little CD pieces stuck in his teeth!”
“Oh!” Nancy said. She had never heard of trying to make a dog yawn this way. “Um … so are there?”
Bess squinted, trying to see. She shook her head just as Sir Barkalot clamped his mouth shut. “No,” she said, sounding disappointed. “But there’s another way to find out if he ate the CD.”
“What?” George asked her.
Bess inched closer to Sir Barkalot and started massaging his stomach. “I’m going to see if I can feel the CD in there,” she said, kneading her hands into his tummy.
“Ew,” Nancy groaned.
“Double ew,” George agreed.
But Sir Barkalot didn’t want to cooperate with the doggie massage. He yipped loudly at Bess, then took off running toward the kitchen.
“Hey, our thief is getting away!” George joked. “Catch him!”
Bess made a face at her. “Ha-ha. I still think we should add him to the suspect list. After all, you added Pumpkin Pie, right?”
“Yeah, that’s true,” George conceded. “Okay, so we’ll add Sir Barkalot. I guess there’s no reason we can’t have two pets as suspects!”
“Pass the popcorn!” Bess said. She plopped down cross-legged on top of Nancy’s bed. Her lavender pajamas were the same color as the bedspread.
“Hannah put nacho cheese flavoring on it,” Nancy said, passing the bowl to Bess. “It’s super yummy!” Her pajamas were white with turquoise and yellow polka dots.
“Save some for me!” George said. She was sitting in front of Nancy’s computer, typing. Instead of regular pajamas, she wore a green soccer jersey over gray leggings. “I’m starting a new file with our suspect list and clues.”
It was Friday night, and the three girls were having a sleepover at Nancy’s house. They’d already had a big do-it-yourself taco dinner with Hannah and Nancy’s dad, Carson Drew. After two big tacos apiece, Nancy was surprised that she, George, and Bess still had room for popcorn, hot apple cider, and Hannah’s homemade brownies. But they did!
Nancy’s dog, Chocolate Chip, was curled up on the shaggy lavender rug, napping. Every once in a while she opened her eyes and sniffed at the air to see if there might be any popcorn kernels or brownie crumbs that had fallen to the floor.
Nancy set her mug of apple cider on her nightstand, then got up and stood next to George to see what she was typing. George was typing from some notes about the case that Nancy had written down in a special blue notebook:
A silver rattle shaped like a moon. It’s one of the twins’ favorite toys. It disappeared on Monday after school.
A toy mouse named Squeak Squeak. It’s one of the twins’ favorite toys too. It disappeared on Wednesday after school.
The twins’ favorite CD, called Happy Baby Songs. It probably disappeared sometime between Thursday at 5 p.m. (when Mrs. Gregory and Cal came over) and Friday before 3 p.m. (when we got to the house).
Matt: Margaret’s friend. Matt and their other friend Lacie come over every day after school to work on a science project with Margaret. Matt likes to play practical jokes. He was at the house on Monday when the rattle disappeared. He was also at the house on Wednesday when Squeak Squeak disappeared. Nancy heard him talking about toys right around the time Squeak Squeak disappeared. He was also at the house on Thursday when the CD (probably) disappeared.
Cal: The neighbor’s little boy. He thinks he’s Super Sonic Man (ha-ha). He took the twins’ rattle on Monday when he and his mom came over to the house. He could have stolen the rattle (again) before he and his mom left. He was there at the house on Thursday when the CD (probably) disappeared. But he wasn’t at the house on Wednesday when Squeak Squeak disappeared.
Pumpkin Pie: A cat! She likes to take stuff and bury it under rugs.
Sir Barkalot: A dog! He likes to try to eat stuff like toys and CDs.
We found a green fingerprint near where the rattle disappeared.
We found a yellow fingerprint near where the CD disappeared.
Nancy read George’s typed notes two whole times. “This is great,” she said when she was finished. She pointed to the part about Pumpkin Pie. “Bess and I were going to follow her around the house some more today. But Mrs. Jacobs said she was at the Purrfect Pets Salon, getting groomed. We’ll have to wait until Monday.”
George pointed to the part about Sir Barkalot. “On Monday, we should ask Mrs. Jacobs if he was sick this weekend—or anytime last week. I mean, if he swallowed the CD or the rattle or Squeak Squeak, he’d have a really bad tummy ache, right?”
“Good point,” Bess agreed, munching on a handful of popcorn.
Nancy pointed to the part about the clues. “I wish we could figure out what these clues mean. Why did the thief have green fingers on Monday? And then yellow fingers on Thursday or Friday?”
“Hey!” Bess jumped up from the bed, almost spilling the entire bowl of nacho cheese-flavored popcorn. A few kernels dropped to the floor and were hastily scarfed down by Chocolate Chip. “I just remembered something else Mrs. Jacobs told us on Monday,” Bess went on. “You know, when she was telling us about the twins and stuff?
She said that the twins liked to finger paint, right?”
“Yup,” Nancy said.
“Hmm. Are you saying that the green and yellow fingerprints might be from finger paint?” George asked her cousin.
Bess’s blue eyes sparkled with excitement. “Yes! And what if the green and yellow fingerprints are from Anna Lin and Lily Mei? What if they’re the thieves?”