“Anna Lin and Lily Mei?” Nancy said, surprised. “You think they’re the thieves?”
“But why would they steal their own toys and stuff?” George asked Bess.
Bess shrugged. “Maybe they didn’t steal them. Maybe they just took them when no one was looking and put them somewhere, and they can’t remember where. But they don’t know how to tell their mom because they don’t know a lot of words.”
Nancy sat down on the bed and thought about this. “There’s only one problem with your theory,” she told Bess after a moment. “The twins are too short!”
“The rattle was on the bookshelf when it disappeared, right next to the encyclopedias,” Nancy pointed out. “I have to stand on my tippy-toes to reach that shelf, and I’m way taller than the twins. The CD was on top of the CD player when it disappeared. That’s one shelf below, but that’s still pretty high.” She added, “We’re not exactly sure where Squeak Squeak was when he disappeared. Maybe the bookshelf—maybe not.”
George’s eyes lit up. “That means there’s no way Cal could have reached those shelves either.”
“Or Pumpkin Pie … or Sir Barkalot,” Bess said. “Unless Pumpkin Pie can jump that high.”
“I just thought of something else that doesn’t make sense with Pumpkin Pie and Sir Barkalot,” Nancy said suddenly. “They couldn’t have left the green fingerprint or the yellow fingerprint.”
George and Bess both stared at her. “Oh, yeah. Why didn’t we think of that before?” George exclaimed.
“This case would be a lot easier to solve if the thief had left green and yellow paw prints instead,” Bess joked.
George swiveled around in the chair and frowned at the computer screen. “Hey, guys? Guess what. We’ve just crossed out most of the suspects on our suspect list,” she noted.
“Except for Matt,” Nancy said.
“He’s definitely got to be our thief,” Bess agreed. “Let’s go arrest him right this second! Well, not arrest him, but you know what I mean.”
“Let’s wait until Monday after school,” Nancy suggested. “He’ll probably be at their house working on the science project, right? We can ask him some questions.”
“A lot of questions,” George said, narrowing her eyes. “If he’s our thief, we have to make sure he ’fesses up. Stealing stuff from babies is a really mean thing to do. We can’t let him get away with it!”
“Hi, girls! Come in!”
Mrs. Jacobs greeted Nancy, George, and Bess at the door on Monday after school. She was holding Anna Lin in one arm and Lily Mei in the other. The twins started flapping their hands excitedly when they saw Nancy and her friends.
“Hi, Mrs. Jacobs. Hi, Anna Lin! Hi, Lily Mei!” Nancy said.
“Go-go!” Anna Lin cried out, reaching for Bess.
“Don’t worry, I brought Togo. He’s taking a cozy little nap in here,” Bess said, patting her backpack.
The girls followed Mrs. Jacobs into the living room. Once there, she set the twins down on the floor. They sat down and began digging through a basket of books. George and Bess sat down with them. “How about The Very Funny Bunny?” Bess suggested. “Togo can read it with us!”
Nancy turned to Mrs. Jacobs. “Are the … three things still missing?” she asked in a low voice. She didn’t want to say the words “rattle,” “Squeak Squeak,” or “Happy Baby Songs” out loud, in case the twins might overhear.
Mrs. Jacobs nodded, her expression troubled.
“I’m afraid so. Have you had any luck, you know, with your detective work?”
“We’ve got some ideas,” Nancy replied. Then she remembered to ask Mrs. Jacobs George’s question about Sir Barkalot. He wasn’t high on their suspect list anymore, but it was worth asking, anyway. “Mrs. Jacobs? Did Sir Barkalot have a tummy ache this weekend? Or maybe last week?”
“A tummy ache? N-no,” Mrs. Jacobs replied.
“That’s good,” Nancy said. “I guess he didn’t eat the CD or other two missing things, then.”
Mrs. Jacobs laughed. “No, I guess not. But considering what a big eater he is, that’s a very good theory!”
Nancy heard the sound of a door closing upstairs. “Are Matt and Lacie here?” she asked Mrs. Jacobs.
“Yes, they are. They’re all working hard on their science project,” Mrs. Jacobs said. “Excuse me, I have to check on my lasagna.” She bent down and kissed the twins on the tops of their heads, then headed toward the kitchen.
Anna Lin was curled up on George’s lap, and Lily Mei was curled up on Bess’s. Togo was sitting between them, in front of their book. “Can you keep reading to them? I’m going to go talk to Matt,” Nancy said to her friends.
“And Brother Bunny said to Sister Bunny, ‘Give me back my super-special magic carrot!’” Bess read. She glanced up at Nancy. “Are you sure you’ll be okay all by yourself? What if Matt tries to escape? What if he’s a dangerous criminal? What if—”
“I’ll be okay,” Nancy cut in, giggling.
Nancy headed upstairs and proceeded to Margaret’s room. The door was closed, with the same signs as before—“MARGARET’S ROOM” and “DO NOT ENTER!!!!!”—as well as a new one that said, “THAT MEANS YOU, ANNA LIN AND LILY MEI!!!!!”
Nancy pressed her ear against the door and heard the familiar voices of Margaret, Lacie, and Matt. She smiled to herself. Unlike last Wednesday, there was no music playing from a CD player or radio. She could hear every word they were saying.
“So things are going really well, right?” Margaret was saying.
“Oh, yeah! Three down, three to go,” Matt replied.
Nancy frowned. Three down, three to go?
By “three down,” was Matt referring to the silver rattle, Squeak Squeak, and the CD?
By “three to go,” did he mean he planned on stealing three more things from the twins?