“Juliana can’t find our designs!” Nadine said. “They’ve disappeared!”
Deirdre whirled around. “Excuse me! This is my story!” she said. “I’m the one who heard it first!”
“I’m sorry,” Nadine said. “It’s just that I’m so upset!”
“You’re upset?” Deirdre said. “It’s my life we’re talking about here!”
“What happened exactly?” Nancy asked.
Deirdre let out an exasperated sigh. “All of our incredibly wonderful fashion designs have disappeared,” she said. “And Juliana’s seamstresses need the designs to start sewing the clothes.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. Mrs. Corwin scanned the designs and e-mailed them to Juliana,” Nancy said. “The file will still be on her computer.”
Deirdre shook her head. “Mrs. Corwin and Juliana were going to retrieve the file, Nancy, but a virus must have corrupted it.” She let out a moan. “My life is over.”
“You’ll recover, Deirdre,” Nancy said. She turned to Bess and George. “Still, there’s something really suspicious about this. We need to get to the bottom of it right away.”
“Well, I’m calling an emergency meeting of the River Heights Fashion Models Club for that very reason,” Deirdre announced.
The Clue Crew looked at her.
“What’s that?” Nancy asked.
“We’ve never heard of it,” Bess and George said in unison.
“We models need a club where we can discuss our careers and solve any problems that arise, such as what happened to our designs, so I’m starting one right now,” Deirdre said.
Nancy rolled her eyes.
“You all need to be at my house tonight at seven o’clock!” Deirdre added.
Since no one in Mrs. Ramirez’s class could think of anything else except the disappearance of the fashion designs, she decided to show a DVD about volcanoes.
Halfway through it, though, Nancy noticed Nadine’s mother at the door, motioning to Mrs. Ramirez. For a few minutes Mrs. Nardo whispered something in Mrs. Ramirez’s ear, but then Mrs. Nardo started waving her hands around and shaking her head. Nancy purposely knocked a pencil onto the floor so she’d have to get out of her seat to pick it up. The pencil landed close to the door, but not close enough for Nancy to hear more than the words “Nadine” and “wonderful model.” Just as Nancy got back to her seat, Mrs. Ramirez returned to the front of the room.
Nancy could tell she was upset about something. I wonder what’s going on? she thought.
That evening only the girl models showed up at the emergency meeting of the River Heights Fashion Models Club.
Deirdre opened with, “As president, I think we should hire Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew to look into this crime.”
Nancy gave Bess and George a puzzled look. “We don’t know that it’s actually a crime yet, Deirdre,” she said.
“Oh, it’s a crime, all right,” Deirdre assured everyone. “This whole thing smells fishy to me.”
“We agree!” the other members said.
“You will certainly be paid for your work,” Deirdre said, looking directly at Nancy, Bess, and George. “Just send the bill to our treasurer.”
“What am I going to do with it?” Katherine asked. Nancy thought she looked really nervous. “I only get a small allowance.”
“You don’t have to pay for it personally, Katherine,” Deirdre explained. “We’ll use our club dues.”
“We don’t pay dues,” Nancy said.
“Well, we should!” Deirdre said.
Nancy rolled her eyes at Bess and George. “We don’t charge for our investigations, Deirdre,” she said, “so why don’t we just move on?”
“Well, all right, but I want you to be serious about this,” Deirdre said.
“We’re always serious about solving crimes, Deirdre,” Bess said.
“Yeah, Deirdre,” George said. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
“What if Juliana isn’t telling the truth?” Katherine said. “What if she just wants to claim the designs as her own?”
“I can believe she’d do that!” Nadine said. “I don’t think she really likes us—especially me!”
Suddenly Nancy remembered what she had overheard Mrs. Nardo say. Did Juliana make negative comments about Nadine? she wondered. Was Juliana really not as nice as everyone thought she was?
“I think that makes Juliana our number one suspect, Nancy,” Deirdre said.
Nancy nodded. “We’ll talk to her tomorrow morning,” she said.
chaPTER FOUR
Too Many Coincidences
On Friday morning when Nancy, Bess, and George walked into Mrs. Corwin’s classroom, Mrs. Corwin and Juliana were standing at the front, a big smile on each of their faces.
“How can they be so happy?” Bess whispered.
“That’s what I was wondering too,” Nancy whispered back. “There’s nothing funny about the missing fashion designs.”
“Well, if you ask me …,” George started to say, but Mrs. Corwin said, “Class, Nicole found the missing designs! All is well!”
There was an audible gasp from the class.
Nancy looked at Bess and George. “I guess Juliana is no longer a suspect!” she said.
Bess and George nodded.
“My modeling career has been saved!” Deirdre announced.
“Where were they?” Nancy asked.
“That’s the strangest thing,” Juliana said. “They had fallen behind a filing cabinet in one of the dressing rooms.” She shook her head. “I’m just positive I looked there, but I must not have looked carefully. I’m certainly glad Nicole dropped her pen and that it rolled behind that particular filing cabinet, or we’d still be searching for them.”
Nadine raised her hand. “We thought someone stole them!” she said. She turned to Nancy, Bess, and George. “Our River Heights Fashion Models Club even hired the Clue Crew to investigate.”
Juliana looked at her. “Oh my goodness, I can’t imagine why anyone would do something like that.”
Nancy opened her mouth to speak, but Deirdre said, “Well, those designs are worth a fortune, Juliana. We were desperate. We just couldn’t sit by and do nothing.”
Mrs. Corwin held up her hand. “Well, Juliana does have something to say that may disappoint several of you,” she said.
“Oh no!” Bess whispered. “Something new every day!”
“I have an agreement with a professional modeling agency in New York City,” Juliana said, “and Felicity reminded me this morning that I can’t have more River Heights models than professional models in the show.” She let out a big sigh. “So I can only use five of you.”
Bess looked at George and Nancy. “That Felicity is a real troublemaker,” she whispered.
Nancy and George nodded.
“Who will they be?” Deirdre said. “Who will they be?”
George raised her hand. “I’ll be happy to—”
Bess grabbed George’s hand and pulled it down. “My cousin thought you were talking about running in the New York City Marathon, Juliana,” she said. “She forgot you were talking about the River Heights Fashion Show and how incredibly important it is to some of us!”
Juliana and Mrs. Corwin gave Bess funny looks.
“Well, we’re going to decide that by secret ballot, Deirdre,” Mrs. Corwin said.
That seemed to satisfy everyone.
After Juliana left to go back to the auditorium, Mrs. Corwin passed out blank pieces of paper. “Write out five names,” she told the class. “One of the models has to be a boy.”
Fifteen minutes later the ballots had been turned in and counted.
“Here are the results,” Mrs. Corwin said. “Nancy, Bess, George, Deirdre, and Quincy!” She looked up at the class. “Is everyone satisfied?”
“Yes,” the class answered. George groaned.
Nancy looked at Nadine. She didn’t seem disappointed.
“No!” Amanda Johnson shouted.
&nbs
p; Everyone turned to look at her. Amanda had never before been so negative about everything.
“I am still very upset that my ONITAP designs weren’t chosen,” Amanda said. “I think they’re better than everyone else’s.”
“I’m sorry, Amanda,” Mrs. Corwin said. “Juliana’s decision was based solely on what she thought would sell the best.”
Nancy looked at Bess and George. “Her designs weren’t bad,” she said, “but where in the world did she get ‘ONITAP’ as a designer label?”
“I still think it’s all really unfair,” Amanda said.
At that moment the classroom door opened, and Nicole said, “We’re ready for the River Heights models!”
With Nicole in the lead, Nancy, Bess, George, Deirdre, and Quincy headed to the school auditorium.
When they got there, all the other models—except Felicity—gave the River Heights models brilliant smiles.
Felicity said, “I hate this town!”
Juliana gasped. “Felicity! That’s a terrible thing to say!”
Deirdre turned around and whispered to Nancy, Bess, and George, “Those smiles they gave us are so fake! I’ll show them a real modeling smile.”
“I know,” Bess agreed. “Nicole is the only nice one of the group.”
For the next several minutes Juliana explained how the fashion show would work, and then she said, “We start rehearsals first thing on Saturday morning. You all need to be here!”
On Saturday morning Nancy, Bess, and George got permission to ride their bikes to River Heights Elementary School.
“I can’t believe it’s finally here,” Nancy said as they headed toward the auditorium. “This is incredible!”
“Maybe not,” George said. “Look.”
Nancy and Bess turned to where George was pointing. Mrs. Corwin was standing at the door to the auditorium. Juliana was sobbing on her shoulder.
“Oh no,” Nancy said. “This doesn’t look good.”
When the three girls reached Mrs. Corwin, Nancy said, “What’s the matter?”
Mrs. Corwin told them. Some of the clothes for the fashion show were missing—all of them were designs by the River Heights models!
“We can’t cancel,” Juliana sobbed. “It’ll ruin my name.”
“We won’t cancel,” Nancy assured her. She looked at Mrs. Corwin. “You have copies of our designs, so I’ll show them to our housekeeper, Hannah. She sews really well, and my dad can help her.”
“Our parents will take care of our designs too,” Bess said. She turned to George. “Right?”
“Right! And the same goes for Deirdre and Quincy, I’m sure!” George said. “With our parents helping, we’ll get it done!”
“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you,” Juliana said. She turned to Mrs. Corwin. “Well, let’s start the rehearsal. We’ll do what we can.”
As Mrs. Corwin and Juliana headed into the auditorium, Bess held back. “These can’t just be coincidences,” she whispered.
“I agree,” Nancy said. She thought for a minute. “And the thief has to be someone here at school,” she added. “So when we’re finished, let’s do a quick search of the auditorium.”
“Good idea,” George said. “We need to solve this mystery before anything else awful happens!”
chaPTER FiVE
The Top Suspects
After dinner that night the Clue Crew met at Nancy’s house. The search of the auditorium had produced nothing.
“Let’s write out the names of our top suspects,” Nancy said. “Who are the people we think most want the fashion show to fail?”
“Do you still think we should dismiss Juliana as a suspect?” Bess asked. “Maybe she didn’t expect anyone to find our designs behind that filing cabinet, so now she’s hidden some of the clothing instead.”
Nancy thought for a minute. “Well, my instinct tells me she’s not guilty,” she said, “but I suppose that until we actually solve the mystery, we should at least call her ‘a person of interest.’”
“Oh yeah, that’s good, Nancy,” George said. “You hear it all the time on television.”
Nancy, Bess, and George each started to write their list of names in their case notebooks.
When they finished, Bess read her list. “Amanda and Felicity.”
“Me too!” George said. “I didn’t have them in that order, but they both made my list.”
“But I have a third name,” Nancy said.
Bess and George looked at her. “Who?” they asked.
“Mrs. Nardo,” Nancy told them.
“Nadine’s mother?” George said.
Nancy nodded. She told them what she heard when Mrs. Nardo was talking to Mrs. Ramirez during the volcano movie.
“That’s weird,” Bess said.
“That’s what I thought too,” Nancy told them. “And then right after that, Nadine wasn’t picked to be a model.”
“But the models were chosen by a class vote,” George said. “Juliana didn’t have any say in the selection.”
“That might not make any difference to Mrs. Nardo,” Bess said. “Criminals always believe what they want to believe.”
“Well, should we start by questioning Mrs. Nardo?” George asked.
Nancy shook her head. “As much as I hate to say it, I think we should start with Amanda,” she said. “She’s shown us a side of her we’ve never seen before.”
Bess and George nodded.
“Amanda has really been pushy about her ONITAP designs,” Bess said. “Maybe she decided that if her designs weren’t going to be part of the fashion show, then nobody’s designs were!”
“It certainly looks that way,” Nancy said.
George shook her head in disbelief. “Who would ever have thought that Amanda Johnson was a criminal?” she said.
“Well, we don’t know that for sure, George,” Nancy said. “I’ll admit that the evidence certainly points in her direction, but we need to keep an open mind.”
“Nancy’s right,” Bess said.
“Sorry,” George said. She sighed. “It’s just that the fashion show is so important to our school that I can’t believe any of our classmates would try to destroy it.”
Since it was still light out, the girls got permission to go to Amanda’s house on their bicycles. When they got there, Amanda and her mother were just getting out of their car.
“Hey, Nancy, Bess, George!” Amanda shouted. “What brings you here?”
“That’s the friendliest she’s sounded in a couple weeks,” Bess whispered.
“We just wanted to talk to you about something, if you have the time,” Nancy said.
Amanda turned to her mother. “Do you need help with the bags?” she asked.
“No, sweetheart, that’s fine,” Mrs. Johnson said. “Ask your father to come out. You run along and visit with your friends.”
Nancy, Bess, and George followed Amanda inside. Amanda gave her father a hug, told him that her mom wanted his help bringing in the groceries, and then led the way to her room.
“Sit anywhere that’s comfortable,” Amanda said as she fell onto her bed. “What’s up?”
Nancy sat down in a purple canvas sling chair. “You’ve been acting kind of weird in art class lately,” she said. “What’s up with you?”
Amanda blushed. “Well, it’s just that, uh, well …”
“We’re sorry your ONITAP designs weren’t chosen,” Bess said.
“But where did that name come from?” George asked. “It’s kind of strange.”
“Well, it, uh, just sort of came to me,”
Amanda said, “you know, like a vision, something like that.”
“Amanda, are you trying to destroy the fashion show?” Bess asked.
“No! Of course not!” Amanda said. She let out a long sigh. “I was just doing Peter a favor.”
“Peter?” Nancy said. “Peter Patino?”
Amanda nodded. “I’m surprised nobody figured it out,” she said. “‘ONITAP’ is ‘Patino’ spell
ed backward.”
Nancy looked embarrassed. “You’re right,” she said. “We should have figured that out.”
“I don’t understand,” George said.
“Peter has always wanted to be a fashion designer,” Amanda explained, “but he was too embarrassed to let people know.”
“That’s silly,” Bess said.
“It sure is,” George agreed.
“Do you think Peter is trying to destroy the fashion show?” Nancy asked.
“No way,” Amanda said. “He plans to show his designs to all the people who’ll be there.”
“Well, we can cross you off our suspect list,” Nancy said.
“We didn’t want you to be guilty, Amanda,” George said, “but we had to ask.”
“Don’t worry,” Amanda said. “You didn’t hurt my feelings.”
Nancy, Bess, and George stood up.
“Maybe you should call Peter and tell him we know,” Bess suggested. “Tell him we also hope a lot of people like his designs.”
“I’ll do that,” Amanda said. “Anyway, he was already feeling kind of guilty for asking me to do what I did.”
Outside, Nancy said, “We have two more suspects to talk to, and we don’t have that much time left before the world comes to River Heights for the fashion show!”
chaPTER SiX
Excuses and Alibis
The next morning Mrs. Ramirez said, “Nancy, Bess, George, Deirdre, and Quincy, Mrs. Corwin needs you in the auditorium to rehearse for the fashion show. I’ll let you take your spelling quiz after school.”
Bess turned to Nancy. “I had forgotten about that quiz,” she whispered.
“Me too,” Nancy said. “This will give us a chance to look over the words before we take it.”
As the five of them headed toward the auditorium, Deirdre said, “I’m glad our parents could make the missing clothes last night.”
George nodded. “Mom delivered all of our set this morning,” she said. “She and Dad didn’t get much sleep.”
“Hannah was still in bed when I left this morning. I felt really sorry for Dad, though,” Nancy said. “He had to be in court early for a trial.”