“Deirdre!” Madison whispered at her. “Tell her the truth!”
“Yeah, Deirdre, you should tell her,” Kendra piped up.
“Tell me what?” Nadine demanded.
Deirdre sighed. “Okay. So this isn’t your hoodie, Nadine. It’s the one my dad ordered for me. It came in the mail yesterday.”
“And you were going to pretend it was my hoodie so you could be the number-one detective club in school?” Nadine asked her.
“Well! I thought you’d be grateful that we found a Lula Rappaport hoodie, even if it wasn’t the Lula Rappaport hoodie,” Deirdre said huffily.
“I want my Lula hoodie, not just any Lula hoodie,” Nadine replied.
“Fine. The Klue Krew with K’s will not give up until this case is solved,” Deirdre said firmly.
“Speaking of the case…you dropped this last night at Chez Fano,” Nancy said. She reached into her backpack and pulled out Deirdre’s purple notebook.
Deirdre grabbed the notebook from Nancy. “And speaking of thieves…you stole this so you could get valuable information from us, Nancy Drew!” she said accusingly.
“You dropped it,” Nancy insisted.
“You stole it!” Deirdre said.
Just then, the school bell rang. Deirdre shot Nancy a nasty look and strode off. Saved by the bell, Nancy thought.
Saturday morning was gray and cloudy, as though it might start raining at any moment. As Nancy, George, and Bess walked together to Violet’s house, they stepped in piles of autumn leaves with their rain boots, making crunchy sounds.
“Maybe we’ll get more information out of Violet this time,” Nancy said hopefully.
“She’s still our top suspect, and so is Antonio, even though he says he didn’t steal Nadine’s hoodie,” Bess agreed.
George started tapping the sidewalk with her umbrella. “Guys? I thought of another suspect. Actually, three suspects.”
“Who?” Nancy asked her curiously.
“The Klue Krew with K’s,” George replied.
Bess frowned at her cousin. “Huh? How could Deirdre, Madison, and Kendra be the thieves? They’re trying to find the thief.”
“I know,” George said. “But don’t you think the timing is kind of funny? Remember Tuesday, at the end of the day? Nadine told us that her hoodie was missing. A few minutes later, Deirdre, Madison, and Kendra showed up with their Klue Krew fliers and offered to solve the case. What if they pretended to steal the hoodie so they could pretend to solve the case?”
“Deirdre is pretty sneaky. She would do something like that,” Bess said thoughtfully.
“Yeah, she is sneaky,” Nancy said thoughtfully. “Maybe we should add them to the suspect list after all.”
The girls soon reached Violet’s house. It was a small green bungalow with purple shutters. Nancy could see a swing set in the backyard.
They went up to the front door and rang the bell. After a moment, a short, red-haired woman answered.
“Can I help you?” she asked in a friendly voice.
“Is Violet home?” Nancy asked her. “We’re in her class at school. I’m Nancy, and this is George and Bess.”
“Oh, hello!” the woman said. “I’m her mom, Mrs. Keeler. I’m so glad Violet has new friends! We just moved to River Heights a couple of months ago.” She peered over her shoulder. “I think Violet’s in her room. Why don’t you girls come in and wait while I go and get her?”
“Thank you!” Bess said.
Nancy, George, and Bess went inside and stood in the hallway while Mrs. Keeler headed upstairs. Nancy glanced around. There was a neat row of boots and shoes along one wall. There was a coat rack along another.
A fluffy white cat came up to them and circled their ankles, purring. “Hi, kitty,” Nancy said.
She bent down to pet it and noticed a backpack next to the row of boots and shoes. It had Lula stickers all over it. It must be Violet’s, Nancy thought.
Then Nancy noticed something else. There was a sweatshirt peeking out of the backpack. It was pink—the exact same color pink as Nadine’s hoodie. Nancy could also make out some sparkly silver sequins on it.
Nancy jumped to her feet. “Violet is the hoodie thief!” she whispered excitedly to George and Bess.
CHAPTER NINE
Two More Lockers
“Violet is the hoodie thief?” George whispered.
“How do you know, Nancy?” Bess piped up.
Nancy pointed to the pink fabric spilling out of Violet’s backpack. “That looks exactly like the Lula hoodie.”
“Oh my gosh, it does!” Bess agreed.
Nancy knelt down to take a closer look at the hoodie. Just then, she heard an angry voice: “What are you doing in my backpack, Nancy Drew?”
Nancy leaped to her feet. Violet was at the top of the stairs. Mrs. Keeler was not with her. From somewhere in the house, Nancy could hear her talking on the phone.
Violet trotted down the stairs. “I said what are you doing in my backpack?” she demanded.
“I—that is—” Nancy tried to think of what to say.
Bess put her hands on her hips. “We found Nadine’s hoodie in your backpack, Violet Keeler!” she exclaimed. “You’re the hoodie thief. You’d better ’fess up right now!”
Violet’s jaw dropped open. Her cheeks turned bright red. “I-I told you before. I-I’m not the hoodie thief!” she stammered.
“If you didn’t steal Nadine’s hoodie, then how did it get in your backpack?” George asked her.
“It’s not Nadine’s hoodie!” Violet replied.
“What do you mean, it’s not Nadine’s hoodie?” Nancy said.
Violet sighed. She reached down and pulled the hoodie out of her backpack.
She held it up for Nancy, George, and Bess to see. It looked exactly like Nadine’s hoodie.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Violet said quickly. “But it’s not Nadine’s. I made it myself a couple of days ago. I bought a plain hoodie that was the same shade of pink as Nadine’s. I bought some silver sequins, fabric glue, and a silver Magic Marker, too. I did the best I could, but it’s not exactly, one-hundred-percent the same.”
Violet pointed to the silver sequin heart in back. “The original Lula hoodie has fifty silver sequins. Mine has only forty. I ran out of sequins! And I didn’t get the heart exactly right. Plus, see the label? The original Lula hoodie says ‘Design by Lula’ on it. This one says ‘Hoodie Central’ on it.”
Nancy studied Violet’s hoodie. She was right. “How do you know so much about the original Lula hoodie, Violet?” she asked curiously.
“I…uh…well…” Violet dropped her eyes to the ground. “Okay, I’ll confess. On Tuesday, I overheard you guys talking about Nadine’s hoodie during lunch. I really, really wanted to check it out. So later, during gym class, I kind of snuck back into the girls’ locker room. I told the teacher I had to go to the bathroom. Then I went into Nadine’s locker and opened her backpack so I could take a super-close look. I even made some sketches of it so I could copy it.”
“You did all that?” George said, surprised.
“I know it was wrong,” Violet admitted. “Anyway, I guess I wasn’t watching the clock, because all of a sudden gym class was over and everyone started running back into the locker room. I didn’t know what to do. I kind of panicked and threw Nadine’s hoodie onto a pile of clothes on the floor. Everything was such a mess in there, I didn’t think Nadine would notice.”
“Why did you ask Nadine if you could buy or borrow her hoodie while we were all changing?” Nancy asked her.
“I really meant it. I wanted to buy it or at least borrow it. I knew that would be even better than having a copycat Lula hoodie,” Violet said.
Nancy thought about Violet’s words. “Why didn’t you tell Nadine about throwing her hoodie on the floor after you found out that her hoodie was missing?” she asked after a moment.
Violet shrugged. “I didn’t want her to be mad at me. I guess I should tell her, th
ough, huh?”
“Did you use locker number twenty-four on Tuesday, Violet?” George piped up. “And did you leave a Krunchilicious wrapper in the locker?”
“Yes and yes,” Violet replied. “Krunchilicious bars are my favorite things in the world—besides Lula Rappaport hoodies!”
Bess turned to Nancy and George. “Well, that explains the silver sequin and the Krunchilicious wrapper,” she said.
Nancy nodded. “Yeah. But it still doesn’t explain where Nadine’s hoodie is!” She added, “I think we all need to go over to her house right now. Violet, can we use your phone to get permission from our parents?”
Fifteen minutes later, Nancy, George, Bess, and Violet were standing on Nadine’s front porch. Nancy rang the doorbell, and Nadine’s dad let them in. “Nadine, your friends are here!” he called up the stairs.
Nadine came downstairs and joined the girls in the living room. “Hi!” she said excitedly. “What’s up? Did you solve the mystery? Why is Violet with you? Is she a new Clue Crew member?”
Nancy glanced at Violet. “Violet has something to tell you.”
Nadine glared at Violet. “Did you steal my hoodie?” she asked suspiciously.
Violet shook her head. Then she explained what she had done on Tuesday afternoon, during gym class.
“I’m really, really, really super-sorry,” she said when she had finished. “I know it’s wrong to look at other people’s stuff without their permission.”
Nadine frowned. “Maybe the thief saw you checking out my hoodie and decided to steal it. Maybe this is all your fault!” she said accusingly.
“I feel really bad. Maybe I could use my life’s savings and buy you a new hoodie?” Violet offered.
Nadine sighed. “It’s okay. I guess. At least you confessed and apologized and all that.” She turned to Nancy. “I’m starting to feel like I’m never, ever going to see my hoodie again,” she added in a gloomy voice.
“I’ve been thinking,” Nancy said. “On Tuesday, you used locker number seven. And I used locker number nine. Do you remember who used the locker between us? Locker number eight? Was it Kendra, maybe?”
Nadine nodded. “It was definitely Kendra.”
“What about number six, the locker on the other side of you?” Nancy asked her.
“Hmm…it was Madison,” Nadine said after a moment.
“Why are you asking her about those two lockers?” Bess asked Nancy.
“I think I just solved the case of the missing hoodie!” Nancy announced.
But before she could say any more, the doorbell rang. A moment later, Nadine’s father showed four more girls into the living room.
It was Deirdre, Madison, and Kendra—plus a girl with short blond hair. Nancy recognized her as a fifth-grader from their school. She tried to think of her name. Kathy? Kaitlin?
“Uh, hi, guys,” Nadine said, frowning. “What’s up?”
“We won the contest!” Deirdre crowed triumphantly. “We solved the case!”
CHAPTER TEN
And the Winner Is…
Nadine stared at Deirdre. Then she stared at Nancy. “I’m confused,” she said after a moment. “Did the Clue Crew with C’s solve the case? Or the Klue Krew with K’s?”
“We solved the case, dummy,” Deirdre said quickly. She pointed to the girl with short blond hair. “Ta-da! This is your hoodie thief. Her name is Kelly Krunfeld!”
“That’s why you dragged me over here, Deirdre? Because you think I stole somebody’s hoodie?” the girl named Kelly Krunfeld burst out. “You said you wanted to interview me for your website. You lied!”
“A detective has to do whatever is necessary to solve a crime,” Deirdre replied simply. “Anyway, Nadine—Kelly here is your thief. The Klue Krew with K’s figured this out based on a super-important clue we found—the letters K-R-U-N.”
Nancy, George, and Bess exchanged a glance. Then they burst out laughing.
“Why are you laughing?” Madison asked them.
“Yeah, what’s so funny?” Kendra piped up.
“You guys got that K-R-U-N clue from us,” Bess explained. “I IMed it to Deirdre by mistake. But it’s not part of your name, Kelly. It’s part of the word Krunchilicious. We found a Krunchilicious candy wrapper in one of the lockers in the girls’ locker room. It’s one of our clues.”
“What?” Madison and Kendra said at the same time. They both stared at Deirdre.
Deirdre shrugged. “Big deal. So I made a mistake.”
“You sure did! I’m going home,” Kelly said huffily.
After Kelly was gone, Nadine turned to Nancy. “I guess the Klue Krew with K’s didn’t solve the case after all. What about the Clue Crew with C’s?”
“I think I know what happened,” Nancy said. “Hey, Kendra? Do you use a gym bag for gym? Or do you keep your gym clothes in your backpack?”
“I use a gym bag,” Kendra said. “Why are you asking me that?”
“Have you checked it lately? Was there anything in there that wasn’t yours?” Nancy went on.
Kendra thought for a moment. “No. Just my gym shorts and T-shirt and socks.”
“What about you, Madison? Do you keep your gym stuff in a gym bag or backpack?” Nancy asked.
“Um, I keep my stuff in a gym bag,” Madison replied.
“Have you checked it lately?” Nancy asked.
Madison shook her head. “Nope. My mom usually goes through my gym bag between classes and washes everything.”
Nancy stood up. “Then we all need to go over to your house right away,” she announced.
The Clue Crew, the Klue Krew, Nadine, and Violet filed down the stairs to the Foleys’ basement. “There’s a clean pile of your laundry on top of the drier, Madison!” her mother called after her from the kitchen.
“Thanks, Mom!” Madison shouted. “I still don’t know why we’re looking through my laundry,” she grumbled to Nancy.
“You’ll see,” Nancy said with a smile.
The Foleys had a finished basement with a Ping-Pong table, a pool table, and lots of comfy-looking chairs in front of a large plasma-screen TV set. The washer and drier were in a smaller room to the right of the main room. There, Madison pointed to a pile of clothes.
“Nancy Drew, you’re leading us on a WGC,” Deirdre complained. “In case you don’t know, WGC stands for wild goose chase.”
Nancy didn’t reply. She walked over to the pile of clothes on the drier. She started picking through the items one by one. There were a couple of tops. There were three pairs of jeans. There were some socks and underwear, too.
At the very bottom of the pile was a pair of gym shorts and a gym T-shirt.
And under those items…was a pink hoodie!
Nancy checked out the label carefully. It said “Design by Lula” on it. It also had the initials NN—for Nadine Nardo.
“Ta-da!” Nancy said, holding the hoodie up for everyone to see.
Nadine grabbed it from her. “Is that my hoodie? Oh my gosh, it is!” She started jumping up and down.
“Nancy, how did you know it was here?” Violet asked her.
“Violet told us that she took Nadine’s hoodie out of her locker on Tuesday, in the middle of gym class, so she could check it out,” Nancy began. “But she didn’t put it back. She left it on the floor, on a messy pile of clothes. Madison had the locker next to Nadine’s, and she accidentally put Nadine’s hoodie in her gym bag along with her other stuff. But she didn’t know it was there because her mom cleaned out her gym bag when she did the laundry.”
“That is so complicated,” Violet said. “You must be pretty awesome detectives to have figured that out!”
“They are!” Nadine said. She gave Nancy a hug. She hugged George and Bess, too. “The Clue Crew with C’s solved the case!” she exclaimed. “Yay!”
Deirdre stepped forward. “Actually, that’s not exactly right. The Klue Krew with K’s solved the case. After all, your hoodie was in Madison’s house.”
Everyone cra
cked up—even Madison and Kendra. “Nice try, Deirdre,” Nadine giggled. “The Clue Crew with C’s wins the contest!”
“Well, being a detective is kind of dumb, anyway,” Deirdre grumbled. “It’s way too much work!”
Bess leaned over to Nancy and George. “Does that mean the Klue Krew with K’s is going to stop being a detective club?” she whispered.
“Sounds like it,” Nancy said. “Maybe they’ll give us their trench coats and magnifying glasses, since they won’t be using them anymore!”
Be Your Own Fashion Designer with This Super-Cool T-shirt Project!
Have you ever wanted to create your own awesome T-shirt design? It’s easier than you think. Here’s how!
You Will Need:
An old towel or other padding
1 T-shirt in a plain solid color. (If it’s brand-new, make sure you or your parents wash and dry it first, without using fabric softener.)
1 piece of cardboard cut to fit inside the T-shirt
A piece of paper and colored pencils, crayons, or markers
Various rubber stamps with shapes. (You can find these in discount stores, craft stores, and other stores, too. Choose letters, numbers, stars, moons, flowers, bugs, birds—whatever looks fun!)
Fabric paint in various colors
A few paintbrushes with fine tips. (You will use these to spread paint onto the rubber stamps, and also to decorate the T-shirts freehand.)
Get Ready to Make Some Wearable Art!
Lay the T-shirt on top of a lightly padded surface. An old towel works really well!
Put the cardboard inside the T-shirt. This will keep the fabric paint from seeping through and making every-thing really yucky!
Using the paper and colored pencils, crayons, or markers, sketch a design for your T-shirt. First draw a picture of the T-shirt. Then take a look at your rubber stamps and see what kinds of shapes you have to play with. Do you want to design a row of pretty yellow daisies and pink butterflies? Or spell your name over and over in red, white, and blue? Use your imagination—and go crazy!