Disappearing Daisies
“Didn’t you tell me there were two categories for the children’s prizes in the flower show, Nancy?” Hannah asked.
“Yes, but all we care about is the Most Beautiful Flower category, because that’s the one we’re going to win with our Pink Princess daisies!” Nancy said excitedly.
The phone began to ring. Hannah answered it and then handed the phone to Nancy.“It’s for you.”
Nancy took the phone from Hannah.“Hello?”
“Um, hello . . . Nancy?”
Nancy recognized Julia Santos’s voice right away. Julia sounded upset about something.
“Oh, Nancy. It’s terrible! It’s the worst thing in the whole wide world!” Julia cried out.“It’s the Pink Princess daisies! They’re gone!”
The Nancy Drew Notebooks
# 1 The Slumber Party Secret
# 2 The Lost Locket
# 3 The Secret Santa
# 4 Bad Day for Ballet
# 5 The Soccer Shoe Clue
# 6 The Ice Cream Scoop
# 7 Trouble at Camp Treehouse
# 8 The Best Detective
# 9 The Thanksgiving Surprise
#10 Not Nice on Ice
#11 The Pen Pal Puzzle
#12 The Puppy Problem
#13 The Wedding Gift Goof
#14 The Funny Face Fight
#15 The Crazy Key Clue
#16 The Ski Slope Mystery
#17 Whose Pet Is Best?
#18 The Stolen Unicorn
#19 The Lemonade Raid
#20 Hannah’s Secret
#21 Princess on Parade
#22 The Clue in the Glue
#23 Alien in the Classroom
#24 The Hidden Treasures
#25 Dare at the Fair
#26 The Lucky Horseshoes
#27 Trouble Takes the Cake
#28 Thrill on the Hill
#29 Lights! Camera! Clues!
#30 It’s No Joke!
#31 The Fine-Feathered Mystery
#32 The Black Velvet Mystery
#33 The Gumdrop Ghost
#34 Trash or Treasure?
#35 Third-Grade Reporter
#36 The Make-Believe Mystery
#37 Dude Ranch Detective
#38 Candy Is Dandy
#39 The Chinese NewYear Mystery
#40 Dinosaur Alert!
#41 Flower PowerAvailable from MINSTREL Books
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
A MINSTREL PAPERBACKOriginal
A Minstrel Book published by
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, NewYork, NY 10020
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Copyright © 2001 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN-10: 0-7434-2435-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-7434-2435-6
NANCY DREW, THE NANCY DREW NOTEBOOKS, A MINSTREL BOOK and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1
The Flower Show
Aren’t these the most beautiful flowers you’ve ever seen?”
Eight-year-old Bess Marvin was sitting in the backseat of the Fayne family’s car. She held up a flowerpot containing a bunch of frilly pink daisies.
Nancy Drew, who was sitting next to her, nodded. “Definitely! I think we’re going to win first prize.”
“Iknowwe’re going to win first prize,” George Fayne piped up from the front seat. George’s real name was Georgia. She and Bess were cousins, and Nancy’s two best friends.
Mrs. Fayne, who was driving the car, smiled at her daughter. “Now, don’t you girls get your hopes up too high. You’re facing a lot of competition, you know.”
“No problem,” George said. “Our Pink Princess daisies rule!”
“Yeah!” Bess agreed.
Nancy giggled. George and Bess were right. Their Pink Princess daisies reallywerethe best.
Mrs. Fayne was the vice president of the River Heights Garden Club. The club was sponsoring a flower show at the Civic Center. The show was opening in just three days.
Lots of prizes were going to be given at the flower show. There were two special children’s prizes for flowers grown from seed: Most Beautiful Flower and Most Original Flower.
Three months earlier—way back in winter—Mrs. Fayne had tried to convince George to grow a flower for the show. At first George hadn’t been too excited about the idea. She was more into sports than flowers and gardening.
Then one day Nancy, Bess, and their friend Julia Santos had been at George’s house. The four of them happened to leaf through one of Mrs. Fayne’s seed catalogs. They saw an ad for a rare type of daisy called the Pink Princess daisy. It was being sold with a limited-time offer. That meant that they could buy the seeds only for a short amount of time.
Right then and there, they decided to pool their money, order the seeds, and enter the contest together.
Now it was April, and the daisies were in full bloom. Nancy, George, Bess, and Julia had been passing the pot around for the last three months to water and fertilize it. Bess had had it for the past week, during most of the girls’ spring vacation from school. Now it was Julia’s turn.
“Here we are at the Civic Center!” Mrs. Fayne announced, turning the car into the parking lot.
Mrs. Fayne was going to help the other garden club members set up for the flower show. George and her friends would get a sneak peek at the exhibit.Julia’s mom was driving Julia there separately. The four girls planned to meet in the lobby.
The Civic Center was a big, importantlooking building in downtown River Heights. An enormous green, pink, and white banner was draped across the front of it. It said:
THIS FRIDAY, SATURDAY, AND SUNDAY THE FLOWER SHOW SPONSORED BY THE RIVER HEIGHTS GARDEN CLUB
Nancy felt a shiver of excitement as she got out of the car. She had never entered a flower contest before. Entering this one would be extra-fun because she was doing it with her friends.
As Mrs. Fayne and the girls walked into the Civic Center, Bess hugged the Pink Princess daisies to her chest. George turned to Bess and said, “Why did you bring them here, anyway? The flower show doesn’t open for three more days.”
“I don’t like to let them out of mysight,” Bess said.“What if something happens to them?”
George rolled her eyes.“Oh, brother.”
“Besides, I told Julia I’d bring them with me. That way she can take them home with her,” Bess went on. “It’s her turn to take care of them, until Friday.”
Just then Nancy spotted Julia standing in the corner of the lobby. Julia waved and rushed up to Nancy and her friends. “Hi!” she said, smiling.
“Hi,” Nancy said, smiling back.
Julia reached out to take the daisies from Bess.“Here, I’ll take them now.”
But Bess clung to the pot. “Uh, that’s okay,” she said. “I can carry them until we’re all ready to go home.”
Julia looked a little surprised. “Okay, whatever,” she said, shrugging.
“This way, girls,” Mrs. Fayne called out. She was heading through a set of double doors at the far end of the lobby. Nancy and her friends followed her.
On the other side of the double doors was the exhibit hall, where the flower show would be taking place. The hall wasa beehive of activity. Dozens of people
were setting up exhibits.
Nancy took a deep breath. It smelled like a florist shop—times ten!
Right near the double doors was an especially cool display. Nancy noticed it right away. It was a garden with the wordsRiver Heightsspelled out with pink and yellow roses.
Actually, it just saidRiver Height. A young guy was still shaping theSwith some pink roses.
“Excuse me, girls,” Mrs. Fayne said. “I see Mrs. Van Hall over there. She’s the president of the garden club, and I need to speak to her. Why don’t you take a look around?”
“Okay, Mom,” George said, nodding eagerly.
The four girls started wandering around the exhibit hall. They saw all kinds of pretty displays. There were trees that had been trimmed to look like elephants, giraffes, and other animals. There were big, fancy gardens with stone statues and trickling fountains.
“I’ve never seen a garden that wasindoors,”Bess remarked.
“Me, neither,” Nancy said.
Nancy glanced around. She had never seen so many flowers in one place! She didn’t know the names of all of them, but she recognized some from her own yard. There were purple irises and yellow daffodils and pink peonies. There were tulips of all colors.
There were also daisies. But nowhere in sight was there a Pink Princess daisy.
“Look!” Julia said, pointing.“That sign! It says, Children’s Exhibits.”
“Hey, that’s our section!” Nancy said excitedly.“Let’s check it out!”
Nancy and her friends headed across the exhibit hall. There were a couple of long tables under the Children’s Exhibits sign. On one table was a sign that said Category: Most Beautiful Flower. On the other table was a sign that said Category: Most Original Flower.
“That’s us,” Bess said, skipping over to the first table. “Most Beautiful Flower.Our Pink Princess daisy is going to win first prize!”
A girl was standing next to the Most Beautiful Flower table. She had long red hair and a freckled face, and she was wearing a yellow dress with polka dots all over it.
The girl glared at the pot of Pink Princess daisies in Bess’s hands.“Myflower is going to win first prize,” she said in a mean voice.“Not yours!”
2
An Orson Encounter
Bess pouted at the redheaded girl. “What do you mean,yourflower is going to win first prize? No way!”
“Yes, way,” the girl retorted, putting her hands on her hips.“Myflower for the Most Beautiful Flower contest is going to makeyourflower look like a bunch of weeds!”
“Viola! That’s not a very nice thing to say!” George spoke up.
Nancy, Julia, and Bess all stared at George.“Youknowher?” Bess demanded.
George sighed. “This is Viola Van Hall. Her mom’s the president of the gardenclub. Viola, these are my friends Nancy Drew and Julia Santos, and my cousin Bess Marvin.”
“You don’t go to Carl Sandburg Elementary, do you?” Nancy asked Viola, trying to be friendly.
Viola sniffed. “Carl Sandburg? I don’t think so. I go to Belvedere Academy. It’s a private school.”
Just then Mrs. Fayne walked up. With her was a tall woman with red hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. She was wearing a blue silk dress with a diamond pin shaped like a rose.
“Everyone, this is Mrs. Van Hall, the president of the garden club,” Mrs. Fayne said. “Priscilla, this is my daughter, George; my niece, Bess; and their friends Nancy and Julia.”
“Hello, girls,” Mrs.Van Hall said. Mrs. Fayne turned to George and Viola. “Isn’t this a nice surprise! You girls seem to be really hitting it off.”
“What?” George said, her brown eyes wide.
Mrs. Fayne smiled. “Well, we saw youfrom across the room, and you were just gabbing and gabbing! Priscilla and I had given up hope that the two of you would ever be friends.”
“I mean, you two girls have so much in common, with your interest in flowers and gardening and all,” Mrs. Van Hall pointed out.“In fact, I have a wonderful idea! Why don’t you come to our house tomorrow afternoon for tea—all of you. Viola and I can give you a tour of the garden.”
Nancy, Bess, George, and Julia quickly exchanged glances. Nancy knew what her friends were thinking: How could they get out of this? Tea with mean, snobby Viola didn’t sound like much fun at all!
“Oh, you mustn’t say no,” Mrs.Van Hall said cheerfully, as if reading their minds. “Besides our cook makes the most marvelous pastries. Raspberry tarts, lemon cakes . . .”
“I’m free!” Bess said immediately. Nancy knew that Bess could never say no to yummy food.
“I’m free, too,” Nancy said politely. “Thank you for inviting us.” George, her mother, and Julia agreed to go, too.
Maybe it won’t be so bad, Nancy thought. Maybe Viola isn’t as mean and snobby as she seems.
One of the other garden club members came over to ask Mrs. Van Hall about something. While the grown-ups talked, Viola leaned over to George and said in a low voice,“Just because my mom invited you to tea doesn’t mean we’re going to be friends.” With that, she turned on her heels and walked away.
“What is her story?” Bess asked George as soon as Viola was out of earshot.“Why does she act like that?”
George shrugged. “I don’t know. Our moms are always trying to make us play together. But I don’t want to play with her. I don’t like her!”
“I don’t blame you,” Julia said.
Just then Nancy noticed a familiar figure nearby: a boy with short black hair and brown eyes. He was slowly making his way down the aisle and checking outall the booths. He was scribbling in a notebook and looking very intense.
The boy was Orson Wong. Orson was in the girls’ third-grade class.
“Hey, Orson!” Nancy called out, waving.
Orson’s head shot up.“You’re breaking my concentration!” he complained.
“What are you concentrating on?” Bess asked him.
“I can’t talk about it,” Orson replied in a low voice.“It’s a very special, top secret project.”
Then Orson’s eyes fell on the pot of Pink Princess daisies.“What are those?” he asked curiously.
“These are our Pink Princess daisies.” Bess said proudly.“It’s a really rare kind of daisy, and we grew them from these really hard-to-get seeds.”
“We’re going to win first prize for Most Beautiful Flower,” Julia added.
“Hmm. A rare kind of daisy. Hard-toget seeds.” Orson began scribbling like mad in his notebook.“Would it be possible for me to take a sample?” He reached a hand toward the pot Bess was holding,as if he were going to pluck one of the daisy buds off its stem.
Bess yanked the pot away from him. “Hey! Don’t you dare!” she cried out.
Orson drew his hand back.“Um, sorry,” he mumbled. He scribbled something else in his notebook.“A daisy with frilly pink petals,” he said to himself as he wrote. “Excellent specimen.”
“What are you talking about, Orson?” Julia asked him.
Orson looked up and smiled. “Everything will be revealed by the end of the week,” he said mysteriously.“Good day, ladies! My mom’s waiting for me at the begonia exhibit.” He closed his notebook and continued down the aisle.
“What was that all about?” Bess asked Nancy.
“I don’t know,” Nancy said, staring after Orson.“But he’s up to something.”
The next morning at breakfast, Nancy told her father about her visit to the Civic Center.
“You wouldn’t believe it, Daddy,” shesaid, her blue eyes shining. “The whole place was filled with pretty flowers!”
Carson Drew took a sip of coffee and smiled. “I believe it, Pudding Pie. And I bet your flower was the prettiest one in the whole place.” Pudding Pie was Mr. Drew’s special nickname for Nancy.
Nancy sighed. “I hope so. We really, really want to win first prize.”
Hannah Gruen came over to the table just then, carrying a plate of steaminghot blueberry pancakes. S
he had been the Drews’ housekeeper for the last five years, since Nancy’s mother died.
“Who wants more pancakes?” Hannah asked.
Nancy raised her hand.“I do, I do!”
Carson raised his hand, too. “That makes two of us, Hannah,” he said. He added,“Nancy was just telling me about the flower show.”
“Oh, I know all about it,” Hannah said, winking.“I’ve been watching those Pink Princess daisies grow since January.” She set the plate down on the table. “Didn’t you tell me there were two categories forthe children’s prizes, Nancy? The one you’re in, and another one?”
Nancy speared a bunch of pancakes onto her plate and nodded. “Most Beautiful Flower and Most Original Flower. I guess Most Original means ‘weirdest’ or something.”
Carson laughed.“Or something.”
“But all we care about is the Most Beautiful Flower category, because that’s the one we’re going to win!” Nancy said excitedly.
Carson winked at Hannah. “That’s enthusiasm for you.”
The phone began ringing. Hannah answered it and then handed the phone to Nancy.“It’s for you.”
Nancy took the phone from Hannah. “Hello?”
“Um, hello . . . Nancy?”
Nancy recognized Julia’s voice right away. Julia sounded upset about something.
“Julia? What’s wrong?” Nancy asked her.
“Oh, Nancy. It’s terrible! It’s the worstthing in the whole wide world!” Julia cried out.
“What?” Nancy asked her, alarmed.
“The Pink Princess daisies!” Julia exclaimed.“They’re gone!”
3
An Emergency Meeting
Julia! What do you mean, the Pink Princess daisies are gone?” Nancy demanded.
Out of the corner of her eye, Nancy saw that her father and Hannah had stopped eating their blueberry pancakes and were staring at her.