George knew exactly what Bess was thinking. “Yes! We definitely do.”
“That is my Genie,” she said, tapping her bright red nails on the glass. “Sweet little Genie.”
Nancy started to see how all the clues fit together. The men had seen the woman with black hair run through, looking for someone named Genie. It had happened right around the time the sculpture had been toppled over. The print in the dust seemed to prove it was true. Who else would have been tall enough to knock into the sculpture? How long had the bird been out of its pen?
“We’re asking because you were seen looking for Genie around the same time a sculpture was broken,” Nancy said. “Do you know anything about that?”
Meela’s face went pale. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Genie never goes out of the glass cage.”
“But where was she when we walked through last night?” Bess asked. “She wasn’t in there.”
Meela took a deep breath. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I had nothing to do with that sculpture. I can’t believe you would accuse me!”
Almost as soon as she said it, the crowd behind them gasped. Two boys banged against the glass. “Look! What’s that bird doing?” one boy yelled.
Genie had her head down. Her whole body was shaking. “Genie! What’s wrong?” Meela cried. She pulled a key chain from her belt, trying to unlock the side door to the exhibit. But before she could even get the key in the lock, the ostrich coughed.
A tiny red thing came out of her mouth. It was covered with spit. “Ewww!” the little boy yelled. “What is that?”
“I think I know what it is,” Nancy said, looking through the glass. It was shaped like an ear—a clay ear.
Meela looked embarrassed. “I swear I can explain,” she said. She waved the girls into an empty gallery. “Please, come with me. I don’t want anyone to hear.”
Genie’s Adventure
Meela looked around the gallery, making sure no one was there. After a deep breath, she finally spoke. “I’d come by the exhibit last night to check up on a few last things. And I love seeing my Genie. She always comes right up to the glass when I visit her. That’s what she did this time.”
“So, she was inside the exhibit when you saw her?” Nancy asked.
Meela bit her lip. “You see that’s the problem,” she said. “She was inside the exhibit. But then I saw that the painting on the wall wasn’t hanging right. So I opened the door to go into the room and—BAM! Genie ran right out. She’s so big that I couldn’t stop her. She took off straight down the hall and disappeared into one of the closed-off rooms.”
“We knew you were looking for her,” Bess said. “One of the men working in the hall heard you calling her name.”
“Oh, it was so terrible!” Meela said, nearly crying. “I was afraid she’d get hurt. She was running so fast. Then she slipped on the marble floor and hit the sculpture in the side, knocking it over. I would’ve done something to fix it, but I had to get her back in the room.”
Nancy looked at her friends. It all made sense now. The giant bird was the only thing big enough and tall enough to knock the statue over. Even if three River Heights kids had tried to do it, they couldn’t have. Melody and Lena couldn’t have done it either. Mr. Whimbley was only looking for someone to blame.
“We have to tell Mr. Whimbley,” Bess said. “We have to explain all this to him.”
Meela stomped her pointy high heels on the ground. “We can do no such thing!”
George looked confused. “But why?”
Meela leaned down, looking the girls right in the eye. “If Mr. Whimbley finds out Genie got out of her cage, he’ll cancel my exhibit. What then? What am I going to do?”
“But right now he thinks our school is responsible for breaking the statue,” Nancy explained. “He wants River Heights school district to pay the museum four thousand dollars to repair it.”
Meela kept shaking her head. “But my exhibit . . . ,” she said. “What am I going to do?”
Nancy looked at her watch again. It was almost ten o’clock. They’d promised to meet Miss Alcott, Mr. Whimbley, Mr. Porter, Melody, and Lena at the museum’s great hall in five minutes. “Please,” she said. “Will you at least consider it? Our teacher will get in serious trouble with the school.”
Meela covered her face with her hands. “I don’t know . . . ,” she mumbled. “I just don’t know.”
Nancy felt a lump in her stomach. She’d promised Miss Alcott they’d find out what happened to the sculpture. But now that they had, Meela had asked them not to tell anyone.
Bess grabbed Nancy’s arm. “What should we do?” she whispered.
Nancy looked at Meela, who still had her face in her hands. “I don’t know,” Nancy said. They had solved the case, but what would happen if they told Mr. Whimbley the truth?
* * *
Nancy, Bess, and George walked slowly toward the museum’s great hall. They could see Miss Alcott, Mr. Porter, and Mr. Whimbley waiting by the main entrance. Melody and Lena sat on a bench, looking even more upset than they had the night before.
“We have to tell them the truth,” Nancy said. She glanced behind her. Meela had said she would think about confessing, but it was almost time to leave. They didn’t have time to wait for her.
“We’ll tell them what we found,” Bess said. She pulled out her sketch pad, opening it to the page with all her notes. “The case is closed. River Heights didn’t break the sculpture. We shouldn’t have to pay for this.”
As the girls got closer to the great hall, they felt nervous. “I hate that we’re getting someone in trouble,” George said. “It feels wrong.”
Miss Alcott stood when she saw them. The rest of the class was crowded behind her, a giant pile of sleeping bags and pillows next to them. “Did you find out anything else?” she asked.
“We know Melody and Lena were telling the truth,” Nancy said. Mr. Porter looked much happier, but Miss Alcott looked confused. She kept tugging on one of her feather earrings.
“Who did it then?” she asked. “I’ve talked to all the students this morning, trying to find out more information. It’s no use. No one seems to know what happened.”
“I know what happened,” Mr. Whimbley said. “I gave you until this morning, which was fair. Now River Heights will have to pay for this.”
Nancy looked at her friends. She opened her mouth to speak when a voice interrupted her. “Mr. Whimbley!” Meela called from the down the hall. She was running so fast her red cape flew out behind her. “Mr. Whimbley, I have to tell you something. You can’t punish these kids for breaking the sculpture.”
“Meela, what do you have to do with all this?” Mr. Whimbley asked. He looked over his glasses at the artist.
“I’m going to pay for the sculpture,” Meela said. “Because Genie broke it.”
Robby called out from the crowd. “Who in the world is Genie?” he asked.
Kevin laughed.
“She’s part of my Wild exhibit,” Meela said. She looked annoyed. “Genie, the ostrich, got out of her cage last night and darted down the hall. I tried to stop her, but I couldn’t.”
Meela went on, explaining the full story to Mr. Whimbley. She told him that she was afraid he’d cancel her show if she told the truth. “You need to know that the River Heights kids didn’t do this though. I should’ve told you sooner.”
Mr. Whimbley was silent for a moment. He rubbed the bald spot on the back of his head. “I don’t know what to say,” he mumbled.
Miss Alcott looked happier than she had the entire field trip. “Maybe you could say that you’re sorry?” she asked. “This class is one of the best I’ve had at River Heights Elementary. They’re smart, kind, and talented. And they are definitely not liars.”
Mr. Whimbley looked around at all the students huddled beside Miss Alcott. His cheeks turned bright red. “Yes,” he mumbled. “I suppose I’m sorry.”
“Thank you, Mr. Whimbley,” Miss Alcott said. ?
??And we should all thank Nancy, Bess, and George. Without their help we never would’ve gotten to the bottom of this.”
“High five,” Kevin yelled. He ran past Nancy, Bess, and George, making them smack his hand.
“All right,” Miss Alcott said. “Time to load up the bus. We should get back soon.”
Mr. Whimbley pulled Meela aside, talking to her in a volume Nancy couldn’t hear. Then he held up his hand. “Wait! Miss Alcott,” he called, “I truly am sorry. If you could stay an hour longer, how about I make it up to your class? Would you like to have ice-cream sundaes in the museum garden?”
“And I would love for all of you to meet Genie,” Meela said. “She’s really quite sweet.”
Miss Alcott looked around at her class. “What do you think?” she asked. “It would be a very early dessert.”
“Yes! We have to!” Robby yelled.
Everyone else cheered, but no one cheered louder than Nancy, Bess, and George. Genie was where she belonged. River Heights Elementary was back to being one of the best schools around. And the Clue Crew had solved yet another case.
“Yes,” Nancy said. “I think we definitely deserve ice cream.” Then she grabbed her friends and headed to the museum gardens.
CRAZY CLAY
Nancy, Bess, and George spent the day looking at paintings and sculptures at the Simon Cross Art Institute. Now you can make your own priceless sculpture, like the ones they found there. Follow the simple instructions below.
You’ll need:
• A mixing bowl
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1/4 cup water
• Food coloring
• Plastic gloves (optional)
• Glitter (optional)
Directions:
• In the mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt. Then add water.
• Knead and squeeze the dough until it feels like clay. If the clay still feels dry, add more water, a few drops at a time.
• When the clay is just right, add two drops of food coloring of any color. Knead and squeeze the dough again, mixing in the color. (You may want to use plastic gloves for this part. It can be messy!)
• For really crazy clay, mix in glitter.
• Now that you have your clay, it’s time to make your sculpture. (You may want to work on a piece of cardboard or plate to make it easier to move.) What will you create? An elephant, a dog, or a person? A cottage or a castle? Will you sculpt a town with roads, cars, and houses?
• When you’re finished, give your sculpture two days to dry. Then voilà! You have your own original piece of art.
Join the CLUE CREW & solve these other cases!
#1 Sleepover Sleuths
#2 Scream for Ice Cream
#3 Pony Problems
#4 The Cinderella Ballet Mystery
#5 Case of the Sneaky Snowman
#6 The Fashion Disaster
#7 The Circus Scare
#8 Lights, Camera . . . Cats!
#9 The Halloween Hoax
#10 Ticket Trouble
#11 Ski School Sneak
#12 Valentine’s Day Secret
#13 Chick-napped!
#14 The Zoo Crew
#15 Mall Madness
#16 Thanksgiving Thief
#17 Wedding Day Disaster
#18 Earth Day Escapade
#19 April Fool’s Day
#20 Treasure Trouble
#21 Double Take
#22 Unicorn Uproar
#23 Babysitting Bandit
#24 Princess Mix-up Mystery
#25 Buggy Breakout
#26 Camp Creepy
#27 Cat Burglar Caper
#28 Time Thief
#29 Designed for Disaster
#30 Dance off
#31 Make-a-Pet Mystery
#32 Cape Mermaid Mystery
#33 The Pumpkin Patch Puzzle
#34 Cupcake Chaos
#35 Cooking Camp Disaster
#36 The Secret of the Scarecrow
#37 The Flower Show Fiasco
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
First Aladdin paperback edition November 2014
Text copyright © 2014 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Peter Francis
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
ALADDIN and related logo, NANCY DREW, and NANCY DREW AND THE CLUE CREW are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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Designed by Karina Granda
Cover designed by Karina Granda
The text of this book was set in ITC Stone Informal.
Library of Congress Control Number 2013948655
ISBN 978-1-4424-9967-6
ISBN 978-1-4424-9968-3 (eBook)
Carolyn Keene, Museum Mayhem
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