“We would like to know who bought a bunch of fake snakes,” Nancy explained. “Maybe you can tell us his or her name?”
“And not in pirate talk, please,” George added. “This is serious business.”
Debbie stared at the girls with her uncovered eye. She then shook her head.
“I can’t give you that person’s name,” Debbie said. “But since this is a joke store I can give you a riddle.”
“A riddle?” Nancy repeated.
“What’s sweet, sticky, and really stretchy?” Debbie asked with a smile.
“Sweet?” Bess repeated.
“Sticky?” Nancy asked.
“Really stretchy?” George said.
The girls pondered the riddle. Then—
“Taffy!” the girls said at the same time.
They were about to high-five when the bell jingled again. Turning toward the door, they saw Shelby!
Shelby stared at Nancy, Bess, and George. Hanging from her hand was a Yuks shopping bag.
“Uh . . . I think I’m in the wrong store!” Shelby said, backing out of the door.
The girls thanked Debbie before following Shelby outside.
“Do you buy a lot of things at Yuks, Shelby?” Nancy asked her.
“What’s in the bag, Shelby?” George asked.
“Library books,” Shelby mumbled. “I have to return them so they’re not overdue.”
“When will they be overdue?” Bess asked.
“In five minutes!” Shelby said.
As Shelby dashed off, Nancy looked at the shopping bag in Shelby’s hand. It didn’t seem to be filled with books. Books would have made the bag look heavier than it did.
“Shelby will never tell us whether or not she was at Deirdre’s party yesterday,” Bess said.
“Oh yeah?” George said. “Watch this!”
The girls hurried to catch up with Shelby.
“Too bad you weren’t at Deirdre’s party, Shelby,” George said. “Her parents surprised her with a real live dolphin named Marissa!”
“Dolphin?” Shelby said. She stopped walking. “You mean it was a mermaid named Mar—”
Shelby stopped mid-sentence. She clapped a hand over her mouth and mumbled, “Me and my big mouth.”
“It’s okay, Shelby,” Nancy said gently. “How did you know it was a mermaid? Were you at Deirdre’s party?”
Shelby didn’t answer. Instead she began to run!
“Shelby!” Nancy shouted after her. “Please—wait up!”
SHELBY’S SECRET
Shelby was a superfast runner. Nancy, Bess, and George ran fast too, but they couldn’t catch up.
“Shelby, we just want to ask you something!” Nancy called as they ran.
“I have nothing to say!” Shelby cried as she reached the end of the block. Just then a dog walker with six dogs came around the corner. Two dogs jumped up on Shelby, knocking the bag out of her hand.
“Oh no!” Shelby groaned as a glove and some other items fell out onto the sidewalk.
“I’m so sorry!” the dog walker said, tugging the pooches away from Shelby. As the dog walker and the dogs walked away, the Clue Crew raced over.
George pointed to the glove as well as other pieces of clothing scattered on the ground. “Hey!” she said. “That’s the same sea monster costume we saw at the party yesterday.”
“So?” Shelby said.
“So were you at Deirdre’s party yesterday, Shelby?” Nancy asked nicely.
“We may be detectives, Shelby,” Bess said with a little smile. “But we’re still your friends. You can tell us.”
Shelby cast her eyes downward and nodded.
“I was there,” Shelby admitted. “Just now I was trying to return the costume I borrowed from Yuks. The one I wore to Deirdre’s party.”
“Why did you come if you weren’t invited?” Bess asked.
“Because I didn’t want to miss the best party ever!” Shelby wailed. “So I disguised myself and snuck in.”
Nancy suddenly knew why Shelby wouldn’t come into Deirdre’s house. If Shelby had hung up her costume, everybody would have known it was her.
“What did you do while we all went into the house?” Nancy asked.
“I just hung around outside,” Shelby said. “But I left after Queen Marissa showed up. My costume was crazy hot. I couldn’t play games or talk to anyone, so I wasn’t having fun.”
“Did you really just hang around?” George asked. “Or did you throw that snake into Deirdre’s pool?”
“Snake?” Shelby gasped. “What snake? Where? Where?”
Nancy was about to explain when Shelby began to shake all over.
“Oh no!” Shelby cried. “I hate snakes more than anything in the whole wide world!”
Shelby was still shaking as she began picking up her spilled costume.
“Shelby’s really afraid of snakes,” Nancy whispered as she, Bess, and George huddled a few feet away.
“She’s got to be afraid of snakes to act like that,” Bess murmured. “Unless she’s just a good actress.”
“No way,” George whispered. “Remember when Shelby played Tinker Bell in the class play? She forgot almost all her lines!”
Nancy noticed one of the sea monster gloves near their feet. Picking up the glove, Nancy studied it. The pointy sea monster fingers were webbed together almost like a duck’s feet!
“Shelby couldn’t have picked up a squirmy fake snake with fingers like these!” Nancy said, holding the sea monster glove. “She couldn’t have thrown it into the pool either.”
The Clue Crew walked back to Shelby.
“It was just a fake snake, Shelby,” Nancy said, handing Shelby back the sea monster glove. “And we know you didn’t throw it into Deirdre’s pool.”
Shelby gave a little smile.
“And guess what?” Bess said. “We’re going to invite you to all our birthday parties from now on.”
“Really?” Shelby asked.
“Sure!” Bess said. She smiled as she pointed to Shelby’s feet. “As long as you let me borrow that awesome pink toenail polish!”
“Deal!” Shelby laughed.
The Clue Crew was happy that Shelby was no longer a suspect.
But as they were about to walk her back to Yuks—
VROOOOOOOM!!!!
Nancy, Bess, George, and Shelby whirled around. Speeding down the sidewalk on her fancy lavender electric scooter was Deirdre Shannon!
“Out of my waaaaaay!” Deirdre shouted from the scooter. “I can’t stop this thing!!”
A-MAZE-ING!
Nancy, Bess, George, and Shelby jumped to the side.
“Step on the brake!” George shouted to Deirdre as she came zooming down the block. “Step on the brake, Deirdre!”
Deirdre screeched to a stop inches away from the girls. She took a deep breath, then removed her matching lavender helmet as if nothing had happened.
“Hi,” Deirdre said. She looked directly at Shelby. “Too bad you couldn’t come to my perfect sweet half-sixteen party, Shelby.”
“Yeah, too bad,” Shelby said with a frown.
“Oh, but don’t worry,” Deirdre went on. “You can read all about my perfect sweet half-sixteen party on my famous blog, Dishing with Deirdre!”
Nancy rolled her eyes. Who at school didn’t know the name of Deirdre’s blog? She was the only eight-year-old kid in River Heights with one!
“I’ve got to go now,” Shelby said. She gave Nancy, Bess, and George a quick wink. “To return my library books.”
“See you, Shelby,” Nancy said with a smile.
As Shelby walked away, Deirdre pulled her lavender-colored helmet back onto her head.
“I was just trying out my awesome new birthday present,” Deirdre told the girls. “What were you doing?”
“As a matter of fact,” George said, “we were looking for the person who threw the fake snake into your pool.”
“Do you want to hear what we know so far, Deirdre?” Nancy aske
d, pulling the Clue Book from her bag.
Deirdre shook her head. “I told you!” she groaned. “I don’t care who did it. I just want to forget about it. My party was perfect, and that’s all that counts.”
“But Queen Marissa’s water show was ruined because of the snake!” Bess said.
“Queen Marissa?” Deirdre cried. “There was only one queen at my party and that was me: Queen Deirdre of the Sea! So just let it go, okay?”
Deirdre flicked a switch on her scooter and zoomed off. Nancy watched her zigzag down the block, and sighed.
“I don’t get it,” Nancy said. “Doesn’t Deirdre want to know who tried to ruin her party?”
“Forget it, Nancy,” George said. “Deirdre is too busy being queen!”
The girls walked down Main Street. Bess stopped at a popcorn cart to buy a bag of caramel corn. She shared some with Nancy and George as they continued on their way.
Nancy tapped the Clue Book with her pencil. “Our main suspect now is Taffy,” she said, looking over the suspect list. She had already crossed Shelby and the sea monster off the list of suspects:
1. Crabby Carl's waiters
2. Taffy of Taffy's Topiaries
3. Sea monster
4. Shelby Metcalf
“The woman in Yuks said that Taffy bought a bunch of fake snakes from the store,” George said. “That’s proof enough for me.”
“But we don’t know where Taffy is today,” Bess said, munching on her popcorn. “How can we question her if we can’t find her?”
George pulled an electronic tablet from her small backpack. “Ta-da!” she sang. “My mom let me borrow her mini tablet for the whole day!”
“Now we can look up where Taffy lives,” Nancy said excitedly. “Thanks, George.”
The Clue Crew sat on the bench while George did a search. She typed Taffy’s name, then did her best to spell “topiaries.”
Nancy and Bess peered over George’s shoulder as Taffy’s website appeared. The home page was filled with pictures of lovely green topiaries. It also showed Taffy’s address.
“Taffy’s gardening studio is only a few blocks away!” George said. “Let’s go.”
“Wait, George,” Nancy said. “There’s something else I want to look up.”
“What?” George asked.
“Deirdre told us she wrote about her party in her blog,” Nancy said. “Maybe she posted some pictures with clues too.”
George found Deirdre’s blog, Dishing with Deirdre. There were pictures of kids having fun at the party. There was even the picture of Deirdre and Queen Marissa.
Nancy studied the picture. The mermaid was smiling from ear to ear. Deirdre’s hand was raised in a little wave.
“Why are Deirdre’s hands so dirty in that picture?” Nancy pointed out.
“Maybe she was doing cartwheels on the grass before it was taken,” Bess said with a shrug. “If I had a party like that, I’d be doing cartwheels too.”
“I guess you’re right,” Nancy said. Still, something about the picture bothered her. Then, Nancy noticed something else.
“Why didn’t Deirdre write about Queen Marissa on her blog?” Nancy asked.
George shrugged. “She probably didn’t want to explain about the snake in the pool.”
“It did ruin Marissa’s big show, after all,” Bess put in.
Nancy nodded. “That makes sense.” She scribbled everything down in the Clue Book.
“Now let’s find Taffy!” George declared.
• • •
Bess was still eating her popcorn when the girls reached Taffy’s gardening studio. The gate was open so the girls walked inside. What they found was a garden filled with leafy green topiaries. There were topiaries of fish, birds—even cartoon characters.
But where was Taffy?
The girls were about to look for Taffy when Bess stopped at a tall hedge wall with an opening in the middle. A pebbly path led inside.
“There’s probably a beautiful secret garden in there!” Bess said excitedly.
Before Nancy and George could stop her, Bess darted between the hedges and down the path.
“Bess, wait!” Nancy called. She could see Bess racing down the walkway. “We’d better go after her, George.”
“Yeah,” George agreed. “If Taffy finds Bess snooping around, she might flip.”
Nancy and George ran down the same path as Bess, but their friend had already disappeared.
“Where did she go?” Nancy wondered out loud.
Nancy and George were surrounded by tall, thick hedges. At the end of the path were two more paths. One led right, the other left.
“It’s like walking through a big puzzle,” Nancy said as they chose the left path. They were surrounded by hedges—and all the paths led this way and that.
“I think this is called a garden maze,” George said. “I saw something about them on TV.”
Nancy and George walked down the winding paths calling Bess’s name.
“Where are you, Bess?” Nancy called.
“Come out, come out,” George called, “wherever you are!”
“I’m over here!” Bess called back. She tossed a popcorn kernel in the air to show exactly where.
“There!” Nancy said, pointing to the flying popcorn. But when they took the nearest path to reach Bess she wasn’t there.
“Something tells me Bess is lost.” Nancy gulped.
“She’s not the only one, Nancy,” George said with a frown. “So are we!”
SNIP, SNIP, HOORAY!
Nancy and George ran up and down the shaded paths calling Bess’s name. They were about to call for help when someone tapped Nancy’s shoulder. Spinning around, she saw—
“Bess!” Nancy said happily.
“Let’s get out of here,” Bess said. She waved her hand in the opposite direction. “Follow me.”
“How do you know the way out?” George asked.
Bess held up her bag of popcorn and smiled.
“There was a hole in the bottom of my popcorn bag,” Bess explained. “I’ve been spilling popcorn on the ground by accident!”
“So you left a popcorn trail!” George declared. “Good work, Bess—even though you didn’t mean it.”
“Shouldn’t we pick up the popcorn along the way?” Nancy asked. “We don’t want to litter.”
“The birds will eat the popcorn,” Bess explained. “I just hope they like crunchy caramel corn!”
Nancy, Bess, and George followed the popcorn trail through the maze until they saw sunlight at the end of the path.
“We’re out of here!” George declared.
The girls raced toward the opening. As they burst out of the maze, they saw Taffy. The garden designer looked surprised to see Nancy, Bess, and George.
“Uh . . . hi, Taffy,” Nancy said.
“We were just checking out your amazing maze,” Bess said.
“I can see that!” Taffy said. “I would have preferred you go inside with a grown-up, but I’m glad you didn’t get lost.”
“Lost? Us? No way!” George scoffed until Nancy gave her an elbow-nudge.
“Do you make mazes too, Taffy?” Bess asked.
“Just this one,” Taffy answered. “I’ve worked on it for years.”
Taffy then tilted her head and said, “Weren’t you girls at the sweet half-sixteen party yesterday?”
“Yes,” Nancy replied.
“So . . . what are you doing here?” Taffy asked.
“Someone put a rubber snake in the Shannons’ pool,” Bess explained. “We want to find out who did it.”
“And you think it’s me?” Taffy asked surprised.
“We did find two fake snakes around your topiaries yesterday,” Nancy said. “They looked exactly like the snake in the pool!”
“Only two snakes?” Taffy said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “I could have sworn I put down three.”
The Clue Crew stared at Taffy. If this was a confession, it was the easiest one yet!
r /> “So you did bring the fake snakes to Deirdre’s party?” Nancy asked.
“How come?” George asked.
“Was it to scare Deirdre?” Bess asked.
Taffy laughed as she shook her head.
“I often use fake snakes to keep squirrels and other critters away from my topiaries,” Taffy said. “It’s a trick lots of gardeners use.”
“A trick?” Nancy repeated.
“Most small critters don’t like snakes very much,” Taffy explained. “They don’t know my snakes are fake, so they run away!”
“Queen Marissa didn’t know the snakes were fake either,” Bess said. “The one in the pool scared the mermaid away from Deirdre’s party!”
Taffy shook her head and said, “That may have been my snake, but I never threw it into the pool.”
“But you said you were going to surprise Deirdre,” Nancy said.
“Not like that!” Taffy insisted. An excited smile spread across her face. “Would you like to see what my surprise really is?”
Nancy, Bess, and George traded curious looks. What could it be? They followed Taffy to where her topiaries stood. Taffy pointed to one. It was trimmed to look like a girl wearing a leafy green crown.
“Presenting Deirdre Shannon!” Taffy declared. “Queen of the Sea!”
The girls stared up at the topiary. It was what Deirdre had wanted so badly. It was a topiary of herself!
While Taffy admired her own work, the Clue Crew whispered about the case. Nancy pulled out the Clue Book and pencil and drew a big line through Taffy’s name:
1. Crabby Carl's waiters
2. Taffy of Taffy's Topiaries
3. Sea monster
4. Shelby Metcalf
“So that was Taffy’s surprise,” Bess whispered. “Not the snake in the pool.”
“But it was Taffy’s fake snake,” Nancy said quietly. “If Taffy didn’t do it, someone else must have wanted Marissa out of there!”
“How could anyone not like Marissa?” Bess asked. “She’s Queen of the Mermaids!”
“I don’t know,” George said. “But someone got their hands on Taffy’s snakes!”
Hands? The word gave Nancy an idea!
She turned to Taffy and asked, “Did the Shannons know about your fake snakes?”