“That’s neat,” George said. Then she suddenly stood up straighter. “Oh my gosh,” she whispered.
“What?” Bess asked.
“There’s Brett Garner.” I followed where she was looking to see a young man wearing a ratty sweatshirt, wraparound sunglasses, and a beat-up baseball cap pulled low on his head.
“He could have cleaned up a little,” Bess muttered. “He looks dressed for a day of lounging on the couch, not a charity gala.”
“He’s here,” George said. “He’s supporting Pet Crusaders. Who cares what he’s wearing?”
George and Bess always fight about the importance of dressing the part. George thinks people should wear whatever they feel comfortable in; Bess thinks clothes are an important way of showing respect toward your environment and peers.
Before they could hash it out for the umpteenth time, Margot stepped onto the stage. An old-fashioned safe sat on a table next to her.
“Attention, ladies and gentlemen,” she said into a microphone. “Welcome to the Twenty-Third Annual Casino Night benefitting the cats and dogs of Pet Crusaders.” The whole room clapped and cheered. I noticed several people holding up their phones, filming Margot as she spoke. Margot beamed at the crowd. “As many of you know, we are in the process of building a new shelter. The completion of that shelter will allow us to house twice the number of animals that we do currently. Our goal is for no cat or dog to end up in a kill shelter.”
There was more clapping and cheering. Through the crowd I spied Joanne and Patrick, who were dutifully applauding but didn’t look happy about it. I made a mental note to keep an eye on them throughout the evening.
“I am happy to announce,” Margot continued, “that thanks to your generosity, we have raised over one hundred thousand dollars tonight!” The applause grew louder. Onstage, Margot beckoned to Catherine, who came forward carrying a large steel box. Margot carefully entered a combination into the lock on the front of the safe, then took the box from Catherine and placed it inside. Margot then closed the door with a dramatic flourish and spun the safe’s large wheel, locking it.
“Let the games begin!” she said loudly.
After checking our coats, Bess and I walked George to her table, where she sat and introduced herself to the dealer and the other players. Within a few minutes, the game had started with a steady rhythm: players plunking their chips down, the slap of cards, the back-and-forth of betting and folding. George was in her element, laser-focused on her cards and the dealer’s cards. Bess and I could have been abducted by aliens and she wouldn’t have noticed.
My eyes wandered the room. I wasn’t sure why, but something felt off. I don’t pretend to think that I have psychic abilities, but sometimes I do get what some people would call a Spidey sense—a feeling that something is about to go wrong. I’ve learned over the years that it means that I’ve observed something but haven’t consciously registered it. I read an article that said your brain processes information faster than you realize, and that’s what informs our “gut reactions.”
Suddenly I heard a loud crash behind me.
I whipped my head around to see a waiter, wearing a name tag that said ANDY, holding an empty tray. Joanne was standing next to him, soaking wet, as was the final poker table, where Brett, apparently still dry, was sitting.
Bess and I rushed over to Joanne, Patrick right behind us. The entire room seemed to have stopped.
“Are you okay?” Patrick asked Joanne.
“Fine,” Joanne said tersely. “Just wet.”
“What happened?” I asked, looking between Andy and Joanne. Andy was bright red, clearly humiliated.
“I was on my way to the restroom, when Andy here came flying into me.”
“I’m so, so sorry, ma’am,” Andy said in a high and nasally voice. “I tripped.” He looked at the ground. “I’m not sure on what, though.”
Joanne took a deep breath, as if trying to calm herself. “It’s okay,” she said after a moment. “Accidents happen. I think I will go to the restroom and dry off.”
Andy looked greatly relieved. “I’ll find you later.” He paused. “And bring you a complimentary drink, of course.”
“That would be nice,” Joanne said, as she headed toward the bathroom.
“I’ll walk with you,” Patrick said, following after her.
Andy turned to Brett. “And you, sir. Are you okay?”
“Oh, I’m fine,” Brett said. “Barely a drop on me. Can’t say the same for the table, though.”
The green felt on the table was soaking.
“Let’s see if we can get this dried off,” Bess said, taking a towel from Andy.
“That’s not going to work,” Brett said. “You’ll just tear the felt. We’re going to need a new table. And new decks of cards,” he said, holding up a sopping-wet playing card.
“Don’t worry, sir, I’ll take care of everything,” Andy said. His voice had somehow gotten even higher. I could tell he was starting to panic.
I was going to offer to find help, when Brett replied with, “Hey, I can take care of getting new decks from one of the dealers. You just work on drying the table.”
“I can’t ask you to do that,” Andy said. “You’re the guest of honor!”
“I was a waiter in a past life, bro. I’ve been where you are. Let me help you make this right.”
Andy smiled at him gratefully. “Okay, if you really don’t mind . . .”
“I’m all over it,” Brett reassured him.
“Do you need help with anything else?” Bess asked.
“No, no, I’m good. Thank you,” Andy said adamantly. “Please just go back to enjoying the event.”
Since it seemed like continuing to draw attention to Andy’s accident would just stress him out more, Bess and I drifted away.
“Do you think Joanne caused the crash on purpose?” Bess asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. That seems like it would cause more harm to her than the event.”
“That’s true,” Bess agreed. “It’s just weird, since Margot was so insistent that Joanne and Patrick were going to do something to sabotage it.”
“And you guys say I’m always looking for a case!” I joked.
“Guess I’ve spent too much time hanging around you!” She laughed.
We headed back to George’s table. We had watched only a few hands when a voice called out behind us. “Nancy! Bess!”
We turned around to see Mrs. Marvin rapidly approaching us. “You need to come quickly. Something terrible has happened!”
CHAPTER THREE
On the Clock
BESS AND I FOLLOWED MRS. Marvin through the crowd. She was a woman on a mission as she artfully dodged waiters and slalomed between poker tables.
“What’s going on?” I asked her when she finally stopped.
“I think it’s better if Margot tells you,” Mrs. Marvin replied.
I looked at Bess. She shrugged.
Mrs. Marvin led us through a door at the end of the deck. As we stepped through, we were greeted by intense heat and a painfully loud hissing noise. Immediately I threw my hands over my ears and closed my eyes. After a second, I realized that closing my eyes wasn’t helping anything. I slowly opened them to see a large steam engine in the center of the room. A giant piston moved back and forth in a smooth rowing motion, which presumably made the boat’s paddle wheel turn. It was fascinating to watch all the parts moving together so seamlessly—especially knowing that this particular engine had been in operation since the late 1800s. I could have stood there and watched the engine for hours, but I was distracted by Margot and Catherine in the corner.
Margot was pacing in circles. I could see her lips moving, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying over the sound of the engine. Catherine, meanwhile, looked almost catatonic. She stared into space, her eyes unblinking.
“Is she okay?” Bess asked Mrs. Marvin.
At the sound of her voice, Margot stopped pacing and focused her attention o
n us, piercing us with her icy stare. After a long beat she approached us.
“I thought you said you were bringing help,” Margot asked in a freakishly calm voice.
“Margot, this is Nancy Drew. You already know my daughter, Bess. Nancy is an accomplished detective,” Mrs. Marvin said.
“I am a detective, it’s true,” I offered.
Margot raised her eyebrow. “This situation requires a professional. No offense, but we need someone with a little more experience than the Case of the Stolen Lollipops from Mrs. Benson’s Fourth-Grade Classroom.”
“Nancy has solved cases for important business owners throughout River Heights!” Bess said protectively. She hates when people make assumptions based on age, gender, or race.
“She often works with the River Heights Police Department,” Mrs. Marvin added.
Margo’s face shifted slightly.
“If you feel comfortable sharing what happened with me, I’d be happy to let you know if I think I could help or if it should be handled by the police,” I told Margot. When someone underestimates you, I often find it best to be exceedingly polite. Hannah, our housekeeper, who has helped around our house since my mother died when I was little, always says that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. As with most things, I’ve found that she’s 100 percent right.
There was another long moment as Margot held me in her gaze. I’d never met anyone with such intense eyes before. Finally she let out a sigh before blurting, “The money is gone!”
“What?” I asked, shocked.
“The money is gone,” Margot repeated.
“All of it?” I asked.
Margot looked grim. “All one hundred thousand, gone.”
My jaw dropped.
“But it was in the safe,” Bess said.
Margot nodded. “And it was supposed to stay there until we docked. I was going to take it home and deposit it in the bank first thing tomorrow morning.”
“How did you discover that it was missing?” I asked.
“Mr. Lee, who won the tournament last year, lost all his chips on an early hand. He approached Catherine and begged to be allowed to buy back in.”
“I told him no,” Catherine piped up from the corner.
“But,” Margot continued, “I overheard and figured, why not let him? It’s extra money we can put toward the new shelter. I went to add his money to the safe and discovered that all of it was gone.”
She paused and took a deep breath. I realized that Margot was fighting back tears. “We’re not going to be able to build the new shelter now,” she said, her voice breaking as a tear rolled down her cheek. “That’s fifty animals a month we won’t be able to save.” Now the tears were flowing freely. She had such a tough exterior that it was hard to remember that her perfectionism was driven by a deep passion to save as many animals as she could.
“I’m going to find George,” Bess whispered in my ear. “We’re going to need all the help we can get.” I nodded and Bess slipped out of the engine room.
Mrs. Marvin stepped forward, rubbing Margot’s back. “Can you help, Nancy?”
“Well,” I said, “the good news is that we know that no one has gotten off the boat, so the money must still be onboard somewhere.”
Margot perked up. “So you can find it?”
“I’ll have to work fast,” I said. “If we don’t find the money before we dock, the thief will walk off the boat. Then the chances of recovering it will get much lower.”
“So what do you suggest?” Margot asked.
“The most efficient approach would be to search all the guests,” I began.
“That’s a great idea,” Catherine said eagerly.
“That’s a terrible idea,” Margot said at the same time.
“We would probably find the money,” I said.
“The people on this boat are the Who’s Who of River Heights. If I subject them to the humiliation of a search without proof that they did anything wrong, they will never give another penny to Pet Crusaders,” Margot said.
“Margot’s right,” Mrs. Marvin interjected. “There are a lot of people here who are very important. They won’t take kindly to the idea of being searched.”
I nodded. “Then I think the next step is to talk to Buddy.”
“Buddy has been steering the boat this entire time,” Catherine said. “How can he help?”
Margot and Mrs. Marvin looked to me for an answer. I could sense Margot’s faith in me fading. She’d been skeptical of a teen detective from the start, and now it seemed like I was suggesting one bad idea after another.
I took a deep breath. “I noticed security cameras in the main ballroom,” I explained. “I’m sure Buddy has one pointed at the safe. If we explain what happened, I’m sure he’ll let us review the footage.”
“Okay,” Margot agreed. “Let’s go ask Buddy.”
We made our way out of the engine room, and my ears immediately felt relief. Whether it was due to the pressure from the small, hot room or from Margot’s interrogation, I realized that sweat had been pouring down my face.
As we made our way to the front of the boat, Bess and George approached.
“What’s the plan?” George asked, jumping right into the swing of the investigation.
I explained about checking out the security cameras. “This might be your fastest case yet!” George said.
“Don’t jinx it!” Bess said behind her.
“Did you have to quit your game?” I asked George. If this case was as simple as reviewing security camera footage, then it wasn’t worth her abandoning her dream.
“Not yet,” George said. “They’re holding my place. They just put the ante in—”
“What’s the ante again?” Bess interrupted.
George sighed dramatically. “I’ve explained this a million times,” she said.
“And I’ve explained the difference between an empire waist and an A-line skirt a million times too, and you still get them mixed up,” Bess retorted. “We all have different strengths and interests.”
George nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
That was the thing about Bess and George. They constantly bickered, but they almost always made up within a matter of minutes.
“Anyway,” George said, “the ante is basically what you put in to get your hand. The dealer will put in the ante for me and fold my hand—that means give up on the hand,” she explained before Bess could ask, “on every turn. If I stay away for long enough, I’ll eventually go through all my chips without playing another hand.”
“We won’t let that happen,” I said.
“If it does, it’s because the case is more important,” George said. I looked at her and smiled. I’m so lucky to have friends who stand by my side no matter what.
Margot opened a door and we followed her up a set of steep stairs. Outside on the river, a cold wind blew. None of us were wearing coats. I felt my teeth start to chatter as we clanged up the stairs, our footsteps echoing on the metal. Even though we’d only pushed off forty-five minutes ago, it felt like we had traveled a long distance. The river was wide and the lights on either shore seemed far away. Inside, with the carpet, the poker tables, and the chandeliers, it was easy to forget you were actually on a journey. Out here, it felt like we were on a small boat in the middle of the wilderness.
“I really hope we have this bozo on camera,” George said.
“Me too,” Bess agreed. “What kind of person steals money from a charity?”
It was a good question, one I’d have to consider if the security cameras didn’t have answers. I’d learned over the years that the key to solving a case was often to forget about who committed the crime and focus on why. Once you figured out a motive, the rest usually fell into place.
We finally made it to the top deck and followed Margot to what looked like a garden shed perched in the middle. Margot tried the door, but it was locked.
“Crew only!” Buddy hollered from inside. “This de
ck is off-limits.”
“Buddy, it’s Margot! We have an emergency!”
Slowly the door creaked open and Buddy peered out. Past him, I could see a young man steering the ship’s helm.
“What’s going on?”
“All the money we’ve raised has been taken from your safe,” Margot told him flatly. “We need access to your security cameras.”
Buddy stared at his feet and absentmindedly tugged his right ear. “But the security cameras don’t work,” he said.
“What!?” Margot asked. “How is that possible?”
“Yeah,” George agreed. “I thought casinos were famous for having the best security in the world.”
Buddy looked down sadly. “I’m selling the boat,” he said.
“But buying this boat was your dream,” I said, confused. “Why are you selling it so soon after you bought it?”
“Sometimes bad things happen to people you love, and you have to give up on your dreams to care for them,” Buddy explained.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Yeah, thanks,” Buddy said gruffly. “Anyway, the cameras went down a few days ago. It didn’t make sense to spend the money to repair them if I was just going to be selling the boat. I’m sorry. I honestly didn’t think anyone would rob a charity tournament.”
Margot stared at him, furious. “If we don’t recover this money, I am going to sue you for every penny we lost.”
“Go ahead. I have nothing left. That’s why I’m selling the boat.”
Margot was going to say something else, but Mrs. Marvin intervened. “We can talk about lawsuits later. Right now we need to figure out how to get the money back.”
Margot took a deep breath. I could see her working hard to control her temper. “All right, Nancy,” she finally said, “you’re up.”
“Well,” I answered, “we know that the thief is someone on this boat. And that’s a great start.”
“Yeah,” Bess agreed, “but there are still two hundred people.”
I thought back to how the waiter had crashed into Joanne. The fact that the safe had been robbed sometime around then didn’t seem like a coincidence.