“That mustache on Bess’s poster was made with black construction paper,” Nancy said.
“I know,” Jason said. “So?”
“So you bought some paper like that yesterday,” Nancy said.
“Uh-huh,” Jason said. “So?”
“So, did you make that mustache?” Nancy asked.
“Tell you what,” Jason said with a teasing grin. “I’ll give you a clue.”
Jason reached into his pocket. When he pulled his hand out, he was holding a big black marker.
“See this?” he said. “When I make a mustache, it stays there!”
Jason took the cap off of his marker. He held the marker close to Nancy’s face.
“Let me show you, Nancy,” he said.
“Don’t you dare, Jason,” Nancy shouted. She backed away from him. Sometimes Jason Hutchings was really weird, Nancy thought. And she couldn’t decide if he was telling the truth.
The kids played a long game of kick-ball. Molly’s team won. When gym was over, Nancy’s third-grade class returned to their room.
Everyone stopped by their cubbies to put away their coats. Nancy hung up her jacket and waved to Bess. Bess took out her notebook and turned to go into the classroom.
Then Nancy saw Lizzie grab Bess’s arm.
“Bess!” Lizzie said loudly. “You stole my new notebook!”
6
Brenda Spreads the News
Let go of my arm!” Bess shouted at Lizzie.
“That’s my new purple notebook,” Lizzie insisted. “Give it back!”
“This is my purple notebook,” Bess said. “I just took it out of my cubby.”
Nancy ran over to where Bess and Lizzie were fighting. George did, too.
“Bess, I think you left your notebook on your desk,” Nancy said.
Bess looked at Nancy. Then she opened the notebook. Lizzie’s name was on the inside cover.
“Oops! Sorry.” Bess handed Lizzie the notebook. “But I did get it from my cubby.”
George stepped forward. “That’s my fault, Bess,” she said. “I saw the notebook on the floor. I thought it was yours, and I put it in my cubby. But then I was afraid I’d forget to give it to you. So I put it in your cubby instead.”
“Okay, everyone,” Mrs. Reynolds said, “let’s go inside the classroom.”
• • •
At noon everybody lined up in the hall to go to the cafeteria. Mr. Putnam was walking toward the class. Nancy knew he worked in the principal’s office. He was carrying a big brown envelope.
“Somebody dropped this off for Brenda Carlton,” Mr. Putnam said to Mrs. Reynolds.
Brenda walked over and took the envelope.
“It’s the Carlton News,” she announced. “Special election issue. Get your copy here!”
Everybody crowded around Brenda, and she started to pass out the newspapers. Nancy held out her hand, but Brenda kept skipping over her. Finally Nancy reached out and took one of the papers.
The front page had a headline in big letters. It read, “Dirty Tricks in Class Vote. Funny Faces Are No Joke.”
Nancy started to read:
Someone is trying to ruin the class election. And why isn’t the person who says she’s a detective doing anything about it? Is it because her best friends are the ones doing it? Or is she a part of it, too?
Bess and George hurried over to Nancy. “I can’t believe this,” Bess said. “Brenda made it sound like we made all those funny faces.”
“I know,” Nancy said. “But you know what bothers me more?”
Nancy pointed to a line at the end of the article: “We haven’t seen the last of the funny faces. Watch the Carlton News for all the details.”
“It’s as if she knows ahead of time,” Nancy said.
George stared at her. “Do you really think that Brenda—”
“I don’t know,” Nancy said. “But I’m going to find out.”
• • •
During lunch Nancy went over to Brenda’s table. Brenda and Lizzie were talking. Brenda was writing in her reporter’s notebook. When Brenda and Lizzie saw Nancy, they stopped talking.
“Brenda? Why did you go back to the classroom yesterday?” Nancy asked.
Brenda looked up at her. “Who says I did?”
“I have a witness,” Nancy told her. “You were the last to leave the room.”
“What if I was?” Brenda replied. “It’s none of your business.”
“Did you notice a mustache on Bess’s poster yesterday?” Nancy asked.
“Maybe I did and maybe I didn’t,” Brenda said.
Then Lizzie gave Nancy a mean smile.
“So, has the great Nancy Drew solved the mystery yet?” she asked. “Or are you part of it?”
“What do you mean?” Nancy asked.
“You’ll see,” Brenda said. She and Lizzie laughed. “You’re not the only one who can figure things out.”
“Listen, Brenda, was the mustache on Bess’s poster there when you left or not?” Nancy asked.
“No comment,” Brenda said. “That’s newspaper talk. It means, go away and stop bugging me.”
Brenda looked down at her notebook again. She and Lizzie acted as if Nancy wasn’t there.
After a moment Nancy walked away. Sometimes Brenda made her so mad.
I didn’t get any answers from Brenda, Nancy thought. But I know she’s up to something.
Then Nancy sat down at a table by herself. She wanted to think about the case. After Nancy ate her lunch, she took out her blue notebook to review her clues. Then she wrote:
Question: Who could have put the mustache on Bess’s poster?
Jason
1. Had construction paper
2. In class early this morning
Brenda
1. Last one seen in class yesterday
2. Acts like she’s up to something
When she had finished, Nancy walked over to where George and Bess were sitting.
“Howb’s duh cathe gobing?” George asked. She was still chewing her peanut butter sandwich.
“Here, George.” Bess giggled. “Have some milk.” She passed her milk over to George.
Nancy smiled. “I have a lot of clues. I just haven’t figured out what they mean.”
Nancy opened her book. She looked at her list of suspects. “And there’s something else that’s strange.”
“What is it?” Bess asked.
“Well,” Nancy said. “Lizzie’s been really mean to you, right?”
“Yeah,” Bess said. “She could have put the mustache on my poster.”
“But why would Lizzie want to ruin my button?” George asked. “It was for Vicki.”
“That’s what I don’t understand,” Nancy said. “But I think Lizzie should be a suspect.” Nancy wrote Lizzie’s name in her notebook.
When lunch period was over, Mrs. Reynolds’s class lined up to go back to their classroom. Nancy, Bess, and George were at the end of the line. Just as they were about to enter the classroom, Nancy heard a horrible scream.
“Noooooo!” the voice cried. It was Vicki!
7
Vicki Blows Up
Nancy, Bess, and George rushed into the classroom. Vicki was staring at the poster she had painted. Someone had drawn another funny face and taped it to her poster.
Vicki grabbed the cartoon and yanked at it. There was a loud tearing sound. Vicki’s poster ripped in half.
Vicki stared at the ruined poster. Tears ran down her cheeks. She crumpled up the cartoon and threw it on the floor. Then she turned and pointed her finger at George.
“Brenda and Lizzie warned me,” Vicki sobbed. “They said I shouldn’t trust you. They were right!”
Nancy glanced around. Brenda was standing nearby. She had a smile on her face.
“It’s just like it said in the newspaper,” Vicki declared. She wiped her cheeks. “It’s you, Bess, and Nancy. You’re all ganging up on me.”
“We are not!” Bess cried.
&nb
sp; “That’s what you say!” Lizzie said.
Nancy noticed that Brenda had her red notebook out. She was writing down everything everyone said.
“I don’t care what Brenda told you,” George said. “She’s just trying to make trouble. We didn’t do anything to your poster.” George stepped closer to Vicki. “Besides, Vicki, I’m on your election team.”
“Not anymore,” Vicki said. “I don’t want you on my team. I don’t trust you.”
George looked at her. Her mouth was open. “But, Vicki—” she started to say.
“Old friends are the best friends,” Vicki said. “Come on, Lizzie. I don’t want to be around these snakes.”
Vicki and Lizzie walked arm in arm to the other side of the room.
George turned to Nancy and Bess. She looked hurt. “Vicki will be sorry for saying those things when she finds out the truth.”
“But first we need to find out the truth,” Nancy said.
Mrs. Reynolds came into the room. She walked to the front and clapped her hands. “Okay,” she called. “Everyone take out your reading books. We’re going to read aloud.”
Nancy picked up the crumpled cartoon from the floor before she went to her seat. She smoothed it out. The funny face was drawn on plain white paper. The face had ears that stuck out and eyes pointing in two directions. The smile was so goofy that Nancy had to laugh.
“This is pretty funny,” she said. “Whoever did this can draw well.”
George looked over her shoulder. “You know what?” she said. “I think I’ve seen something like it before.”
“Me, too,” Nancy said. “But where? Was it copied from a comic book?”
Nancy folded the cartoon. She took it to her desk and tucked it into her blue notebook. The notebook was filling up with evidence. But Nancy still couldn’t figure out this case.
Nancy thought. The pranks were done to posters for Vicki and Jessie. But who would want to make them both look silly?
Jason, of course. He wanted Mike to be president.
Nancy couldn’t forget about Brenda, though. The more dirty tricks there were, the more Brenda could write about them.
Lizzie might want to ruin a poster for Jessie but not for Vicki. They were best friends.
What about the latest drawing? Could Jason or Brenda draw like that? Or had it been done by someone Nancy hadn’t thought of?
“Nancy,” Mrs. Reynolds said. “Would you read the next passage for us?”
Nancy jumped. She had no idea what was going on. And Mrs. Reynolds knew it, too!
Bess leaned close to Nancy. “Top of page thirty-two,” she whispered.
Nancy found the place. She started to read.
• • •
When the final bell rang, everybody jumped up and started talking at once. Nancy heard Jessie say loudly, “I don’t believe it. They wouldn’t do something like that.”
“That’s us they’re talking about,” Bess whispered to Nancy. She started gathering her books. “Everybody heard what Vicki said before. I think a lot of them believe what she said.”
Toward the front of the room, Nancy saw George go over to Vicki. Vicki turned and looked the other way. Then George walked toward Nancy and Bess. She looked upset.
“Some people just won’t listen,” George said when she reached Nancy and Bess. “Too bad for them.”
The three friends walked out into the hall. Some of the kids near the cubbies gave them dirty looks.
“Let’s get out of here,” George said. She grabbed her jacket from her cubby.
Jenny March let out a gasp. She was staring at George’s feet.
Nancy looked down. What was the matter? A bug? A mouse? Then she saw it.
On the floor right in front of George’s cubby was a sheet of construction paper—black construction paper. A piece was cut out of the middle. The hole was in the shape of a thin squiggly mustache.
8
The Proof
I knew it!” Brenda shouted. “There’s the proof. George put that mustache on Bess’s poster. I bet you’re all in it together.”
“Why would we want to ruin Bess’s poster, Brenda?” Nancy asked.
“I don’t know,” Brenda said. “But when I find out, I’m going to write about it in the Carlton News. And the whole school will know!”
Brenda stomped away.
Nancy picked up the sheet of black paper. Then she took the mustache from her notebook. It fit perfectly.
“Nancy, I never saw that before,” George said. “Somebody must have put it in my cubby.”
Bess walked over to George and touched her shoulder. “I know you didn’t do it,” she said.
Nancy looked around. Some of the kids wouldn’t meet her eyes. Did they really think that she, Bess, and George had done this?
“Let’s go home,” George said. She turned and walked down the hallway to the front door. Nancy and Bess followed her. They were about to leave the school when Jessie caught up to them.
“Listen, guys,” Jessie said. “I don’t want to run for class president anymore.”
“Why not, Jessie?” Nancy asked.
“I thought it would be fun,” Jessie said. “But it isn’t. Everyone is acting so mean.”
“You can’t quit now,” Bess said.
“But some of the kids are saying that I’m in on all the trouble,” Jessie said. “If I’m not running, they won’t suspect me.”
“Jessie?” Nancy said. “If I find out who did the funny faces, will you still run?”
Jessie hesitated. “Well, I guess so,” she said. “But you’ll have to figure things out by tomorrow. I have to tell Mrs. Reynolds before everyone votes.”
Nancy spent the rest of the afternoon with Bess and George at Bess’s house. She didn’t have much fun, though. She was too busy thinking about everything that had happened. What if she couldn’t solve the mystery? Would Jessie really quit? Would all the kids hate her, Bess, and George?
• • •
The next morning Nancy walked to school by herself. All the way there, she was thinking about the mystery.
On the way to her classroom, she walked past the fifth-grade rooms. Something on the bulletin board caught her eye. It was a funny cartoon. The face had crossed eyes, big ears, and a goofy smile.
Nancy stopped and stared at it. Then she took out the one from Vicki’s poster. The two faces were practically the same. But the one on the wall had the artist’s name on it. Sharon Artello—Lizzie’s older sister!
Why would a fifth-grader ruin a third-grader’s artwork? Nancy wondered. It didn’t make sense. Lizzie must have taken her sister’s drawing and used it. But why would Lizzie wreck her best friend’s poster? And how could Nancy prove it?
Nancy stared at the funny face drawing in her hand. She noticed something she hadn’t noticed before. The tape was still on the top edge. It was clear tape. One part had blue paint on it. The paint was on the sticky side. That must be from Vicki’s ruined poster, Nancy thought.
But there was something else. It was below the blue paint. It looked like gold paint, with little specks of red glitter. This was just the proof Nancy was looking for. It was a fingerprint!
Whoever had taped the funny face on Vicki’s poster must have had gold paint and red glitter on his or her hands. Some had come off on the sticky tape.
When the bell rang, Nancy rushed into her classroom. The election posters were hanging on the back wall. The buttons were on Mrs. Reynolds’s desk. Nancy looked at the buttons one by one. Only one had gold paint and red glitter on it—Lizzie’s. That was the proof Nancy needed.
Lizzie and Vicki came into the classroom. “Get away from my button,” Lizzie said. “What are you doing?”
“Finding out the truth,” Nancy replied. She held up the cartoon. “Your sister drew this. And you taped it to Vicki’s poster.”
Lizzie’s face reddened. “Who says? Prove it!” she said.
Nancy pointed to the funny face picture. “This tape has a fingerprint.
With gold paint and red glitter, Lizzie. Just like your button!”
Vicki turned to her friend. “Lizzie? Is Nancy right? Did you wreck my poster?”
“I didn’t mean to,” Lizzie said in a tiny voice. “I didn’t know it would tear.”
“But why, Lizzie?” Vicki asked. “Didn’t you want me to win?”
“Yes, but I felt so awful. You were hanging out with George all the time,” Lizzie said. “I put the beard and glasses on George’s button because I was mad at her.”
“But we were all working on the election together,” Vicki said.
“But it was like you weren’t my best friend anymore,” Lizzie said. “I wanted you to get mad at George. I did the other things so you would think that George, Nancy, and Bess were in on it together. So it would be just you and me again.”
“That was a rotten thing to do, Lizzie,” Vicki said.
“I know,” Lizzie said. “I’m sorry.”
Bess and George came into the classroom. Nancy explained what had happened. Then she thought a minute and shook her head.
“But this doesn’t add up,” Nancy said. “If you wanted Vicki to get mad at George, why did you blame Bess for messing up Vicki’s speech at the beginning of the campaign?”
“At first, I really did think Bess was trying to ruin our campaign. Then I realized it was just an accident.” Lizzie looked at Bess. “I’m sorry, Bess.”
“I guess it’s okay,” Bess said. She looked at George and smiled. “I know what it’s like to think you’ve lost a best friend.”
“Yeah,” George said. “It makes you feel really bad.”
“I want to apologize to George and Nancy, too,” Lizzie said. “I’ll never do anything like that again.”
“I hope not,” George said. “Putting that black paper in my cubby was really mean.”
“I didn’t do that,” Lizzie said. “I don’t know how it got there. It was in my notebook.”
Nancy started to laugh.
“What’s so funny, Nancy?” George asked.
“Remember when you thought Lizzie’s notebook was Bess’s? You put it in your cubby. The paper must have slipped out then.”