“The BigDripper!”George exclaimed.
“Ahhh!” Jason yelled as sticky chocolate ice cream dripped over his head. As he reached up to cover his face, he dropped the walkie-talkie on the ground.
“Got it!” Nancy said. She was about to pick it up when she heard a loud yell.
She looked up and saw David and Mike charging toward them. They were wearing helmets, silver spacesuits, and matching space gloves. In David's hand was another green walkie-talkie.
How did they gettwo?Nancy wondered.
“Saved!” Jason cried. “By theMoleheads from MarsSpace Patrol!”
“Ta-daaa!” David said. He held up his walkie-talkie. Splashed across the front were the words Space Patrol Radio.
Nancy looked down at the other walkie-talkie. It too had Space Patrol written on it. It wasn't her walkie-talkie at all.
“When did you get those?” George asked the boys.
David lifted his visor. “My mom bought me more than just school supplies today,” he said. “Am I lucky or what?”
Nancy's heart sank. If the boys didn't have her walkie-talkie, who did?
“I just have one question,” Nancy asked Jason. “Why did you and Mike leave the ice-cream truck without ice cream?”
“We had no more money,” Mike said. “We'd spent the rest of our allowance onMoleheads from Marscards.”
“Let's go,” George told Nancy and Bess. “There's no intelligent life onthisplanet.”
“Stop!” David called as the girls turned to leave. “You have invaded our planet and tortured our leader!”
Nancy watched as David and Mike pointed their gloved fingers at the girls.
“Ready, aim—” David called.
“Oh, no!” Bess cried. “They're wearing space blaster squirt gloves!”
Nancy gulped. She had seen the gloves on a TV commercial.
“—fire!” Mike cried.
The girls shrieked as the boys squirted them with water. George dropped her icecream cone as they ran away.
“Stupid Moleheads!” Bess cried when they were safely away.
“You mean meatheads,” George said.
Nancy shook water out of her reddish blond hair. Luckily her notebook hadn't gotten wet. She opened it and crossed out the boys’ names.
“If it wasn't them,” Bess asked, “then who was that mystery mouth?”
“Mystery Mouth!” Nancy giggled. “I like that. And that's what I'm going to call the culprit from now on.”
Nancy and her friends agreed to meet the next day to look for more clues. After they said goodbye, Nancy went home.
Later at dinner she told her dad about the walkie-talkie. He wasn't angry, but he was very disappointed.
“Now we won't be able to use them at the mall on Saturday,” Mr. Drew said.
“I'm sorry, Daddy,” Nancy said. “I didn't think anyone would take it.”
Hannah Gruen placed a steaming dish of meatballs and spaghetti on the table. Hannah had been the Drews’ housekeeper since Nancy was only three years old.
“Maybe no one took it,” Hannah said. “It's a walkie-talkie. Maybe it just . . . walked away!”
Nancy giggled. Hannah always made her laugh.
“Somebody took it, Hannah.” Nancy sighed. “Mystery Mouth already called me.”
“Why don't you try to call him?” Mr. Drew asked Nancy. “He might be waiting for you to make the next move.”
Nancy smiled. Mr. Drew was a lawyer. He always helped Nancy with her cases. And he always had good ideas.
“Okay, Daddy,” Nancy said. She pulled the walkie-talkie from her pocket.
“Come in, come in,” Nancy called. “Whoever you are.”
Silence.
“He or she might be eating dinner,” Hannah said. “Which is whatyoushould be doing.”
Nancy pictured her walkie-talkie at the boy's dinner table. Was Mystery Mouth touching it with icky, sticky hands? Did he drop it in his soup bowl?
I've got to get it back, Nancy thought. No matter what!
That's when Nancy made herself a promise. Not only would she find her walkie-talkie, but she would find it by Saturday and take it to the mall.
After dinner Nancy ran straight to her room. Her chocolate Labrador puppy, Chocolate Chip, sat at her feet as she called into her walkie-talkie—over and over again.
“I have to get Mystery Mouth's attention, Chip,” Nancy said. “But how?”
Nancy looked around the room. On her desk were a cassette player and tapes.
“That's it!” Nancy said. “I'll play some loud music. That'll stir him up!”
Nancy searched through her cassettes. She came across a tape of her favorite TV show,Mr. Lizard's Funhouse.
“Perfect!” Nancy said. “Mr. Lizard always plays wild music when he does the lizard dance.”
Nancy placed the walkie-talkie and cassette player side by side. She popped the tape in and pressed Start. Then she turned the volume all the way up.
“Mr. Lizard—is a wizard—when it comes to fun—”
Nancy couldn't keep herself from doing the lizard dance. She hopped up and down, wiggled her fingers behind her head, and flicked out her tongue. Until . . .
“Hey! Hey!” a voice shouted. “Put a sock in it, will you?”
Chip barked at the walkie-talkie. Mystery Mouth had answered!
Nancy shut off the music. She held the walkie-talkie to her mouth.
“Are you there?” she asked.
“I'm here, I'm here,” Mystery Mouth answered. “But you almost trashed my ears with that Mr. Lizard music. Ouch!”
“Who are you?” Nancy demanded.
“That's for me to know,” Mystery Mouth said, “and for you to find out!”
Find out?
Nancy stared at the walkie-talkie. How would she do that?
4
Clue in the Castle
Give me a hint,” Nancy said. “Are you a boy or a girl?”
“Nuh-uh,” Mystery Mouth said. “My lips are sealed.”
Nancy noticed something. Mystery Mouth was pronouncing hissletters liketh. Lipssounded likelipth,andsealedsounded likethealed.
Nancy hadn't noticed that before. She'd have to remember to write the clue in her notebook.
“You didn't answer me when I called you before,” Nancy said. “How come?”
“I must have been eating dinner,” Mystery Mouth replied. “We had tuna casserole with melted cheese and—”
“I don't want to know what you had for dinner,” Nancy interrupted. “All I want is my other walkie-talkie.”
“What for?” Mystery Mouth joked. “I thought you girls just played with dolls.”
Nancy's eyes lit up. Mystery Mouth had given her a clue. He was a boy!
“Give me back my walkie-talkie or you'll be in big trouble,” Nancy said.
“Okay, okay,” Mystery Mouth said. “You'll get your walkie-talkie.”
“When?” Nancy asked. “How?”
The walkie-talkie became silent. Then Mystery Mouth began to whisper:
“Listen carefully because I'm only going to say this once.”
“Say what?” Nancy asked.
“Tomorrow morning at eleven o'clock go to where the pirate ship meets the clown,” Mystery Mouth said. “Look inside the castle tower for a big surprise.”
Nancy wrinkled her nose. It sounded as if Mystery Mouth was giving her clues.
“Over and out,” Mystery Mouth said.
Nancy heard a click, and the walkie-talkie went silent. She ran to her notebook and opened it. Then she wrote the wordspirate ship, castle,andclown.
Pirate ship, castle, clown, Nancy thought. Where have I seen those things before?
Suddenly she remembered.
“The miniature golf course!” Nancy said to herself. “They have all kinds of things to hit the balls through. Like a pirate ship, a clown's mouth, and a castle with a tower!”
Nancy ran downstairs. She got permission to play miniature golf the next day. The
n she called Bess and George. They got permission, too.
Maybe Mystery Mouth is going to leave my walkie-talkie inside the castle tower, Nancy thought. Or maybe it's just a trick.
The next morning at eleven o'clock Hannah drove Nancy, Bess, and George to the miniature golf course.
On the way Nancy filled her friends in on her new clues. Like the way Mystery Mouth pronounced hissletters.
“Wow,” Bess said. “He must have trouble saying ‘She sells seashells by the seashore.’”
Nancy carried her walkie-talkie in the pocket of her denim jacket. She kept it turned on, just in case Mystery Mouth tried to reach her again.
“Are you going to play miniature golf with us, Hannah?” Nancy asked as they picked out their golf clubs and scorecard.
“I'd rather eat a miniature doughnut in the cafeteria,” Hannah joked. “But I'll wave to you through the glass.”
The girls walked to the gate leading to the golf course. A crowd of little kids stood waiting to go in. By the paper crowns on their heads, Nancy could tell it was a birthday party.
“We have to pass all those kids,” George said. “The castle is all the way at the end of the course.”
“Let's ask them nicely,” Nancy said.
Nancy found the birthday girl. Pinned to her frilly pink blouse was a big yellow button with the number 5 on it.
“Happy birthday,” Nancy told the girl. “Can my friends and I please go ahead of you? We just need to—”
“No! No! No!” the girl shouted. She stamped her foot. “It's my birthday, and you have to wait your turn!”
A crowd of five-year-olds surrounded Nancy. They had scowls on their faces and chocolate all over their hands.
Nancy sighed. “Okay, okay.”
“What are we going to do now?” Bess asked as the kids walked through the gate.
Nancy smiled and shrugged.
“Itisa miniature golf course,” Nancy said. “So let's play golf.”
Nancy, Bess, and George played miniature golf behind the birthday party.
They shot balls through a lion's mouth, a cottage, and a spinning Ferris wheel. But Nancy couldn't keep her eyes off hole sixteen—the castle.
When they finally reached the castle, Nancy peeked inside the tower. She didn't find her walkie-talkie—only a note.
“What does it say, Nancy?” George asked as Nancy unfolded it.
Nancy looked at the note. The message was made up of tiny cut-up letters from magazines and newspapers. But the letters were all scrambled.
Nancy was about to try to unscramble the message when she heard a crackling noise in her pocket. It was her walkie-talkie.
Nancy pulled it out and listened.
“Did you find my first clue yet?” Mystery Mouth asked. “Did you? Did you?”
“Firstclue?” Nancy asked, surprised. “You mean there are more?”
“You bet!” Mystery Mouth said excitedly. “Now listen carefully because I'm only going to say it once.”
Here we go again, Nancy thought.
“Wait until two o'clock,” Mystery Mouth said. “Then look for abook.But don't forget towhisper.”
Click.
“‘Book’ . . . ‘whisper’. . .” Nancy repeated. Her eyes lit up. “The library! It has tons of books. And you have to whisper when you're there.”
“Maybe Mystery Mouth wants you to find a special book,” Bess said.
“And the scrambled message might tell us which one,” Nancy said excitedly.
George held the message. The girls worked to unscramble the jumbled letters: ZGIMAAN LSIMANA.
They finally came up with the words AMAZING ANIMALS.
“That must be the book he wants us to find,” Nancy said.
“Why a book?” George asked. “We want to find the walkie-talkie.”
“There might be a message inside the book,” Nancy said hopefully. “Telling us where to find the walkie-talkie.”
Nancy wrote the new clues in her notebook. By the time the girls left with Hannah it was twelve-thirty.
Hannah treated them to a pizza lunch on Main Street. At two o'clock she walked them to the River Heights Library.
“I'll do some shopping and pick you up in a half an hour,” Hannah promised.
Nancy, Bess, and George entered the library. They headed straight to the children's room. Nancy typed AMAZING ANIMALS into the computer. She held her breath until the listing came up.
“There it is!” Nancy whispered. She wrote the number of the book on a tiny piece of paper. Then she and her friends ran to the right shelf.
“Amazing Animals!”Nancy said in an excited whisper. She pulled the book out and flipped through it. A piece of paper fell out. Nancy picked up the paper. There in big letters was written, “GOTCHA!”
“Another trick,” Bess mumbled.
Nancy's shoulders slumped. She was about to shut the book when—
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
“You fell for it!” Mystery Mouth shouted. “Am I the man or what?”
Nancy froze. Mystery Mouth was yelling—right in the library!
“Quiet, girls,” a voice said.
Nancy turned around slowly. Mrs. Perry, the librarian, was standing behind them with her finger against her lips.
“It wasn't us,” Nancy told Mrs. Perry. “It was Mystery Mouth. I mean—”
Mrs. Perry looked puzzled. It was no use trying to explain.
Nancy sighed. “Sorry, Mrs. Perry. It won't happen again.”
Nancy placed the book back on the shelf. When they left the library, George grabbed the walkie-talkie.
“Listen carefully because I'm only going to say this once,” George hissed. “Give Nancy her walkie-talkie, or she'll pour hot mushy oatmeal into your sneakers, once she finds out who you are!”
“But we've only started to play this game,” Mystery Mouth said.
“Game?” Nancy gasped. She grabbed the walkie-talkie and spoke into it. “From now on you're going to playmygame.”
“Really?” Mystery Mouth said. “What game is that?”
“It's called find the boy who walked off with my walkie-talkie,” Nancy declared. “And I'm going to win!”
5
Spies and Pizza Pies
Walkie-talkie, tape recorder,” Nancy said for the third time that night. She glanced at the two gadgets on her night table. “Check . . . check.”
It was nine o'clock. Nancy was lying in bed. But she wasn't reading a book the way she often did before falling asleep.
Nancy was waiting for Mystery Mouth to call. And this time she had a plan.
Nancy would record his next message on her tape recorder. Then she would play it back and listen for clues.
There was just one problem: It was getting late and Nancy was getting sleepy.
“Oh, well, Chip.” Nancy sighed. “I'm sure even pests like Mystery Mouth don't stay up past their bedtime.”
Chip yawned from Nancy's fluffy pink rug. That caused Nancy to yawn, too.
Her eyelids grew heavy, and her head fell gently back on her pillow. She could feel herself drifting off to sleep when—
“Yo! Yo! Are you there?”
“Huh?” Nancy blinked and sat up straight. It was Mystery Mouth!
Nancy quietly placed the walkie-talkie next to the tape recorder. Then she pressed the Record button.
“I wanted to tell you this crazy dream I just had,” Mystery Mouth said. “I was playing Frisbee, and it turned out to be a giant ice-cream sandwich.”
“Do you like ice cream?” Nancy asked. She wanted Mystery Mouth to keep talking.
“You bet,” he answered.
“What flavor?” Nancy asked.
“Oh, no, you don't,” Mystery Mouth warned. “Now you're getting personal.”
The walkie-talkie crackled again.
“Down, Jake!” she heard Mystery Mouth say. “I said, down, boy!”
“Who's Jake?” Nancy asked.
Silence. Then a click.
&nb
sp; “Yes!” Nancy cheered under her breath. It was a good thing she'd forgotten to turn off her walkie-talkie!
Nancy rewound her tape and played back the message. She turned up the volume and heard a dog barking in the background.
Chip heard it, too. She wagged her tail and barked at the tape recorder.
Nancy smiled as she wrote her two new clues in her notebook.
“Mystery Mouth may be sneaky, Chip,” Nancy said. “But he won't be a mystery for long!”
“Who has a dog named Jake?” George asked Nancy the next day.
It was Friday morning. Nancy, Bess, and George had gotten permission to ride their bikes together to Main Street.
“I don't know,” Nancy said as they chained their bikes to a rack. “But I'm sure there's a way to find out.”
The girls walked along Main Street. Nancy was wearing red shorts and a white T-shirt with two big pockets.
One pocket held her walkie-talkie. The other held her detective notebook.
“Youhaveto find your walkie-talkie today, Nancy,” Bess said. “It's Friday, and you said you'd find it by Saturday.”
“I know.” Nancy sighed. She reached in her pocket to make sure her walkie-talkie was turned on. She was running out of time—and maybe batteries.
Just then Nancy saw the Mr. Swirly Head truck parked at the corner.
“After what happened last time,” Bess said sadly, “I don't think I can ever eat another Skyscraper again.”
The girls decided to have pizza instead. They walked into Falco's Pizza Parlor. Nancy saw eight-year-old Rebecca Ramirez standing at the counter.
Rebecca was wearing a T-shirt from Camp Curtain Up, a drama day camp. It was the perfect camp for her because she wanted to be an actress.
Nancy went up to her and said, “Hi, Rebecca. How do you like camp?”
“I love it!” Rebecca exclaimed. “I just got the part of the fairy godmother inCinderella!”
Nancy jumped back as Rebecca sprinkled them with a stinky white powder.
“And so you shall!” Rebecca chanted. “And so you shall! And so you—”
“Quit it, Rebecca!” George cried. “That's not pixie dust—it's grated cheese!”
“What would you like, girls?” Mr. Falco asked from behind the counter.