“Let’s start a suspect list,” Nancy suggested. “Who would want to steal—”
Splat! A green worm covered with gooey brown stuff landed on Nancy’s notebook.
“Eeeek!” Bess shrieked.
“It’s not real!” George said. She flicked the squiggly thing off the page. “It’s a candy worm!”
Nancy spun around and looked straight at Lonny and Lenny Wong. They were sitting at the next table with their mother.
“We’re eating Creepy Crawly Sundaes!” Lonny called to the girls. “It’s ice cream covered with gummy worms!”
“Who are they?” Riley whispered.
“Lonny and Lenny are Orson’s six-year-old twin brothers,” Bess whispered back. “They’re double trouble!”
“Boys!” Mrs. Wong scolded the twins. “Don’t ever throw your food again. And don’t talk with your mouths full either.”
Nancy didn’t like the messy chocolate spot in her notebook, so she flipped to a fresh page. “Let’s try again.” She sighed. “Who would want to steal a turkey?”
“Maybe someone from our class,” Bess said. “Who else would know about Martin?”
“What about Brenda?” George asked. She licked marshmallow sauce from her spoon. “She was mad at Riley for bumping her from show-and-tell.”
“It can’t be Brenda,” Riley said. “Brenda thinks turkeys are yucky. She didn’t even want to go near Martin.”
Nancy’s eyes lit up as she remembered something. “How about Jason, David, and Mike?” she asked. “They needed a turkey to win Mr. Lizard’s Track a Turkey Contest!”
“And they’d do anything to get one too!” George added.
Nancy wrote “Jason, David, and Mike” in her notebook. But something didn’t add up.
“What about the cow pin? The boys never wear pins,” Nancy said. “Just those Mole-heads from Mars buttons. The ones that say ‘You’re a Space Cadet.’”
Just then the door of the ice-cream parlor swung open. Emma and Katie walked inside.
Instead of ordering ice cream they began tacking papers on the bulletin board.
“Hey,” Nancy whispered. “Maybe the Kids for Animals Club let Martin out of his cage. Didn’t Emma want to free him?”
“Wait a minute,” Riley said. “Emma was planning to set Martin free? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“We thought you might get upset if you knew. We didn’t want to hurt your feelings,” Nancy said.
“But we should have told you, since it is your case. We’re sorry, Riley,” George apologized.
“It’s okay,” Riley said, taking a big bite of her sundae.
“So, how can we find out if the Kids for Animals members know anything about Martin?” Bess asked. “They are so secretive.”
“There’s a meeting later at three o’clock,” Nancy said. “Katie invited us. Remember?”
“Yeah!” George said. “Let’s go there and see what we can find out.”
“My first club meeting in my new neighborhood!” Riley cheered. She gave two thumbs-up signs. “All riiiight!”
Nancy, Bess, and George stared at Riley.
“Um, sorry, Riley,” Nancy said. “If the club members see you at the meeting, they may not want to talk about Martin.”
Riley looked disappointed at first. Then she smiled. “It’s okay,” she said. “We’ll do other fun stuff.”
Fun? Nancy wondered. I thought Riley was upset about Martin.
“Nancy?” Bess interrupted her thoughts. “You don’t think Katie took Martin, do you?”
“If she did,” Nancy said, looking across the room, “I’m sure Emma had something to do with it.”
Emma turned from the bulletin board and began to shout, “Free the snakes from the pet store! Free them now!”
“Snakes?” Bess shuddered. “I’m not sure I want to go to that meeting!”
• • •
“What are you doing here?” Emma asked after she opened her door.
Nancy, Bess, and George smiled as they stood on the Lindstroms’ doorstep at three o’clock wearing animal pins on their jackets. Nancy had borrowed a rhinestone cat from Hannah. Bess wore a pretty butterfly pin. George didn’t have a real pin, so she fastened a rubber spider to her shirt.
“Katie invited us to a meeting, Emma,” Nancy said brightly. “If we like it, maybe we’ll all join.”
“Hold on just a minute!” Emma warned. “In order to become members you have to answer three questions about animals.”
“Sure,” Nancy said with a shrug.
“We like animals!” Bess added.
Emma led the girls to her bedroom, where the meeting had already started. Katie looked very happy to see them.
Nancy, Bess, and George sat on the floor with the others. Emma shut the door.
“First question,” Emma said. “Do bulls run in flocks, gaggles, or herds?”
“Herds!” George called out.
The other club members nodded in approval. George was correct!
“Next question,” Emma said. “What is a baby lion called?”
“A cub!” Nancy answered. She exchanged high fives with Bess and George.
“If you answer the last question, you’re in the Kids for Animals Club,” Emma said. “What do they call a female sheep.”
Nancy gulped. She didn’t know the answer. And Bess and George didn’t seem to know either. What were they going to do?
Nancy’s eyes darted around the room. One girl yawned loudly as she waited for their answer. A boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny pet snake!
Bess must have seen it because she let out a loud, “Ewwwww!”
“That’s it!” Emma declared. “A female sheep is called a ‘ewe.’ So you’re in!”
Nancy, Bess, and George sighed with relief. Now they could get to work!
“Are there any questions before we start the meeting?” Emma asked everyone.
“Yes!” Nancy said. She pulled out the silver cow pin. “Did anyone lose this?”
The kids shook their heads as they passed around the pin.
“We only answer questions about animals,” Emma complained. “That was a question about animal pins. Any others?”
“What was the last animal you all freed from its cage?” George called out.
“I freed an animal yesterday,” Katie said. “But I don’t want to talk about it.” Nancy stared at Katie. Why wouldn’t she talk about it? Could Martin be the animal she’d set free?
“Then let’s talk about freeing the ants from Kyle Leddington’s ant farm,” Emma suggested. “Any ideas?”
Most of the kids raised their hands.
Then suddenly strange noises came from outside Emma’s room.
“Gobble, gobble, gobble.”
Nancy’s eyes opened wide. Something right outside Emma’s door was gobbling—like a turkey!
4
Stakeout!
Omigosh! Did you hear that noise?” Nancy whispered to Bess and George.
“How are we going to leave the meeting and check it out?” Bess replied quietly.
George’s hand shot in the air. “Um-excuse us, Emma,” she said. “But we think we heard our bikes fall over outside!”
Before Emma could speak, the three friends were out the door and in the hall.
“Gobble, gobble, gobble!”
“There it is again!” Nancy said. She followed the gobbling to a table standing in the hall. It was covered with a long white tablecloth. “If it is a turkey, he’s under that table!”
George kneeled and stuck her hand under the tablecloth. “I feel feathers!” she exclaimed.
Nancy smiled. It had to be Martin!
“Ow!” George cried. She yanked back her hand. “He just pecked me!”
“Bad turkey!” Bess scolded.
Nancy lifted the tablecloth. But instead of finding Martin, she saw Katie’s parrot, Lester!
“Lester?” Nancy, Bess, and George asked at the same time. “Gobble, gobble!” Lester
squawked.
“Arrrk!”
The club members ran out of Emma’s room into the hall.
“What’s going on?” Emma asked.
Nancy pointed to Lester strutting out from under the table. “What’s Lester doing here?” she asked.
“Lester goes everywhere with me, Nancy,” Katie explained. “You know that.”
“Then why is he out in the hallway gobbling like a turkey?” George asked, wrinkling her nose.
“He’s been doing that ever since he heard Mr. Lizard gobble on TV,” Katie said. “Parrots repeat what they hear!”
“So what’s the big deal?” Emma asked Nancy, Bess, and George.
“We thought Lester was Riley’s turkey, Martin,” Bess said. “He’s been missing since yesterday.”
“Missing?” Emma gasped. Everyone else seemed surprised too.
“You said you freed an animal, Katie,” Nancy reminded. “Was that animal Martin, the turkey?”
“No way!” Katie declared. “I did free an animal but it wasn’t him.”
“Then who was it?” Nancy asked.
Katie stared at her sneakers. “The class hamster,” she said in a small voice.
“The hamster?” Nancy squeaked. She remembered the hamster running through the classroom yesterday.
“It was my first club assignment,” Katie explained. “But I’m sorry I did it!”
“Why?” Emma asked.
“Because Rebecca was blamed for something I did!” Katie said. “And I’m going to tell Mrs. Reynolds on Monday.”
“But you have to do things like that to be in my club!” Emma argued.
Katie placed her hands on her hips. “Then I don’t want to be in your club anymore,” she said firmly.
Emma frowned, but Nancy smiled. She was proud of Katie for sticking up for herself. Then Lester began to screech, “Emma is bossy! Emma is bossy! Raaaak!”
Emma’s face turned red. “Parrots repeat what they hear, huh?” she said. “So that must be what Katie said about me!”
“Gotta go,” Katie blurted out.
Nancy, Bess, George, and Katie ran down the stairs and out of Emma’s house. Lester flapped after them.
“Who needs them?” Katie scoffed. “I already joined a better club—the River Heights Birdwatchers Brigade!”
Katie reached into her pocket and pulled out a small book. It had a picture of a robin on the cover.
“They gave me this guidebook and there’s a whole page about turkeys!” she said. “You can borrow it if you’d like.”
“Gobble, gobble!” Lester squawked.
Katie placed Lester on her shoulder and handed Nancy her guidebook. She gave a little wave and headed home.
“I’m glad Katie didn’t free Martin,” Nancy said. She crossed “Kids for Animals” out of her notebook. “But if the club didn’t free Martin, then who dropped that cow pin in Riley’s yard?”
• • •
“Did you know that only boy turkeys gobble, Daddy?” Nancy asked the next day at breakfast. “And that girl turkeys make clicking sounds instead?” Nancy was telling her dad about her latest case.
Carson Drew placed another stack of buckwheat pancakes on the table. He always made pancakes for Nancy on Sundays.
“Where did you learn all about turkeys, Pudding Pie?” Mr. Drew asked. Pudding Pie was his special nickname for Nancy.
“In Katie’s birdwatcher booklet,” Nancy explained. “I also learned that most boy turkeys have black fuzzy feathers on their chests. Just like Martin.”
“Good work, Nancy,” Mr. Drew praised. “Facts are very important in every case.”
Nancy smiled at her father. He was a great lawyer. And a pretty good cook, too!
The doorbell rang. Nancy excused herself as she jumped up from her chair.
“That must be Bess, George, and Riley, Daddy,” she said. “We’re supposed to spend all day looking for Martin.”
But when Nancy flung open the door, she didn’t find her friends. Instead she found a note on her doorstep. It read:
Dear Detective Drew,
We have the turkey. Leave two bags of Crunchy Munchies and three cherry lollipops under the park slide today and you’ll get him back.
P.S. Drop off the candy at noon—when both hands are on the twelve.
“Ohmigosh!” Nancy gasped. Her hands shook as she held the note. “This person knows where Martin is!”
When Bess, George, and Riley arrived, they studied the note together. It was written on plain white paper with brown, red, and orange crayon.
“Turkey colors!” Riley declared.
“Whoever has Martin likes candy,” Bess pointed out.
“Everybody we know likes candy,” George sighed. “It could be anyone!”
Nancy studied the note. “It says ‘we have the turkey,’” she pointed out. “So there’s more than one turkey thief.”
“How about three turkey thieves?” George asked. “Jason, David, and Mike?”
Nancy folded the note and slipped it in the pocket of her jeans. “There’s only one way to find out,” she said. “We’ll have to catch the thieves candy-handed!”
“Like a stakeout?” Riley squealed. “This is going to be so much fun!”
Nancy watched Riley jump up and down. Maybe she was having too much fun.
“Come on,” Nancy told the girls. “Let’s fill up that candy bag.”
Nancy still had candy left over from Halloween. They filled a brown paper bag with Crunchy Munchies and three cherry lollipops. When they reached the park they checked their watches.
“Five minutes to noon,” Nancy said in a hushed voice. “All systems go.”
First George tossed the candy bag under the slide. Next they ran and kneeled behind a bench. Nancy and her friends peeked out between the wooden slats.
“Any second now,” Nancy whispered.
But instead of seeing the turkey thieves, the girls saw Hannah. She was walking toward the bench with two other grownups. They were all holding binoculars.
“It’s Hannah and the River Heights Birdwatcher’s Brigade!” Nancy said.
“Feeling lucky today?” Hannah was asking the man and woman.
“You bet, Hannah!” the man replied. “I’m going to keep my eyes peeled for a golden-cheeked warbler!”
“And a purple finch!” the woman added. “I love those purple finches!”
Nancy groaned as the three sat down on the bench. They were totally blocking the girls’ view of the slide!
“Well, hi, Nancy!” Hannah said as Nancy, George, and Bess darted out from behind the bench.
Nancy stared at the space under the slide. The candy was gone—and so were the turkey thieves!
5
Fowl Play
Hi, Hannah,” Nancy said, turning toward the grown-ups. She smiled politely at the other birdwatchers. Then she and her friends charged to the slide.
“I can’t believe we missed them!” Nancy complained. “It happened so fast!”
They studied the black rubber mat under the slide. There were too many sneaker prints on it to know which belonged to the turkey thieves.
“If the turkey thieves have the candy,” Bess said, “maybe they’ll give Martin back!”
“Maybe,” Riley said. “But in the meantime, let’s go on the swings!”
“The swings?” George cried. “Don’t you want to find Martin?”
“Sure I do!” Riley said. “But even detectives take breaks. Right, Nancy?”
Nancy was about to answer when a voice called out, “Hi, guys!”
It was Katie. She had binoculars around her neck and a smile on her face. “It’s my first birdwatcher meeting,” she said. “And I already spotted a cardinal!”
“While you were looking at birds,” Nancy asked Katie, “did you see anyone running under the slide?”
Katie scrunched her eyebrows as she thought. “Just some boys,” she said. “But I don’t remember how many. Or what they looked like. They were too f
ast.”
“Boys!” George repeated. She narrowed her eyes. “Like David, Jason, and Mike.”
“If this is about Martin, good luck,” Katie said. She held up her binoculars. “And if I spot a turkey in the park, I’ll let you know.”
Katie began making chirping sounds as she walked away.
“If the boys took Martin, they wouldn’t give him back,” Nancy decided. “They would need him in order to win Mr. Lizard’s Track a Turkey Contest.”
“Which means Martin could be at the TV station already,” Bess said. “We should go there and find out.”
“Wow!” Riley exclaimed. “I was never in a real TV station before!”
On the way out of the park the girls saw Lonny and Lenny Wong. This time their cheeks were puffed out like balloons.
“Are you eating gummy worms again?” Nancy asked.
The twins kept their mouths shut tightly as they shook their heads.
“Oh, I get it,” George said. “Your mom told you not to talk with your mouths full, right?”
With their mouths still shut the twins nodded. As they scampered away Nancy had a thought.
“Do you think Lonny and Lenny were eating the candy we put under the slide?” Nancy asked.
“They’re always eating something,” Bess said. “But whoever ate the candy also left the note on Nancy’s doorstep. The twins couldn’t have written that note. They’re only six.”
Nancy, Bess, George, and Riley walked to station WRIV on Main Street. That’s where Mr. Lizard did his show every week.
The girls filed through the spinning doors into the lobby. A woman sat behind a desk. Her nameplate read VIVIAN POTTS.
“Hello,” Nancy said. “We’d like to-”
“Oh!” Ms. Potts cut in. “You must be the three lucky contest winners!”
Nancy opened her mouth to say no, but Ms. Potts cut in again.
“Your dad brought the turkey here this morning,” she said. “What a big fella! Would you like to check up on him?”
“Yes, thank you!” George blurted out.
Nancy didn’t want to pretend to be someone she wasn’t. But she had to find out about Martin!
“All right then!” Ms. Potts said cheerily. She pointed down the hall. “The turkey is right behind that red door.”