The Walkie-Talkie Mystery Read online

  Who Walked with the

  Walkie-talkie?

  “Bess?” Nancy asked slowly. “What happened to my walkie-talkie?”

  “I wish I knew!” Bess wailed. “I . . . lost it!”

  “You lost my walkie-talkie?” Nancy gasped. She could feel her heart pounding.

  “I raced the boys to the ice-cream truck,” Bess explained. “I was the first in line. But when Mr. Swirly Head held out my cone, I needed two hands to take it.”

  “So you put down Nancy's walkie-talkie?” George asked. “Where?”

  “On the ledge outside the truck window,” Bess explained. “I turned away for only a few seconds. But when I reached for the walkie-talkie—it was gone!”

  The Nancy Drew Notebooks

  # 1 The Slumber Party Secret

  # 2 The Lost Locket

  # 3 The Secret Santa

  # 4 Bad Day for Ballet

  # 5 The Soccer Shoe Clue

  # 6 The Ice Cream Scoop

  # 7 Trouble at Camp Treehouse

  # 8 The Best Detective

  # 9 The Thanksgiving Surprise

  #10 Not Nice on Ice

  #11 The Pen Pal Puzzle

  #12 The Puppy Problem

  #13 The Wedding Gift Goof

  #14 The Funny Face Fight

  #15 The Crazy Key Clue

  #16 The Ski Slope Mystery

  #17 Whose Pet Is Best?

  #18 The Stolen Unicorn

  #19 The Lemonade Raid

  #20 Hannah's Secret

  #21 Princess on Parade

  #22 The Clue in the Glue

  #23 Alien in the Classroom

  #24 The Hidden Treasures

  #25 Dare at the Fair

  #26 The Lucky Horseshoes

  #27 Trouble Takes the Cake

  #28 Thrill on the Hill

  #29 Lights! Camera! Clues!

  #30 It's No Joke!

  #31 The Fine-Feathered Mystery

  #32 The Black Velvet Mystery

  #33 The Gumdrop Ghost

  #34 Trash or Treasure?

  #35 Third-Grade Reporter

  #36 The Make-Believe Mystery

  #37 Dude Ranch Detective

  #38 Candy Is Dandy

  #39 The Chinese New Year Mystery

  #40 Dinosaur Alert!

  #41 Flower Power

  #42 Circus Act

  #43 The Walkie-talkie Mystery

  Available from MINSTREL Books

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  A MINSTREL PAPERBACKOriginal

  A Minstrel Book published by POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  Visit us on the World Wide Web:

  http://www.SimonSays.com

  Copyright © 2001 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  ISBN-10: 0-7434-2769-6

  ISBN-13: 978-0-7434-2769-2

  NANCY DREW, THE NANCY DREW NOTEBOOKS, A MINSTREL BOOK and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  The Walkie-talkie Mystery

  1

  Over and Out

  —and Gone!

  I'll give you a hint,” eight-year-old Nancy Drew said. “It comes in a set. And it's smaller than a lunchbox.”

  “Golf clubs!” Bess Marvin guessed.

  Bess's cousin George Fayne rolled her dark eyes. “Bess!” she said. “Golf clubs aren't smaller than a lunchbox!”

  “Okay, then,” Bess said, her blue eyes lighting up.“Miniaturegolf clubs!”

  Nancy laughed. It was Wednesday afternoon. Her best friends, Bess and George, were trying to guess what she had in the shopping bag.

  “Time's up,” Nancy said. She reached into the small shopping bag and pulled out two hot-green gadgets.

  They were shaped like small radios. Each had buttons, dials, and a green antenna. They looked exactly the same.

  “What are they?” George asked.

  “They're walkie-talkies,” Nancy said excitedly. “If I speak into one walkie-talkie, then the person with the other can hear me up to two miles away.”

  “Two miles!” George exclaimed. “Are you going to use them when you solve your mysteries, Nancy?”

  Nancy shook her head. She loved solving mysteries. She even had a blue detective notebook where she wrote her suspects and clues. But the walkie-talkies were for a different reason.

  “My father wants us to use them in crowded places,” Nancy said. “In case we get separated. Or lost.”

  “I wish I had a walkie-talkie,” George said. “Then if I got lost in the mall, my mom would know where to find me.”

  “Everyone knows where to findyou,George,” Bess joked. “In the sports store.”

  “Ha, ha,” George said. She twirled the soccer whistle around her neck.

  “Daddy and I are going to use them in the mall this Saturday,” Nancy said. “When I go shopping for back-to-school clothes.”

  “School?” George cried. “It's only the middle of August. We still have three weeks, six days, and sixteen hours to go.”

  Nancy began to put the walkie-talkies back in the shopping bag.

  “Don't put them away yet,” Bess said. “Not before we play with them.”

  “Can't,” Nancy said. “My dad said that the walkie-talkies aren't a toy.”

  “We wouldn'treallybe playing with them,” George said. “Just giving them a test run.”

  Nancy had already tested her walkie-talkies with her dad. But she still wanted to show her friends how they worked.

  “Okay,” Nancy said. “But we have to be very careful.”

  The girls walked out of the Drews’ yard onto the sidewalk. Nancy set both walkie-talkies to the same channel.

  She was about to hand one to Bess when she heard someone yell:

  “BEEP! BEEP!”

  Nancy looked up. Jason Hutchings and Mike Minelli were riding up her block on silver scooters.

  “Pests on wheels,” George groaned.

  Nancy wondered where David Berger was. The three boys were in the girls’ third-grade class. They were always together.

  “Nyah, nyah!” Jason sneered. “We have new scooters and you don't!”

  “So what?” George called. “Nancy has new walkie-talkies and you don't!”

  Nancy froze as the boys screeched to a stop. Did George have to tell the boys?

  “Cool!” Mike exclaimed.

  “Totallycool!” Jason gasped. “Those have to be the newMoleheads from MarsSpace Patrol Radios.”

  “They're not,” Nancy said. She knew thatMoleheads from Marswas the boys’ favorite TV show.

  “And speaking of space cadets,” George said, “where's David?”

  “His mom took him shopping for school supplies.” Jason sighed. “Poor guy.”

  Mike snickered. Then he grabbed a walkie-talkie right out of Nancy's hand.

  “Mission control to spaceship,” Mike called into the walkie-talkie. “The space aliens have landed. And they want pizza.”

  “Give it back!” Nancy demanded.

  “You want it?” Mike asked. He began scooting away with Jason. “Come get it!”

  Nancy froze. The boys were speeding up the block—with her walkie-talkie!

  “Bess, George!” Nancy cried. “I have to get it back!”

  The girls chased the boys, but they couldn't catch them.

 
“Nancy!” George shouted. “Give me your other walkie-talkie. Quick!”

  “Why?” Nancy asked. She stopped running and gave George her walkie-talkie.

  George grabbed her soccer whistle. She blasted it into the walkie-talkie.

  TWEEEEEEEEE!!!

  “Yow!” Mike yelped. He stumbled off his scooter and dropped Nancy's walkie-talkie onto the grass.

  “Gotcha!” Nancy said. She grabbed her walkie-talkie.

  “We were just playing space games,” Mike complained.

  “Then why don't you do us a favor and blast off?” George joked.

  Nancy shook her head as Jason and Mike scooted around the corner.

  “Now let's play—I mean—test out my walkie-talkies,” Nancy said. She handed one to Bess.

  “What do I do?” Bess asked.

  “Go around the corner,” Nancy said. “Then hold down the black button and speak into the walkie-talkie. I'll answer back.”

  “Neat!” Bess said excitedly. “I'll tell you a funny joke.”

  Bess ran around the corner. Nancy counted slowly to ten. Then she spoke into the walkie-talkie.

  “Bess?” she asked. “Can you read me?”

  “Not unless you're a book,” Bess's voice answered. “Knock, knock.”

  “Who's there?” Nancy asked.

  “Mr. Swirly Head!” Bess shouted.

  “Mr. Swirly Head who?” Nancy asked.

  “No,” Bess answered. “The Mr. Swirly Head ice-cream truck is coming.”

  Nancy could hear the Mr. Swirly Head music jingle through her walkie-talkie.

  “I can't talk when my mouth is watering!” Bess cried. “Over and out!”

  Nancy heard a click.

  “What do you expect?” George sighed. “Bess drops everything for ice cream.”

  “I just hope she doesn't drop my walkie-talkie,” Nancy joked.

  She couldn't blame Bess. Mr. Swirly Head sold the most awesome ice cream. His Skyscraper cones were so high that you had to stand on your toes to lick them.

  Mr. Swirly Head even wore a plastic swirled ice-cream hat on his head. It made him look like a giant ice-cream cone.

  Nancy wanted ice cream, too. But when she looked at her watch, it was 4:30—too close to dinnertime.

  “We'd better go around the corner and help Bess,” Nancy said. “No way she can hold a Skyscraper and my walkie-talkie at the same time.”

  But just as Nancy was about to turn the corner, she saw Bess. She was walking down the block with a Skyscraper cone in her hand.

  Her face was chalk white, and strawberry ice cream was dripping down her arm.

  “Bess?” Nancy asked slowly. “What happened to my walkie-talkie?”

  “I wish I knew!” Bess wailed. “I . . .lost it!”

  2

  Mean, Green—and Seen

  You lost my walkie-talkie?” Nancy gasped. She could feel her heart pounding.

  “I raced the boys to the ice-cream truck,” Bess explained. “I was the first in line. But when Mr. Swirly Head held out my cone, I needed two hands to take it.”

  “So you put down Nancy's walkie-talkie?” George asked. “Where?”

  “On the ledge outside the truck window,” Bess explained. “I turned away for only a few seconds. But when I reached for the walkie-talkie—it was gone!”

  Gone! The word hit Nancy like a ton of bricks. How was she ever going to explain this to her father?

  “I tried to ask the other kids if they'd seen it,” Bess went on. “But they were pushing past me to buy ice cream.”

  “What about the boys?” Nancy asked. “What were they doing?”

  “Jason and Mike were scooting away,” Bess said. “They didn't even have ice-cream cones.”

  Nancy could tell Bess was upset. She was dripping strawberry ice cream all over her new blouse, and she didn't even care.

  “Maybe the walkie-talkie fell on the ground,” George suggested.

  Bess pointed to her dirty knees. “I looked there, too!” she wailed. “I looked everywhere!”

  “Unless it fell the other way,” Nancy said.“Insidethe truck.”

  “Let's check it out!” George cried.

  The girls darted around the corner. The ice-cream truck was still there.

  Nancy saw Mr. Swirly Head lean out of the truck window. He was wearing his usual bright pink swirly hat.

  “What can I get for you girls?” Mr. Swirly Head asked with a smile.

  “A walkie-talkie,” Bess said quickly.

  “Walkie-talkie?” Mr. Swirly Head asked. He shook his head. “I've got ice-cream bars but not walkie-talkies.”

  Nancy pulled out her other walkie-talkie. She showed it to Mr. Swirly Head.

  “It's arealwalkie-talkie,” Nancy said. “It looks just like this one.”

  “I lost it when I bought a Skyscraper,” Bess said. “Did you find it?”

  Mr. Swirly Head looked down at the floor of the truck. Then he called over his shoulder.

  “Hey, Ethan?” Mr. Swirly Head asked. “Did you find a walkie-talkie?”

  Nancy watched as a boy peeked out from behind a tower of cardboard boxes. He was holding a book about dinosaurs and wearing a bright blue swirly hat.

  “No,” Ethan said. He looked through a box marked Lost and Found. “Just a Frisbee and some kid's retainer. Too gross!”

  Nancy recognized the boy. He was Ethan Taylor from the second grade.

  “I didn't know your dad was Mr. Swirly Head,” Nancy said to Ethan.

  Ethan nodded. “Dad asked me to help after camp ended. I'm going to pitch in three days a week!” he said proudly.

  “Ethan is a chip off the old block,” Mr. Swirly Head joked. He pointed to the freezer. “The ice block. Get it?”

  “Da-ad!” Ethan groaned, turning red.

  Nancy was too worried to laugh. Her walkie-talkie was nowhere to be found.

  “I'm sorry, Nancy,” Bess said sadly. “Nancy?” Ethan repeated. “I knew it!”

  “Knew what?” Nancy asked.

  “You're Nancy Drew, the school detective,” Ethan said. “I heard you're good.”

  “The best,” George bragged.

  “Thanks.” Nancy sighed. She placed her walkie-talkie into her pocket. “I hope I'm good enough to find my walkie-talkie.”

  George bought a chocolate Skyscraper. Then the girls walked back to Nancy's house.

  “I think someonetookmy walkie-talkie,” Nancy declared.

  “Who?” Bess asked. She popped the last of her cone into her mouth.

  “That's what I'm going to find out,” Nancy said. She ran into the house. In a flash she was outside with her blue detective notebook and a pencil.

  The girls sat down on the Drews’ doorstep. Bess and George looked over Nancy's shoulder as she opened her notebook to a fresh page.

  On the top of the page she wrote, “Where's my walkie-talkie?”

  First Nancy wrote that the walkie-talkie was taken on Wednesday at 4:30. She knew because she had looked at her watch.

  Then she skipped two lines and wrote the word “suspects.”

  “Jason and Mike were behind Bess in the ice-cream line,” Nancy said. “And they ran awaywithoutany ice cream.”

  George narrowed her eyes. “No one leaves Mr. Swirly Head without ice cream.”

  Nancy wrote the boys’ names in her notebook. Then she turned to Bess.

  “Who else did you see in the ice-cream line?” Nancy asked.

  Bess scrunched her nose. “I think I saw Andrew Leoni. But I'm not sure.”

  Nancy nodded. Andrew was in the girls’ third-grade class.

  “Aha!” George said. “I'll bet Andrew did it!”

  “Why?” Nancy asked.

  “Don't you remember?” George asked. “Andrew once took your pen-pal letters in school just so he could have the stamps. Once a sneak, always a sneak!”

  Nancy shook her head. “Andrew was very sorry about taking my letters,” she said. “I don't think he'd do something like that again.�
�

  Suddenly Nancy heard a strange crackling noise. It was coming from her pocket.

  “My walkie-talkie!” Nancy gasped. She pulled it out and held it to her ear. It crackled again. Then she heard a voice.

  “Wow!” it said. “This is soooo totally cool!”

  “Who are you?” Nancy shouted into the walkie-talkie. “Where's my walkie-talkie?”

  Nancy heard a click. Then the walkie-talkie became silent.

  “Who was that?” Bess asked. “Was it a boy or a girl?”

  “Whoever it was,” George said as she licked her ice-cream cone, “he or she has Nancy's walkie-talkie.”

  Nancy wrote down what the boy said.

  “‘Wow! This is sooo totally cool,’” Nancy repeated. “That's something Jason and Mike would say. Let's find them right now!”

  The girls ran the few blocks to the Hutchings house. They ducked behind the fence as Jason walked out of his house and into the front yard.

  Nancy, Bess, and George watched through the fence slats. Jason was leaning against a tree with something green in his hand. He pulled up what looked like an antenna. Then he began to speak into the green thing.

  “Spaceship has landed on Planet Zonko,” Jason called. “Craters are filled with guacamole dip.”

  Nancy's eyes opened wide.

  “Bess, George,” she whispered. “Jason has a green walkie-talkie!”

  3

  Meet Mystery Mouth

  It's green,” Bess whispered. “But are you sure it's a walkie-talkie?”

  “Well, it isn't a dill pickle!” George said. She waved her cone in the air. “Let's get him!”

  Nancy, Bess, and George ran out from behind the fence and straight to Jason.

  He tucked the walkie-talkie under his arm as the girls surrounded him.

  “Let me see that walkie-talkie, Jason,” Nancy said, holding out her hand.

  “No way!” Jason said. “Nothing will loosen a Molehead's iron grip. What wimpy planet are you from?”

  George grinned. She held her melting ice-cream cone right over Jason's head.