The Carousel Mystery Read online

  Contents

  Chapter 1: A Holiday Surprise

  Chapter 2: A Ghostly Note

  Chapter 3: Big News

  Chapter 4: Nancy Has Competition

  Chapter 5: A Spooky Song

  Chapter 6: A Musical Clue

  Chapter 7: To Catch a Thief

  Chapter 8: Brass Ring Bust

  1

  A Holiday Surprise

  I love parties!” eight-year-old Nancy Drew said from the backseat of her father’s car.

  “I really love parties!” her best friend George Fayne agreed. George was sitting next to Nancy.

  “I love parties more than anything in the whole wide world!” George’s cousin Bess Marvin piped up. Bess was Nancy’s other best friend. She was sitting on the other side of George. “Except maybe presents. Hmm. I can’t decide!”

  Nancy, George, and Bess all lived in River Heights and were in the same third-grade class at Carl Sandburg Elementary School.

  The three girls were on their way to a holiday party at Nick and Patricia Gangi’s house. The Gangis were friends of Nancy’s dad, Carson Drew. Mr. Drew was also their family lawyer.

  “The best thing about the holidays is that you get parties and presents,” Nancy said.

  “And no school for two whole weeks,” George added.

  Outside the car, snow was falling softly. Nancy pressed her face against the window and stared at the scenery. She liked seeing all the houses decked with holiday decorations and holiday lights.

  Mr. Drew turned onto a road lined with snow-covered trees. Just ahead was an enormous gray mansion. Beyond it was a big white meadow that ended in a stretch of woods.

  “Is that their house?” George exclaimed.

  “It’s like a princess’s castle!” Bess nodded.

  “Dad, you said this party had a super-secret surprise theme,” Nancy said eagerly. “What is it? Can you tell us?”

  “You’ll find out soon enough,” Mr. Drew promised with a chuckle.

  Nancy couldn’t wait. What could the supersecret surprise theme be? she wondered.

  Mr. Drew parked the car behind a long row of cars in the driveway. As the four of them walked up to the house, the snow made crunching sounds under their boots.

  On the front door there was a big wreath made of twigs, dried cranberries, origami paper birds, and tiny silver bells. Under the wreath was a handmade sign that said COME IN! in purple and green crayon.

  Nancy and her friends followed Mr. Drew inside. The front hall and living room were filled with grown-ups and kids. Servers in black uniforms walked around with trays of food and drinks.

  “Welcome, welcome!”

  A tall man with light brown hair rushed to greet them. He was wearing a green velvet jacket with a sprig of mistletoe on the lapel.

  Mr. Drew shook the man’s hand. “Girls, this is Mr. Nick Gangi,” he said.

  Nancy, George, and Bess all shook hands with Mr. Gangi. “Is this whole house yours?” George asked, her brown eyes wide.

  Mr. Gangi laughed. “Yes, this whole house is ours. It first belonged to my great-greatgrandfather, Thomas Gangi. In fact, he’s sort of the reason for this party.” He winked at Mr. Drew.

  Nancy glanced at her father, and then at Mr. Gangi. Mr. Gangi must be talking about the super-secret surprise theme, she thought.

  “I know he lived a really long time ago, but was today your great-great-grandfather’s birthday?” Nancy guessed

  Mr. Gangi smiled. “No, but that’s a good guess. Why don’t all of you come with me into the living room. I was just about to make my announcement. Plus, I want you to meet the rest of the family.”

  Mr. Gangi led Mr. Drew, Nancy, George, and Bess into the crowded room. Everyone was standing around, talking and eating.

  In the corner of the living room, Nancy saw a giant Christmas tree. It was covered with twinkling white lights, strings of popcorn, carved wooden dolls, and many other beautiful decorations.

  While Nancy gazed at the tree, a pretty woman with long, wavy, dark brown hair walked over to them. Two blond girls stood next to her, one on either side. Nancy guessed the girls were about her age. Just behind them was a red-haired teenage boy.

  The two girls looked almost exactly alike. The only difference was that the first girl wore her hair in a ponytail. The second one wore her hair down, with lots of purple barrettes. They must be twins, Nancy thought.

  “Hi, Patty,” Mr. Drew said. He kissed the woman on the cheek. “Girls, this is Mrs. Gangi,” he said.

  “These are my daughters, Johanna and Mia,” Mrs. Gangi said. “And this is their cousin Brad Gangi,” she said, pointing to the red-haired teenager.

  The girl with the ponytail pouted. “Jo, not Johanna,” she insisted.

  “This is Jo,” Mrs. Gangi corrected herself with a smile. “Jo and Mia’s little brother, Sam, is around here somewhere. You can’t miss him. He’s wearing a Turtleman T-shirt.”

  Bess plucked a chocolate cupcake off a server’s tray. “Turtleman? I love Turtleman. He’s awesome.”

  “Turtleman is lame. Just like this party is lame,” Nancy heard Brad mumble to Mia.

  “Brad! Shut up!” Mia snapped.

  “But I know how to make the party way cooler,” Brad whispered to both Jo and Mia. “You want to help me?” He had a mischievous look in his eyes.

  “Shhhhh,” Jo and Mia whispered together.

  Nancy wondered what that was all about. But she didn’t have time to think about it; just then, Mr. Gangi clinked a spoon against a glass.

  “Can I have everyone’s attention?” he called out in a loud voice. “Attention, everyone! I have an announcement to make.”

  Nancy turned to George and Bess. “Yay, this is it!” she whispered.

  Everyone in the room fell silent. Mr. Gangi put the spoon and glass down. Then he stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and began to give a speech.

  “A hundred years ago, my great-greatgrandfather, Thomas Gangi, lived in this house with his wife and three children,” Mr. Gangi said. “He was a craftsman who made carousel horses. He was famous all over the world for his horses.”

  “Carousel horses, that’s so cool!” George whispered. Nancy nodded.

  “Thomas Gangi made a special carousel for his children,” Mr. Gangi went on. “It used to be on the grounds of this house.”

  Nancy wondered where the carousel was. She didn’t remember seeing it out front.

  “The carousel was taken down a long time ago,” Mr. Gangi continued. “No one knew what became of the horses . . . until now.”

  Mr. Gangi held his hands out to his daughters, Jo and Mia. The two girls went to stand on either side of him.

  “One rainy day last spring, our two girls were playing hide-and-seek in the basement,” Mr. Gangi explained. “While they were playing, they found a secret room! Patty and I didn’t know this house even had a secret room. But inside the secret room, Jo and Mia found the twelve carousel horses!”

  Nancy gasped. What an awesome discovery, she thought.

  Nancy liked to solve mysteries. In fact, she had solved lots of mysteries with Bess and George. But they had never come across missing carousel horses in a secret room!

  Mr. Gangi smiled down at his daughters. “I immediately hired a carousel expert. He restored the horses to their original condition. Then our family decided to donate the horses to the city of River Heights. The carousel will be unveiled at a grand opening in the park on Wednesday—and it’s all thanks to my two little girls!”

  Everyone in the room burst into applause. Nancy clapped and cheered.

  Then she noticed something. Mia looked kind of nervous. She was fiddling with her barrettes and staring down at the ground. Nancy guessed Mia didn’t like
all the attention she and Jo were getting.

  Then Nancy noticed a little boy with brown hair peeking out from behind the velvet couch. He was wearing a Turtleman T-shirt and had a big frown on his face.

  That must be Sam Gangi, Nancy thought. But why does he look so unhappy too?

  “The twelve horses are on display in our library,” Mr. Gangi announced. “I wanted all of you to get a chance to see them first before we hand them over to the city. Then, on Wednesday, a group of lucky children will get the first ride. They’ll get to participate in a special contest, too. Whoever gets the brass ring wins a prize!”

  “What’s a brass ring?” Bess asked Nancy. Nancy shrugged.

  “Some carousels have a brass ring, some don’t,” Mr. Drew explained. “It’s a big ring that hangs from the side of the carousel. You grab for it while the carousel is going around and around. Whoever grabs it first usually wins a prize.”

  “It sounds fun!” Nancy said.

  “Please, please, follow us!” Mr. Gangi said loudly. “It’s time to see the horses—and the brass ring, too. The brass ring has a hand-carved design on it. It’s the only one like it in the whole world.”

  Mr. Gangi, Jo, and Mia led the way into the library. The crowd shuffled after them, talking in excited voices.

  “I can’t wait to see the horses!” Bess said, jumping up and down.

  “I can’t wait to—,” Nancy began.

  But she was interrupted by a couple of loud screams from the library. It sounded like Jo and Mia!

  2

  A Ghostly Note

  Nancy, George, and Bess rushed into the library through the double doors. Nancy’s thoughts were racing. Why did Jo and Mia scream? Were they hurt? What happened?

  A crowd had already gathered in the library. Nancy squeezed through a bunch of grown-ups to the front so she could see what was happening. George and Bess did the same.

  Mr. and Mrs. Gangi, Jo, and Mia were at the front of the crowd. No one seemed hurt. But Jo and Mia looked like they were about to start crying.

  “Oh, my gosh!” Bess gasped. “Nancy, look!”

  Nancy glanced around.

  Lined up along two walls of the library were a dozen old-fashioned carousel horses.

  The horses were painted different colors—white, beige, pale pink, sky blue, yellow, brown—with lots of shiny gold trim. Each one had its own design. The first one had a picture of a bird in a pear tree on it. The second one had a picture of two birds nestled close together. The third one had three brown hens. . . .

  “It’s ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas,’” Nancy said.

  “Who screamed? What happened?” one of the guests demanded.

  “The brass ring is missing!” Jo cried out. “It was right here, in front of the Partridge-in-a-Pear-Tree horse. Now it’s gone. And the thief left this.” She pointed a trembling finger at the horse.

  Nancy leaned forward to take a closer look. There was a white piece of paper taped to the side of the horse.

  It was a note! The note was written in red ink. Nancy stepped closer to read the words.

  The handwriting was spooky-looking. The note said:

  Leave the horses alone. Or there will be more trouble.

  TG

  Bess peeked over Nancy’s shoulder. “Who’s TG?” she demanded.

  Mia read the note too—and gasped. “TG? That must be our great-great-great-grandpa, Thomas Gangi!”

  “Isn’t he . . . um, dead?” George asked her.

  Jo gasped. “It must be his ghost, then! His ghost left this note!” She turned around and rushed into her mother’s arms. “Mommy, I’m scared!”

  Mia also ran into her mother’s arms. “Me too, Mommy!”

  Sam stood behind his father. He picked at a big chocolate stain on his Turtleman T-shirt. He looked pretty scared too.

  “This was not the work of a ghost,” Mr. Gangi murmured. “Ghosts don’t exist.”

  “There are no such things as ghosts,” Nancy agreed. “Someone may be pretending to be a ghost, though.”

  “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for all this,” Mrs. Gangi said. “Maybe this is someone’s idea of a joke.”

  Everyone in the room was whispering about the missing brass ring and the note. The party had gone from super-fun to super-mysterious in less than a minute!

  Mr. Gangi asked two of the servers to escort the guests out of the room. “We’ll get this straightened out,” he announced to the crowd with a big, cheerful smile.

  The guests shuffled out the door. Mr. Drew, Nancy, George, Bess, and the whole Gangi family stayed in the library.

  Mr. Gangi turned back to Mr. Drew. His smile faded into a frown.

  “This is not good,” he said in a low voice to Mr. Drew. “My great-great-grandfather made that brass ring specially for these carousel horses. It was one of a kind.”

  “And now there won’t be anything for the children to grab on Wednesday for the contest!” Mrs. Gangi added. “Oh, Nick! What could have happened to the brass ring? And who left that note?”

  “Nancy can find out for you!” Bess exclaimed.

  Mr. and Mrs. Gangi looked at Bess in surprise. “What do you mean?”

  “Nancy’s an awesome detective,” George piped up. “She’s solved lots of mysteries.”

  “I’d be happy to help,” Nancy offered.

  Mr. Drew put his arm around Nancy’s shoulders. “With you on the case, honey, I’m sure we’ll solve this mystery in no time,” he said with a smile.

  “If you can help us find that brass ring by next Wednesday, we’d sure appreciate it,” Mr. Gangi said.

  “Nancy’ll catch the thief!” Bess said.

  “You mean the ghost,” Jo said. Mia nodded.

  “There are no such things as ghosts,” Nancy repeated.

  Just then, Nancy noticed someone sitting on a velvet couch in the corner. It was Brenda Carlton. She was dressed in a red satin dress with a big bow at the collar. She was scribbling like mad in a small notebook.

  Brenda was in Nancy, Bess, and George’s third-grade class. Her father was the publisher of the River Heights newspaper.

  Nancy had always tried to be friendly to Brenda. But Brenda could be snooty and mean sometimes. She thought she could do just about anything better than anyone—including Nancy!

  The Gangis were talking to Mr. Drew about the brass ring. Nancy excused herself and walked over to Brenda.

  Brenda glanced up. As soon as she saw Nancy, she closed her notebook shut.

  “I’m busy,” Brenda announced before Nancy could say a word.

  “Um, hi to you, too, Brenda,” Nancy said cheerfully. “I didn’t know you were at this party.”

  “My father knows the Gangis. My father knows everybody,” Brenda replied in a huffy voice.

  Nancy was curious. Why did Brenda stay in the library when everyone else went back to the living room? Was she snooping on the conversation between the Gangis, Carson, Nancy, Bess, and George? And what was Brenda writing in her notebook?

  Nancy sat down on the velvet couch next to Brenda. She leaned over and pointed to the notebook. “What are you writing?” she asked. “It’s not homework, is it? We’re on vacation, remember? We don’t have school till January!” she joked.

  “It’s none of your beeswax,” Brenda snapped. “All I can say is that what I’m writing is important. Really important.”

  Without saying good-bye, Brenda jumped to her feet and pranced out the door, toward the living room.

  Nancy frowned. Does Brenda know something about the missing brass ring? she wondered.

  And then she thought of something else.

  Where was Brad Gangi?

  • • •

  “He’s not in our room,” Jo Gangi said. “He’s not in Sam’s room either.”

  Jo, Mia, Nancy, Bess, and George had spent the last twenty minutes looking for Brad. First they had combed the first floor. But they had not found Brad with the rest of the guests.

  Now
they were upstairs looking through the bedrooms. But Brad didn’t seem to be in any of them, either.

  “Maybe he went home or something,” George suggested.

  “No way. Mom and Dad haven’t served the big flaming Christmas cake yet. Brad would never miss that,” Jo said.

  “Flaming . . . cake?” Bess repeated. “You mean it’s on fire?”

  “Why are we looking for Brad, anyway?” George asked Nancy.

  “I heard him whispering to you guys,” Nancy said to Jo and Mia. “He said he had some plan to make the party ‘way cooler.’ What if he meant stealing the brass ring?”

  Jo and Mia glanced at each other. Jo began twirling her ponytail. “I guess,” she said slowly.

  “Brad is kind of a jerk,” Mia agreed.

  “Do you guys know if he’s ever stolen stuff before?” Nancy asked the sisters.

  Mia shrugged. “I think he might have stolen one of Sam’s baseball cards once,” she said after a minute.

  Jo gasped. “Hmm. Maybe he did steal the brass ring.”

  Mia nodded. “Yeah, maybe.”

  “What a jerk!” Jo said in an angry voice.

  “He’s just a suspect, for now. We have to get some proof first,” Nancy pointed out.

  The five girls continued down the hall. They came upon the Gangis’ master bedroom. Inside, the king-size bed was heaped with coats and bags.

  Mia pointed to a yellow and black parka that was on the floor. “That’s Brad’s,” she said. “He must still be here.”

  Nancy noticed a black backpack next to the parka. It was covered with faded motorcycle stickers.

  It also had the initials BG on the front pouch, in red.

  “Is this Brad’s backpack?” Nancy asked.

  “Yup!” Mia said, nodding.

  “Maybe the brass ring is in there,” Bess whispered to Nancy. She glanced over her shoulder at the door. “Maybe you should open it!”

  Nancy didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to poke through Brad’s backpack. On the other hand, what if Brad was the thief? What if the brass ring was in there?

  Nancy picked up the backpack and turned it around in her hands. She tried to feel for the brass ring through the outside of the pack.