Time Thief Read online

  Can You Dig It?

  “Congratulations, Antonio!” Principal Newman said, handing him a gold-painted shovel. “You found the time capsule, so you get to dig it up.”

  Using the shovel, Antonio uncovered a metal box. The principal took over, picking up the box and placing it on a long table.

  “Let’s see what’s inside, shall we?” Principal Newman called out. “A troll with mint green hair! A pack of bubblegum baseball cards, a Boys Will Be Boys magazine . . .”

  After the last toy was removed, Principal Newman mumbled something to himself. But through the microphone it came across loud and clear: “That’s funny. There’s no Margie doll.”

  Nancy stared at Bess and George.

  Did the principal just say what she thought he said?

  Join the Clue Crew & solve these other cases!

  #1 Sleepover Sleuths

  #2 Scream for Ice Cream

  #3 Pony Problems

  #4 The Cinderella Ballet Mystery

  #5 Case of the Sneaky Snowman

  #6 The Fashion Disaster

  #7 The Circus Scare

  #8 Lights, Camera . . . Cats!

  #9 The Halloween Hoax

  #10 Ticket Trouble

  #11 Ski School Sneak

  #12 Valentine’s Day Secret

  #13 Chick-napped!

  #14 The Zoo Crew

  #15 Mall Madness

  #16 Thanksgiving Thief

  #17 Wedding Day Disaster

  #18 Earth Day Escapade

  #19 April Fool’s Day

  #20 Treasure Trouble

  #21 Double Take

  #22 Unicorn Uproar

  #23 Babysitting Bandit

  #24 Princess Mix-up Mystery

  #25 Buggy Breakout

  #26 Camp Creepy

  #27 Cat Burglar Caper

  If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.simonspeakers.com

  First Aladdin paperback edition January 2011

  Text copyright © 2011 by S&S, Inc.

  Illustrations copyright © 2011 by Macky Pamintuan

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  NANCY DREW and related logos are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  NANCY DREW AND THE CLUE CREW is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].

  The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  Designed by Lisa Vega

  The text of this book was set in ITC Stone Informal.

  Manufactured in the United States of America 1210 OFF

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Library of Congress Control Number 2009936588

  ISBN 978-1-4169-9458-9

  eISBN 978-1-4424-1967-4

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE:

  CRIME CAPSULE

  CHAPTER TWO:

  QUARTER FOUNDER

  CHAPTER THREE:

  CHEESE-WHIZ!

  CHAPTER FOUR:

  TOY VEY!

  CHAPTER FIVE:

  BALL GOWN BAIT

  CHAPTER SIX:

  TORI STORY

  CHAPTER SEVEN:

  DEAL OR STEAL?

  CHAPTER EIGHT:

  SHOCK-IN-THE-BOX

  CHAPTER NINE:

  SPILLED SECRET

  CHAPTER TEN:

  HELLO, DOLLY!

  Chapter One

  Crime Capsule

  “A troll doll with mint green hair, yo-yo, bubble-gum baseball cards, a—”

  “Brraaaap!”

  Eight-year-old Nancy Drew glanced up from the list she was reading.

  “What was that? A bullfrog?” Nancy asked her two best friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne.

  “That was George burping for the third time since lunch,” Bess complained. “It’s grossing me out!”

  “I can’t help it,” George insisted. “It’s the first time the mac and cheese in the lunchroom had onions in it.”

  Nancy shuddered as she remembered that day’s lunch. Since they had been in kindergarten, Mrs. McGillicuddy, the lunch lady, had made the yummiest macaroni and cheese. But today it tasted like dirty socks. Not that Nancy had ever tasted dirty socks!

  “Maybe Mrs. McGillicuddy’s blue hairnet was tied too tight,” George suggested.

  Nancy giggled at the thought. There were other lunch ladies, but only Mrs. McGillicuddy cooked. She was the only one with a blue hairnet too.

  “Maybe she just had a bad day,” Nancy said.

  “And when Mrs. McGillicuddy has a bad day,” Bess sighed, “we have a bad lunch.”

  Nancy, Bess, and George stood in the school yard together with their third-grade class. More classes from every grade were filing into the school yard. The students of River Heights Elementary School hardly ever got out of school a half hour early, but today was a special day— the day Principal Newman would dig up the school time capsule.

  “Good thing the kids made a list of everything inside the time capsule before they buried it,” George said. “Keep reading it, Nancy.”

  “One plastic whistle ring, one Boys Will Be Boys magazine,” Nancy went on. “And last but not least, one Margie doll wearing her famous glittery gown, Beauty in the Ballroom!”

  Bess swooned at the mention of Margie. But George shook her head as if she didn’t get it.

  “Every girl except me has a Margie doll,” George said. “What’s the big deal about the one in the time capsule?”

  “Are you serious?” a girl’s voice shrieked.

  Nancy whirled around to see Mira Zipsky standing behind them, her hands on her hips. Mira was the proud leader of the River Heights Margie Girls, a fan club for the Margie doll.

  “The Margie doll came out thirty years ago,” Mira explained. “That means the doll in the time capsule was one of the first Margies ever!”

  Another Margie Girl, Tori Alvarez, stood next to Mira shaking her head. Like Mira she was dressed in mostly lavender—the official color of the Margie doll.

  “You may be a detective, Georgia Fayne,” Tori said coolly, “but when it comes to dolls you’re clueless.”

  “All three of us are detectives,” George said, pointing to herself, Nancy, and Bess. “We call ourselves the Clue Crew—and you can call me George!”

  “George hates her real name, Georgia,” Bess said with a smile. “She also hates dolls.”

  “Unless they’re shaped like soccer balls!” George added with a smirk.

  Mira looked from George to Bess. “Are you sure you two are cousins?” she asked.

  Nancy couldn’t believe it either sometimes. Bess had blond hair and blue eyes. Her clothes were always neat and pretty, even when she was fixing or
building something. George had curly, dark hair and dark eyes. She wasn’t a fashionista like Bess, but a computer geek and proud of it!

  “Do any of you have a Ballroom Margie?” Nancy asked.

  “I wish!” Mira scoffed.

  “That doll would be a valuable antique,” Tori added. “If any of us had one, we’d be the number-one Margie Girl club in the whole country!”

  Antonio Alfano pushed his way through Mira and Tori.

  “Did someone say valuable?” Antonio asked. “That means only one thing. Cha-ching, cha-ching—and a brand-new bike!”

  Nancy, Bess, and George rolled their eyes as they turned away from their classmate.

  “Antonio belongs to a club of one,” George muttered. “Biggest pest in Mrs. Ramirez’s class!”

  Principal Newman took his place behind a microphone stand. He tapped on the mike to see if it was on, then said in a loud, booming voice: “Boys and girls, please welcome our special guest, Mona Mandrake, the president of Sapphire Toys.”

  A smartly dressed, brown-haired woman joined Principal Newman at the mike.

  “Her company makes the Margie doll!” Mira gasped.

  “Our hero,” Tori sighed.

  “After we dig up the time capsule,” Principal Newman went on, “Ms. Mandrake will take the Margie doll back to New York to be put on display at her office.”

  Mona leaned closer to the microphone and said, “Of course I’m not old enough to have owned the Margie doll in the time capsule, but I can’t wait to see a true classic!”

  “Me neither!” Bess said excitedly.

  As Nancy turned to smile at Bess she saw another person she didn’t know—a tall man with slicked-back hair standing alone in the school yard. His bushy eyebrows twitched as he glanced down at his watch.

  Who’s he? Nancy wondered. Her thoughts were interrupted as Bess tugged at her arm.

  “Nancy, Mrs. Ramirez is handing out maps to the time capsule,” Bess said excitedly. “Let’s get some!”

  “Okay!” Nancy said, excited too.

  The map had been drawn by the students who buried the time capsule exactly thirty years ago. That and the key had been kept in the principal’s office all this time.

  Everyone in Mrs. Ramirez’s class rushed to get a copy of the map. Everyone except Antonio.

  “Why doesn’t he want to play?” Nancy whispered.

  “Probably because nobody wants to play with him!” George answered.

  After everyone had a map Principal Newman blew a whistle to begin the hunt. Kids scattered in all directions, studying their maps to the buried time capsule.

  “The arrows lead around the swing set!” Bess said, jabbing her finger at her map.

  “I think it’s the water fountain!” Nancy said, tilting her head to study her own map. “Or the bike rack?”

  Nancy almost dropped her map as Antonio brushed past her. She looked up to see him race straight for the willow tree behind the basketball hoop.

  “King of the Time Capsule!” Antonio shouted, jumping up and down under the tree. “King of the Time Capsule!”

  “Congratulations, Antonio!” Principal Newman said, handing him a gold-painted shovel. “You found the time capsule so you get to dig it up.”

  “How did Antonio know where it was?” Nancy complained. “He didn’t even have a map!”

  Excited students and teachers gathered around the willow tree. Just before Antonio started to dig, Nancy noticed something about the ground. The dirt looked fresh—as if someone had dug there yesterday, not thirty years ago!

  The school band played a loud fanfare as Antonio jammed the shovel into the ground. The kids jumped back as dirt flew in all directions. Suddenly there was a loud clunk!

  Using the shovel, Antonio uncovered a metal box. The principal took over, picking up the box and placing it on a long table.

  “We want Margie!” shouted the Margie Girls.

  “Of course you do,” Mona Mandrake cooed. Principal Newman stuck a key into the lock. Everyone cheered when the lid of the metal box popped open.

  “Let’s see what’s inside, shall we?” Principal Newman called out. He smiled as he pulled out toys one by one. “A troll with mint green hair! A pack of bubblegum baseball cards, a Boys Will Be Boys magazine . . .”

  After the last toy was removed, Principal Newman mumbled something to himself. But through the microphone it came across loud and clear: “That’s funny. There’s no Margie doll.”

  Nancy stared at Bess and George.

  Did the principal just say what she thought he said?

  Chapter Two

  Quarter Founder

  Principal Newman shook the box upside down. All that fell onto the table was a silver coin.

  “This quarter wasn’t on the list either,” Principal Newman said.

  “But where’s Margie?” Mira wailed.

  “This is horrible!” Tori cried out.

  “It most certainly is!” Mona Mandrake said. “Principal Newman you promised me a classic Margie doll.”

  “It was on the list!” Principal Newman insisted.

  “The list lied,” Mona said, spinning around on her heel. “And I came all the way from New York for nothing.”

  “Mona, wait!” Principal Newman cried. “Take the troll with the mint green hair! Or the bubble-gum baseball cards.”

  Mona huffed her way out of the school yard. Nancy saw the man with the bushy eyebrows leaving too, very quickly. “Oh, well,” Principal Newman told the kids, forcing a smile. “Mistakes happen.”

  The school band played again as the kids lined up to see the toys and the time capsule.

  “I don’t think it was a mistake,” Nancy told Bess and George. “If you ask me, somebody took Margie!”

  “Took—as in stole?” Bess gasped.

  “The dirt over the time capsule looked fresh,” Nancy explained quietly as they filed toward the table. “As if someone had just dug there.”

  “An animal could have smelled the bubble gum in the time capsule,” Bess explained. “Maybe it was a raccoon.”

  “Or a weasel,” George whispered. “Antonio knew exactly where the time capsule was without looking at a map.”

  “He also knew how valuable the doll was,” Nancy pointed out. “You know . . . cha-ching, cha-ching?”

  “But how could Antonio get to the map and key in Principal Newman’s desk?” Bess asked.

  “Antonio spends lots of time in the principal’s office for doing pesty things,” Nancy pointed out. “He could have snooped around when Principal Newman wasn’t watching.”

  “Who else could it be but Antonio?” George said.

  Nancy’s eyes lit up. There was someone else!

  “A strange guy was standing alone watching everything,” Nancy said. “He left right after the time capsule was dug up.”

  The Clue Crew reached the table. The toys from the time capsule were neatly laid out. But as Nancy eyed the quarter, something didn’t add up. It was too shiny!

  Nancy picked up the quarter. Underneath the engraving of George Washington was a year—a year not too long ago!

  “This couldn’t have been in the time capsule thirty years ago,” Nancy pointed out. “It’s too new.”

  “So somebody did get to the time capsule before today,” George said with a nod.

  “Hey, keep it moving!” Trina Vanderhoof called from the back of the line. “Or it’ll be another thirty years before I see that time capsule!”

  “Okay, okay,” Nancy called, putting the quarter back on the table. Margie was more than a missing doll. She was another case for the Clue Crew!

  Nancy clicked the mouse. She leaned closer as an image appeared on the monitor. It was the classic Margie doll wearing Beauty in the Ballroom. Her eyes were greener than a lime lollipop and her shiny hair was buttercup yellow.

  “So that’s what Margie looked like thirty years ago,” Nancy said to herself.

  “Thirty years ago?” Mr. Drew joked as he stepped into Nancy’s
bedroom. “Seems like yesterday.”

  Mr. Drew looked over Nancy’s shoulder at the monitor as she explained the Clue Crew’s new case. Nancy’s father wasn’t a detective, but he was a lawyer who had lots of experience with all kinds of cases!

  “Did there happen to be a magazine in the time capsule too?” Mr. Drew asked.

  “There was a copy of Boys Will Be Boys,” Nancy replied. “How did you know, Daddy?”

  “Because,” Mr. Drew said with a grin, “I was the kid who put the magazine in the time capsule.”

  “You, Daddy?” Nancy gasped. “I knew you went to River Heights Elementary School but—”

  “But you didn’t think it was that long ago?” Mr. Drew teased. “Boys Will Be Boys was a great magazine. It had a comic strip called “Lester and Pester” about twins, one good and one pesty.”

  “Sounds funny!” Nancy said.

  “I dripped hot fudge sauce all over that magazine,” Mr. Drew sighed. “But I put it in the time capsule anyway.”

  Hannah Gruen appeared at the door. Hannah had been the Drew’s housekeeper since Nancy was only three years old. She knew practically everything about Nancy—and Mr. Drew.

  “Some things never change!” Hannah chuckled. She nodded at the tomato sauce stain on Mr. Drew’s tie.

  “Um . . . it’s just my way of telling Nancy that dinner is ready,” Mr. Drew said with a chuckle.

  “Your dad made the spaghetti sauce,” Hannah told Nancy. “He may be a messy cook, but he’s a good one.”

  Nancy took one last look at Margie before leaving her bedroom. It was also headquarters for the Clue Crew.

  “Daddy,” Nancy asked, “do you remember someone putting a Margie doll in the time capsule way back then?”

  “I remember the doll,” Mr. Drew said. “But I can’t remember who put it in the time capsule.”

  “That’s okay, Daddy,” Nancy said, following her father down the stairs. “If somebody put Ballroom Margie in the time capsule—it means somebody took her out!”

  “I can’t picture your dad as a kid at this school, Nancy,” Bess said the next morning in the school yard.