The Pumpkin Patch Puzzle Read online

  Who ruined the festival?

  As the Clue Crew got closer, they saw a large crowd outside the entrance of the tent. . . .

  All three girls gasped. From what Nancy could see, it looked like someone went wild with the paint. Several of the bottles had been opened up and poured out onto the ground, causing the grass to turn all kinds of crazy colors! One table was ruined and a few of the pumpkins had fallen to the ground too, with some splitting open. Little globs of pumpkin goo covered some of the tables and grass, where they had opened up.

  “Oh my gosh!” Bess cried. “Who could have done this?”

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE: FESTIVAL FUN

  CHAPTER TWO: DECORATING DRAMA

  CHAPTER THREE: PUMPKIN POSSIBILITIES

  CHAPTER FOUR: DASHED DREAMS

  CHAPTER FIVE: PUMPKIN PROBLEMS

  CHAPTER SIX: TENT TROUBLE

  CHAPTER SEVEN: WRECKED AND RIPPED

  CHAPTER EIGHT: DAZZLING DILEMMA

  CHAPTER NINE: STARRY SHENANIGANS

  CHAPTER TEN: DANCE DOOZY

  PUMPKIN DIY

  “Ugh, I can’t wait for the end of the day!” exclaimed eight-year-old Nancy Drew.

  “We have important things to do,” added her friend Bess Marvin.

  “Well, let’s try to have fun and maybe the school day will go by faster!” said George Fayne.

  It was a couple of days before the kickoff to the annual Fall Festival in River Heights. The festival was the highlight of the year for most, if not all, of the River Heights residents. There were all kinds of rides, games, food, and different fall-themed events for a week. The biggest part of the festival was the pumpkin decorating contest, which was on the first day of the festival. On the last day, the winner was announced—and would have the honor of having his or her design on all the banners and ads for next year, when the festival would be celebrating its fiftieth anniversary! The contest was open to kids as young as eight years old, and this was the first year that Nancy, Bess, and George would be entering.

  “I can’t wait to decorate our pumpkins,” said George. “I need to start thinking of my design.”

  The girls were going to Nancy’s house right after school to begin planning how to decorate their pumpkins. In order to be in the contest, anyone who wanted to compete had to submit their design idea to the festival committee by that Friday, before the festival’s opening day and the actual contest, which would be on Saturday. The girls couldn’t wait!

  “Maybe I’ll make mine look like a lion or tiger,” George continued. “I think that would look really cool on a pumpkin.”

  “You want to put a big cat on your pumpkin? How dumb is that?”

  The girls turned and saw Deirdre Shannon, one of their classmates—and one of the meaner girls at school—sitting at the cluster of desks right behind them.

  “It’s not dumb, Deirdre. Besides, you probably don’t even have an idea for your design,” said Bess.

  “Whatever, girls,” Deirdre said. “But you all better watch out, because I’m winning that contest and you will have to look at my design for the whole festival next year!”

  “Just ignore her, Bess,” Nancy said reassuringly as Deirdre turned around to chat with the rest of the kids in her group. “I think your idea could be really cool, George!”

  Bess sighed. “I still don’t know what to do. I really want my design to be the winning one—I mean, I want you guys to maybe win too,” she added quickly.

  Nancy and George laughed. “Well, hopefully everything will stay quiet around here so we can concentrate on our designs,” Nancy said.

  Nancy, Bess, and George were known around town for helping to solve mysteries in River Heights. Not only were they best friends (and George and Bess were cousins), they also had their own detective agency. They called themselves the Clue Crew—and had a pretty good success rate! Even though the girls were very different—Nancy was levelheaded, George was considered the “computer geek,” and Bess was very fashion-conscious—they worked perfectly together and made a great team!

  The girls chatted as they settled into their desks. But instead of the normal start with reading assignments, their principal, Mr. Newman, came in with a girl Nancy, George, and Bess had never seen before.

  “Oh, I wonder if we have a new girl in class,” whispered Nancy.

  “Good morning, everyone!” said Mrs. Ramirez. “I want you all to give a big River Heights Elementary welcome to Emma Costello. She just moved here from California and will be in class with you all.”

  Emma had big green eyes and curly brown hair. She was wearing a fun pink-and-brown dress, and cute shoes. She seemed a little nervous as she looked out at her new classmates.

  “That must be hard moving all the way from California,” said Bess.

  “Hey, maybe she can come over after school and decorate some pumpkins with us,” said Nancy. “That way, she can meet some more kids from class—and see the best part about the festival!”

  Finally, the end-of-day bell rang, and the three girls hurried off toward their lockers to grab their things before heading over to Nancy’s house. They were ready to start sketching out their ideas, and thought doing a little practice run on their own pumpkins would be a good idea before the big day. Besides Bess and George, Nancy had invited a few other classmates to come over as well.

  “Hey, guys! Are you on your way to Nancy’s house?” Violet Keeler called out.

  “Yup! We’re just waiting for Hannah to come pick us up so we can walk back with her,” explained Bess. Hannah Gruen was the longtime housekeeper and family friend to the Drews’, and a second mom to Nancy. “I’m not sure if we are waiting for anyone else.”

  At that moment, Nancy came to the lockers where the girls were standing.

  “We have one more—everyone, you remember Emma,” Nancy said. “I thought it would be cool if she could decorate the pumpkins with us!”

  “Hi, Emma! Do you know what you want to do with your pumpkin?” asked Bess.

  Emma shrugged. “Um, I’m not really sure,” she said. “I’m not a big fall person.” She pushed a stray brown curl out of her face.

  “Aw, well, I’m sure you’ll think of something once we get started,” said George.

  Emma frowned. “Whatever—it’s cool of Nancy to invite me over, but I’m not really into this whole festival thing. I think it’s stupid!”

  “Oh, look, there’s Hannah,” Nancy said, sounding relieved at the interruption. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

  As the rest of the group chatted during the walk, with Hannah keeping a close eye on everything, Bess and George pulled Nancy aside.

  “Nancy, it’s nice of you to invite her, but I don’t think she’s going to have a very good time,” said Bess. “Emma is kind of . . . rude.”

  “Well, she’s just getting used to River Heights,” Nancy pointed out. “It’s not easy being the new girl. So maybe she’ll be better once she gets to know everyone.”

  Suddenly a few of the girls screamed. “Look out! There’s a ghost coming right at us!”

  Nancy, Bess, and George ran toward the front of the group, with Hannah close behind. Sure enough, a small figure, all in white and with a scary face, was standing a few feet away. But as Nancy got closer, she realized it wasn’t a ghost at all.

  “Audrey! What are you doing?” yelled Emma.

  The ghost girl took off her face—well, her mask. “You promised you would hang out with me after you got home from school. But it looks like you are just too busy for me,” Audrey said with a huff.

  Emma sighed. “Everyone, this is my little sister, Audrey. Audrey, these are some of the kids from class. What are you doing out here?”

  Audrey pointed.
“Aunt Claire is at the store across the street. I saw you coming down the road and figured I’d scare you with my Halloween costume.”

  Hannah laughed. “I guess it worked pretty well!” No one else seemed to find it as funny as she did.

  “Audrey? What are you doing?” A woman, dressed in jeans and a sweater, ran toward the group.

  “I was trying to scare Emma and her friends, but it didn’t work so well,” said Audrey.

  Aunt Claire groaned. “Audrey, I need you to behave. You know I have a lot going on, especially with festival planning.” She glanced at Hannah and the group. “Sorry, everyone. I hope Audrey didn’t startle you too much!”

  “Wait, you’re Emma’s aunt?” asked Nancy, throwing a surprised glance at Emma. “You run the festival; that’s so cool! I’m Nancy,” she added. “We’re about to go to my house and practice our designs for the pumpkin decorating contest.”

  Aunt Claire smiled. “Nice to meet you, Nancy. And yes, I’ve been the head of the festival for a few years now—I’m excited that Emma and Audrey finally get to be here for one.”

  “Our parents work for a newspaper, and they had to go to London for an assignment. They’ll be gone for a whole year,” Emma said. “So we got stuck moving here.”

  Aunt Claire forced another smile. “It’ll be fun having my nieces out here, but I know it will been hard for them. So it’s nice to see that Emma is finally making some new friends in town.”

  Nancy, Bess, and George exchanged glances. Somehow, they didn’t think Emma felt the same way.

  “Well, I guess I’ll let you girls get cracking on your designing. Emma, you’ll be home by five thirty, okay?”

  Emma just rolled her eyes. “Yup, I’ll be home. Don’t worry, Aunt Claire, I know you’re busy.”

  Aunt Claire took Audrey’s hand. “Great! See you later! And nice meeting you all,” she added as she and Audrey walked in the opposite direction.

  Emma stared after her aunt and sister.

  “I didn’t know that your aunt was in charge of the entire festival—that’s so awesome!” said Nancy.

  Emma whirled around. “You wouldn’t think it’s so awesome if your aunt never had time to hang out because she has all this stupid festival stuff to do. It’s awful!”

  Nancy blinked in surprise at Emma’s outburst, not really knowing what to say.

  “Well, why don’t we keep moving along before it gets too late,” Hannah said hastily. “I’m sure your parents will all want you home before dinner!”

  • • •

  When the girls arrived at the Drew household, the mood lightened immediately. A row of pumpkins stood waiting in the sunroom, along with all sorts of special markers, glue, and stickers that the girls could use to decorate them.

  “Wow, this is great! Thank you, Hannah, for setting this all up,” Bess exclaimed.

  “Of course! If any of you need anything, I’ll be right in the next room,” said Hannah.

  Everyone started rummaging through the various supplies. Pretty soon glitter, paper, and markers were flying everywhere.

  “I think I’m going to make mine look like a MusicMate, that cool new music player,” said George. “Everyone is going to have something that looks like a face—I think mine will really stand out!”

  “Ohhhh, good idea, George!” exclaimed Sonia, another of the girls’ classmates. “It’s right up your alley.”

  “I’m not sure what I want to do yet,” said Madison Foley. “But I really, really want my design to win!”

  George looked at her curiously. “Well, that’s what we are all hoping for,” she pointed out.

  Madison sighed. “Well, there’s this special arts camp that I want to go to this summer,” she explained. “They don’t have that many spots, so I’m hoping that I win the contest so I can get in!”

  Bess grinned. “Aw, Madison, you’re really good at drawing and stuff. I’m sure you can get in just on your own, without the festival competition.”

  Madison shook her head. “I’m not sure. I just want to really stand out, you know?”

  The girls continued to chat as they started to make headway on their designs. Bess was hard at work on a princess-looking pumpkin, with a gold felt crown near the top of the pumpkin and pretty glitter accents all over. George was doing well constructing the MusicMate pumpkin, complete with headphones for ears. And Nancy was busy making her pumpkin look like her beloved dog, Chocolate Chip! Even though George thought anything with a face was too common, Nancy thought her dog was just too cute to pass up. With a real button for the nose, colorful “fur” marks, and a sparkling, glittery tongue, who could resist the cuteness that was Chip?!

  Nancy glanced over at the rest of the girls. Everyone seemed to be having lots of fun—especially since Hannah had just brought in a plate of her superdelicious, super-special double-chocolate-chip cookies for a snack!

  “You need to keep your energy up with all this decorating,” Hannah had said.

  But the only person who still looked glum was Emma, who seemed annoyed about something.

  Nancy made her way over to the new girl.

  “How do you like River Heights so far?” Nancy asked as she drew sparkly whiskers on her Chip pumpkin.

  Emma sighed as she drew random curlicues all over her pumpkin. “You girls seem nice, but this is all dumb to me. My aunt only cares about this stupid festival. I wish I was back in California!”

  Across the table, a few of the girls scowled.

  “Geez, Emma, if you don’t like it so much, you should just go back,” Sonia said with a sniff.

  “Yeah, we’ve tried to be nice, but you don’t seem to care. I bet you’ll win just because your aunt is in charge!” added Abby Warner, another classmate.

  Emma glared at Abby. “It doesn’t matter; I can’t ‘officially’ enter since my aunt is involved with the festival. But if I could, I would definitely beat you guys!”

  By the looks on the girls’ faces, nobody thought so.

  Just then Hannah bustled in.

  “Okay, girls, time to wrap things up! Your parents are on their way.”

  “Just in time—things weren’t looking too good,” George whispered to Nancy.

  As everyone said good-bye, Nancy wondered if Emma would ever find a friend in River Heights.

  The next day, Nancy woke up to a delicious smell coming from the kitchen. “Nancy! Wake up! I’ve made a special breakfast for you,” Carson Drew called up to his daughter.

  “Coming, Daddy!” yelled Nancy as she bounded down the stairs.

  A fresh stack of pancakes sat in the middle of the kitchen table, along with some butter and syrup. There were two plates, with a glass of juice at one place setting and a cup of coffee for Mr. Drew at the other.

  Nancy grinned as she took a seat. “Yum! Pancakes! What’s this for?” she asked as she took a few from the stack.

  Mr. Drew smiled as he flipped the next batch of pancakes at the stove. “Well, Hannah had the morning off, and I know today is the day you bring your designs down to the folks at the festival. And it’s Friday! Always a good day for pancakes.”

  Nancy giggled. “Every day is a good day for pancakes!” she said.

  After the last batch was done, Nancy told her father a little about Emma and Audrey, and how their aunt was in charge of the festival. She also mentioned what had happened the day before.

  “I just don’t know what else to do, Daddy,” Nancy said. “I’ve tried to be nice to her, but she isn’t really making it easy to like her.”

  Carson smiled. “Give her a little more time, Nancy,” he said. “It’s hard moving, and she probably misses her mom and dad. Just keep being nice to her, so she knows she at least has one friend here.”

  Nancy sighed. “Okay. I’ll keep trying,” she said.

  Carson grinned. “That’s my girl! Now let’s get you to school before you’re late.”

  • • •

  After the final bell rang, Nancy, Bess, and George all met in front of t
he school. Mrs. Fayne was on her way to drop the girls off at the main festival headquarters in downtown River Heights so they could submit their official design entry forms.

  The girls could barely contain their excitement as they waited for George’s mom. They protectively clutched their entry forms, which were sealed in envelopes with their names and ages on the front. They saw a few of their other classmates with their entries as well.

  Soon, Mrs. Fayne’s car pulled into view.

  “You girls ready to go?” she asked with a smile. “I bet one of you will have the winning design!”

  “I hope so, Mom!” exclaimed George.

  As they got closer to downtown, a lot of the roads were already blocked off in preparation for the event. The banner proclaiming that it was the forty-ninth annual River Heights Fall Festival was being hung across the front of town hall. The girls all squealed in excitement as soon as they saw it.

  “Aghhh, it’s not even all set up yet and I’m so excited!” Bess cried.

  Mrs. Fayne chuckled. “Easy, girls! I need to find a place to park.” She frowned. “I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to find a spot. I’ll just drop you off at town hall, and then I’ll circle around and pick you back up. Sound good?”

  Nancy, Bess, and George all nodded as they pulled in front of the town hall doors.

  “Now, just wait for me there—don’t go wandering anywhere,” Mrs. Fayne said.

  The girls went to the front check-in desk, where the kind town clerk pointed them toward the room where they needed to submit their forms.

  “Good luck!” she called after them.

  As the girls went into the room, Emma’s aunt Claire was busy taking entries from some of the kids who had already come through.

  “Excuse me, Miss Costello? We’re here to drop off our designs,” Nancy said.

  Aunt Claire glanced up. She smiled when she saw the Clue Crew.

  “Hi there, girls!” she said. “How are you doing? Do you have your forms?”

  Nancy, George, and Bess all nodded as they handed over their designs.