The Fine-Feathered Mystery Read online

  “It is?” Nancy asked excitedly.

  Mr. Drew picked up his newspaper and nodded. “You should find out if Carmen is still in River Heights.”

  “What if she isn’t, Daddy?” Nancy asked, worried.

  “Then I guess this case will be for the birds,” Mr. Drew teased.

  “Oh, Daddy,” Nancy groaned. “Not another bird joke—please!”

  • • •

  It was still dark when Nancy woke up the next morning. It was even dark when she climbed into Hannah’s car.

  Hannah was dressed for a morning of bird-watching. She wore a hat, backpack, and rubber boots, and carried huge binoculars.

  On the way to Hazel Hill they picked up Bess and George. They both looked very sleepy.

  “I was so tired I poured orange juice on my corn flakes,” Bess groaned.

  George yawned. “I almost brushed my teeth with ointment.”

  “I’m not sleepy at all,” Nancy said.

  “Well, rise and shine,” Hannah said as she drove. “Because here’s Hazel Hill.”

  It was just getting light as Nancy and her friends stepped out of the car.

  Five other people dressed like Hannah were standing under a tree. A man with tan shorts and a matching vest waved them over.

  “Morning, Hannah,” he called.

  “Girls,” Hannah said. “I’d like you to meet our eagle-eyed leader, Walt Whipperwill.”

  “Hi,” Nancy said. “These are my friends Bess and George. They’re a little sleepy this morning.”

  “Sleepy?” Walt chuckled. “Don’t you know that the early bird catches the worm?”

  The other bird-watchers laughed.

  Walt leaned over and winked. “Except for the owls . . . they don’t give a hoot!”

  The bird-watchers laughed even louder.

  “It’s too early for bird jokes,” George whispered to Nancy.

  “Are you girls looking for a special bird this morning?” Walt asked.

  “Yes,” Nancy said. “A hyacinth macaw.”

  “A hyacinth macaw?” Walt asked. He gave a whistle. “That’s a serious bird.”

  “I know,” Nancy said. “And we’re serious about finding her.”

  “Okay, brigade,” Walt said. He turned to the other birdwatchers. “Let’s spread out and keep our eyes peeled. If we’re lucky, we’ll see some warblers.”

  The brigade chattered excitedly.

  “Where should my friends and I go, Mr. Whipperwill?” Nancy asked.

  Walt pointed to a bench under a tree. “Why don’t you girls perch yourselves right over there?” he suggested.

  Nancy, Bess, and George sat on the bench. They stared up at the trees.

  “These should help,” George said. She pulled a pair of plastic binoculars from her backpack.

  “Way to go, George!” Nancy said. She looked through the binoculars. It made the branches seem very close.

  Bess yawned. “What do you see, Nancy?”

  “Some sparrows, a squirrel,” Nancy said. “But no hyacinth macaw.”

  Nancy sighed and lowered the binoculars. She turned to Bess and George. They were curled up on the bench—and fast asleep!

  “Bess, George,” Nancy hissed. She shook her friends gently. “Wake up.”

  Bess mumbled something and rolled over. George was already snoring.

  Oh, great, Nancy thought. How can they fall asleep at a time like this?

  Nancy listened to George snore. She watched Bess sleeping.

  “I’m not tired at all,” Nancy thought. She gave a little yawn. “Not really.”

  But then Nancy’s eyelids became heavy. She felt herself getting sleepier and sleepier.

  “I won’t fall asleep,” Nancy said to herself. She yawned. “No…way.”

  The next thing Nancy knew, Hannah was shaking her arm.

  “Nancy! Nancy!”

  Nancy opened her eyes. “Wha-what?” she asked.

  “You fell asleep,” Hannah said.

  “Sleep?” Nancy blinked her eyes. “I couldn’t have.”

  Bess and George sat up. They rubbed their eyes.

  “What happened?” George asked.

  “Did we miss something?” Bess asked.

  “You sure did,” Hannah said. “We just spotted a hyacinth macaw.”

  Nancy gave a little shriek.

  “Did you say ‘a hyacinth macaw’?”

  4

  Deep Blue Clue

  Why didn’t you wake us up, Nancy?” Bess complained.

  Nancy didn’t answer Bess. She jumped up from the bench and ran to the other bird-watchers. They were staring up at a tree through big binoculars.

  “She’s a beauty, all right,” Walt said, looking through his binoculars.

  Nancy saw a flash of bright blue in the tree. Then she heard a squawk.

  “Bess, George,” Nancy cried. “Listen!”

  The girls strained their ears.

  “I’m a happy camper,” a voice squawked. “That’s what I like to dooooo!”

  “Nancy!” Bess said. She jumped up and down. “It’s the happy camper song!”

  “It’s Carmen!” Nancy cried. She tugged at Walt’s sleeve. “Mr. Whipperwill, Mr. Whipperwill, you have to catch that bird.”

  “Catch it?” Walt asked. “Now, why would we want to do that?”

  Nancy stared at Walt. “Because we have to bring her back to the park.”

  Walt shook his head and laughed. “We’re bird-watchers. Not bird-catchers.”

  “Now you tell us,” George groaned.

  Nancy heard the leaves rustle. Then she saw Carmen stick her head out.

  “Rrrraaak!” she squawked. “Happy camper. Happy camper.”

  “There she is,” Nancy cried. She raised her arm. “Come here, Carmen!”

  Carmen swooped down from the tree. But instead of landing on Nancy’s arm, she flew away and out of sight.

  “Oh, nooooo!” Nancy cried.

  “There she goes,” Walt said. He turned to the other bird-watchers. “Did everyone see that excellent hyacinth macaw?”

  The bird-watchers nodded excitedly. But George was angry.

  “We saw her, all right,” George said. “We saw her fly away.”

  Nancy put her hand on George’s shoulder. “It’s okay, George. It’s still a good thing we saw Carmen.”

  “How come?” Bess asked.

  “Because now we know that Carmen is still here in River Heights,” Nancy said.

  “And not South America,” Bess said.

  Nancy took out a pencil and wrote the clue in her notebook.

  When they were finished bird-watching, Hannah drove the girls to Park Pals. They met Lynn and the other Grasshoppers inside their brick clubhouse.

  “Don’t tell the others about our Carmen sighting,” Nancy whispered to Bess and George. “We don’t want Todd to know.”

  The girls sat down at a long table with the other Grasshoppers.

  “What are we doing today?” Nancy asked.

  “We’re making bird seed salad,” Andrea said. “To attract Carmen.”

  Joey nodded from across the table. “It’s Ranger Roy’s special recipe.”

  Ranger Roy joined Lynn at the front of the room. He wore an apron that read, This Food Is for the Birds!

  “Okay, Grasshoppers,” Ranger Roy said. “Lynn will pass out the ingredients. Then we’re going to mix them up real good.”

  Lynn passed out small bowls of nuts, seeds, dried berries, and corn. She also gave the Grasshoppers mixing bowls and spoons.

  “Carmen will love this,” Lynn said. “It has everything she likes to eat.”

  “Not everything,” Todd said.

  “What’s missing?” Ranger Roy asked.

  Todd reached into his pocket and pulled out a small cricket. “Bugs!” he said. “Lots and lots of crunchy bugs!”

  Bess jumped up. She was about to scream when Ranger Roy held up his hand.

  “Todd Steckler,” he said. “This is my recipe, a
nd it does not call for bugs.”

  Todd sighed. “Sorry, Ranger Roy.”

  The cricket chirped as Todd tossed him out of an open window.

  “Thank goodness,” Bess whispered.

  “Now,” Ranger Roy said. He rubbed his hands together. “Let’s get cookin’.”

  Nancy and the Grasshoppers mixed the ingredients well. Then they carefully poured the mix into small plastic bags.

  “Remember,” Ranger Roy said when they were done. “Sprinkle a trail of seeds into a cage. It’s the best way to catch a bird.”

  “But not the only way,” Todd whispered.

  “What do you mean?” Nancy asked.

  Todd winked over his glasses. “I’ve come up with some brilliant plans to catch Carmen.”

  “Like what?” Bess asked.

  “Do you think I’m stupid?” Todd snapped. “I’m not telling you.”

  Then he stood up and walked over to Ranger Roy.

  “What do you think he’s going to do?” Bess asked.

  “He’s probably going to build some kind of trap,” Nancy said.

  “We can build a trap, too!” George said excitedly.

  “Yeah!” Bess said. She tilted her head. “How?”

  “We already have the seed salad,” Nancy said. “But birdcages are expensive.”

  “Maybe we can borrow one from Katie,” Bess suggested.

  “Katie and her family might still be on their trip,” Nancy said.

  “We don’t need a cage,” George said. “We can buy a big butterfly net at the Bow-Wow Shop on Main Street.”

  “Good idea, George,” Nancy said.

  “Our trap will be the best ever,” Bess said. “We’ll show that Todd Steckler.”

  After Park Pals was over for the day, Mrs. Marvin picked the girls up in her red minivan.

  While she shopped on Main Street, the girls went to the Bow-Wow Shop. George bought a butterfly net, and Nancy bought a plastic bird feeder.

  “Now that we have our trap supplies,” Nancy said, “we’d better plan our trap.”

  “Relax, Nancy,” George said. “I’m sure we’re way ahead of everyone else.”

  Bess shook her head. She pointed down Main Street. “I don’t think so,” she said.

  Nancy gasped. Main Street was filled with Park Pals looking for Carmen.

  Andrea was taping drawings of Carmen to lampposts. Joey was dressed in a bird costume he’d worn for Halloween. He was handing out flyers that read Parrot Missing!

  A Caterpillar boy was tooting a bird caller. Two Bullfrog girls were singing the happy camper song.

  “Oh, no,” George cried. “River Heights has gone parrot crazy!”

  Nancy sighed. “I guess everyone wants to be a Junior Park Ranger.”

  The girls walked down Main Street to meet Mrs. Marvin. Suddenly Nancy saw something that made her stop.

  “What is it, Nancy?” Bess asked.

  Nancy pointed to a store in the middle of the block. A sign on the window said, The Beak of Perfection.

  “That’s a fancy store that sells parrots,” Nancy said.

  “Isn’t that where the Zaleskis bought Lester?” George asked.

  “Yes,” Nancy said. “He was a birthday present for Katie.”

  Nancy, Bess, and George peeked inside the window. They could see all kinds of birds sitting on perches.

  “Ohmygosh,” Nancy gasped. She pressed her face against the window. “There’s a deep blue parrot in there!”

  Bess and George pressed their faces against the glass.

  “I see it!” Bess squealed. “It’s the same color as Carmen.”

  Nancy looked away from the window at her friends. “But is it Carmen?”

  5

  A Perfect Trap

  We have to go inside to check out that bird,” George said.

  Nancy nodded. She took out her notebook and wrote down the clue.

  “If it is Carmen,” Bess asked, “why would she end up in a store?”

  “Hyacinth macaws must be very valuable,” Nancy said. “The store owner might have caught Carmen. And now he’s selling her for lots of money.”

  “I guess we’ll have to go inside, huh, Nancy?” Bess asked excitedly.

  Nancy nodded. She slipped her notebook back into her pocket.

  The three friends were about to go inside when a man with a mustache stepped in front of them. The name tag on his jacket read, Robert Salazar.

  “Can I help you?” Mr. Salazar asked.

  “We’d like to see some of your birds,” Nancy said politely.

  George hid the butterfly net behind her back. “Your blue birds.”

  “Sorry,” Mr. Salazar said. “But children are not allowed in the store.”

  “We just want to look,” Bess said.

  Mr. Salazar stared down his nose at the girls. “That’s the problem,” he said. “The store is for serious customers only.”

  A phone rang in the back of the store. Mr. Salazar turned around and walked away. He slipped behind a red curtain. “He’s not Mr. Robert Salazar,” Bess snapped. “He’s Snobby Bobby.”

  “And who says we’re not serious?” George complained. “We’re serious—about finding Carmen.”

  Nancy stuck her head inside the door. “He’s somewhere in the back,” she whispered. “Let’s take a quick look around.”

  The girls tiptoed into the store. Nancy glanced at the birds. They were all colors—red, green, and yellow.

  “Wow,” George said. “Snobby Bobby has some awesome birds.”

  “Shh,” Nancy warned. She walked over to the blue parrot. But the parrot wasn’t totally blue. It had a bright yellow chest.

  “Phooey,” Nancy said. “It’s not Carmen.”

  She turned around to leave. Suddenly she saw something that made her jaw drop. Bess was feeding seed salad to a bright red-and-green parrot.

  “Bess,” Nancy hissed. “Don’t feed the birds!”

  Bess jumped. The bag of seed salad flew out of her hand and into the air. Then it dropped to the floor with a splat!

  “Oh, no!” Nancy said. She watched the seeds spill all over the floor.

  The birds began to squawk and screech. They swooped down from their perches toward the seed salad.

  “Shoo! Shoo!” George said. She waved her butterfly net over the birds.

  Nancy and Bess tried to sweep up the seeds but it was no use. The parrots were digging in and talking up a storm.

  “Arrrk! Chow time!”

  “Rrrraaaaak! Come and get it!”

  Nancy’s heart pounded. The parrots were eating and kicking seeds all over the store. They were in big trouble now!

  Mr. Salazar ran out from the back.

  “What is the meaning of this?” he cried. “And why are you feeding my birds?”

  The red-and-green parrot flapped its wings and began to squawk.

  “Snobby Bobby! Snobby Bobby! Krrrakkk!”

  Mr. Salazar stared at the girls. “What did he just say?”

  “Um,” George said. She rested the butterfly net on her shoulder. “We were just . . . leaving.”

  The girls dashed out of the store and into Mrs. Marvin’s van. They plopped down in the backseat, out of breath.

  “Why did you have to feed the birds, Bess?” George asked as the car drove away from Main Street.

  “I was only feeding one bird,” Bess said. “The rest was an accident.”

  Nancy stared out of the window. Finding Carmen was not going to be easy.

  Mrs. Marvin guided the van around a corner. She drove up Katie Zaleski’s block.

  “Hey, look,” Nancy said. She pointed out the window. “The Zaleskis are back from their trip. Their car is in the driveway.”

  “It looks as though they’re getting a delivery,” Mrs. Marvin said as she drove.

  The girls looked out of the car window. A Crispy Cracker truck was parked in front of Katie’s house. Two men were carrying big cardboard boxes toward the front door.

  �
�All those crackers must be for Lester,” Bess said. “He loves crackers.”

  “Hmm,” Nancy said slowly. “Lester eats a lot of crackers. But not that many.”

  “Maybe the trip gave him a huge appetite,” George said.

  “I guess,” Nancy said. But she still thought the big delivery was weird.

  Mrs. Marvin dropped Nancy off at her house. It was close to dinnertime so the girls said goodbye.

  “Let’s meet at the park tomorrow an hour before Park Pals,” Nancy said as she stepped out of the van. “That will give us time to set up our trap.”

  “What kind of a trap are we going to build?” George asked.

  Nancy shrugged. “Who knows? But I have all night to think of one.”

  • • •

  That night after dinner, Nancy sat on her bed. She glanced through her detective notebook. Her Labrador puppy, Chocolate Chip, was busy sniffing through her room.

  “‘Carmen is a hyacinth macaw. She has bright blue feathers. She’s from South America,’” Nancy read out loud.

  “Woof!” Chip barked.

  “South America,” Nancy repeated. She smiled down at her dog. “Chip, I think I have a super idea.”

  Nancy and Chip ran down the stairs and into the living room. Mr. Drew was sitting in his favorite chair, watching TV.

  “Daddy?” Nancy asked. She walked over to her dad’s music collection. “Do you have any South American music?”

  “There’s a CD with samba music,” Mr. Drew said. “That’s a dance they do in Brazil.”

  Nancy ran her finger along a stack of CDs until she found one called “Samba Saturday Night.”

  “Perfect!” she said. “Carmen’s from South America. When she hears this music, she’ll fly right over.”

  Mr. Drew chuckled. “Good thinking, Pudding Pie,” he said.

  “Thanks, Daddy,” Nancy said. Chip jumped as she waved the CD in the air. “And I’ll bet creepy Todd didn’t think of this.”

  Just then Nancy saw something on the TV. A news reporter was standing in front of the park’s aviary.

  “Daddy,” Nancy said, “make the TV louder, please.”

  Mr. Drew turned up the volume. Nancy listened as the reporter spoke into her microphone.

  “Carmen, the hyacinth macaw, disappeared from the park yesterday morning,” she said. “And we have an eyewitness right here.”