The Circus Scare Read online

  “That tickles!” Bess said, giggling.

  “Why don’t they have tusks?” Nancy asked. “I thought all elephants had tusks.”

  “These are Asian elephants,” explained the trainer. “They don’t bear tusks like African elephants do.”

  Just then a band started playing.

  “The circus is about to start,” Nancy said. “We’d better find our seats so we won’t miss the grand entrance.”

  “Bye, girls!” the three friends shouted to the elephants as they followed Mr. Drew and Hannah into the tent. Their seats were in the fifth row in front of the center ring.

  “Hey!” Bess said. She pointed to the other side of the tent. “There’s Deirdre.” Nancy and George looked. Deirdre was talking to some of the performers as they came into the tent. “I wonder what she’s saying.”

  “She’s probably telling them all about her backyard circus,” George guessed.

  “That would be Deirdre,” Nancy agreed. Just then Deirdre disappeared from their view. “Where’s she going? She should be watching if she wants to see how a real circus works.”

  At that moment the band marched by in front of them. Nancy forgot all about Deirdre. The band was followed by the ringmaster, who ran to the center ring. He stood behind a microphone and started announcing the acts as they passed in front of the Clue Crew’s section.

  First came the jugglers. They were walking on their hands and juggling bowling pins with their feet.

  “Do not try this at home!” Bess said.

  Nancy and George giggled.

  “Here come the clowns!” said Hannah. “I’ve always loved clowns.”

  “Really?” Nancy said. “I didn’t know that.”

  “Oh, yes! I went to the circus when I was your age too,” Hannah told her. “The clowns were my favorites.”

  Just then a tiny car stopped in front of them. A lot of clowns started piling out.

  “How can they get so many clowns in that car?” George asked.

  “They’re probably contortionists,” Mr. Drew explained. “That means they can bend their bodies into all kinds of shapes, so they can fit anywhere.”

  “Ow, that hurts me just thinking about it,” said Bess.

  Next came some clowns riding unicycles. But Nancy noticed something strange. “Where are their noses?” she asked.

  “What do you mean?” Bess said.

  “All the other clowns have big red balls for noses,” Nancy pointed out. “Some of these clowns don’t.”

  “You’re right,” Bess said. She counted. “Four of them are missing their noses!”

  “They look kind of mad, too,” George said. “They’re not smiling like the other clowns.”

  After the clowns came the elephants. The woman riding the first one wore a bright pink costume. She was also wearing a huge feather headdress. The woman on the second elephant had on a bright green costume. But she didn’t have a feather headdress. Neither did the woman following her.

  That’s odd, Nancy thought. Clowns with no noses and elephant riders with no headdresses.

  Behind the elephants, the acrobats were walking and waving to the cheering crowds.

  “This is what I’ve been waiting for,” George said. “I love to watch the trapeze acts.”

  Nancy did too, but she noticed that not all of the trapeze artists were wearing sequined capes. “I wonder if some of their equipment didn’t arrive,” she said.

  “What do you mean?” George asked.

  Nancy mentioned the missing noses, headdresses, and capes. “Why are some of the performers fully dressed but others aren’t?” she wondered.

  “Are you saying there really is a circus mystery we need to solve?” Bess asked.

  Nancy shrugged. “I’m not sure,” she said. “But I think it’s kind of strange that so many of the performers are missing parts of their costumes.”

  “Maybe they just misplaced them,” George suggested. “Or maybe they didn’t have time to unpack everything after they got off the train.”

  “You’re probably right,” Nancy said. “I guess we shouldn’t look for mysteries everywhere we go.”

  For the next two hours Nancy, Bess, and George were thrilled by all the wonderful circus acts.

  Then suddenly the lights went out! As the band played a fanfare, a big spotlight went on in the center ring, and Brownie the Bear and his trainer appeared. For several minutes Brownie danced and performed tricks. When the act was over, Brownie and the trainer bowed. The crowd roared its approval. Then the big bear turned away from the trainer and walked over to the front row. He grabbed a lady’s purse.

  The lady screamed, but the Clue Crew laughed. They knew now that it was part of the act. When Brownie returned the purse to the lady, the crowd clapped.

  “One of these days that bear isn’t going to give back what he’s taken,” Nancy said.

  Chapter Four

  The Mystery Boy

  “Stop it, Chip!” Bess said. Chocolate Chip, Nancy’s chocolate Lab puppy, was trying to push his way inside Bess’s sleeping bag. “Leave me alone! I’m still half asleep!” It was Saturday morning, and the girls were waking up in Nancy’s room.

  George sat up in her sleeping bag and said, “I’m hungry!” She looked over at Nancy, who was stretching, and asked, “Do you think Hannah would fix pancakes for breakfast?”

  “You bet!” Nancy told her. She picked up Chocolate Chip and hugged him. “That sounds good to me, too.”

  Just then the doorbell rang downstairs. A few minutes later, Deirdre pranced into Nancy’s bedroom.

  “I didn’t know you were having a slumber party,” Deirdre said. She stuck out her lower lip in a pout. “Why wasn’t I invited?”

  “It’s not a slumber party, Deirdre,” Nancy said. “Bess’s parents are in Oklahoma, and Mrs. Fayne had to leave early this morning to cater a party in Hailey Town.”

  “Why are you up so early?” Bess asked.

  Deirdre’s pout became a grin. She held up a handful of papers. “I’m delivering flyers for my circus,” she said. She handed one each to Nancy, Bess, and George. “It’s going to be so much better than that ‘other’ circus.”

  “Deirdre, that ‘other’ circus is the real circus,” George said. “Yours is just in your backyard.”

  “Oh? Well, just you wait and see how ‘real’ that other circus is,” Deirdre said. “You’re all in for a big surprise!”

  “What is it?” Nancy asked.

  “I’m not going to tell,” said Deirdre. “You won’t even find it on my website until after the first performance.”

  “That’ll be a first,” George muttered to Bess.

  Deirdre was always posting everyone else’s secrets on her website. If you told Deirdre anything, the whole world would know about it in a few hours.

  “We saw you at the circus last night,” Nancy said, “but then you just disappeared.”

  “Yeah!” Bess chimed in. “What happened to you?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Deirdre said. She gave the three of them another big grin. “Well, I’ve got to deliver the rest of these flyers. I’ll see you tomorrow morning at the ‘real’ circus.”

  “Oh, she just makes me so mad sometimes,” Bess said.

  “Yeah,” George agreed. “She thinks she is so cool.”

  “Deirdre’s up to something besides putting on a backyard circus,” Nancy said. “Come on, Clue Crew! We need to get dressed and follow her.”

  “What about breakfast?” George asked. “I can’t solve a mystery on an empty stomach.”

  “We’ll grab energy bars on our way out,” Nancy said.

  Dressed and with energy bars in hand, Nancy, Bess, and George headed out the front door.

  For the next hour the Clue Crew followed Deirdre all over the neighborhood. But they never went more than five blocks in any direction.

  Deirdre stopped at the houses of Marcy Rubin, Kendra Jackson, Amanda Johnson, Nadine Nardo, Ned Nickerson, and Peter Patino. They wer
e all in the Clue Crew’s class.

  “She’s just giving them flyers, Nancy,” George said. “She’s not doing anything else.”

  “I don’t think we’re going to solve the mystery this way,” added Bess.

  Nancy thought for a minute. “She’s up to something. I know she is,” she said. “We can’t give up.”

  When Deirdre left Peter’s house, she turned left at the next corner.

  “She’s heading home, Nancy,” George said.

  “This has been a complete bust,” complained Bess.

  But they continued to follow Deirdre, staying behind big trees lining the edge of the street.

  Suddenly, just as Deirdre reached the big wooden fence that marked the edge of her backyard, a side gate opened. A boy with black hair waved her inside. Deirdre gave the boy a big grin, looked around quickly, and then followed him inside.

  “Who was that?” Nancy said.

  “I don’t know, but he was wearing cool shoes,” Bess replied.

  “I think that boy is a clue. He may have something to do with the surprise Deirdre was telling us about,” said Nancy. “We need to get closer.”

  “There’s another gate to the Shannons’ backyard off the alley,” George reminded the others. “Let’s head there.”

  “Good idea,” Nancy said.

  The three of them ran toward the alley. When they reached the gate, Nancy opened it slowly. She was glad that Mrs. Shannon liked big shrubs and bushes, because the backyard was full of them. It offered the Clue Crew protection from being seen. They were able to get within a few feet of where Deirdre and the boy were talking.

  “Are you sure no one suspects what we’re doing?” the boy asked.

  “I’m sure,” Deirdre said.

  “What about those three girls you call the Clue Crew?” the boy said.

  “Ha!” replied Deirdre. “This mystery is way too hard for them!”

  Nancy looked at Bess and George. “We’ll show her!” she whispered.

  “Good,” the boy said.

  Just then Deirdre’s cell phone rang. She talked softly for a minute, then said, “That was my mother. She’s asking me to come inside.”

  “I’ll see you at the circus tonight,” the boy said. “We’ll finish making our plans.” With that, he disappeared through the side gate.

  “We’ll be there too,” Nancy whispered, “and we’ll solve this mystery.”

  Chapter five

  A Family of Thieves?

  When they got to the circus that night, Nancy, Bess, and George wrote their names on the back of their ticket stubs.

  Bess blew on hers. “For good luck!” she said.

  Nancy and George did the same. Then they dropped them into the big metal box at the entrance to the tent.

  Mr. Drew and Hannah put their tickets in too.

  “Dad, we want to talk to some of our friends before the circus starts,” Nancy said. “Is that all right?”

  “As long as you stay in sight,” said Mr. Drew.

  Nancy could see the circus performers lining up on the other side of the tent. They were getting ready for the grand entrance. But Nancy thought the Clue Crew had plenty of time to do some sleuthing.

  “While we’re reminding our friends to put their ticket stubs in the metal box for the drawing, we can also look for Deirdre,” she said.

  In the section next to theirs, the Clue Crew found Stacy Quinn and her parents. Brianne Slotsky was with them.

  “Did you put your ticket stubs in the metal box?” Bess asked.

  Stacy and Brianne nodded.

  “What a wonderful idea, Nancy,” Mrs. Quinn said. “That stuffed bear is huge, and I think the children in the hospital will love it.”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Quinn,” Nancy said. “I just hope we win!”

  “Have you seen Deirdre tonight?” asked George.

  “We thought we saw her from a distance,” Stacy said, “but she was with a boy we’d never seen before, so it could have been somebody else.”

  “Did the boy have black hair?” Bess asked.

  “Yeah!” Brianne said. “How did you know that?”

  “Just a guess,” Nancy said. She glanced at her watch. “Well, we’ll see you later.”

  As fast as they could, the Clue Crew made their way around the circus tent. They told all their friends not to forget to put their ticket stubs in the metal box for the drawing. They also asked about Deirdre. Everyone had seen her earlier—with a black-haired boy—but no one had seen her since.

  “He’s kind of cute,” Kendra Jackson said. “His hair is almost as pretty as mine.”

  Kendra was really proud of her shiny black hair.

  “I like black and red together,” Nadine Nardo said. “His black hair and my red hair would really make people notice us.”

  Finally Nancy, Bess, and George had made a complete circle of the tent and were back in their seats. But they weren’t any closer to finding Deirdre.

  “I have an idea,” Bess whispered. “I could disguise my voice and call Deirdre on her cell phone. I could tell her we know what she’s doing.”

  “The Clue Crew doesn’t make anonymous telephone calls, Bess,” Nancy whispered back. “Anyway, your name comes up when you call people, so she’d know who it was.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Bess said.

  “Look!” George said. “There she is!”

  Nancy and Bess looked in the direction George was pointing. Deirdre and the boy with black hair were now standing at the entrance where all the circus performers were lining up.

  “Why don’t they sit in their seats like the rest of us?” Bess said.

  Just then the band began to play. The boy with Deirdre pointed to something. Then he leaned over and whispered into Deirdre’s ear. Deirdre nodded her head.

  “I wish we could hear what they’re saying,” George said.

  “Maybe we need to save our allowance to buy one of those spy microphones,” Bess said. She thought for a minute. “Or maybe I could invent something.”

  Circus music filled the huge tent. As the ringmaster led in all the performers, Nancy, Bess, and George watched the parade passing in front of them.

  Suddenly Bess said, “Nancy! What happened to their noses?”

  “I was wondering the same thing,” said Nancy. “Even more of the clowns are missing their noses tonight.”

  “This can’t just be a coincidence, Nancy,” George said. “Last night we thought it was because they just hadn’t unpacked everything, but—”

  “Oh, no!” cried Nancy. “Look!”

  Behind the clowns came the elephants. None of the women riding them were wearing their huge feather headdresses.

  “All the headdresses are missing tonight too,” Nancy said. “Is somebody stealing them?”

  “Who would want to do something like that?” Bess asked.

  A moment later the three girls looked at one another. “Deirdre!” they said in unison.

  “Yes!” George said. “Maybe she’s going to use them for her backyard circus!”

  “That has to be it!” exclaimed Bess.

  “Let me write all this down,” Nancy said.

  Nancy got out her notebook and pen and wrote, “Circus items are missing. Did Deirdre Shannon steal them? She is putting on a backyard circus. She told us that she had a big surprise. This could be the solution to the mystery!”

  By the time the parade was over, Nancy had made a list of the things they thought were missing.

  During the performances the Clue Crew watched the acts with one eye and kept the other eye open for Deirdre and the mysterious boy with black hair.

  “I still think it’s strange that Deirdre isn’t watching the circus,” Bess whispered. “If she’s going to have one in her backyard, she needs to know what the performers do.”

  “I think I know why she isn’t,” George said. “When is the best time to steal all these things?”

  “When the performers are performing, that’s when!” Nancy replied.
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  Nancy looked over at Mr. Drew and Hannah. They were laughing about what some of the clowns were doing. “Dad, we need to do some serious detective work,” she said. “It can’t wait until the circus is over.”

  “Well, all right, but stay inside the tent where I can see you,” Mr. Drew said.

  “Okay,” Nancy agreed.

  The three friends ran down the steps of their section. Then they hurried along the back of the bleachers toward the next section.

  “What’s up, Nancy?” George asked.

  “I just saw Deirdre and that boy pass by the entrance on the other side of the tent,” Nancy said. “They were carrying a suitcase.”

  When the Clue Crew reached the entrance, Nancy said, “Look! That’s Deirdre’s mother’s car!”

  Nancy, Bess, and George watched Deirdre get into the backseat with the suitcase. She said something to the black-haired boy. He nodded, then ran off into the darkness, and Mrs. Shannon drove off.

  “Deirdre’s mother is in on this too!” said Bess. “I can’t believe it! It’s a family of thieves!”

  Chapter Six

  A New Twist

  On Sunday morning Bess and George met at Nancy’s, and the three of them pedaled over to Deirdre’s house.

  “I hear circus music,” Bess said.

  “Deirdre’s flyer said her circus started at ten o’clock,” said Nancy. “We still have fifteen minutes.”

  They leaned their bikes up against a big tree and headed toward Deirdre’s backyard. When Nancy opened the gate, Bess let out a gasp.

  “Wow! I can’t believe this!” cried George. “That tent is huge.”

  “Deirdre always gets what she wants,” Bess said.

  The friends went on into the yard. Several of their classmates were milling around outside the tent. They were talking to people dressed like a clown, a horse, a camel, and an elephant.

  “Hey! It’s the Clue Crew!” Kendra shouted. She ran over to them. “So far this is even better than the real circus. Everything’s free—including the peanuts and the cotton candy!”

  Nancy looked at Bess and George. “This is bad,” she said. “This is really bad.”