Babysitting Bandit Read online

  “Hey, you bad thieves! Give back the stolen treasure!” Cal demanded. He swooped down and grabbed the silver, moon-shaped rattle, which was lying on the floor next to the tea set. He held it up in the air and started running in circles around the living room. Sir Barkalot followed, barking.

  First Lily Mei, then Anna Lin began crying and grabbing for the rattle. “Cal, give that back to the babies right this second!” Mrs. Gregory scolded him. But Cal continued running in circles, along with Sir Barkalot.

  “It’s okay, it’s okay,” Mrs. Jacobs said, kneeling down next to the twins. “Here, why don’t you invite Squeak Squeak to come to your tea party?”

  Wanting to be helpful, Nancy hurried over to the bookshelf and got Squeak Squeak. She handed the stuffed toy mouse to Lily Mei and Anna Lin. “Here you go! Squeak Squeak’s thirsty! He wants some tea!”

  The twins ignored her and continued crying. “Maybe we should put on that happy-babies CD,” Bess suggested.

  Margaret, Lacie, and Matt came into the living room, carrying muffins and glasses of lemonade. “Mom, can we use the family computer to do some research for our science project?” Margaret said.

  “Super Sonic Man’s gonna put the bad guys in jail!” Cal yelled. The twins cried even more loudly. Sir Barkalot increased his volume too.

  “Mom? Like now?” Margaret persisted.

  “Margaret, can’t you see I’m kind of busy?” Mrs. Jacobs snapped.

  “Cal, give the babies their rattle or we’re going to have to have a time-out!” Mrs. Jacobs exclaimed.

  “Their rattle?” Margaret grumbled.

  “It’s not a rattle, it’s a treasure,” Cal corrected everyone.

  The chaos and confusion went on for a while, until finally, Mrs. Gregory put on the Happy Baby Songs CD, and the twins calmed down and started twirling in place. Cal dropped the silver rattle and started dancing too. Margaret, Lacie, and Matt went upstairs to Margaret’s room. Sir Barkalot trotted after them, sniffing at the muffins. Mrs. Jacobs picked up the rattle and put it back on the bookshelf, next to a row of encyclopedias. Then she and Mrs. Gregory sank wearily onto the couch and began talking about an upcoming neighborhood meeting.

  Nancy, George, and Bess danced with the twins and Cal until around four thirty, when he and his mother left. “Oh, my gosh! Margaret wanted me to help her log on to the family computer, didn’t she?” Mrs. Jacobs said as she closed the front door after them. She rushed upstairs.

  Nancy and her friends played with the twins for a little while longer, first making a castle out of the blocks, and then reading books until it was almost time to go home. Just before five, Nancy and George started picking up the toys while Bess finished reading to the twins.

  Nancy frowned as she returned Squeak Squeak to the bookshelf. “Where’s the silver rattle?” she asked George. “I thought I saw Mrs. Gregory put it here somewhere. Did you move it?”

  “Wa-ttle!” Anna Lin repeated

  “Wa-ttle!” George smiled at Anna Lin, then turned to Nancy and shook her head. “I didn’t move it.”

  “I didn’t move it either,” Bess piped up.

  Nancy scanned the entire bookshelf. There were books, CDs, a CD player, and toys. But no silver rattle.

  Where could it be?

  CHAPTER THREE

  A Green Clue

  Did the rattle disappear? Nancy wondered. Or was it just hiding somewhere in the living room, like Lily Mei earlier with her peek-a-boo game?

  “I’ll look for it,” George offered. “Maybe it’s under the couch or something.”

  Nancy nodded. “Okay. I’ll go over the bookshelf one more time.”

  “… and the beautiful princess said to the sea fairies, ‘How many wishes do I have left?’” Bess read to the twins. “No, Anna Lin, Lily Mei gets to turn the page this time,” she said firmly.

  George searched under the couch, the love seat, and the coffee table. Nancy searched the bookshelf again, more carefully this time. She tried to remember the exact moment when Mrs. Jacob placed the rattle on the shelf. Things had been so crazy, with Cal running around the living room with the rattle … Mrs. Gregory telling him to stop … the twins crying … Mrs. Jacobs trying to comfort them … and then Margaret and her friends showing up wanting to use the family computer. Then Mrs. Gregory had played the Happy Baby Songs CD, and the twins had started dancing … and Cal had dropped the rattle on the floor and joined them.

  Nancy closed her eyes, concentrating. In her mind, she saw Mrs. Jacobs plucking the rattle from the floor and putting it … where?

  Next to the encyclopedias, she remembered suddenly.

  Nancy opened her eyes and went over to the long row of encyclopedias, which were on the third shelf from the top. If her memory was right, Mrs. Jacobs had put the rattle near the middle of the row, with the L, M, and N volumes.

  Nancy had to stand a little bit on her tippytoes to reach the encyclopedias. She looked up and down the shelf.

  But the rattle wasn’t there. Nancy sighed in frustration.

  Then she did a double take. On the shelf right in front of the L, M, and N volumes was a smudgy fingerprint. A smudgy green fingerprint.

  Nancy’s thoughts began racing. Could someone have taken the rattle from this spot? And could that someone have had yucky green fingers?

  “‘You have two wishes left,’ the sea fairies said to the princess,” Bess was reading to the twins. “Did you guys find it yet?” she called out to Nancy and George. Nancy noticed that Bess was trying not to say “rattle” in case it might upset the twins.

  “Nope,” George replied. “I found a doggie bone, a cat toy, and a baby binkie—I mean, pacifier.”

  “I didn’t find it, either. But I did find a clue,” Nancy said.

  “A clue? What kind of clue?” George asked her.

  “A green fingerprint,” Nancy explained. “It’s time to go home now, so we’ll have to look for the r—I mean, it—again on Wednesday. And maybe we’ll find more clues then, too.”

  On Wednesday after school, Nancy, George, and Bess found the twins waiting eagerly for them at the door.

  “I think they really liked you!” Mrs. Jacobs said, opening the door to let the girls inside. “I told them a few minutes ago that you were coming, and they were so excited.”

  “That’s great!” Bess said. “Hi, Anna Lin! Hi, Lily Mei!” she said, waving.

  The twins grinned and waved back. “Kweek Kweek!” Anna Lin said, holding up the stuffed toy mouse for Bess’s inspection. Nancy knew it was Anna Lin because she had a small brown birthmark on her neck, and Lily Mei didn’t. Nancy had figured this out just before leaving the Jacobses’ house on Monday.

  “That’s right, that’s Squeak Squeak,” Mrs. Jacobs said.

  “Kweek Kweek!” Lily Mei cried out, grabbing for the toy.

  “No, no, Lily Mei. Anna Lin is playing with Squeak Squeak now. You have to wait your turn,” Mrs. Jacobs told her.

  “Kweek Kweek!” Lily Mei yelled angrily.

  “Oh, dear. Okay, time for a new activity. Why don’t you girls take the twins into the living room and play trains with them for a bit?” Mrs. Jacobs suggested. “I brought their train set down from their room. And, by the way … did you put the little silver R-A-T-T-L-E somewhere when you left on Monday?”

  “No, we were looking for it too,” Nancy replied as they all walked into the living room.

  “We think it’s missing,” George piped up.

  “But we can find it for you,” Bess added. “Nancy and George and I have a detective club called the Clue Crew, and we’re really good at finding stuff.”

  Mrs. Jacobs smiled. “Wow, you’re detectives, too? Yes, that would be wonderful if you could find it. As I mentioned before, it’s one of the twins’ favorite toys. And of course it has sentimental value for me because it was Margaret’s when she was little.”

  “Mrs. Jacobs, did you have something green on your hands on Monday?” Nancy asked her. “You know, like green paint or green food
coloring or anything like that?”

  Mrs. Jacobs frowned. “Green paint or green coloring? N-no, I don’t think so. Why do you ask?”

  Before Nancy could answer, the twins started fighting over Squeak Squeak again. “Okay, let’s say bye-bye to Squeak Squeak and play with trains!” Mrs. Jacobs said, taking the toy mouse away and putting it on the bookshelf.

  The twins started to complain, until Bess settled down on the floor next to the wooden train tracks and guided one of the trains forward. “Chugga-chugga choo-choo!” she said loudly.

  “Choo-choo!” Lily Mei repeated.

  “Choo-choo!” Anna Lin joined in.

  The twins plopped down on the floor next to Bess and reached for the trains. George sat down with them. Soon the four of them were happily playing.

  “I have to finish up a load of laundry in the basement, and then I’ll be upstairs doing some cleaning,” Mrs. Jacobs said. “Just give me a shout if you need me.”

  “Okay,” Nancy said.

  While Bess, George, and the twins were occupied with the trains, Nancy decided to see if the smudgy green fingerprint was still there in front of the L, M, and N volumes. It was.

  She touched it lightly with her own finger. It felt dry and slightly bumpy. Hmm, she thought. What could it be?

  Just then, the front door opened and Margaret walked in, followed by Lacie and Matt.

  “Mah-Mah!” the twins exclaimed. They jumped to their feet and ran to the baby gate. They grabbed the bars of the gate and shook them hard.

  “Yeah, hi,” Margaret said, barely looking at them.

  “Margaret, you should be nicer to them,” Lacie scolded her. “Hi, Anna Lin! Hi, Lily Mei! Are you playing with trains today?” she said, stepping into the living room.

  “Choo-choo!” the twins said in unison.

  “Who’s this?” Matt walked over to the bookshelf and picked up Squeak Squeak. “Whoa, it’s a mouse! Let’s feed it some cheese!” He pretended to offer it a hunk of cheese. The twins clapped and giggled.

  “Can we puh-lease go upstairs and work on our science project already?” Margaret complained.

  “Hey, where’s my M-Box?” Lacie said suddenly. “It was in my pocket, like, a second ago.”

  “What’s an M-Box?” George asked her.

  “It’s a tiny little awesome music player with tiny little awesome headphones,” Lacie explained. “I got it for my birthday. If I lose it, my parents are gonna be so mad!”

  “I haven’t seen it,” Margaret said.

  “What about you, Matt?” Lacie asked him.

  Matt had his back to everyone and was studying something on the bookshelf. “I haven’t seen it either. But I know someone who has,” he called over his shoulder.

  Lacie peered at him suspiciously. “What are you talking about? Who?”

  “The mouse!” Matt whirled around and held up Squeak Squeak, who had a pair of tiny little headphones attached to his ears.

  The twins shrieked with laughter.

  “You stole my M-Box! You’re so lame!” Lacie cried out. She grabbed the headphones and M-Box from Matt.

  “Sorry. Still, I think this was my best practical joke this week,” Matt bragged. “Or maybe second best.”

  “What was the best one, then? When you put ketchup on Dylan’s chocolate pudding during lunch? Or when you slipped a fake spider in Keisha’s backpack?” Margaret teased him. “What are you, like, five years old?”

  “What can I say? I can’t help myself.” Matt chuckled.

  “Okay, well, no more practical jokes today, okay? It’s time to get to work, people!” Margaret headed upstairs, and Matt and Lacie followed.

  As soon as they were gone, Nancy turned to George and Bess. “I just got an idea,” she said in a low, excited voice. “What if Matt stole the silver r—I mean, it?”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The Strange Science Project

  “Matt?” George repeated, frowning.

  “Why would he steal it?” Bess asked Nancy. “He’s in sixth grade, right? Those are for babies.”

  “Or for Cal, who isn’t a baby but who was pretending that it was stolen treasure,” George reminded Bess. She sat down on the floor and started making a train station out of blocks with the twins.

  “Oh yeah, right.” Bess nodded.

  “Matt likes to play practical jokes,” Nancy said. “He said that stealing Lacie’s M-Box was his second best practical joke this week. What if stealing it was his best?”

  George and Bess looked thoughtful. “Hmm, good point,” George agreed.

  Nancy glanced upstairs. “Can you two watch the twins for five minutes? I’m going to go up to Margaret’s room to see if I can find out anything.”

  “But they’re in there!” Bess cried out.

  “I’ll just listen at the door. I’ll be super quiet,” Nancy promised.

  “What if Mrs. Jacobs comes back and wants to know where you are?” George asked her.

  “Um … just tell her I’m in the bathroom or something,” Nancy said.

  Nancy slipped off her shoes so she wouldn’t make any noise, in case the second floor didn’t have carpeting. Then she stepped over the baby gate into the hallway. There was another baby gate at the bottom of the stairs. She unhooked it, re-hooked it, then walked very quietly up the stairs.

  Once on the second floor—there was another baby gate at the top of the stairs—Nancy tried to figure out which room was Margaret’s. The first door in the hallway was open. Through the doorway she could see a big bed covered with a gold and white comforter and a nightstand piled high with books and magazines. It looked like a grown-up’s room.

  The next door Nancy came to was also open. Inside were two white cribs, a bunny mobile hanging from the ceiling, and a painted pink chest spilling over with toys. This was definitely the twins’ room.

  The third door Nancy came to was closed. Taped to the door was a hand-drawn sign that said “MARGARET’S ROOM,” and below it, another hand-drawn sign that said, “DO NOT ENTER!!!!!” This was definitely Margaret’s room!

  Nancy peered up and down the hallway to make sure she was alone. Then she pressed her ear against the door.

  There were voices coming from the other side—Margaret’s, Lacie’s, and Matt’s—and also a loud pop song playing on a CD player or a radio. Because of the music, it was hard for Nancy to hear their conversation. She could only make out a few words here and there.

  They seemed to be discussing their science project. Margaret was saying something about the effects of … what? Nancy pressed her ear more tightly against the door. Heat? That’s what it sounded like: heat. The effects of heat on … Nancy thought she heard Margaret say the word “pain.” The effects of heat on pain? She thought about this for a moment. She knew that her father sometimes put a heating pad on his elbow when played too much tennis. Was that what they were talking about?

  Then Margaret and her friends changed the subject. Margaret said something about “stupid” and “twins.” Stupid twins? Was Margaret complaining about the twins again? Matt responded with a statement about … boys? No, toys. Was he talking about toys? Nancy leaned forward eagerly. Maybe Matt was about to brag about stealing one of the twins’ toys as a practical joke.

  Then someone started blasting what sounded like a hair dryer, and Nancy couldn’t hear anything at all.

  “Nancy?”

  Nancy whipped around. Mrs. Jacobs was coming down the hall toward her, carrying a laundry basket full of folded clothes.

  “What are you doing up here?” Mrs. Jacobs asked her curiously. “That’s Margaret’s room. Why are you standing outside of Margaret’s room?”

  “I was, uh, looking for the bathroom,” Nancy said. She scrunched up her face, trying to look like she was lost.

  “Oh, well, that’s the next door down. Why didn’t you just use the one downstairs?” Mrs. Jacobs said pleasantly.

  “I thought someone was using it. The door was closed. I’ll see if they’re still in there,�
� Nancy said quickly. “Thanks, Mrs. Jacobs!”

  She hurried past Mrs. Jacobs and down the stairs. When she reached the front hall, she stepped over the baby gate into the living room. “Guess what?” she started to say to George and Bess. She wanted to tell them about the conversation—or the sort-of-conversation—she’d overheard through Margaret’s door.

  But Nancy stopped. Something was wrong. George and Bess looked upset, and the twins were whimpering, their cheeks streaked with fresh tears.

  “What happened?” Nancy said.

  “They wanted Squeak Squeak to ride on the train—” George began.

  “But when I went to get him, he was gone!” Bess finished. “Squeak Squeak is missing!”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  A Furry Suspect

  “Squeak Squeak is missing?” Nancy said, surprised. “Since when?”

  “Kweek-Kweek!” Anna Lin said, sniffling.

  “Since just now,” George explained. “He was on the bookshelf before.”

  Nancy glanced over at the bookshelf. She recalled Mrs. Jacobs taking Squeak Squeak from the twins and placing it there, out of their reach. She also recalled Matt pretending to feed Squeak Squeak cheese, then stealing Lacie’s M-Box and fitting the tiny little headphones over the mouse’s ears—as a “prank.”

  “Matt was playing with Squeak Squeak,” Nancy reminded her friends.

  “Oh yeah, that’s right.” George nodded.

  “Did Matt put Squeak Squeak back on the bookshelf?” Nancy asked.

  George frowned. “I don’t think so,” she said after a moment.

  “I thought he did,” Bess said. “But I’m not totally sure.”

  “I’m not totally sure either,” Nancy admitted.

  The twins started crying again. “I’ll put on their happy-babies CD,” George said, hurrying over to the CD player.

  “Good idea. And we can dance with Togo!” Bess said brightly. “Anna Lin, Lily Mei, do you want to meet Togo?”

  The twins stopped crying and stared wide-eyed at Bess.

  Bess went over to her backpack, which she had left in the hallway. She returned a moment later with the scruffy-looking stuffed tiger.