Princess Mix-Up Mystery Read online

  Strawberry Spritz Forever

  “Great,” George groaned as she and Nancy ran over to help Bess. The other kids opened their eyes to see what all the commotion was about.

  “Hi, guys!” Shelby Metcalf said cheerily. “You didn’t tell me you joined this class too.”

  “We didn’t,” Bess said as her legs finally popped apart. “We’re here to solve to a mystery—”

  George clapped her hand over Bess’s mouth. But it was too late.

  “Mystery?” a boy wearing a blue sweat suit asked. “You mean you’re spies?”

  “Bad karma,” said a girl dressed in a tie-dyed T-shirt and leggings.

  “It certainly is!” Marvin said as he squeezed through the small crowd of kids. “I don’t understand why you girls have to play detective in my yoga class.”

  “We’re not playing!” Bess said in a muffled voice behind George’s hand. She pulled the hand off and added, “Why are all these kids here anyway? We thought you hated kids—”

  Nancy clapped her hand over Bess’s mouth this time.

  “Mmmph!” Bess protested.

  “It’s just that you didn’t look too happy when Prissy’s Princess Parlor opened downstairs, Mr. Dretzel,” Nancy explained.

  “That’s true,” Marvin admitted. “I thought all that noise would interrupt our peace and serenity.”

  “Just as we thought.” Nancy sighed, letting go of Bess’s mouth.

  “But that same day,” Marvin went on. “I got this fabulous idea for a brand-new class—a yoga class for children called Kids for Karma.”

  “What is karma?” Nancy asked.

  “Karma is what we create with our thoughts and actions,” Marvin explained.

  “Okay,” George said slowly. “So did your karma create the shutting down of Prissy’s Princess Parlor?”

  “Of course not!” Marvin declared. He raised an eyebrow as he studied the girls. “Hey … aren’t you those little princesses who turned blue?”

  “That’s us,” Nancy said, feeling her cheeks redden. “Someone switched the Strawberry Spritz in the bottle with some stinky blue stuff.”

  “Well, it certainly wasn’t me!” Marvin said defensively.

  “Then what’s with all those bottles of Strawberry Spritz on your shelf?” George asked.

  “The Strawberry Spritz is used strictly for aromatherapy,” Marvin explained. “My students relax better when the air smells nice.”

  “You mean like strawberries?” Bess asked.

  “Ahhh, yes,” Marvin said, shutting his eyes. “We simply imagine that we’re floating peacefully down a thick strawberry milkshake river!”

  “Can we float down a chocolate milkshake instead?” a boy with freckles asked.

  “Pistachio!” a girl shouted.

  “Butter pecan!” another girl exclaimed.

  Marvin rolled his eyes and muttered, “Kids.”

  While the kids shouted out their favorite flavors, the Clue Crew stepped to the side.

  “How do we know he’s telling the truth?” George asked.

  Nancy didn’t know until she remembered the sisters’ note in her pocket. She pulled it out and said, “Maybe this has a clue.”

  Bess and George peered over Nancy’s shoulder as she softly read the note aloud: “‘Dear Marvin, It was so nice being your downstairs neighbor. We hope you enjoy the four bottles of Strawberry Spritz you bought from us yesterday. Prissy and Wendy.’”

  “No clue there,” George said. “We know he must have gotten the bottles from the salon.”

  Nancy turned to the shelf and counted the bottles. One … two … three … four.

  “Marvin is innocent,” Nancy declared.

  “How do you know?” Bess asked.

  “Do the math,” Nancy said. “Marvin bought four bottles. And four bottles are still on the shelf.”

  “Oh!” Bess said, her eyes lighting up. “So Marvin couldn’t have filled one of the bottles with the stinky blue stuff and put it downstairs—”

  “Because all four bottles are right there!” George finished, nodding at the shelf. “Good catch, Nancy!”

  The girls turned back to the kids. This time they were each standing on one foot.

  “Come on, girls,” Marvin called. “We’re in the flamingo position now.”

  “We have to go now, Mr. Dretzel,” Nancy said politely.

  As the girls left the studio, they found Shelby right behind them.

  “I’m over that class too,” Shelby said as they headed downstairs. “I’d rather eat a pretzel than be one.”

  Once outside, Shelby pointed to the closed salon. “Bummer what happened to you in there,” she said. “I wonder if the same thing happened to Trina.”

  “You mean Trina Vanderhoof?” Nancy asked.

  Shelby nodded and said, “I saw Trina coming out of the parlor yesterday morning. She walked fast and looked around as if she didn’t want anyone to see her.”

  The girls traded surprised looks. They thought Trina would never, ever go into Prissy’s Princess Parlor.

  “Are you sure it was Trina?” George asked.

  “Sure I’m sure,” Shelby said. “When I said hi she came over to me and looked me straight in the eye.”

  “What did she say?” Bess asked.

  “She said, ‘You didn’t see me coming out of this place, okay?’” Shelby repeated in a gruff voice. “I guess she didn’t want me to tell anybody.”

  “You just did,” Bess said.

  “Oops!” Shelby gasped. She gave a little wave before running up the block and around the corner.

  “She goofed.” George sighed.

  “No, she didn’t!” Nancy said excitedly. “Shelby gave us a great clue—she told us Trina was at Prissy’s Princess Parlor yesterday!”

  “And if Trina’s fingers were blue,” Bess said, “the smudge on the label could have come from her!”

  “Let’s see if there’s a clue in the blue,” Nancy said as she pulled out the clue bag and the label.

  “Wait a minute,” Bess said. She dug into her own pocket and pulled out glasses with funny-looking lenses. “Let me look at it through these.”

  “What is that?” George cried.

  “Another gizmo I built myself,” Bess said, blinking behind the glasses. “I call it the ‘I-Spy Magnifying Specs.’”

  Nancy giggled. Bess was great at building and fixing things. But the magnifying specs made her eyes look tremendous—like a bug’s!

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

  After a few more seconds of peering through the glasses Bess gave a little gasp. “I spy a fingerprint,” she said excitedly. “And a great clue!”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Sticky Situation

  The Clue Crew had a new plan. They would compare Trina’s fingerprint with the one Bess found on the label. But first they needed Trina’s fingerprints.

  “Are you sure this is going to work?” Bess asked later that afternoon.

  George twirled a basketball on her finger as they walked through the park. Nancy held a bottle of craft glue in her hand.

  “Sure I’m sure,” George said. “All we do is smear my old basketball with glue. Then I pass the ball to Trina and if we’re lucky, she passes it back.”

  “Then we peel off the glue and ta-daaa!” Nancy explained. “Trina’s fingerprints will be all over it!”

  “The trick is straight from the Junior Sleuth website,” George explained. “So it’s got to work!”

  Nancy, Bess, and George could see Trina shooting hoops with a bunch of other girls at the basketball courts.

  “Trina’s practicing with the Blue Jets,” George whispered. “I knew I’d find her here.”

  “Ready, set?” Nancy whispered. “All systems go!”

  The girls darted behind a tree with a thick trunk. From there they darted from tree to tree until they reached the one next to the court.

  “Let’s stick it to her!” Nancy said, holding up the glue bottle.


  George held the basketball while Nancy squirted glue all over it.

  “It’s clear,” Nancy pointed out. “So Trina won’t have a clue it’s glue.”

  “‘Clue it’s glue!’” Bess giggled. “You’re a poet and you don’t even know it—”

  Thonk!

  What was that? The girls looked down to see another basketball. It had hit the trunk and rolled around the tree.

  “Somebody get my ball!” Trina’s voice said.

  “Throw Trina back the gluey one, George!” Nancy whispered.

  George stepped out from behind the tree. She held up her gluey basketball and called, “Yo, Trina. Catch!”

  George passed the ball to Trina. She caught it and said, “Thanks.”

  Nancy, Bess, and George stood by the tree to watch. Trina held up one hand to dribble the ball. But the ball was stuck to her hand!

  “Hey! Hey!” Trina said. She pumped her hand up and down, trying to free the ball. “Did someone stick gum on this? I can’t get it off! I can’t get it off!”

  “George, are you sure the site was Junior Sleuths?” Bess asked. “Or Junior Goofs?”

  The girls were about to run when the ball finally dropped from Trina’s hand with a plunk. Trina stared at the sticky web of glue dripping from her fingertips.

  “What is this gross stuff?” Trina cried. “Some kind of alien ectoplasm?”

  “No, Trina,” Nancy called. “It’s just glue. The same kind we use in arts and crafts.”

  Trina stared at the glue bottle in Nancy’s hand.

  “Why did you squirt glue on my basketball?” Trina demanded.

  “It’s not your ball, it’s mine,” George said. “Yours rolled behind the tree.”

  “We put glue on the ball to get your fingerprints,” Bess explained.

  “My fingerprints?” Trina exclaimed. She narrowed her eyes at the girls. “Does this have something to do with one of your cases?”

  “Doesn’t everything?” George asked.

  “Somebody messed up our makeovers at Prissy’s Princess Parlor yesterday,” Nancy explained. “We thought you did it because you were mad at George.”

  “And,” Bess added, “someone whose name we won’t tell saw you coming out of Prissy’s Princess Parlor yesterday.”

  “Are you guys nuts?” Trina cut in. “I’d rather kiss a pig on the lips than go into that prissy princess place!”

  The Blue Jets mumbled in agreement.

  “But somebody saw you!” Bess insisted.

  Trina’s face blushed red as she whisked Nancy, Bess, and George away from her team.

  “Okay, okay, okay,” Trina said with a low voice. “I was in that place yesterday, but only to buy blue face paint for our game. You know, blue for Blue Jets.”

  “Is that why your fingers are blue?” Nancy asked. “From smearing blue paint all over your face?”

  “Yeah.” Trina sighed. She stared at her fingers, still stained blue. “The stuff is hard to wash off.”

  “But if you weren’t doing anything wrong, Trina,” Bess said, “why did you rush out as if you didn’t want someone to see you?”

  “Because I didn’t want anyone to see me!” Trina cried. “Everyone knows what I think of that place. If they found out I was there, they’d laugh me out of River Heights!”

  “It’s not that bad,” George said. “The baseball-bat barrettes they gave me were pretty cool.”

  Trina leaned closer to the girls and whispered, “Just don’t tell my team I was there. Pleeease?”

  Before Nancy could answer Trina picked up her ball and ran back to her team.

  “What do you think?” George asked.

  “I think she had a good excuse,” Bess said.

  “What about the rest of her team?” Nancy said. “If they used the hard-to-get-out face paint, wouldn’t they be blue too?”

  “Watch this!” George said with a sly smile. She ran onto the basketball court and shouted, “Blue Jets rock! High five!”

  The girls on the team exchanged puzzled looks. Then they shrugged and high-fived George one by one.

  Nancy didn’t get it—until George ran back and said, “Three blue fingers, a blue chin, and two blue cheeks. They used the stuff too.”

  “Good work, George!” Nancy said, patting her on the shoulder. “Now we know Trina did go for the blue paint and not to mess up our makeovers.”

  “Trina Vanderhoof is clean!” Bess declared. Then added, “… after she washes that icky glue off her hand.”

  The girls walked back onto the court so George could pick up her gluey basketball.

  “You guys,” George told the Blue Jets, “if you rub baby oil all over those blue stains, you’ll get them out.”

  “Really?” Trina asked.

  “For sure,” George said. “I once painted my face orange for Halloween and the stuff came off like magic!”

  “She went as a piece of candy corn,” Bess said with a nod. “Next day you’d never have known it.”

  The Blue Jets smiled at George and thanked her. Trina was finally smiling too.

  “Hey, we’re playing the boys at school next week,” Trina told George. “Want to play?”

  “You bet!” George said. She looked down at her icky, sticky basketball. “But we’d better use your ball!”

  Nancy, Bess, and George left the court and walked through the park. The sun was shining warm on the tops of their heads. Spring was definitely in the air—but as long as the case wasn’t solved, so was trouble.

  “Our only suspects are Suki and Ella,” Nancy said. “Let’s go back to our headquarters and see what we can dig up on them.”

  They passed the playground where Kevin Garcia was sitting on a swing. He wasn’t swinging, just staring down at his sneakers.

  “Let’s show Kevin we’re not scary anymore,” Nancy suggested. She and her friends started walking toward the swing set.

  “Hi, Kevin!” Nancy called.

  Kevin looked up. When he saw the girls his mouth dropped open. Then he jumped off the swing and raced away.

  “Kevin, wait!” Nancy called. What was up with him?

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Knock, Knock, What’s There?

  “Does anyone have a mirror?” Bess asked as they watched Kevin charge out of the park gate.

  “Why?” Nancy wanted to know.

  “Maybe we still look scary!” Bess said. “Why else would Kevin look like a deer in headlights?”

  “We don’t look scary anymore,” Nancy insisted, although she had no idea why Kevin acted so weird either.

  “Speaking of deer,” George said as they left the park, “did Hannah ever find something stinky to keep deer away?”

  “Not yet,” Nancy replied.

  “Too bad Hannah can’t use the stinky stuff that was in our hair yesterday,” Bess said. “That would do the trick!”

  Back at the Drew house Hannah fixed the girls tuna sandwiches for lunch. But after lunch it was back to work, as the girls headed straight up to Nancy’s room.

  George took her usual place at Nancy’s computer. After opening up a case file she spun around and said, “Okay! What do we know about Suki and Ella so far?”

  Nancy sat on her bed deep in thought. “They had a motive—a reason for wanting to do it,” she said.

  Bess was balancing on one foot, trying to copy the flamingo pose she had seen at Yay for Yoga.

  “They could have sneaked the stinky blue stuff into the parlor yesterday,” Bess said. “And poured it into the Strawberry Spritz bottle while we were in the back room.”

  “We were only in the back room for five minutes,” Nancy pointed out.

  “That’s not enough time to do all that,” George said. “First they had to unscrew the bottles, then pour—”

  “I have an idea!” Nancy said, jumping up from the bed. “Let’s be Rad Scientists just like Suki and Ella.”

  “Huh?” Bess asked.

  “Let’s do an experiment,” Nancy explained. “We’ll empty ou
t a bottle, fill it with something else, and see how long it takes.”

  The girls ran downstairs to the kitchen. After rummaging through Hannah’s recycling bin the girls found two empty bottles the same size as the Strawberry Spritz.

  They carried the bottles upstairs to the bathroom and got to work. First Nancy filled both bottles with water and twisted on the caps. Next she placed them side-by-side on the sink counter.

  Looking down at her watch George started the countdown: “Five … four … three … two … one … go!”

  Quickly Nancy untwisted the cap of one bottle. She poured the water into the sink and down the drain. Next she untwisted the other bottle cap.

  “Go, Nancy, go!” Bess cheered.

  Nancy poured water from the full bottle into the empty one. After tossing away the empty bottle she twisted the cap on the newly filled one and shouted, “Done!”

  “Two minutes and forty-five seconds!” George said, tapping her watch.

  “Plenty of time for Suki and Ella to do the switcheroo,” Bess declared. “They’re guilty as charged.”

  “Not yet,” Nancy reminded her friends. “First we have to ask them some questions.”

  “No,” George said. “First we have to find them!”

  Luckily for the Clue Crew, the Rad Scientists had their own website. It listed the address of their clubhouse, and their next meeting, Friday morning at ten o’clock.

  “Tomorrow is Friday,” Nancy said, folding her arms across her chest. “That’s when we’ll find out if those Rad Scientists are bad scientists!”

  “Are you sure Suki and Ella messed up your makeovers, Nancy?” Mr. Drew asked that night while preparing dinner.

  “Pretty sure, Daddy,” Nancy said, trying to stop Chip from begging at the counter. “Suki and Ella had a reason to do it on purpose.”

  “Unless,” he said. “It was a mistake.”

  “Why would Suki and Ella make a mistake?” Nancy asked.

  “Unless it wasn’t Suki and Ella,” Mr. Drew said with a little wink.

  “Daddy!” Nancy sighed.

  Her father was great at helping with her cases. But today he was making her head spin!

  Chip’s ears suddenly perked up as the doorbell rang.