The Black Velvet Mystery Read online

  “Okay.” Nancy sighed.

  “Do you want to know another secret?” Lonny asked. He began to whisper. “Wally’s not really a cockroach.”

  “Yeah,” Lenny said. “He’s a dung beetle.”

  “Shut up!” Orson yelled at his brothers. The twins giggled and ran away.

  “Can I get back to work?” Orson asked. “I’m having my first art show tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Go ahead,” Nancy said.

  “We won’t bug you anymore,” George said.

  “Cute,” Orson muttered.

  As the girls and Chip walked away from the Wong home, Nancy pulled out her detective notebook.

  “I guess Orson is clean,” Nancy said. She looked down at her paint-streaked dog. “But Chip isn’t.”

  “And now you have only one suspect left,” Bess said. “Mrs. Vanderpool.”

  “Should we investigate her now, Nancy?” George asked.

  Nancy shook her head. “Let’s do it tomorrow. I have to give Chip a bath.”

  Chip covered her head with her grubby paws. Then she gave a loud whine.

  • • •

  “Sit still, girl!” Nancy said as she tried to scrub Chip in her front yard.

  Chip jumped out of the large metal basin. She was covered with soapsuds.

  Nancy sighed. The red, yellow, and green paint was still stuck to her coat.

  “I give up, Chip,” Nancy said. “I’ll have to take you to the Dashing Dog Pet Salon tomorrow. Maybe they can get out all that yucky paint.”

  Chip shook her wet coat. Nancy shrieked as soapy water splashed and sprayed everywhere.

  But then Nancy heard someone else shriek. She looked up and saw a dripping wet Kendra Cartwright.

  “Kendra!” Nancy gasped.

  “Thanks a lot,” Kendra sputtered. “My new blouse is sopping wet!”

  “Chip didn’t mean it,” Nancy said.

  “But you did,” Kendra snapped.

  “What do you mean?” Nancy asked.

  “You ruined the black velvet coat yesterday because you wanted to wear it,” Kendra said. “All the kids in River Heights are talking about you.”

  Nancy’s eyes opened wide. She didn’t know that the rumor had spread so quickly.

  “They’re wrong, Kendra,” Nancy said. “I would never do anything like that.”

  “Yes, you would,” Kendra said, sticking out her chin. “And you had help.”

  Kendra pulled a wet paper from under her arm. It was the latest copy of the Carlton News.

  “Here,” Kendra said. “Read this!”

  Nancy looked at the paper. The gossip was on the first page. She read it out loud: “‘Which soccer jock and prissy blond would do anything for their best friend? Here’s a hint: They’re snipping cousins!’”

  Nancy felt her cheeks burn. Brenda was writing about George and Bess!

  “This is another one of Brenda’s rumors, Kendra!” Nancy declared. But when she looked up, Kendra was gone.

  Nancy kneeled down and petted Chip’s damp coat.

  “Now I really have to solve this case, girl,” she said, sighing. “Brenda is accusing my best friends, too!”

  • • •

  That night Nancy ate dinner with her father. Carson Drew was a lawyer and liked to help Nancy with her detective work.

  “What if Brenda keeps writing those bad things about me, Daddy?” Nancy asked.

  “Don’t worry, Pudding Pie,” Mr. Drew said. He sprinkled pepper on his chicken. “The truth always comes out sooner or later.”

  Nancy sighed. “Well, it better come sooner, Daddy. Because I’m being framed!”

  • • •

  The next morning Nancy met Bess and George. They had gotten permission to walk Chip to the Dashing Dog Pet Salon.

  “She called us a soccer jock and a prissy blond,” George said. She held out her own copy of the Carlton News. “But how do we know she meant me and Bess?”

  Nancy tugged Chip’s leash. “Well, you are a soccer jock, George. And Bess is—”

  “Prissy?” Bess cried. “Is that what you think I am—prissy?”

  “No!” Nancy said quickly. “You’re . . . blond.”

  “Oh,” Bess said. She twirled her ponytail. “Well, that’s true.”

  The girls walked down Main Street. Then Nancy saw something on the sidewalk. It was a message written in colored chalk—a mean message.

  “Oh, no!” Nancy cried. “It says, Nancy is a cut-up!”

  Chip nuzzled Nancy’s hand as her owner shook her head. “The rumor is everywhere I go. Even on Main Street.”

  The girls walked into the Dashing Dog. Nancy had never been inside the salon before. It had pink furniture and pictures of glamorous dogs on the walls.

  “Hello. My name is Rex,” a man behind a desk said. “May I help you?”

  “Yes,” Nancy said. “This is Chip. She’s a chocolate Lab.”

  The man stared at the red, yellow, and green streaks on Chip’s coat.

  “You mean she used to be chocolate,” he said, chuckling. “Now she’s strawberry, lemon, and lime!”

  The man laughed loudly at his joke. He stopped suddenly when the door opened. “Mrs. Vanderpool!” he cried. “What a pleasant surprise.”

  Nancy whirled around. Mrs. Vanderpool?

  Mrs. Vanderpool was standing at the door with her little dogs in her arms.

  The dogs were wearing little red coats—with black velvet collars!

  7

  Art Smart

  Nancy,” George whispered. “Do you see what I see?”

  Nancy nodded. She looked at Mrs. Vanderpool, who was busy talking to Rex.

  “It’s a bit warm out there, Rex,” Mrs. Vanderpool was saying.

  “I guess this is what they call the dog days of August,” Rex said.

  “Every day is a dog day for me!” Mrs. Vanderpool said, hugging her Yorkies. “Quick,” Nancy whispered to Bess and George. “Let’s hide. I don’t want Mrs. Vanderpool to see us.”

  Tugging Chip’s leash, Nancy ducked behind a pink curtain. Bess and George followed.

  “Nancy!” Bess whispered. “We’re not alone. Look!”

  Nancy whirled around. Sitting on high tables were dogs. One, a big poodle, had curlers in her hair; another, a bulldog, was wrapped in a fluffy towel.

  “Shhh,” Nancy told the dogs. She put her finger in front of her lips.

  “I can’t believe it,” George whispered. “Mrs. Vanderpool’s dogs are wearing black velvet collars!”

  “I know,” Nancy said. “But I don’t want Mrs. Vanderpool to see us. Then she’ll know we’re watching her.”

  Nancy heard a soft growl. She looked down and saw a little Yorkie peeking underneath the curtain.

  “It’s Mrs. Vanderpool’s dust mop,” George said. “Shoo! Go away!”

  The other Yorkie peeked in. They both sniffed at Chip. Then they began to bark.

  “Oh, no!” Nancy said.

  “What’s going on back there?” Rex called from the front.

  Chip barked and ducked under the curtain. Nancy, Bess, and George ran after her.

  “Chip, come back!” Nancy called.

  The two little Yorkies yapped as they chased Chip all around the waiting room. A woman reading a magazine screamed. A man clutched his Chihuahua to his chest.

  The dogs ran across a sofa and hopped over the chairs.

  “My babies!” Mrs. Vanderpool cried. “That messy dog is chasing my babies!”

  “It’s the other way around!” Nancy insisted as she tried to catch Chip.

  The dogs kicked magazines in the air as they raced around the waiting room.

  “YAP! YAP! YAP!” the Yorkies barked.

  “Woof! Woof! Woof!” Chip barked back.

  “Stop!” Rex shouted. “Down! Heel!”

  The Yorkies jumped in front of Chip and growled. Chip began to whine. Then she ran to Nancy and leaped into her arms.

  “Good girl!” Nancy said.

  “Well,
I never!” Mrs. Vanderpool said as she scooped up her Yorkies. “That Lab almost ruined my babies’ new coats!”

  Nancy handed Chip’s leash to George. She walked up to Mrs. Vanderpool.

  “Where did you get those black velvet collars, Mrs. Vanderpool?” Nancy asked.

  “From me,” Rex said. “Do you like them?”

  Nancy whirled around.

  “Those coats are from my brand-new doggie fashion collection,” Rex said. He reached under his desk and pulled out a box. “I was going to display them today.”

  Nancy looked into the box. It was filled with tiny hats, sweaters, and coats. Many of them had black velvet collars.

  “Rex showed them to me yesterday,” Mrs. Vanderpool explained. “When I saw the coats with the black velvet collars I just had to have them!”

  “But what about the black velvet coat at Peppermint Penny’s?” Nancy asked.

  “That was lovely,” Mrs. Vanderpool said. “So I decided to order one for my granddaughter.”

  “Your granddaughter?” Nancy asked. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the pearl earring. “Is that why we found this in the back room yesterday?”

  Mrs. Vanderpool smiled when she saw her earring.

  “Yes!” Mrs. Vanderpool said. “It must have dropped off when I was checking the size of the coat. There was no one else in the stockroom at the time.”

  So that explains it, Nancy thought as she handed the earring back to Mrs. Vanderpool.

  “Well, I just wanted to come by and show Rex how sweet my babies look,” Mrs. Vanderpool said. “Bye, now!”

  As Mrs. Vanderpool left the salon, her little dogs growled at Chip one last time.

  “Ankle-biters!” George muttered.

  “Now,” Rex said, rubbing his hands. “I have the perfect denim jacket that would look fabulous on Chocolate Chip.”

  “No thank you,” Nancy said. “She’ll look fabulous right after she has a good bath.”

  “Oh, yes—the bath,” Rex said. He took Chip’s leash. “You can pick her up in about an hour.”

  The girls left the Dashing Dog.

  “Mrs. Vanderpool was our last suspect,” Bess said. “Now what are we going to do?”

  “I’m not sure,” Nancy said. “But I have to solve this case before Brenda writes any more nasty things about me!”

  As they walked along Main Street, Nancy noticed a small crowd of people.

  “What’s going on?” George asked.

  “It’s some kind of art show,” Nancy said. She looked closer. “Orson Wong’s art show!”

  Orson’s artwork was lined up on the sidewalk. There was a painting of an ant, a grasshopper, and of course—Wally.

  “Where do you get your inspiration?” a man asked Orson.

  Orson picked up Wally’s glass jar. “From under a rock.”

  Then Nancy noticed a painting that looked different. Instead of a bug, there was some kind of brown-and-white smudge.

  Bess noticed it, too. “I think someone stepped on that bug,” she said.

  “I don’t think it’s a bug, Bess,” Nancy said. She got a closer look. The splotch was sprinkled with nuts and chocolate chips. “It’s ice cream.”

  George stared at the splotch.

  “It’s Panda Bar ice cream!” George exclaimed. “I had a stain just like that on my soccer shirt.”

  “And it’s not signed by Orson,” Bess said. “It’s signed by Lonny and Lenny.”

  Nancy noticed something familiar about the black background. She reached out to touch it. It was thick and soft.

  “Bess! George!” she exclaimed. “This is the velvet from the black coat!”

  8

  Pests Confess

  Nancy felt someone grab her hand. She looked up and saw Lenny Wong.

  “Hands off the merchandise, lady!” he growled.

  “Yeah,” Lonny said. “You break it, you buy it.”

  Nancy pulled her hand back. She pointed to the Panda Bar painting.

  “Where did that come from?” she demanded.

  Lenny smiled proudly. “Orson had room in his show so we made it.”

  “Do you like it?” Lonny asked.

  “No,” Nancy snapped. “I like cherry-vanilla Panda Bars.”

  Lonny and Lenny looked at each other.

  “Uh-oh,” Lenny whispered.

  “It’s an ice-cream stain, isn’t it?” Nancy demanded.

  “No!” Lonny said quickly.

  “Then what is it?” George asked.

  “Um . . . it’s a polar bear,” Lenny said.

  “In a mudslide!” Lonny said.

  Nancy pointed to the black velvet. “Then where did you get that black velvet?” she asked.

  “Is it from Peppermint Penny’s cut-up coat?” Bess asked.

  The twins huddled together. They looked scared.

  “You don’t have to answer them,” a voice said.

  Nancy turned around. Brenda Carlton was standing behind them.

  “Everyone knows that Nancy cut up the coat,” Brenda said. “It’s all over town.”

  “Thanks to you,” Bess said.

  Brenda held up a small plastic change purse. “Besides, I want to buy that painting to hang over my bed.”

  “That’s a lie!” George said. “You want to buy that painting so everyone will still think Nancy cut up the coat!”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Brenda said.

  Lonny held his hand out to Brenda. “That will be fifty cents. Cough it up!”

  “Nancy!” George complained. “Brenda is buying our only evidence. What are we going to do?”

  “I know what to do,” Bess said.

  Nancy watched as Bess marched over to Orson.

  “Give me that,” Bess said. She grabbed the jar out of Orson’s hand.

  “Hey!” Orson said. “What are you doing with Wally? He’s the star of the show. Like Mona Lisa.”

  George gasped. “Is that Bess holding that bug?”

  “Bess is terrified of bugs,” Nancy said.

  “Hey, Brenda,” Bess said as she held up the jar. “Say hello to Wally the cockroach.”

  “W-W-Wally?” Brenda stammered.

  Nancy and George stood behind Bess.

  “Wally was in this jar all week,” Bess said. She began to unscrew the lid. “I’ll bet he’d love some Panda Bar ice cream.”

  Brenda looked at Wally. Her chin began to quiver. Then she dropped the Panda Bar painting and screamed.

  “Hey, wait!” Lonny shouted as Brenda ran away. “We had a deal!”

  Bess looked down at the jar. Then she screamed, too. “A cockroach! Yuck! What was I thinking?”

  While Orson grabbed the jar from Bess, Nancy grabbed the twins by their shoulders.

  “Tell us what happened,” Nancy said. “If you don’t, we’ll tell Penny ourselves.”

  “Okay, okay,” Lenny said. “Penny told us to put our Panda Bars in the mini fridge, but we couldn’t find it.”

  “So we put them on top of some boxes,” Lonny said.

  “Go on,” Nancy urged.

  “When everyone else was practicing on the red carpet, we went into the stockroom to eat our Panda Bars,” Lenny said.

  “How does that explain the coat?” George asked.

  “We dripped ice cream all over the coat,” Lenny said. “We didn’t want Penny to find out, so we took her scissors and cut it out.”

  “You cut out the stain?” Nancy asked.

  Lenny nodded. “And I stuffed it in my pants’ pocket. That’s why it looks smudgy and not drippy”

  Nancy turned to Orson. “Did you know your brothers did this?”

  “No way,” Orson said. “I thought it was a finger painting.”

  The twins held up their hands and wiggled their fingers.

  “We love to finger paint!” Lonny declared.

  Nancy stared at the twins’ hands. They were covered with colored chalk.

  “You also wrote that mean message about m
e, didn’t you?” Nancy asked.

  The twins looked down at their hands.

  “Busted.” Lonny sighed.

  “We knew you were being blamed for the coat,” Lenny said. “We didn’t want to get caught so we blamed you, too.”

  “Well, the game is over,” George said. “You’re going to tell Penny right now.”

  “But she’ll never let us model clothes again!” Lonny cried.

  Lenny waved his hand. “That’s okay. Those sweaters were itchy.”

  Nancy, Bess, and George took the twins to Peppermint Penny’s. The culprits stood in front of her and told her everything.

  “What you did was wrong,” Penny said. “But I was wrong, too. I should have had someone watch the room at all times.”

  After the twins apologized, they ran out of the store.

  “It’s too bad the coat was ruined,” Bess said. “It was so pretty.”

  “I know,” Penny said. “But you’ll be seeing a lot more of that black velvet coat around River Heights.”

  “We will?” Nancy asked.

  Penny smiled. “After the fashion show I got five orders for the coat. Without the hole, of course.”

  “Of course!” Nancy giggled.

  As the girls left Peppermint Penny’s, Nancy felt great. They had solved “The Case of the Cut-up Coat.”

  “Let’s call Brenda and let her know, Nancy,” Bess said.

  Nancy thought about it. Then she shook her head. “Let’s not,” she said. “If a bad rumor can spread so fast, maybe a good rumor will, too.”

  The girls decided to celebrate at the pizza parlor. But first they went to the Dashing Dog to pick up Chip.

  While Bess and George read pet magazines in the waiting room, Nancy took out her notebook. Then she began to write:

  Gossip! Gossip! Gossip! It sure can hurt—especially when it’s about you! I also learned something else: nice clothes are great, but being nice on the inside is so much better. And that never goes out of style!

  Case closed.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  Aladdin