The Sand Castle Mystery Page 3

  Nancy stood up. She knew Lisa couldn’t enter because she had already won, but she didn’t know why Katharine couldn’t. “Why can’t Katharine enter?” Nancy said.

  “Duh—Earth to Nancy,” said Jane meanly. “Because Katharine’s mother owns Peppermint Park, and Peppermint Park gives out the winning prizes. It wouldn’t be fair if Katharine could enter. If she won, everyone would think the contest was fixed. That’s why this time of year Katharine’s always in a bad mood.”

  Nancy was shocked. Maybe that was why Katharine hadn’t been nice to them at first. Katharine probably felt jealous. But why was Katharine being nice to them now?

  Nancy walked back toward the castle. Sometimes, she thought, the only way to get at the truth was to ask for it.

  Nancy walked swiftly back to the beach. All the girls were patting the edges of the castle. Nancy stared at Katharine. Katharine was making a whirling pattern in the sand, and she was doing it with her left hand!

  “Katharine,” said Nancy, “are you lefthanded?”

  Katharine put her hand down. “So what?” she asked.

  “The person who wrote ‘stay away’ was lefthanded,” Nancy said.

  “Katharine, you didn’t!” Bess cried.

  Katharine stood up. Her face grew very red. “Just because I’m left-handed doesn’t mean I did something like that!” Katharine cried. She looked over at the beach where Lisa was running toward them. “But I know who did! I didn’t want to say anything, in case I was wrong about this, but one night, when I was running to Peppermint Park to help, I saw only one person on the beach.”

  “Who?” Nancy asked.

  “I’ll tell you only if you don’t tell her I told you,” Katharine said. “I don’t want anyone mad at me. And I’m not going to go over there with you to accuse her.”

  “Agreed,” Nancy said.

  “Agreed,” repeated Bess and George.

  Katharine pointed to Lisa, who was down the beach near her father. “There she is! There’s the person who wrecked your castle! It’s Lisa!”

  6

  Un-buried Treasure

  Lisa!” Nancy exclaimed. She couldn’t believe it.

  “Remember when Lisa ran to tell her dad she was meeting us for lunch?” George said. “When we all went back to the beach, the ‘stay away’ was gone! Lisa must have erased it then.”

  Nancy shook her head. “I still can’t believe it,” she said. But there was only one way to find out if it was true, and that was to go and talk to Lisa. The girls ran across the sand to Lisa.

  “Lisa, did you wreck our castle?” Bess demanded.

  Lisa’s mouth dropped open. “Is this a joke?” she demanded.

  Nancy shook her head. “Someone told us they saw you on the beach that night.”

  “Someone! Someone who?” Lisa asked.

  “I can’t tell you that. But can you tell us if that’s true?” Nancy asked.

  “Yes, it’s true,” Lisa said, “but not for the reason you think!”

  Lisa pointed to the other side of the beach. “See that man in the blue bathing suit?” Lisa asked. “That’s my father. He’ll prove I didn’t do it!”

  The girls silently walked over to Lisa’s father. “Dad?” Lisa said. Lisa’s father sat up, smiling.

  “I was just thinking I would walk over and check on you,” he said. He looked at the other girls. “Are these the new friends you were telling your mother and me about?” he said. “I’m so happy to meet all of you, girls. I’m so sorry, too, about what happened to your sand castle, but I know you will rebuild it better than ever.

  “What’s the matter?” Lisa’s father asked. “You all look as if the ocean had dried up!”

  “Someone blamed me for wrecking the sand castle!” Lisa said. “Just because they saw me on the beach that night! Will you tell them where I was—and why?”

  Lisa’s father frowned.

  “Dad, remember yesterday when you came to take me to the dentist?” Lisa asked. “You didn’t want to get your good shoes wet so you stood at the edge of the beach waiting for me?”

  “Yes, I remember,” he said. He looked at the other girls. “When Lisa came off the beach she pointed out the castle to me. I remember thinking how great it looked.”

  “The castle was still there?” Nancy asked.

  “Certainly it was,” Lisa’s father said. “Number nine. And Lisa was with me for the rest of the time. We went to the dentist and then back home and I took her back to the beach this morning myself. She couldn’t have had time to destroy your castle.”

  Nancy frowned. “Lisa, we’re sorry we accused you, but if you didn’t destroy our castle, then who did?”

  “I don’t know,” Lisa said.

  “But I bet you girls will find out,” her father said kindly.

  The four girls walked back to the castle. No one felt like working. The sun beat down on them, and the girls began to get really hot.

  Just then Mr. Drew came out onto the beach, carrying a towel. “Why don’t you girls take a break and take a swim?” he asked.

  “We can’t!” Nancy wailed. “We don’t have enough clues yet.”

  “Take a break and you’ll think clearer,” Mr. Drew said. “I’ll watch you from right over there.” He pointed to a patch of sand.

  George scanned the horizon. “We could swim out to the kiddie float,” she said, pointing to the big yellow raft.

  “All right,” Nancy said. “But let’s not just swim, let’s race!”

  The girls ran into the water. The waves lapped at their legs and the water was so cool and delicious Nancy felt as if she could have stayed in it forever. Nancy got to the raft first.

  Dripping water, she tugged herself up on the raft. Her eyes opened wide. Katharine was lying on the raft, and she was crying.

  “Katharine,” Nancy said, and Katharine looked up. Her eyes were red and her face was tear-streaked. Bess, George, and Lisa pulled themselves up on the raft, too. “What’s wrong?” Nancy asked.

  “I’ve had a bad day,” Katharine said, sitting up. She pushed her long braids behind her shoulders.

  “You think you’ve had a bad day!” Lisa said. “You should hear about mine! Someone thought I destroyed the sand castle! Can you believe it? Of course I didn’t do it!”

  Katharine sat up. “Do you have any new suspects?” she asked Nancy.

  “No,” Nancy said slowly.

  “But we’ll find one,” Bess said. “No one is a better detective than Nancy Drew.”

  Katharine moved to the edge of the raft with a start. “Last one to shore is a piece of seaweed!” she called, and dove right into the water.

  “Hey, I’m no seaweed!” shouted George, jumping in after her. Bess jumped in, and then Lisa, with Nancy leaping after her.

  Katharine was really fast. She was on shore before any of the girls. “I won! I won!” Katharine cried happily, clapping her hands.

  Bess plucked up a pretty shell and handed it to Katharine. “And here’s your trophy.” She laughed. Katharine ran her fingers over the shell. “I’ve never had a trophy before!” she said excitedly.

  “Wait! Let’s take the winner’s picture,” Nancy said. “My camera is right in my beach bag.”

  The girls ran to their bags, pulling out their cameras. Katharine posed with her shell. “The winner!” Nancy said. “The last shot,” Nancy said. “My film is finished.”

  “Mine was finished this morning,” George said.

  Bess grabbed for her camera. “All of you stand together,” she urged. “I have one picture left!”

  The four girls linked arms and smiled. “Say sand castle!” Bess said.

  “Sand castle!” called the girls and Bess snapped.

  “I’d better get back home,” Katharine said.

  “And we’d better get back to work,” Bess said. “Maybe while we build, we’ll find some more clues.”

  The girls worked hard on the castle. George took a small melon scoop Hannah had loaned them and dug a moat. �
��This is going to be the best moat ever,” George said, and then she suddenly stopped digging.

  “What is it?” Nancy asked.

  “Buried treasure,” George said, lifting up something sparkling and shiny. It was a small, glittery red stone. But whose was it? And what was it doing in their castle?

  7

  A Clue in the Picture

  I don’t know what this means,” Nancy said. “But it means something.” She carefully took the stone and put it into her beach bag. “Let’s keep working.”

  Nancy took her pail down to the edge of the water and filled it. George collected the prettiest stones she could find to add to the little patio Nancy had started building in the back of the castle. Bess and Lisa were busy using a plastic paper clip to press in designs along the base of the castle.

  By the time Mr. Drew came by to collect the girls to go home, Nancy’s nose was sunburned, George’s fingernails were caked with sand, and Bess and Lisa had built an entire moat around the castle.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lisa said, waving.

  “We’re finished,” Nancy told her father. “And so is the film in our cameras.”

  “Fantastic!” Mr. Drew said.

  “Tomorrow afternoon is the contest judging,” Bess said. “I think we have a chance of winning!”

  “You girls have worked so hard, we should celebrate tonight,” Mr. Drew said.

  “Celebrate how?” Nancy asked.

  Mr. Drew’s eyes sparkled. “Who here likes pizza and miniature golf?” he asked. “There’s a pizza parlor and a miniature golf course on the same street as the one-hour photo store. We can drop off your pictures, play golf, and by the time we’re hungry for pizza, the pictures will be ready.”

  The girls jumped up and down. “I think tonight is going to be great,” Nancy said.

  • • •

  That evening, Mr. Drew drove the girls to the one-hour photo shop and then they walked next door to Pirate’s Cove Miniature Golf. The entrance was a huge pirate with an eye patch, standing with his legs far apart.

  “Come on, let’s play!” Nancy cried.

  There were a lot of people playing, and the girls had to sit on a bench and wait. Finally, it was their turn. “You go first,” Nancy said to Bess.

  The first hole was a straight path to a big fish. They had to hit the ball into the fish’s mouth. Bess swung and the ball bounced along, missing the hole. “Oh well, it’s still fun,” Bess said. “Even if I don’t get the best score.”

  Nancy took her shot, moving her club carefully. Her ball missed the hole, too. Laughing, she stepped aside so her father could play. “Your turn, Dad,” she said.

  “Hey, isn’t that Katharine’s mother over there?” Bess said. Nancy looked up and saw Katharine’s mother playing golf with another woman. “Hi, Mrs. Rhodes,” Nancy called.

  Mrs. Rhodes looked up. For a minute, she didn’t seem to know them.

  “We’re Nancy, Bess, and George,” Nancy said. “We met Katharine today at Peppermint Park. And this is my dad.”

  “Hello,” said Mr. Drew.

  Mrs. Rhodes smiled and shook Mr. Drew’s hand. Then she smiled back at the girls. “Oh, of course,” said Mrs. Rhodes. “You’re the girls who had that awful problem with your sand castle.”

  “Gee, I guess we don’t need Kurt to spread the news. Everyone already knows it,” George said.

  “Where’s Katharine?” Nancy said, looking around. “We’d love to play golf with her.”

  “She’s at home searching for something she lost,” said Mrs. Rhodes. “She was determined to keep looking.”

  “She lost something?” Nancy asked.

  “She won’t even tell me what it is,” Mrs. Rhodes said. “Though if she did, I could help her look for it.”

  “That’s probably why she was crying today,” Bess said. “When I lost my favorite necklace, I cried for weeks until I found it.”

  “I’ll tell her you said hello,” said Mrs. Rhodes. “Oh, it’s my turn now,” she said. “You have a good time.”

  The girls and Mr. Drew went back to their game. The course was so much fun! One hole had a giant octopus on it, another had a big anchor, and Nancy’s favorite was one with a mermaid with a shiny green tail! By the time they finished, Bess had the highest score, and then George. Mr. Drew and Nancy were tied. “Oh well, we might not be champion miniature golfers, but we sure know how to have fun!” Nancy said.

  “That’s right, Pudding Pie,” said Mr. Drew ruffling her hair. “Let’s go get the pictures now, and then have some pizza.”

  They quickly went into the one-hour photo store to pick up the pictures. “I can’t wait to see them!” Nancy said.

  “I can’t wait to eat pizza!” George exclaimed.

  Mr. Drew laughed. “Well, you girls can do both. Come on, let’s go eat.”

  The Leaning Tower of Pizza had long wooden tables and bright red-checked tablecloths. There were ten different kinds of pizza toppings.

  “I want green peppers!” Nancy said excitedly.

  “Mushrooms!” said Bess.

  “Pineapple!” George cried.

  “Ew! Pineapple! Are you sure?” Bess said, making a face.

  “Well, I thought I’d try something new,” George said.

  “How about if we order one big pizza with everything on it?” suggested Mr. Drew.

  “That sounds positively yummy,” said George.

  While they were waiting for the pizza, the girls looked at their pictures. There were shots of them all standing together. There was a great shot of Nancy with Lisa and Katharine. And there were many shots of all the different castles.

  “Your castle looks terrific,” said Mr. Drew.

  “I hope it stays that way,” Nancy said glumly. “But if we don’t find out who destroyed it, they might do it again. And tomorrow afternoon is the judging! We don’t have much time.”

  Nancy studied a picture of Katharine she had taken the first day they had met her in Peppermint Park. Then, she suddenly noticed something. A clue!

  “It’s as plain as the nose on my face!” Nancy exclaimed.

  “What is?” said Bess.

  Nancy pointed to the picture. “Look,” she said. “Look at Katharine in this picture.”

  “Yeah, so?” said Bess. “I’m looking but I’m not seeing what you’re seeing.”

  Nancy pointed to Katharine’s hand. “The ring!” Nancy said. “The stone is bright and shiny, and it’s red—like the stone we found in the castle!”

  “You think that stone was Katharine’s?” said George.

  “I think I can prove it was!” Nancy exclaimed. She carefully tucked the picture into her beach bag. “Tomorrow, we’ll find out,” Nancy said. “And I know just how to do it!”

  • • •

  The next morning was Monday, the day of the judging, and the girls asked for permission to go to Peppermint Park. “Ice cream in the morning?” Hannah frowned.

  “Not ice cream,” Nancy said. “Proof. I think I know who ruined our castle.”

  “Well, then, that’s different,” Hannah said. “Since it’s so close, you can go.”

  The girls hurried to Peppermint Park. As soon as they got there, Nancy went right over to Katharine. Nancy looked quickly at Katharine’s hands. She was wearing red rings on both hands, and for a moment, Nancy wondered if she had made a mistake.

  Nancy took the stone out of her purse and showed it to Katharine. Instantly, Katharine’s face lit up. “You found the stone from my favorite ring!” she exclaimed happily. “I’ve been looking all over for it! I thought I lost it. I was so upset I couldn’t even tell anyone.”

  “You did lose it,” Nancy told her. “In our sand castle.”

  Katharine’s face turned as red as the stone in her ring.

  “I think you destroyed our castle,” Nancy said. “And I think I know why!”

  8

  It Wasn't on Purpose!

  It wasn’t on purpose!” Katharine said. “I can expla
in.”

  “You really did destroy our castle?” Bess said, astonished. “But why?”

  Katharine hung her head. “It was an accident!”

  “Writing ‘stay away’ was an accident?” Bess asked.

  “No,” Katharine said in a small voice. “That part wasn’t.”

  “What happened?” Nancy asked.

  “I was running to the shop to help my mother and I was late, so I took a short cut across the beach,” Katharine said. “Only a few people were there and I saw Lisa running across the sand.”

  “You really did see Lisa?” Nancy asked.

  Katharine nodded. “Then Lisa’s father showed up and called to her. After Lisa was gone, I walked over to the sand castles. I just wanted to look at them. I started thinking about what a wonderful castle I could build if I had a chance. I thought it was unfair that you were from out of town and you got to enter the contest and I didn’t. And the more I thought about it, the madder I got! So I wrote ‘stay away.’ I thought that it would scare you and then maybe you wouldn’t want to be in the contest anymore.” She hung her head unhappily. “But then I got scared that someone would catch me so I started to run away and tripped—right into the castle!”

  “That’s not being our friend!” George said.

  “I know!” Katharine cried. “And I felt so bad about it that I couldn’t think about anything else! So the next day, I came back at lunchtime when no one was really around to erase what I had written. I even tried to rebuild the castle a little, but I made it even more of a mess so I just ran away. That must have been when I lost the stone in my ring.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Bess asked.

  Katharine shook her head. “I didn’t think you’d ever be able to forgive me. The only way I could think to make it up to you was to help you with the castle. I guess I ruined that, too.”

  “But you blamed Lisa!” Bess exclaimed. “You made us think she might have done it!”

  Katharine started to cry. “When you asked me if I did it, I got so scared. I didn’t know what to do or what to say. I was so afraid to tell you the truth so I blurted out Lisa’s name. I feel so bad that I ruined your castle and that I didn’t tell you the truth. I’m sorry. Will you ever be my friends again?”