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  “A parade?” Nancy gasped. She was too excited to say more. So George did it for her. She took off her giant hat, waved it in the air, and shouted, “Yee-haaa!”

  • • •

  The parade started right after the last act. Nancy and Annie rode behind the cowboy clowns and Bronco Barry.

  “Isn’t this fun?” Annie asked Nancy as they trotted around the tent. The spotlight bounced around the ring, and the music was louder than ever.

  “Awesome!” Nancy replied.

  She could see Bess and George waving from the bleachers. Dixie was giving her a big thumbs-up sign.

  Nancy reached over Annie and patted Star’s mane. “He was definitely the star of the show tonight, Annie,” she said.

  “I know,” Annie said. “But I think I’m going to change his name.”

  “You are?” Nancy asked. “To what?”

  “To Superstar!” Annie said over her shoulder. “Remember?”

  Nancy smiled. How could she forget?

  • • •

  That night Nancy lay in bed. She hoped she would dream about the parade, but there was something she had to do first. Nancy reached under her pillow for her notebook. Then by the light of the moon shining through the window she began to write:

  If there’s one thing I learned on this case, it’s that anyone can have a secret—even a cowgirl. And everyone needs privacy, at least sometimes.

  I also learned that a ranch is a real cool place to be—even though it will be good to be back home.

  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

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 2000 by Simon & Schuster Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  ISBN: 978-0-671-04268-4

  ISBN: 978-1-44247-204-4 (eBook)

  First Minstrel Books printing August 2000

  NANCY DREW, THE NANCY DREW NOTEBOOKS, and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.