Designed for Disaster (4 page)

“I agree,” Nancy said. She thought for a minute. “And the thief has to be someone here at school,” she added. “So when we're finished, let's do a quick search of the auditorium.”

“Good idea,” George said. “We need to solve this mystery before anything else awful happens!”

After dinner that night the Clue Crew met at Nancy's house. The search of the auditorium had produced nothing.

“Let's write out the names of our top suspects,” Nancy said. “Who are the people we think most want the fashion show to fail?”

“Do you still think we should dismiss Juliana as a suspect?” Bess asked. “Maybe she didn't expect anyone to find our designs behind that filing cabinet, so now she's hidden some of the clothing instead.”

Nancy thought for a minute. “Well, my instinct tells me she's not guilty,” she said, “but I suppose that until we actually solve the mystery,
we should at least call her ‘a person of interest.'”

“Oh yeah, that's good, Nancy,” George said. “You hear it all the time on television.”

Nancy, Bess, and George each started to write their list of names in their case notebooks.

When they finished, Bess read her list. “Amanda and Felicity.”

“Me too!” George said. “I didn't have them in that order, but they both made my list.”

“But I have a third name,” Nancy said.

Bess and George looked at her. “Who?” they asked.

“Mrs. Nardo,” Nancy told them.

“Nadine's mother?” George said.

Nancy nodded. She told them what she heard when Mrs. Nardo was talking to Mrs. Ramirez during the volcano movie.

“That's weird,” Bess said.

“That's what I thought too,” Nancy told them. “And then right after that, Nadine wasn't picked to be a model.”

“But the models were chosen by a class vote,”
George said. “Juliana didn't have any say in the selection.”

“That might not make any difference to Mrs. Nardo,” Bess said. “Criminals always believe what they want to believe.”

“Well, should we start by questioning Mrs. Nardo?” George asked.

Nancy shook her head. “As much as I hate to say it, I think we should start with Amanda,” she said. “She's shown us a side of her we've never seen before.”

Bess and George nodded.

“Amanda has really been pushy about her ONITAP designs,” Bess said. “Maybe she decided that if her designs weren't going to be part of the fashion show, then
nobody's
designs were!”

“It certainly looks that way,” Nancy said.

George shook her head in disbelief. “Who would ever have thought that Amanda Johnson was a criminal?” she said.

“Well, we don't know that for sure, George,” Nancy said. “I'll admit that the evidence certainly
points in her direction, but we need to keep an open mind.”

“Nancy's right,” Bess said.

“Sorry,” George said. She sighed. “It's just that the fashion show is so important to our school that I can't believe any of our classmates would try to destroy it.”

Since it was still light out, the girls got permission to go to Amanda's house on their bicycles. When they got there, Amanda and her mother were just getting out of their car.

“Hey, Nancy, Bess, George!” Amanda shouted. “What brings you here?”

“That's the friendliest she's sounded in a couple weeks,” Bess whispered.

“We just wanted to talk to you about something, if you have the time,” Nancy said.

Amanda turned to her mother. “Do you need help with the bags?” she asked.

“No, sweetheart, that's fine,” Mrs. Johnson said. “Ask your father to come out. You run along and visit with your friends.”

Nancy, Bess, and George followed Amanda inside. Amanda gave her father a hug, told him that her mom wanted his help bringing in the groceries, and then led the way to her room.

“Sit anywhere that's comfortable,” Amanda said as she fell onto her bed. “What's up?”

Nancy sat down in a purple canvas sling chair. “You've been acting kind of weird in art class lately,” she said. “What's up with you?”

Amanda blushed. “Well, it's just that, uh, well …”

“We're sorry your ONITAP designs weren't chosen,” Bess said.

“But where did that name come from?” George asked. “It's kind of strange.”

“Well, it, uh, just sort of came to me,”

Amanda said, “you know, like a vision, something like that.”

“Amanda, are you trying to destroy the fashion show?” Bess asked.

“No! Of course not!” Amanda said. She let out a long sigh. “I was just doing Peter a favor.”

“Peter?” Nancy said. “Peter Patino?”

Amanda nodded. “I'm surprised nobody figured it out,” she said. “‘ONITAP' is ‘Patino' spelled backward.”

Nancy looked embarrassed. “You're right,” she said. “We should have figured that out.”

“I don't understand,” George said.

“Peter has always wanted to be a fashion designer,” Amanda explained, “but he was too embarrassed to let people know.”

“That's silly,” Bess said.

“It sure is,” George agreed.

“Do you think Peter is trying to destroy the fashion show?” Nancy asked.

“No way,” Amanda said. “He plans to show his designs to all the people who'll be there.”

“Well, we can cross you off our suspect list,” Nancy said.

“We didn't want you to be guilty, Amanda,” George said, “but we had to ask.”

“Don't worry,” Amanda said. “You didn't hurt my feelings.”

Nancy, Bess, and George stood up.

“Maybe you should call Peter and tell him we know,” Bess suggested. “Tell him we also hope a lot of people like his designs.”

“I'll do that,” Amanda said. “Anyway, he was already feeling kind of guilty for asking me to do what I did.”

Outside, Nancy said, “We have two more suspects to talk to, and we don't have that much time left before the world comes to River Heights for the fashion show!”

The next morning Mrs. Ramirez said, “Nancy, Bess, George, Deirdre, and Quincy, Mrs. Corwin needs you in the auditorium to rehearse for the fashion show. I'll let you take your spelling quiz after school.”

Bess turned to Nancy. “I had forgotten about that quiz,” she whispered.

“Me too,” Nancy said. “This will give us a chance to look over the words before we take it.”

As the five of them headed toward the auditorium, Deirdre said, “I'm glad our parents could make the missing clothes last night.”

George nodded. “Mom delivered all of our set
this morning,” she said. “She and Dad didn't get much sleep.”

“Hannah was still in bed when I left this morning. I felt really sorry for Dad, though,” Nancy said. “He had to be in court early for a trial.”

“Who's causing all these problems?” Quincy asked.

“That's what we're still trying to find out,” Nancy said.

“But it's not Amanda!” Bess chimed in.

“We know. She's telling everyone in school that she finally confessed to the Clue Crew,” Deirdre said. She shook her head. “I'm surprised you three didn't figure it out the first day. ‘ONITAP,' ‘Patino'! Really!”

“I don't know why Peter should be embarrassed about
designing
clothes,” Quincy said. “Look at me. I'm
modeling
them.”

When they reached the auditorium, they headed toward where Mrs. Corwin was standing with Juliana and the New York models.

“Oh, kids! Thank you so much!” Juliana said. “I don't know how the show could have gone on without all your help.”

“You're welcome,” Nancy said. “Our parents were all glad to do what they could.”

“Some of our neighbors helped too,” Bess added.

Just then Nancy noticed Felicity sitting in a corner of the auditorium by herself. She turned to Bess and George. “This is our chance to interview another suspect,” she whispered. After Mrs. Corwin and Juliana talked about the
fashion show, Nancy, Bess, and George quietly made their way toward Felicity.

“She's probably angry that the replacement outfits were sewn together so quickly,” George said.

When the Clue Crew was just a few feet away from Felicity, she looked up with angry eyes and said, “What do you want?”

“We just wanted to make sure you were all right,” Bess said.

“You look really upset about something,” Nancy said.

“Do you want to talk about it?” George asked.

Felicity looked at them. “Why would I want to talk about it with you three?” she said.

“Well, for one thing, we're here,” Nancy said, “and for another, we don't want you to remember your visit to River Heights as an awful experience.”

“Oh, please!” Felicity looked around. “Do you have any idea …” She stopped and shook her head. “Of course you don't. You live in this hick town.”

“We don't think it's a hick town,” George said defensively. “We think it's a great place to live.”

“We sure do,” Bess added.

“Why are you bothering me?” Felicity said. “Why don't you just leave me alone?”

“Okay, Felicity, we'll be honest with you,” Nancy said. “We're not just students, we're also detectives.”

“What?” Felicity said.
“Detectives?”

George nodded. “We've solved a lot of crimes in River Heights,” she said.

“In fact, we're trying to solve one now,” Bess said.

“Oh, really?” Felicity said. She smirked. “Is somebody's cat missing?”

“That's not funny, Felicity,” George said. “We're very serious about crime solving.”

“Whatever!” Felicity said.

“We're trying to solve the mystery of the missing clothes,” Nancy told her, “and when we do, I think we'll solve the mystery of all the other strange things that have been going on with this fashion show.”

“You're talking to the wrong person,” Felicity said. “I don't know anything about anything.”

“Well, we thought maybe you might have heard or seen something strange,” Nancy said.

“Oh, now I get it,” Felicity said. “You think I'm guilty.”

“We didn't say that,” Bess said.

“You didn't have to,” Felicity said. She rolled her eyes. “I'm sure you three are nice little girls who—”

“Hey!” George said. “You're the same age we are!”

“In numbers, maybe,” Felicity said, “but in sophistication, I'm light-years ahead of all of you.”

Oh, brother,
Nancy thought.
She is too much.

“Fine! I'll tell you what I'm angry about,” Felicity said. “I told Juliana that I'd do this show because I usually like Juliana's designs, although I think her Rhes! line is really cheap-looking.”