Judy Moody, Girl Detective (10 page)

“Stink, you have the right to remain silent,” said Judy.

“Chips ahoy!” hissed Stink. “CHIPS A-HOY!”

“He’s like the boy who cried chips ahoy,” said Frank.

“No way are we falling for that again.” Just then, Judy heard a new sound. A sniffing, snuffling sound. A panting, pawing sound.

Is it? Was it? Could it be?

All three faces peered out the front tent flap.

Holy jeepers! MR. CHIPS!

Judy held out a cookie. “Good boy! C’mere, Mr. Chips.” In one leap, Mr. Chips jumped right into the tent and on top of Judy, knocking her over. Cookies went flying. Mr. Chips’s tail was wagging five miles a minute. Judy hugged that wiggling ball of fur and kissed that puppy on his wet nose.

“Mr. Chips!” said Rocky and Frank. “Who’s a good boy? You are. Oh, yes, you are!” Mr. Chips rolled over, paws in the air. They tickled his tummy.

“Chips ahoy! Chips ahoy!” Stink was still yelling. “Come in, breaker. Do you read?” Finally, he came rushing into the tent, where the little brown furball was licking Judy, Rocky, and Frank from head to toe.

“Told you!” Stink cried.

“Where’d you go, boy?” Rocky asked in between doggy kisses. “I wish you could tell us where you’ve been.”

“You’re safe from the bad guys now, Mr. Chips,” said Frank. “You didn’t see the green van, did you, Stink?”

“Nope. Not even a piece of rope or a bite of baloney sandwich.”

“How’d you break away from those bad guys?” Judy asked. “Who’s a smart doggy? You are.”

“Breaker 1-9. We got a bear coming. With a gumball machine.”

“Stakeout’s over, Stink. You can talk normal now,” said Judy. Just then, she saw the black-and-white that had pulled into the driveway, lights flashing.

“Officer Kopp!” cried Judy as he crossed the yard. “Look who we found!”

“Where did you get off to, boy?” Officer Kopp asked, snapping a leash on the puppy. Mr. Chips leaped into Officer Kopp’s arms, wagging his tail and licking him like he hadn’t seen him in a year.

After all the How-Did-You’s and Where-Have-You-Been’s and Don’t-Ever’s, Officer Kopp asked, “So, how’d you find this guy?”

“Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy,” said Judy. “We set a chocolate-chip cookie trap.”

“Good idea,” said Officer Kopp.

“So did you bring backup?” Stink asked. “To catch the bad guys in the green van?”

“Yeah, we were onto them the day Mr. Chips stole the dog bone from Speedy Market,” said Frank.

“At first, we thought they were dognappers,” said Judy.

“Yeah, like they took Mr. Chips for reward money,” Stink added.

“Then a Nancy Drew lightbulb went off in my head, and we followed a ton of clues all over town and figured out that they’ve been training Mr. Chips to steal stuff. They’re teaching him by making him sniff out chocolate-chip cookies.”

“First it’s cookies, then diamonds,” said Stink.

Officer Kopp chuckled. “Hmm. That’s some mighty interesting detective work, and you sure cracked the case. But I’m afraid there haven’t been any reports at the police station about any diamonds gone missing.”

“See?” said Judy, turning to her fellow detectives. “Not only did we rescue Mr. Chips; we also stopped those bad guys in the nick of time.”

“Yeah, looks to me like you caught the thief all right. The chocolate-chip cookie thief — our own Mr. Chips.”

Judy wasn’t so sure. She, Eagle-Eye-Moody, was going to keep one eye peeled, just in case.

“We’ll never know for sure, but I think Mr. Chips is an escape artist — a regular Houdini. Best we can figure is that he pushed the bottom of the fencing just enough and squeezed out through a tiny opening. Then he ran all over town looking for food, he got so hungry.”

“So that’s why he stole a dog bone from Speedy Market?” asked Frank.

“And Jack Frost’s baloney sandwich!” said Stink.

“Then he got into the lunches at school and ate the chocolate-chip cookies,” said Judy. “That’s how he got the name Mr. Chips. Because he loves chocolate-chip cookies. Am I right?”

“Not quite,” said Officer Kopp. “Mr. Chips doesn’t
eat
chocolate-chip cookies. He buries them.”

“Huh?” everybody asked.

“Most dogs have a sweet tooth. And they have a nose for chocolate. When Mr. Chips first came home with me, my wife was baking chocolate-chip cookies. He went right for the chips and ate a handful before we could stop him.”

“Oh, no,” said Frank. “Dogs aren’t allowed to eat chocolate. It’s like poison. It makes them sick.”

“That’s right,” said Officer Kopp. “Poor guy had the throw-ups. We took him to the vet, and she told us that chocolate makes dogs sick. So before he even got any police-dog training, he was trained not to eat chocolate.”

“Then why would he steal all those cookies?” Judy asked.

“Go ahead and give him a cookie,” said Officer Kopp. “Watch what he does.”

Judy held a cookie up to Mr. Chips. He sniffed it, then ran with it between his teeth, the way he’d carried the egg across the stage at school that day. He started digging under a tree.

“He’s going to bury it!” Judy said. They ran after Mr. Chips. Judy peered into the hole he had dug in the soft earth.

“Hey, there’s a bunch more cookies in there,” said Stink.

“Where’d he get those?” Rocky asked.

“He has a whole stash,” Frank said, pointing and laughing.

“Thin Mints,” said Judy. “Mom bought Girl Scout cookies from Jessica Finch, and I left some in the tent.”

“What did I tell you?” said Officer Kopp. He scooped up Mr. Chips. “Well, now that these super-detectives found you, I better get you home, huh?” He rubbed noses with Mr. Chips. “I was worried I’d never see this guy again. I thank you, and Mr. Chips thanks you.”

“RARE!” said Judy. “I finally got to solve a mystery. The Mystery of the Missing Doggy Detective. This is just like the time Nancy Drew rescued a police dog puppy in book #1,
The Secret of the Old Clock.
No lie.” She felt as shiny as the penny in Nancy Drew’s penny loafers.

“Is there a reward?” Stink asked.

“Are you gonna arrest Mr. Chips for stealing that dog bone?” Frank asked.

“Will Mr. Chips still get to be a police dog?” Rocky asked.

“No, no, and yes,” said Officer Kopp. “But it’ll be a while — he still has a lot to learn. A lot more training to do. Back to Doggy Detective School for you.”

“Aw, I wish I could keep him,” said Stink.

“Stink, he’s not a pet,” said Judy. “He’s a crime buster. Aren’t you, Mr. Chips?” She rubbed noses with the puppy, too.

“Looks like this mystery’s solved,” said Officer Kopp. “No more cookie stealing for you, little fella. Case closed.”

Case closed? If Judy Moody had learned one thing from Nancy Drew (besides Never Leave Home Without a Bobby Pin), it was that a detective’s work was never done. Haunted houses. Secret diaries. Stolen diamonds. Around every corner was a mystery, just waiting to be solved. And where there was mystery, there would be Judy.

The kids waved to Officer Kopp and Mr. Chips. “If any diamonds go missing,” said Judy, “you know who to call.”

“Who?” asked Stink.

“Judy Moody, Girl Detective,” she said, grinning from ear to ear.

* CASE CLOSED *

by Megan McDonald

Judy Moody was walking with her nose in Nancy Drew #32,
The Scarlet Slipper Mystery,
when —
BAM!
— she ran smack-dab into a fourth-grader. A fourth-grader carrying a giant stack of library books. The books went flying. OOPS!

“Sorry!” Judy and the girl said at the same time.

Judy helped pick up the books.
“Secret in the Old Attic?”
she said.
“The Hidden Staircase?”

“I’m freaky for Nancy Drew,” said the girl.

“I’m freaky for Nancy Drew! I’m reading all fifty-six classic Nancy Drews. I’m on number thirty-two.”

“Hey, don’t I know you? We played soccer together last summer. I go to Jerabek Elementary School, but my mom knows your mom. My name’s Alyssa.”

“Oh, yeah!” said Judy.

Before you could say “Scarlet Slipper,” Judy had a playdate with Alyssa.

Judy’s mom pulled up outside Alyssa’s house. It had purple front steps, a porch covered in vines, and a round tower.

“This looks like a haunted house!” said Stink. “No way would I go in there.”

The house did look way old and spooky. Judy glanced at her mood ring. Amber. Amber was for
Nervous.
Amber was for
Not-So-Sure.
Amber seemed to whisper,
Never-Go-Inside-Haunted-Houses.

Judy reached into the pocket where she kept her SOS lipstick. It helped her pluck up her courage. She climbed the purple steps and knocked on the front door.

Alyssa opened the door, and Judy stepped inside. The first thing Judy noticed was a chandelier in the entryway — it was swinging back and forth. Then, from out of nowhere, spooky music drifted into the room.

Judy got goose bumps,
goose eggs.
Alyssa didn’t seem to notice a thing.

“Is this house haunted?” Judy whispered.

“Of course not.” Alyssa laughed. “Don’t be cuckoo.” Judy started to relax. Alyssa lowered her voice. “Sometimes I
do
hear spooky sounds coming from the attic. You want to go up?”

“Up? As in stairs? To the spooky attic?” Judy checked her mood ring.
Blue-green?
Blue-green was for
Relaxed, Calm.
She, Judy Moody, did not feel
Relaxed, Calm
at all!

Upstairs, Alyssa yanked a rope in the ceiling. Down came a secret staircase that led into the attic. Jeepers! The cobwebby attic was full of junk covered in million-year-old dust: chairs, rolls of carpet, old-timey paintings, a cracked mirror.

Just then, out of the corner of Judy’s eye, something caught her attention. Something in the mirror. Something hairy and scary.

“AGHHHHHH!” Judy screamed and fell back on the floor. She scrambled back up to her feet and made a beeline for the stairs. “I think . . . saw . . . gorilla . . . ghost!”

“Judy! Stop! Wait!”

But Judy didn’t stop. She didn’t wait. Judy flew down the attic stairs, through the front door, and out into the sunshine as fast as she could, all the way home.

Judy tried not to think about haunted houses. She tried not to think about swinging chandeliers and spooky music. She tried not to think about gorillas or ghosts.

She, Judy Moody, was in a mood. A tingle-up-your-spine mood.
What color is my mood ring?
She looked down at her hand.

Hello!
Her mood ring! It was G-O-N-E, gone! This was a for-real mystery for Judy Moody, Girl Detective:
Mystery of the Missing Mood Ring.

When had she last seen it? At breakfast. At soccer. In the car with Stink . . .

Stink!

Judy Drewdy went to find her number-one suspect. She shone a flashlight in Stink’s eyes. “Where’s my mood ring?” she asked a million and one times. Judy held up an apple but wouldn’t let him eat it. Yet.

“Honest to pizza! I did NOT steal it! You had it on in the car. I saw you checking it. Maybe that gorilla ATE your mood ring.”

The gorilla! Of course! She’d had her mood ring on in the attic just before . . .

Wait just a Nancy Drew minute! This was exactly like . . . Nancy Drew Book #2,
The Hidden Staircase
. Nancy goes to a creepy mansion, sees the creepy chandelier swinging, hears creepy music, finds a creepy hidden staircase, and sees a creepy gorilla at the window.

Maybe Alyssa’s house was haunted after all! And, she, Judy Moody, had to go back there to get her ring.
Brrr.
Judy shivered at the thought.

Alyssa opened the front door. She looked surprised to see Judy.

“Hey, have you seen my mood ring?” Judy asked Alyssa.

“Mood ring?” Alyssa said. “You had it on when we went upstairs.”

“Then I think your house is haunted for
real,
” Judy said.

Alyssa howled like a hyena. “I got you! I got you so good!”

“You mean — all that spooky stuff was just a big fat fake-out?”

“I got the idea to spook you from reading
The Hidden Staircase
. So I asked my brother to jump on his bed to make the chandelier swing, play creepy music, and hide up in the attic with his gorilla mask. Judy Moody, you cracked the case!”

“RARE!” said Judy. “But — there’s still the Mystery of the Missing Mood Ring.”

Judy and Alyssa crawled on hands and knees across the attic floor, searching for her mood ring. “I’m sure you just dropped it,” said Alyssa.
But where was it?

“I guess my mood ring is
not in the mood
to be found,” said Judy. All of a sudden, her hand pressed down on a loose floorboard. The board popped up. Under the loose board was . . . a way-cool secret compartment!

“My ring!” shouted Judy, sliding it onto her finger. “I guess it flew off yesterday when I saw your brother the gorilla, and it fell though a crack.”

Alyssa peered into the dark hole. “Hey, what’s this?” She picked something up and blew on it. A cloud of dust cleared. A note! The note was in a secret code.

OLLP RM GSV IZUGVIH.

Signed,
Nancy Drew’s biggest fan,
Alice Sutherland
December 29, 1930

“Alice in Wonderland left us a secret code from 1930?” Judy screeched.

“No, silly.
Alice Sutherland.
She must have lived in this house a way long time ago! She read Nancy Drew, too. How cool is that? Just think: she left this note for us to find someday. It’s like an eighty-year-old mystery.”

“That’s older than my grandma Lou!”

Judy stared at the secret code. “It’s a classic reverse alphabet code. You know, where the letter
A
equals
Z
?” The girls got a pencil and worked out the code.

LOOK IN THE RAFTERS.

Judy and Alyssa searched the attic up and down. “I think I see something blue back here!” Alyssa shouted, reaching up into the rafters. She pulled down a musty, dusty old book. “Nancy Drew book number two.
The Hidden Staircase!
It’s like the one I got from the library, only way old.”

Holy macaroni!
Judy barely dared to breathe.

“I bet this is one of the first Nancy Drew books ever. It must be worth a bazillion dollars!” Alyssa cracked open the book. “Look! She wrote something in fancy handwriting.”

Judy peered over Alyssa’s shoulder, reading the inscription.

Dear Girl in the Future,
If you are holding this book, you have solved my Mystery in the Attic Rafters.
You are just like Nancy Drew!
A. S.

“Same-same!” said Judy, grinning at Alyssa.