Judy Moody, Girl Detective (4 page)

“Mr. Chips is my best friend and my partner and the newest member of our K-9 team at the police department.” Officer Kopp scratched the dog’s head and patted him on the back.

“This little guy is learning to be a police dog. He’s being trained to help us sniff out bad guys, search buildings, and even locate stuff that’s been stolen. This guy’s sense of smell is so great that one day, Mr. Chips might help us catch a bank robber or he could find a missing child.”

“Mr. Chips lives near my house,” Jessica Finch bragged. “He wore a fancy collar in the Fourth of July parade, and I got to feed him dog treats!” It didn’t take a super-sleuth to figure out that Jessica Finch was Miss Know-It-All.

The audience clapped like crazy for Mr. Chips.

“Does he eat bones?” a first-grader asked.

“Mr. Chips eats mostly puppy food. And he likes doggie treats.”

“Does he live at the police station?” a fourth-grader asked.

“Nope. I’m his handler, so he lives at home with me and my family.”

“On my street!” Jessica Finch blurted.

Officer Kopp called on Stink. “Does he ride in your police car?”

“Mr. Chips likes riding in cars more than anything. Every morning, he barks at me, begging to go for a ride. It’s like he’s saying, ‘Car! Car! Car! Car! Car!’”

Officer Kopp stroked Mr. Chips’s ears. “Who’s a car dog? You are. Oh, yes, you are.” Mr. Chips gave Officer Kopp a giant slurp with his cherry-pink tongue.

The audience laughed. “And now I need some help from the audience,” said Officer Kopp. “Anybody have an object they can bring up onstage? How about you, the young lady with the backpack?”

“Who? Me?” Judy asked, jumping up with a big smile.

“Yes. Bring your backpack up here, and let’s give Mr. Chips a whiff. Since he’s at school today, we’ll give him a test. A super-sniffing IQ test.”

Judy climbed the steps to the stage. “This is my detective kit,” she told Officer Kopp. “For solving mysteries.”

“I like a person who’s prepared for anything,” said Officer Kopp, smiling. “Let’s see if Mr. Chips can solve a mystery, too. C’mon over and pet him. Then we’ll let him sniff your backpack to pick up the scent.”

Mr. Chips sniffed Judy from head to toe, then he licked Judy’s face all over with his pink slobbery tongue.
Slurp, slurp.

“I hope you don’t mind dog kisses,” said Officer Kopp.

“Nope,” said Judy. “They tickle!”

Next, Mr. Chips sniffed Judy’s backpack all over. Finally, Officer Kopp held the backpack up to Mr. Chips’s nose and gave him a voice command. “Find.”

“Okay, I’ll take Mr. Chips backstage now. That will give you a chance to hide your backpack. It’s like a game of hide-and-seek. Ready?”

“Ready,” said Judy. Officer Kopp took Mr. Chips behind the thick velvet curtain. “No peeking, Mr. Chips!” Judy called over her shoulder.

Judy walked down the center aisle, snaking through the first-graders. She cut through the row in front of the second-graders and hopped right over Stink’s legs. Then she walked backward all the way to the center aisle.

“Hide it under Mr. Todd’s chair,” yelled some third-graders. But Judy only walked around Mr. Todd’s chair, then zigzagged through the fourth- and fifth-graders.

“Behind the bleachers!” kids yelled.

“Hide it in the basketball hoop!”

“Trash can! Trash can!”

Finally, she stopped in front of the closet where the gym teacher kept all the gym balls, jump ropes, and orange cones. Judy checked to make sure Mr. Chips wasn’t watching. Quietly, she opened the door. “Ooh-ee!” The closet was dusty and smelled like feet — Stink’s smelly sneakers times ten. Judy pinched her nose. “This smells so bad it’s giving me a nose wedgie.” The audience laughed like crazy.

In the closet sat a big wire basket loaded with soccer balls and basketballs, volleyballs and kickballs. Judy buried her backpack deep down in the middle of the pile of dusty, dirty balls. Judy shut the door silently behind her and returned to the stage.

Everybody hushed when Mr. Chips came out from behind the curtain. The puppy led Officer Kopp down the side steps. Then he padded down the center aisle, following Judy’s trail. He sniffed his way through the second grade, trotting up to Stink. He hopped over Stink’s legs and sped up the center aisle.

When he got to Mr. Todd’s chair, he ran in circles like crazy.

“He’s chasing his tail,” yelled Frank.

“Give him a chance,” somebody else yelled.

“C’mon, Mr. Chips,” Judy coaxed. “You can do it.” But Mr. Chips had stopped in his tracks. He looked confused.

“Give him a minute,” said Officer Kopp. “It’s not over yet.”

Suddenly, Mr. Chips raised his nose in the air. He sniffed left. He sniffed right. Zoom! He shot off again, zigzagging his way through the fourth-and fifth-graders. At last, he came to the door of the closet.

“Ar
f!
Ar
f!
Arf-arf-arf,”
Mr. Chips barked at the door. Officer Kopp opened the door. Mr. Chips bounded in and knocked over the wire basket full of balls.
Boing! Boing!
Mr. Chips pawed his way through the bouncing balls. In no time, he was trotting up to Officer Kopp, Judy’s backpack hanging from his mouth.

The whole audience went cuckoo, clapping and cheering. “Good boy!” said Officer Kopp. Mr. Chips wagged his tail like crazy.

“Whoa.” The crowd buzzed.

“How’d he do that?”

“Wow.”

“It’s magic.”

Officer Kopp went back onstage with Mr. Chips and took a bow. “Sergeant Super-Sniffer! The best partner a guy could have. Thanks, Virginia Dare School. You’ve been a great audience!”

Mr. Chips hung out his tongue and wagged his windshield-wiper tail. From where Judy sat, it almost looked as if Mr. Chips were smiling.

The next day, and the day after that, all anybody could talk about at Virginia Dare School was Sergeant Super-Sniffer, aka Mr. Chips.

Then, late Friday afternoon, something happened. Something big. Judy was smack-dab in the middle of an important case — Nancy Drew book #15, that is:
The Haunted Bridge
—
when the loudspeaker crackled. Judy jumped five feet and yelled, “Yurp,” wrecking the
silent
in silent reading.

“Teachers and students,” said Principal Tuxedo over the intercom. “I have an important announcement to make. Officer Kopp called to alert us that Mr. Chips has gone missing!” This was terrible news. Awful news. No-good, way-bad news. “The dog was last seen in the Bird Neck neighborhood on Abigail Lane at seven this morning.”

“That’s close to where I live,” said Judy.

“That’s
my street
,” said Jessica Finch, pointing at herself.

“Since we all met Mr. Chips just a few days ago and know what he looks like, Officer Kopp is asking us to please be on the lookout. If any of you super-sleuths out there spot Mr. Chips, call 1-800-MR-CHIPS right away. Thank you.”

Mr. Chips was missing! Escaped! Lost! This was just about probably the worst announcement in the history of principal announcements at Virginia Dare School.

Wait just a Nancy Drew minute.
She, Judy Moody, was smack-dab in the middle of a real-life, not-book mystery! A missing-persons case. A missing-
puppy
case, that is. For sure and absolute positive! In fact, this was almost like the time in Nancy Drew: Girl Detective graphic novel #6 when a chimp named Mr. Cheeters, who was wearing a diamond necklace, went missing.

Maybe Mr. Chips didn’t escape or get lost. Maybe, just maybe, Mr. Chips was
stolen
! As in kidnapped. As in
dog
napped. Maybe, just maybe, Mr. Chips had been wearing a fancy-schmancy diamond doggy collar and some bad guy with an eye patch or a tattoo or a snaggle tooth wanted it!

While Judy hoped nothing bad had happened to Mr. Chips, she couldn’t help wishing for a mystery. A real-life Nancy Drew mystery. This was a case for Judy Moody, Girl Detective. Judy Drewdy!

WWNDD? What Would Nancy Drew Do?
She would take a deep breath and use her detective thinking, that’s what. Judy wrote a note to all three members of the Toad Pee Club — Rocky, Frank, and Stink.

When they got to the Toad Pee Clubhouse after school, it wasn’t the Toad Pee Clubhouse anymore. It was the J
UDY
M
OODY
D
ETECTIVE
A
GENCY
. That’s what the crooked sign duck-taped to the front tent flap said. Inside were a chair, a lamp, and a poster that said W
ANTED
: S
TUMPY
, S
NIGGS, AND
S
NORKY
.

“I brought binoculars,” said Rocky.

“I brought snoopware,” said Frank. “You know, spy stuff. Telescope, sunglasses, fake noses, and walkie-talkies.”

“I brought . . . my . . . super-sniffer nose. For sniffing out clues,” said Stink. “So what’s the big mystery?”

“I think Mr. Chips was stolen,” said Judy. “Fact: Jessica Finch lives across the street from Mr. Chips, and she told me at lunch that no way would he ever run away from Officer Kopp. Fact: Jessica Finch said that Mr. Chips has a fancy collar. He wore it in the Fourth of July parade. Fact: Bad-guy burglars could have taken him to get their hands on his diamond doggy collar.”