The Make-Believe Mystery (2 page)

After a while she had lots of great ideas swirling around in her head. She was ready to begin writing.

Picking up her pencil, she wrote:

THE GHOST OF CARL SANDBURG
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

by Nancy Drew, Bess Marvin,
George Fayne, and Phoebe Archer

Once upon a time, there was a school called the Carl Sandburg Elementary School. It was a really nice school, and everyone liked it there.

That is, until the ghost started haunting it.

At first, no one believed there
was
a ghost. After all, ghosts don't really
exist, right? But then everyone
had
to believe it because of the weird stuff that started happening.

One morning one of the kids found this note taped to his cubby:

A TIN BRASS GOOSE

TWO BLUE RATS

THREE WHISPERING CATS

It was written in creepy-looking red ink that looked like blood. Or maybe it
was
blood. The teachers and the principal figured one of the kids had written it. The principal said during the morning announcements that the person who wrote it should come forward right away. But no one did.

And then someone found the
second
note. . . .

Just then Chocolate Chip stirred, opened her eyes, and let out a big doggie yawn. Nancy yawned, too. It was very late.

“Let's go up to bed, Chip,” Nancy said,
closing the purple notebook. “I think we've done enough work for one night.”

• • •

The next morning in school, Nancy walked into her classroom. The purple notebook was in her backpack. Mrs. Reynolds hadn't arrived yet, but most of the kids were at their desks. They all seemed to be talking about the short-story contest.

“We've got the coolest idea for a mystery!” Katie Zaleski was saying in a loud, excited voice. Katie was one of the team captains. She got excited about lots of stuff.

“Ours is way cooler,” Brenda said. She shot a smug look at Phoebe and then at Nancy.

Emily Reeves, who was on Brenda's team, added, “But it's top secret. We're not telling anyone what it is.”

“Well, ours is top secret, too,” Katie said quickly.

As Nancy passed Kyle's desk, she overheard him say to Peter in a low voice, “Oh, great. We don't even have an idea for our story yet.”

Nancy reached her desk and sat down.
As she slid her backpack off her shoulders, Bess leaned toward her and whispered, “Did you write the beginning of . . . um . . .
you-know-what
last night?” she whispered.

“Uh-huh,” Nancy said. She reached into her backpack and pulled out the purple notebook.

She held it across the aisle to Bess. “Your turn,” she said.

Just then a pair of hands reached out and grabbed the notebook from her. Nancy whirled around. Mike Minelli was standing in the aisle. He had the notebook, and he was opening it to the first page.

“Give that back!” Nancy cried out.

Ignoring her, Mike took a few steps back. Everyone in the class had fallen silent.

In a loud voice, Mike began to read: “‘Once upon a time, there was a school called the Carl Sandburg Elementary School. It was a really nice school, and everyone liked it there. That is, until—' ”

3

Gone!

N
o!” Bess leaped out of her chair and swiped the purple notebook out of Mike's hands.

With a nasty laugh, Mike grabbed for the notebook again, but Bess was too fast for him. She went back to her desk, shoved the notebook in her backpack, and hugged the backpack to her chest. She glared furiously at Mike.

“Way to go, Bess!” George called out from across the room.

“That was really mean,” Nancy told Mike angrily. “Our story is private and top secret, like everyone else's.”

“I guess it's not so private and top secret anymore,” Mike said with a grin.

Mrs. Reynolds came into the room just then. Mike scooted quickly into his seat with a noisy scraping of his chair.

“Good morning, class,” Mrs. Reynolds said. She set her books down on her desk. “This morning we're going to be doing language arts.”

Mrs. Reynolds picked up a piece of chalk and began writing on the chalkboard. Nancy turned to stare at Mike. What had he meant by saying that Nancy's team's story wasn't so private and top secret anymore? He'd read only the first couple of lines out loud.

Or had he managed to sneak a peek at more than that?

• • •

Over the weekend Bess and George wrote their parts of the story. On Monday after school, the two of them, Nancy, and Phoebe met at Nancy's house to go over the story so far.

The four girls were sitting cross-legged on Nancy's bed. Nancy had just read her part of the story, and now Bess was about
to read hers. She had the purple notebook propped in her lap.

“Wait till you guys hear what I wrote,” Bess said, flipping through the pages. “It is
so
awesome.”

“Speaking of awesome, how about a snack?”

Nancy glanced up to see Hannah Gruen walk into the room, carrying a tray. Hannah was the Drews' housekeeper. She had been with them since Nancy's mother died five years earlier.

Hannah set the tray down on the nightstand. There was a big bowl of buttered popcorn, four glasses of apple juice, and lots of napkins. Chocolate Chip, who'd been asleep on the floor, woke up and sniffed at the popcorn.

“Thanks, Hannah!” the girls said in unison.

“You mystery writers need your energy,” Hannah said, winking. “Let me know if you want refills on the juice.”

After Hannah left the room, Bess grabbed a fistful of popcorn and stuffed it into her mouth. A piece tumbled to the floor. Chip promptly scarfed it up. The
other girls started in on the popcorn, too.

“Mmm, yummy,” Bess said. “Okay. So, here's my part of the story. Are you guys ready?”

“Ready,” Phoebe said, nodding. Nancy and George nodded, too.

Bess took a sip of her apple juice. Then she began to read in a dramatic-sounding voice:

The person who found the second note was a really cute girl named Tess. Tess had awesome taste in clothes. In fact, she was wearing a really cute pink T-shirt that day and these cool jeans with daisy patches.

Anyway, Tess found the note taped to her cubby. It was written in creepy-looking red ink, just like the first one. It said:

FOUR MOONS

FIVE RUSTY RATS

SIX GIRLS WITH BALLOONS

Tess was really freaked out by the note. She screamed at the top of her lungs. A bunch of kids came running up to her and asked her what was going on. (Some of them asked her where she got her T-shirt. She told them at Girl Power, at the mall.)

Bess closed the notebook and looked up with a big, wide smile. “Well?”

“It's very
you,
Bess,” Phoebe said, giggling.

“It's really good,” Nancy added, grabbing some more popcorn. “Okay, George, your turn.”

George reached over and took the notebook from Bess. She opened it to her page, cleared her throat, and began to read:

What did the notes mean? No one could figure them out. And then one day this girl named Gerry was walking down the hall after soccer practice. She was going over some key moves in her mind because there was a big game coming up. Anyway, she was turning the corner and thinking about headers when she saw
it.

She saw the
ghost!

Right away Gerry stopped thinking about soccer. She tried her hardest not to scream.

The ghost was an old man with white hair and glasses. He was wearing a suit with a vest and a bow tie. Gerry knew he was a ghost and not a real person because his skin was kind of silvery white, like a ghost's.

Gerry stopped and stared at him. He stopped and stared at her. Gerry wondered if she should do a header on him, to scare him away.

Then the ghost opened his ghostly mouth. In a low, ghostly voice he said: “The fog comes on little cat feet.” It sounded like some sort of poem.

Then the ghost disappeared.

“Wow, that's really spooky!” Bess exclaimed, hugging a pillow to her chest.

“I got goose bumps,” Nancy said. “See?” She raised her arms, to show everyone.

“What's that stuff about ‘little cat feet'?” Phoebe asked George.

“It's from one of Carl Sandburg's poems. That was Nancy's idea,” George
replied. Then she handed the purple notebook to Phoebe.

“Your turn,” George said with a grin. “You've got a really important part to write. The ending!”

“Make it super-cool, okay?” Bess said to Phoebe.

Phoebe took the notebook and shrugged. “Uh, okay. No problem. I'll have it by tomorrow.”

• • •

Tuesday was a cloudy day. The sky was gray, and it looked as though it might rain.

During recess Nancy, Bess, and George were swinging on the swings. Nancy liked to pump her legs really hard and make the swing go way up high. So did George. Bess liked to make the swing wobble from side to side, in figure eights.

“Three more days until our stories are due,” George said as she rose in the air. “We're way ahead of schedule.”

“I bet we're going to win first prize,” Bess said, wobbling from side to side. “I have a good feeling about it.”

Nancy tipped her head back for a second
so she could look up at the sky. The gray-white clouds flashed and blurred in her vision. When she looked back down, she saw Phoebe racing across the playground toward them.

Nancy dragged her feet on the ground and tugged on her swing to make it slow down. “Hi, Phoebe!” she called out.

Then Nancy noticed that Phoebe seemed really upset. “What's wrong?” she asked.

Phoebe skidded to a halt in front of the swing set. “It's the purple notebook!” she cried. “It's gone!”

4

A Real Mystery

W
hat do you mean the notebook is gone?” Nancy exclaimed.

Bess and George brought their swings to a stop, too. “It's gone?” Bess repeated.

“I wrote the ending last night, just like I said I would,” Phoebe said in a shaky voice. “And I put the purple notebook in my backpack this morning. We were going to get together at the Double Dip later so I could read you guys what I wrote. Remember?”

“We remember,” Bess said, nodding. “I was going to try that new Triple Toffee
Taste Explosion Sundae, with extra cherries on top, and—”

“Bess, let Phoebe talk!” George interrupted.

“Right after lunch, I was on my way out here,” Phoebe went on. “I stopped for a minute to put my hair clips in my backpack because they kept falling out. You know, the yellow butterfly ones I got at the mall? Anyway, when I opened the backpack, I noticed that the purple notebook wasn't there.”

Nancy thought for a minute. “When was the last time you saw it?”

“Right before lunch, while Mrs. Reynolds was making us do those math tables,” Phoebe replied. “I opened my backpack to get a pencil out, and I saw the notebook there.”

“Maybe you left the notebook in class,” Bess suggested hopefully.

Phoebe shook her head. “I don't think so. I never took it out.”

“Did you have your backpack with you the whole time between then and now?” George asked her.

Phoebe frowned. “Yes. I mean, no. I was at my cubby right before lunch. Emily was across the hall, and she told me she wanted to talk to me about something. I left my backpack in the cubby while I was talking to her.”