The Fashion Disaster (3 page)

The audience stared at Lola.

“Come on, Lola!” Nancy whispered. “Work it!”

Bess waved the biscuit faster and faster. George ran over to help. She snapped her fingers to get Lola to come. But Lola stood frozen, like a big white poodle statue!

Nancy gulped.

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong!

“Some diva dog!” Patsy Ray laughed from the stage. She was helping Lorette announce the show. “She can't even fetch a biscuit!”

Nancy frowned. Patsy Ray wasn't being very nice.

“Oh, well, folks,” Lorette announced, “I guess even dogs get stage fright sometimes.”

“Not this dog!” Maya shouted as she raced toward the runway. “Lola is a pro. A superstar!”

Maya grabbed the biscuit from Bess. She waved it herself—until she looked at it and shrieked.

“Waaaaa! This isn't a Bone Appetit biscuit, it's Lick My Chops!” Maya dropped the biscuit
back into the basket and pointed to Bess. “And
she
switched the dog biscuits!”

“What?” Bess gasped.

Nancy was so surprised that she dropped Chip's leash. Chip barked and raced toward the basket of Lick My Chops biscuits. All the other dogs charged down the runway for the biscuits too—all the dogs except Lola!

“Angus, come back!” Andrea called.

“Hudson—bad dog!” Kevin shouted.

Dogs barked and whined as their owners ran to catch them. Nancy had to jump over a dachshund to get at Chip.

“I didn't switch any biscuits!” Bess said over the noisy dogs and shouting owners. “I didn't!”

Nancy grabbed Chip's leash. She saw two grown-ups standing next to Maya. They had blond hair like Maya's.

“Mom, Dad, I know Bess did it,” Maya said. “Lola jumped on her with muddy paws. So Bess got even by replacing the biscuits with the kind Lola hates!”

“You made that up, Maya!” George exclaimed.

“George and I were in the trailer when Bess picked up the biscuits,” Nancy said. “She didn't switch anything.”

“You're Bess's best friends,” Maya said. “You probably
helped
her switch the biscuits!”

“We did not!” Nancy said.

Mayor Strong formed the letter
T
with his hands. “Time-out, everybody,” he said. “Why don't we get some of Lola's favorite biscuits so she'll walk down the runway?”

“Because I don't want Lola in the fashion show anymore,” Maya said.

“What?” the mayor cried.

“Lola is Maya's dog,” Maya's mother said.

“So it's her call,” added Maya's dad.

“But Mr. and Mrs. Milton,” Mayor Strong reasoned. “All these people came to see Lola the Diva Dog!”

“They did not!” Patsy argued. “They came to see my fashions!”

“They came to adopt shelter dogs!” Lorette said.

“Can't we just have a fashion show?” George groaned.

The dogs and their owners lined up again—minus Lola. Nancy could see Lola's trailer zooming away. She couldn't believe Maya had accused all three of them of switching the biscuits!

“And now, after a little excitement,” Mayor Strong announced, “the First Annual Cool Canines Fashion Show!”

Nancy tried not to think about Maya as she walked Chip down the runway.

“This is Chocolate Chip,” Patsy said into the microphone, “looking cookie-sweet in her denim doggy ensemble—on sale now at the Funky Fido Boutique!”

The fashion show was a success even without Lola. Ned's dog Max needed some coaxing, but he walked down the runway like a pro. Andrea's dog got lots of laughs. And big Huey left a puddle of sticky drool on the runway.

When the show was over, Nancy ran over to Bess and George. They were helping Mrs. Fayne load her catering van. “That was fun, wasn't it?” Nancy asked.

“Fun?” George snorted.

“First my daisy top gets ruined,” Bess said. “Now everyone thinks we switched those dumb dog biscuits!”

“No,” Nancy said, shaking her head. “Just because Maya thinks that doesn't mean everybody does.”

Just then two boys rode by on their scooters. One pointed at Nancy, Bess, and George.

“Hey, there they are!” one boy shouted. “Those are the girls who switched the dog biscuits!”

“Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky,” the other said.

As the boys scooted away, Bess heaved a big sigh and said, “See what I mean?”

“Now what are we going to do?” George asked.

Nancy thought for a moment. There was only one thing for them to do. . . .

“We have to find out who really switched Lola's dog biscuits,” she said.

“We?” Bess asked.

“As in the Clue Crew?” George chimed in.

“Sure,” Nancy said with a smile. “We always help others by solving mysteries. It's time to help
ourselves
!”

“Good morning!” Nancy said as she walked into the kitchen on Sunday.

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty!” Mr. Drew said. He was washing strawberries at the kitchen sink. Hannah Gruen was placing a plate of pancakes on the table.

Hannah had been the Drews' housekeeper from the time Nancy was three years old. She had helped take care of Nancy ever since her mother died.

Nancy smiled when she saw the yummy pancakes. But when she glanced at the Sunday newspaper on the table, she gasped. Splashed
across the front page was the headline
FAMOUS DIVA DOG FLIPS AT FASHION SHOW!

“Lola!” Nancy said.

“I read about that diva dog,” Hannah said. “Why do you think she froze like that?”

“Somebody switched Lola's favorite dog biscuits on purpose,” Nancy said. “The Clue Crew is going to find out who did it.”

Mr. Drew popped a strawberry into Nancy's mouth. He was a lawyer and sometimes helped
his daughter with her cases. “Sounds like an important case,” he said. “Where are you going to start?”

Nancy caught a whiff of the pancakes and answered, “With a good breakfast, Daddy. Pass the maple syrup, please!”

After breakfast, Bess and George rang the doorbell. Then the Clue Crew ran up the stairs two at a time to Nancy's room, which was also Clue Crew Detective Headquarters.

“Okay. Let's get to work,” Nancy declared.

George sat behind Nancy's computer. Her hands flew across the keyboard as she opened up a file for the case.

Bess plopped down on Nancy's bed. She tossed a stuffed unicorn up and down in the air. Throwing stuffed animals around was how she did her best thinking.

“First, let's come up with a time line,” Nancy said. “When do you think Lola's biscuits were switched?”

“Maya said her parents had just filled the
basket with biscuits right before the lunch party,” George remembered. “And the lunch party started at noon.”

“If the party was at noon yesterday,” Nancy said, “and we got to Lola's trailer a few minutes before the show—”

“Which started at one o'clock!” Bess cut in.

“That means,” Nancy continued, “that the biscuits were switched between twelve and one o'clock.”

“Write that down, George!” Bess said.

“What do you think I'm doing, Bess?” George joked as she typed. “Playing the piano?”

“Now that we have a time line, what about suspects?” Nancy asked. “Who would want to spoil Lola's big moment?”

“Probably someone who doesn't like Lola,” Bess said. She began tossing a stuffed kangaroo in the air. “Or doesn't like Maya.”

“What about Nicki?” Nancy said. “She was mad at Maya for giving her job to Bess.”

“But where would Nicki get Lick My Chops
dog biscuits?” George asked. “She doesn't even have a dog.”

“And all she fed Lola was that stinky kind,” Bess said.

“Nicki had to get the Lick My Chops biscuits from somewhere,” Nancy said. “In the meantime, she's a suspect.”

George typed “Suspects,” and underneath she wrote Nicki's name. Then Chip padded into the room. She was wearing the denim cap from the fashion show the day before.

“Chip looks so cute in Patsy's clothes!” Bess giggled.

“Patsy!” Nancy remembered. “She was arguing with Mayor Strong yesterday because Lola wasn't wearing the clothes she designed.”

“Maybe Patsy switched Lola's biscuits,” Bess said. “To make Lola look bad.”

“Patsy Ray,” George declared as she typed. “Suspect number two!”

“Two suspects but zero clues,” Nancy said. “I wish we could go back and search Lola's trailer.”

“How?” Bess asked. “We don't even know where to find it!”

“That's what
you
think!” George said.

She went online. After a bit of typing, Lola's own website came up. There was a picture of the poodle, surrounded by pink and silver stars. George clicked on the star marked “Meet Lola!” A page opened up, showing a list of Lola's appearances.

“Lola is signing pawtographs at the new pet store on River Street,” George said. “Today at eleven-thirty!”

“Her trailer might be parked there too,” Nancy said. “River Street, here we come!”

The girls each had the same rule: They could walk up to five blocks away from any of their houses, as long as they walked together and asked permission. River Street was less than five blocks away, so they were in luck!

When the three friends reached River Street, they spotted Lola's trailer. It was parked outside
the new pet store, Ruffs and Meows.

Nancy, Bess, and George peeked through the store window. They saw Maya standing with Lola as kids lined up for her pawtograph.

Maya's mom stood outside. She was busy talking to a news reporter and a cameraperson. Lola's trailer was just a few feet away.

“The door is open,” Nancy whispered. “Let's go!”

The girls slipped quietly into the trailer. Once inside, they scurried around looking for clues.

George studied the table where the basket used to be.

“If someone did switch the biscuits,” she said, “what would they do with the Bone Appetits?”

“Maybe throw them away,” Nancy guessed. She looked inside a small trash can, where she found shreds of paper.

“Somebody ripped up a note,” she said. “That could be a clue.”

Nancy never went anywhere without a pocket-size spyglass and plastic bags for her
clues. She pulled a bag out of her pocket and filled it with the paper shreds.

“Look!” Bess said. She pointed to a framed picture on the wall. “It's Maya holding a poodle puppy. I'll bet it's Lola's baby picture!”

“We don't have time for that, Bess,” George said. “We have to look for clues before—”

“—Mom!” a voice called from outside.

The girls froze.

It was Maya!