The Crook Who Took the Book by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

5

The Book Man in the Basement

Just as Nancy closed her clue notebook, the bell rang. She hurried out of the library and headed to the cafeteria. She couldn’t wait to tell Bess and George about Andy . . . and Anderson.

When Nancy arrived, Bess and George were already eating their lunches.

“I brought your lunch for you, Nancy,” George said. She passed Nancy’s pink-and-purple lunch sack across the table.

“Thanks,” Nancy said. She opened her lunch and pulled out a tuna sandwich.

“So, what happened at the library?” Bess asked.

As she unwrapped her sandwich, Nancy told George and Bess everything that had happened with Andy and Mrs. Goldstein.

“You’re right,” George said when Nancy had finished her story. “It doesn’t sound like Andy would steal Mr. Sandback’s book.”

“So now we’re back to having no suspects,” Bess wailed. She took a big bite of her peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich.

“Well,” Nancy started to say, “actually—”

“Yah!” Mike Minelli yelled. He plopped down on the bench next to Nancy. He waved his forearm in front of her face. There was an angry red scratch running across it.

“Ewww, gross, Mike!” Nancy squealed.

“Yeah!” Mike agreed. But Nancy knew that to him, gross was a good thing. “Charlie the cat gave it to me at the Book Nook yesterday. That’s one mean cat!”

“He’s not mean,” Bess said. “He just doesn’t like people to bother him when he’s in his bed.”

Nancy gasped.

“What is it, Nancy?” George asked. Mike had already jumped up to go wave his icky scratch in someone else’s face.

“I just thought of something,” Nancy said. “Bess, George, I think we may have two new suspects. But we need more clues. Which means we have to head back to the Book Nook after school!”

• • •

Since they already had permission, Nancy, Bess, and George headed to the Book Nook as soon as the last bell rang. When they walked through the door, they saw Julia sitting at the front desk.

“Well, hello, girls,” she said. “Back so soon?”

“We’re here to help solve the mystery of the missing book,” Nancy said. “Unless the book’s been found already.”

Julia’s face fell. “No, I’m sorry to say there’s been no sign of the book,” she said. “What a disappointment. I so wanted my father to have it.”

“Well, Julia,” Nancy said, “I have a hunch. And if I’m right, that book is right under your nose!”

“What?” Julia said. She sounded surprised.

“Well, actually,” Nancy said with a giggle, “it’s right under Charlie the cat.” She pointed at Charlie, who was curled up in his plaid bed, scowling.

“You think Charlie took the book?” Bess cried.

“No,” Nancy said. “But maybe he has it. After the book disappeared, I noticed Charlie running away from his cat bed. And you know Charlie—”

“Never gets out of his bed,” Bess finished.

“So, if someone wanted to hide Mr. Sand-back’s book,” Nancy explained, “Charlie’s bed would be the best place in the whole store.”

“We just have to move Charlie so we can look,” Bess said. She sounded scared.

“Mrowr,” the cat growled.

“This could get ugly,” George said.

“Oh, Charlie,” called a voice on the stairs behind them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.