The Old-Fashioned Mystery by Carolyn Keene

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

5

The Holiday Party

Nancy called Bess and George over to the case full of antique keys.

“Look!” Nancy said in a low voice.

Bess and George stood on either side of Nancy. They peered into the case.

“Oh, my gosh!” Bess exclaimed.

“Is the key to the city in there?” George asked Nancy.

Nancy bent down. “Bess, you would know better than George and me. What did the key look like, exactly? Do you see it in there?”

Bess bent down next to her. “It was big and gold. The top of it was kind of oval-shaped. And it had the letters R. H. on it, for ‘River Heights.’ The letters were pretty and old-fashioned looking.”

Nancy studied all the keys in the case. She didn’t see a key that fit Bess’s description.

“I don’t see it in there,” Nancy said after a minute. “Do you?” she asked Bess and George.

Bess and George shook their heads.

“Did you girls find something?”

Nancy whirled around. Mr. Ortiz was standing behind the three of them.

“Uh, we were just—,” Bess stammered.

“Looking around,” George finished.

“I thought you girls were searching for a shopping bag,” Mr. Ortiz said in a stern voice. “There are no shopping bags in that case.”

“We wanted to make sure to look everywhere,” Nancy said quickly. “Thank you, Mr. Ortiz! Let us know if you ever find that bag!”

Then she grabbed Bess and George’s arms and steered them toward the front door. Nancy didn’t like how serious he sounded, and she wanted to get out of there before Mr. Ortiz asked them any more questions.

• • •

“You don’t think Mr. Ortiz stole the key to the city, do you?” Bess asked Nancy. “He’s so nice!”

Nancy, Bess, and George were at the Double Dip. They were sitting at a booth in the corner, drinking hot chocolate. Mrs. Marvin had dropped them off there while she ran some errands.

Nancy took a sip of her hot chocolate. “I don’t know. He might have. He sells antique keys in his store. Maybe he stole the key so he could sell it!”

“But it wasn’t in the case,” George pointed out.

“Maybe he already sold it,” Nancy replied.

“Or maybe he secretly took it out of the case when he saw us coming,” Bess added.

George looked doubtful. “I don’t know. He’s so nice. He doesn’t seem like a thief.”

“I know what you mean,” Nancy said. “Still, we should put him on the suspect list since he does sell keys.”

“And he seemed like he was trying to get us away from the case,” Bess pointed out.

Nancy nodded. “We’d better write all this stuff down. It’s getting complicated.”

She reached into her backpack and pulled out a blue notebook. It was a special detective notebook her father had given her for writing down clues.

She turned to a fresh page, uncapped her purple pen, and began writing:

THE CASE OF THE MISSING KEY

SUSPECTS:

1. Mr. Ortiz at the Ye Olde Antique Shoppe

*Bess had the key with her when we were in his store last night.

*He sells antique keys in his store.

*He didn’t want us near the case where he keeps the keys.

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