Judy Moody, Girl Detective - Megan Mcdonald [8]
“Arf!” Stink got down on all fours and pawed at the air.
“Now bump up against the door of the kennel. No fair using hands.”
Stink bumped against the chain-link door. “Ow!” He rubbed his shoulder.
“See?” said Judy. “He can’t open it. And he’s way bigger than Mr. Chips.”
Judy bent to the ground, looking for more clues with her pocket magnifier.
“Aha!” Judy shrieked so loud that all three boys jumped.
“Did you see a bad guy?”
“Did you see a burglar?”
“Did you see a bear?”
“No, but I saw bad-guy burglar boot prints the size of a bear. Look.” She pointed to a patch of mud in front of the kennel door.
“They’re probably just Officer Kopp’s footprints,” said Rocky.
“Or a bad guy like Stumpy or Snorky,” said Judy.
“But they’re gi-normous,” said Stink. “As big as four footprints put together. Give me your ruler so I can measure them.”
“I don’t have a ruler,” said Judy.
“That whole detective kit and no ruler?”
“In The Witch Tree Symbol, Nancy Drew used her skirt as a ruler.”
“Then give me your skirt.”
“Hardee-har-har, Stink.”
“No way are these footprints human,” said Frank.
“Maybe Mr. Chips got eaten by a bear!” said Rocky.
“Or a yeti!” said Stink.
“The Abominable Snowman,” said Frank.
“Get real,” said Judy.
“There are more footprints over here,” said Stink. “These look more like sneakers.”
“Stink, get a clue. Those are your prints,” said Judy.
Frank pointed to something caught on the fence. “Judy. Over here!”
“What have we here?” Judy asked. “A clump of fur!”
“Could be from the dog,” said Agent Rock.
“Or a yeti,” said Agent Pearl.
“Move over. Let the Nose take a whiff.” Stink sniffed it and turned up his nose. “It’s dog hair, all right. PU! Smells worse than a yeti.”
“When’s the last time you smelled a yeti?” Judy took out her tweezers and collected the dog-hair evidence in a plastic zip-top bag.
“So do you think Mr. Chips brushed up against the fence when he was being dragged out by bad guys?” Frank asked.
“Dognappers!” Judy whispered.
“You think somebody stole Mr. Chips? For real?” asked Rocky.
“Hello! Read the clues,” said Detective Judy. “One, Mr. Chips didn’t even get to finish his breakfast. Two, he can’t open the latch on the door himself. And three, bad-guy big-foot boot prints are everywhere.”
“Burglars!” said Rocky.
“Thieves!” said Frank.
“Dog stealers!” said Stink.
She, Eagle-Eye-Moody, had found one clue after another, just like Nancy Drew. She read the evidence. She was on her way to cracking the big case. All she had to do now was track down a couple of downright dirty dognappers with size sixteen stompers!
The next morning, Judy was already hard at work on the case by the time Stink woke up. She sprawled on the floor with a rainbow of markers all around her.
“What’re you doing to Officer Kopp’s flyers?” Stink asked.
“Fixing them,” said Judy, coloring in blue eyes on the picture of Mr. Chips.
Stink tilted his head, reading upside down. He was trying to figure out the words Judy had just added. “‘Have you seen this goo?’”
“‘Have you seen this dog.’”
“Oh. Your D looks like an O.”
“Stink, a good detective can read backward and upside down.” Judy colored in a black letter R.
“‘Drawer’?” Stink asked, squinching up his face.
“‘Reward’!” said Judy. “We have to offer big bucks so that anyone who has seen Mr. Chips or has any information on his whereabouts will call the police. Rule Number One of being a good detective is don’t be afraid to ask for help.”
“You mean Rule Number One Gazillion!” said Stink. “So, whoever finds Mr. Chips gets a reward, not a drawer?”
“Yep.”
“So if I find him,” Stink asked, “I get the money?”
Judy ignored him. She wrote in $23.80.
“Whoa,” said Stink. “Twenty-three dollars and eighty cents. That’s a lot of money. How’d you come up with $23.80?”
“That’s all you had in your piggy bank, Stink.”
“You broke my bank?” Stink ran into his room and grabbed his piggy bank. “That’s weird. My bank’s not broken. . . . And the lock is still on,” said Stink. He put the piggy bank up to his ear and shook it. Empty.
“The Mystery of the Missing