The Secret Santa, Page 2

  Then she wrote: “Christmas card. Stolen during lunch.”

  Then she wrote one more word.

  “Who?” She drew a line under that, too.

  Nancy could think of only one person who would do something like this. Brenda Carlton.

  Especially now. Now that Brenda was jealous of Nancy’s story in the class newspaper.

  Nancy wrote Brenda’s name in her notebook, under the word “Who?”

  Okay, Nancy thought. If this is a mystery, I’m going to solve it!

  She folded up the note she had found on her desk and put it in the pocket of her notebook.

  Then she pretended to read her silent reading book. But really she was watching Brenda Carlton.

  Nothing happened. All Brenda did was read her own book.

  It’s hard to solve mysteries during school, Nancy thought. When school was over, Nancy showed the note to George and Bess.

  “Well, this proves it,” George said as the three friends walked out into the snow. “Someone stole your card. And you’ve got to find out who—fast!”

  “I’m working on it,” Nancy said. “I think it might be Brenda Carlton.”

  “I don’t like her,” Bess said. “But there are other people who could have done it.”

  “Who?” Nancy asked.

  “Emily Reeves,” Bess said. “Remember? She went back into the room before recess was over.”

  “I don’t think she did it,” George said. “She was in too much of a hurry to see her own Secret Santa card.”

  “Well, how about Kyle Leddington?” Bess went on. “He was standing near Nancy’s desk when I came in from lunch. Maybe he stole the card.”

  “Why would he?” Nancy asked.

  “To get the candy,” George said.

  Nancy thought about that as they crossed the street and walked into the park.

  “I wonder how much candy was on the card?” Nancy said.

  She wished she had the candy now. Her stomach was growling. She was hungry.

  “Maybe it was M&M’s, like mine,” Bess said.

  “Let’s not talk about candy,” said Nancy.

  Then she thought, Maybe when I get home, I can have some hot chocolate. That would make up for not getting candy at school. Sort of.

  “Are you going to write down Kyle’s name in your notebook?” Bess asked. “And Emily Reeves?”

  Nancy nodded. She thought about taking out her notebook right then. But she didn’t want to take off her mittens. They were red and white, with snowflakes on them. They matched her sweater. Besides, her hands would get cold.

  “Guess what?” Nancy said. “On the way to school today I met Phoebe Archer. She was carrying a huge paper bag.”

  “Do you think she stole your card?” George asked.

  “No,” Nancy said. “But maybe she brought a really big card for someone.”

  “No fair,” George said. “You’re a detective. And now you’re going to figure out who everyone’s Secret Santa is.”

  “No, I’m not,” Nancy said. “I’m not even trying to do that.”

  “You can’t help it,” George said. “You figure things out, even when you don’t try.”

  Nancy laughed. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I haven’t guessed anything. Maybe Phoebe used a huge bag to hide a tiny card inside. See? I don’t know anything about anyone’s Secret Santa—yet.”

  Just then something hit Nancy in the back. A snowball! She turned around and saw a group of boys. Kyle Leddington was one of them. They were having a snowball fight with one another. But they weren’t even looking at her.

  Then Nancy saw Brenda Carlton coming down the sidewalk.

  “Did you throw that snowball at me?” Nancy called.

  “Don’t be dumb,” Brenda said. “Snowball fights are for babies—and boys.”

  “She’s the one who’s dumb,” George said to Nancy. “Snowball fights are for everyone. Watch!”

  George picked up a handful of snow. With her back turned, she packed it into a ball. Then she spun around and threw it at Brenda.

  Brenda didn’t even duck. She just let the snowball hit her on the arm. Then she stuck her nose in the air and kept walking.

  “I don’t like her,” Nancy said.

  “Me, either,” George said.

  “I think she stole your card,” Bess said.

  “Me, too,” Nancy said. “I think.”

  In the back of her mind Nancy knew that the mystery wasn’t over, and the case wasn’t closed.

  There was still one more thing she needed.

  Proof!

  4

  Bad Luck Lunch

  More marshmallows, please,” Nancy said to Hannah Gruen. Nancy sat in the kitchen the next morning, drinking hot chocolate before school.

  Hannah was the Drew family’s housekeeper. She had lived with Nancy and her father for five years—ever since Nancy’s mother died.

  “Okay,” Hannah said, “but these are the last ones. You ate the rest of the marshmallows yesterday—when you had two cups of hot chocolate after school.”

  “I was hungry,” Nancy said. “And thirsty. And cold.”

  “I don’t blame you,” Hannah answered. “It was freezing outside. And besides, you deserved a treat. Having your Christmas card stolen! I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

  “I’m going to figure out who took it,” Nancy said.

  “I bet you will,” Hannah said with a nod. She turned back to the counter where she was packing a lunch. It was a lunch for Jason Hutchings. Peanut butter sandwich. Potato chips. Apple juice. And Jelly Jets—fruit-flavored jelly candies shaped like jet planes.

  “Let’s tie a ribbon around the sandwich,” Nancy said. “Just to make it special.”

  “Okay,” Hannah said. Then she added, “It’s strange to make lunch for someone else and not for you.”

  Nancy thought about that. “I wonder who’s making my lunch right now?” she said. “Wouldn’t it be funny if it’s Jason?”

  Hannah laughed. Nancy laughed with her.

  Hannah put Jason’s lunch in a white bag and wrote his name on it. Then she put the white bag inside a bigger brown one. That way no one would see Jason’s name and know that Nancy was his Secret Santa.

  Then Hannah drove Nancy to school. It was too cold outside for Nancy to walk.

  When Nancy got to class, she put the brown sack on the table in the back of the room.

  Twenty other lunches were sitting there already.

  I wonder which one is for me? Nancy thought.

  She could hardly wait to find out. She hoped she’d get everything on her list of favorite foods. Especially the Panda Crunch bar.

  Panda Crunch was a candy bar. It was white and dark chocolate in the shape of a panda bear. And it had crispy things inside. Nancy loved it. She also liked knowing that money from the candy bars went to help save the pandas.

  “What are you doing? Snooping around the lunches?” a voice behind Nancy asked.

  Nancy spun around. Brenda was standing behind her. “No,” Nancy said. “I’m just putting my bag on the table.”

  “Well, it’s cheating to try to find out who your Secret Santa is,” Brenda said. “But I won’t tell—this time.”

  “I wasn’t snooping!” Nancy insisted.

  “That’s okay,” Brenda said. “I said I won’t tell. Anyway, here.”

  Brenda shoved a piece of paper into Nancy’s hand. Then she walked away.

  Nancy looked at the page. It was a homemade newspaper. The headline at the top said, “Nancy Drew’s Christmas Card Stolen.”

  “What’s this?” Nancy asked. But Brenda was already gone.

  “It’s Brenda’s own newspaper,” Bess said, coming up beside Nancy. “She’s calling it the Carlton News. Her dad helped her type it up on their computer last night.”

  Nancy read the front-page story. It was all about how her card had been stolen. The last line of the story said, “Watch for more news about Nancy Drew’s problems—right here in
the next issue of the Carlton News!”

  “Do you know what I think?” Bess said before Nancy was even done reading. “I think she stole your Secret Santa card—just so she’d have something to write about in her newspaper.”

  For just a moment Nancy felt as if she might cry. “That would be so mean,” she said to Bess.

  “It would be just like Brenda,” Bess said. “George thinks so, too.”

  Nancy took a deep breath. “Well, we still don’t have any proof,” she said. “So keep your eyes open.”

  Bess nodded. “Don’t worry, I will.”

  All morning long Nancy watched Brenda. But Brenda didn’t even leave her seat. Not during math or science or social studies.

  Kyle Leddington did. He got up and went out of the room to his cubby. On the way he passed the table where the lunches were. Nancy saw him poke some of the lunch bags as he walked by.

  Then it was almost time for lunch. Ms. Spencer sent the whole class to the gym with Mrs. Apple and her thirdgrade class to play dodgeball. That way she could put out the Secret Santa lunches in private.

  For the first round of dodgeball, Nancy was it. She had to stand in the middle of a circle and jump away when the ball came at her. Peter DeSands got Nancy out. He was a good player.

  Finally Ms. Spencer came into the gym.

  “Time for lunch,” she said. She had a twinkle in her eye. “But please clean up before you come back to class.”

  Everyone hurried out of the gym. Mrs. Apple walked the students to the rest rooms. Nancy waited in line, then washed her hands as fast as she could. She raced back to the classroom.

  “Where’s my lunch?” Nancy said the minute she walked through the door. She went to her desk, by the window.

  “On your desk,” Bess said, without looking up. Her desk was next to Nancy’s.

  “No, it’s not,” Nancy said.

  Bess looked up. “What do you mean?” she asked.

  Just then Nancy heard a familiar laugh. She saw Brenda Carlton standing near the bulletin board by the window.

  “Oh, too bad,” she said. “Your Secret Santa must really hate you.”

  “That’s a terrible thing to say!” Bess said. She frowned at Brenda. “Can’t you see? No one hates Nancy. Her lunch has been stolen!”

  “Oh, really?” Brenda said. “Well, that’s a shame. I’ll bet you really wanted that Panda Crunch bar, too.”

  “What?” Nancy said.

  “I said, I’ll bet you really wanted that Panda Crunch bar,” Brenda repeated.

  Nancy’s eyes flashed like fire. She put her hands on her hips. Then she marched over to Brenda. She looked her straight in the eye.

  “I have just one question,” Nancy said. “If you didn’t take my lunch, how do you know there was a Panda Crunch bar inside?”

  5

  The Chocolate Clues

  Are you saying I stole your lunch?” Brenda asked. She smiled. Nancy thought Brenda was almost trying to look guilty.

  “No,” Nancy said. “I’m just asking you a question. How do you know what was in my lunch?”

  “Maybe I’m your Secret Santa,” Brenda said with a mean laugh.

  Nancy frowned. She hadn’t thought of that. Or at least she hadn’t thought of it that day. Not since she had decided that Brenda was the thief.

  “Well, are you?” Bess asked. “Are you Nancy’s Secret Santa?”

  “No,” Brenda said, smiling even more.

  “Then how do you know about the Panda Crunch bar?” Nancy asked.

  “I don’t know,” Brenda said. “I just saw that you put it on the list on the bulletin board. You asked for a Panda Crunch, so I figured you probably got one. That’s all.”

  “Oh,” Nancy said. She felt a little silly. That was a good answer. Nancy hadn’t thought of that.

  “Well, I’m hungry,” Brenda said. “I’m going to get in the lunch line. See you later.”

  Nancy watched Brenda walk to the front of the classroom. When everyone had lined up, Ms. Spencer would take the class to the lunchroom.

  Brenda was carrying her Secret Santa lunch bag under one arm. The bag was very large and full.

  That bag is big enough to hold two lunches, Nancy thought. Maybe she stole my lunch after all!

  Just then George came up to Nancy and Bess. “Lunchtime!” she said. “What did your Secret Santa give you, Nancy?”

  “Nothing,” Nancy said.

  “Nothing!” George exclaimed. She looked very surprised.

  Nancy explained what had happened. George looked over at Brenda. “I think we should watch her,” she said.

  “Me, too,” Nancy said. She grabbed Bess’s arm, and all three girls rushed to the lunch line. They stayed close to Brenda as Ms. Spencer took the class to the lunchroom.

  To see what Brenda had in her lunch bag, Nancy walked past her table—three times.

  On her last trip Nancy saw why Brenda’s lunch bag was so big. There was a whole family-size bag of potato chips in it!

  “Rats,” Nancy said when she got back to her own table. “Maybe she’s not the thief.”

  “I still think she is,” George said. “She’s mean. Maybe she stole your lunch and threw it in the trash.”

  Could be, Nancy thought. She decided to look in the trash after lunch. But just then she was hungry.

  Nancy got up and went to find her teacher. When Ms. Spencer heard what had happened, she bought Nancy a lunch in the cafeteria. Macaroni and cheese, and milk.

  Yuck, Nancy thought. They have macaroni every Thursday! It has brown, crusty things on it. It isn’t creamy like Hannah’s. And it isn’t my favorite lunch.

  Nancy came back to the table with her tray. “What did you get for dessert from your Secret Santas?” she asked.

  Bess had her lunch spread out in front of her.

  “Two cupcakes,” Bess said. “You can have one if you want, Nancy.”

  “Thanks, Bess. But where’s your lunch?” Nancy asked George.

  “She already ate it,” Bess said.

  “Except for the dessert,” George said. “I saved it to share with you.”

  “Thanks,” said Nancy. “You guys are the best!”

  “Hurry,” George said. “I want to go look for clues.”

  Nancy laughed. She had never seen George so excited about one of her mysteries. Usually it was Nancy who couldn’t wait to solve the case.

  As soon as they had finished eating, Nancy, Bess, and George sneaked back to the classroom. The room was empty and dark. Nancy felt like a spy.

  “We’re not supposed to be in here when Ms. Spencer is gone,” Bess said.

  “I don’t care,” Nancy said. “I want to solve this case before tomorrow.”

  “How come?” Bess asked.

  “Because tomorrow is the big gift day,” George said to her cousin. “If Nancy doesn’t catch the thief soon, the person might steal her present again tomorrow. Then she won’t get anything at all.”

  “Oh, right,” Bess said.

  Nancy started to search. First she looked in the trash can. She found lots of paper towels and all the crumpledup paper bags. There was no stolen lunch.

  Next she looked in Brenda’s cubby. She found Brenda’s hat, coat, and mittens. But still no lunch.

  She even looked in Brenda’s desk—without touching anything. Nancy saw some copies of the Carlton News but no stolen lunch.

  “Now what?” George asked.

  “I don’t know,” Nancy said.

  She sat down at her desk and took out her special blue notebook. She turned to a clean page.

  She still had three suspects: Brenda, Emily, and Kyle. But she was no closer to finding out which one was the thief.

  In her best handwriting Nancy wrote:

  Three Facts About Brenda

  1. Wrote a newspaper story about me.

  2. Asked about my Panda Crunch bar.

  3. Had a big lunch.

  Big deal, Nancy thought. Her clues were going nowhere!

  Ju
st then the bell rang and kids started coming back from lunch. Emily Reeves bounced into the room.

  A minute later Jason walked in with his friends. He was eating Jelly Jets. “My lunch was better than yours!” Jason said to his friends in a singsong voice.

  “Give me some,” Mike Minelli said.

  “Yeah. Me, too,” Peter DeSands said.

  “No way,” Jason said. He picked out a big red jet. Then he tilted his head back and waved it around in the air above his open mouth. Mike tried to grab the candy. But Jason flew the jet into his mouth at the last minute.

  Nancy felt jealous. Everyone had special treats except her.

  “Hey, Jason!” Kyle Leddington called. “Can I have a jet?”

  Jason shook his head. “You’d just get it all over your shirt,” he said.

  All the boys laughed.

  That’s weird, Nancy thought. Jason didn’t usually try to be mean.

  Then she looked at Kyle’s shirt. There was a big chocolate smear on the front.

  So that’s why Jason said what he did, Nancy thought. Kyle’s shirt was a mess.

  And then Nancy realized that the mess was a brown and white chocolate smear. Just like the dark and white chocolate in a Panda Crunch bar!

  6

  The Glitter Clues

  Did you see what I just saw?” George said, rushing up to Nancy.

  Nancy nodded. “Kyle has chocolate on his shirt.”

  “And it’s two kinds of chocolate,” George said. “Dark and white. And he was standing beside your desk yesterday when the card was stolen. He’s the thief! I know he is. Are you going to ask him about your lunch?”

  “No,” Nancy said. “I’m going to get some more facts, first.”

  George made a funny face at Nancy. Nancy knew what it meant. George didn’t want to wait. She wanted to catch Kyle right away.

  Nancy marched over to the bulletin board. George followed right behind her.

  “Look,” Nancy said. She pointed to the Secret Santa list. “Kyle asked for a Panda Crunch bar in his lunch, too. That’s how he got chocolate on his shirt.”