Hannah's Secret

  Bad News!

  Nancy, Bess, and George were almost to the house when they heard the front door open. “They’re coming out,” Nancy whispered. “Hide!”

  The girls ducked behind a row of bushes.

  “I’ll speak to Mr. Drew right away,” they heard Hannah say. “I’m sure he’ll understand.”

  “Good,” Mrs. Garfield replied. “Then I’ll see you a week from Friday.”

  A short while later the girls heard Hannah’s car drive away.

  “This is terrible.” Nancy sniffled. “I wish we’d never come here.”

  “Come on, let’s go,” Bess whispered. The girls stood up and saw that the big, black gate was slowly swinging shut.

  “Hurry!” George cried. “Or we’ll be trapped!”

  Contents

  Chapter 1: A Delicious Lesson

  Chapter 2: A Strange Note

  Chapter 3: Nosy Brenda

  Chapter 4: Operation Cleanup

  Chapter 5: Flower Power

  Chapter 6: All Washed Up

  Chapter 7: Spying On Hannah

  Chapter 8: Hannah’s Real Secret

  1

  A Delicious Lesson

  Guess what, Daddy? I’m helping Hannah make dessert,” eight-year-old Nancy Drew said into the phone.

  “That’s great,” Carson Drew said on the other end of the line. Nancy’s father was a lawyer. He was on a business trip and was calling from his hotel room in California. “Are you making pudding or pie?” he asked.

  Nancy giggled. Pudding Pie was one of her father’s favorite nicknames for her. One time she had eaten a huge piece of chocolate-pudding pie with her hands and ended up with chocolate all over her face. There was a picture of it in the family photo album.

  “Neither,” Nancy said. “We’re making apple cake. Hannah’s teaching me the recipe.”

  “Just make sure you eat your dinner before your dessert,” Mr. Drew said. “And try not to cause too much trouble for Hannah, all right? I’ll see you both Friday night.”

  “Okay, Daddy.” Nancy said goodbye and hung up. She skipped across the kitchen, pausing just long enough to give her puppy, Chocolate Chip, a pat on the head.

  “Let’s get cooking,” Hannah Gruen said to Nancy. She was the family’s housekeeper. “But wash your hands first. I don’t want any dog fur in our cake.”

  “Ick!” Nancy loved Chip, but she didn’t think her Labrador retriever’s brown fur would taste very good.

  Nancy quickly washed her hands and held them up for Hannah to see. “All clean.”

  Then she dipped her finger into the mixing bowl on the counter.

  Hannah pushed Nancy’s hand away. “Be careful,” she said with a smile. “When I was a little girl, I once ate half a bowl of cake batter. I had a stomachache for three days!”

  Nancy giggled and looked at Hannah’s gentle face. It was hard to imagine her as a little girl.

  “Why didn’t your mother stop you from eating so much?” she asked.

  “She tried,” Hannah said. “But I sneaked in and gobbled it up when she wasn’t looking.”

  Nancy laughed again. “I didn’t know you were such a bad little girl.”

  “I wasn’t that bad,” Hannah said with a twinkle in her eye. “Didn’t a certain little girl spill my favorite houseplant all over the living room floor last week?”

  Nancy glanced over at her puppy. “I forgot about that,” she said, giving Hannah a sweet smile. Chip had bumped into the plant when she and Nancy were playing in the den.

  “Just remember,” Hannah said, “no more fetch in the house.” She pushed her hair off her forehead and smiled at Nancy. “The cake batter is just about ready. All we need to add are the apples and nuts.”

  Hannah had already cut up three apples. Nancy picked up the bowl and dumped the pieces into the batter. As Nancy stirred, Hannah added some chopped walnuts.

  “How did you learn to be such a good cook, Hannah?” Nancy asked.

  “I learned most of my recipes from my grandmother when I was growing up. She’s also the one who taught me how to make a pretty garden.”

  “Maybe after you show me how to cook, you can teach me all about flowers,” Nancy suggested.

  “Maybe.” Hannah winked. “Though, as I recall, the last time I tried to get you to help with the gardening, all you wanted to do was make mud pies.”

  Nancy rolled her eyes. “Hannah, I was only four years old then!”

  “I’m just teasing,” Hannah said, giving Nancy a fond look. “Before I know it, you’ll be all grown up and I’ll be out of a job.”

  “Never,” Nancy said. “You’ll still need to stay here and take care of Daddy. He’ll never grow up!”

  Hannah and Nancy laughed. “I think the batter is just about ready,” Hannah said, shaking some cinnamon into the bowl. “Do you want to put it into the pan?”

  Nancy nodded eagerly as Hannah poured half the batter from the mixing bowl into a measuring cup. “It will be easier for you to pour this way,” Hannah said.

  Nancy carefully poured all the batter into a cake pan—just the way Hannah showed her.

  “Nice job,” Hannah said, sliding the pan into the oven. “You’ll be able to cook all by yourself in no time.”

  “It won’t be that soon,” Nancy said. “I’m not allowed to use the oven until I’m ten, remember?”

  “That’s right.” Hannah tousled Nancy’s reddish blond hair. Then she looked at the oven timer. “I’m not sure how long the cake is supposed to bake. Would you get me my recipe book so I can look it up?”

  “You mean your secret recipe book?” Nancy asked.

  Hannah kept all of her best recipes in a pretty handmade book with roses on the cover. She didn’t like anyone to look inside it.

  Nancy understood how Hannah felt because she had a special book, too. Nancy liked to solve mysteries, and her father had given her a shiny blue notebook. In it she wrote down her clues and suspects.

  “Don’t worry,” she said, looking for Hannah’s cookbook on the shelf above the counter. “I won’t peek.”

  Nancy wobbled high on her tiptoes and grabbed the recipe book. But she lost her balance. The book slipped right out of her hand—and came flying straight toward her head!

  2

  A Strange Note

  Nancy jumped out of the way just in time. The recipe book bounced off the counter and fell to the floor with a thump. A few pieces of paper came fluttering out.

  “Are you all right?” Hannah cried, hurrying over.

  Nancy nodded. She helped Hannah pick up the papers. Most of them were recipes in Hannah’s handwriting. Except the last one. It was a note that said:

  Meeting—12 Riverview Lane.

  Sat. 10—wear suit.

  I wonder why Hannah has to wear a suit? Nancy thought. Her meeting must be someplace fancy.

  “You’re not peeking at any of those recipes, are you?” Hannah asked.

  Nancy shook her head and quickly handed Hannah the cards.

  Hannah stuck them back in the book. Then she turned to an inside page. “Here it is,” she said. “The cake should bake for forty minutes.”

  As Hannah and Nancy ate dinner, Nancy could smell the apples and cinnamon baking. When the cake was done, Hannah took it out of the oven. After it had cooled a little, she cut two big slices and put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of each one.

  “Mmm, that was super yummy, Hannah,” Nancy said when she had finished eating. “May I be excused?”

  “Not so fast,” Hannah said gently. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

  Nancy groaned and started taking the plates from the table. “I hate clearing the dishes.”

  “Just leave everything in the sink,” Hannah said, heading for the stairs. “I
’ll load the dishwasher later.”

  Nancy sighed as she brought the dirty dishes from the table to the sink. Chip followed her.

  “I wish you could do this for me,” Nancy said to her puppy. She smiled at the thought of Chip carrying the plates and forks in her mouth. “Maybe I should train you to load the dishwasher, too.”

  When the table was clear, Nancy went upstairs, with Chip right behind her. Hannah’s door was closed, but Nancy could hear her humming.

  Chip raced into Nancy’s room and picked up her favorite toy bone from the floor. She brought it to Nancy.

  Nancy sat on the floor and took it from Chip’s mouth. “Want to play?” she asked.

  Chip looked up at Nancy and barked twice.

  “I guess that means yes.” She glanced at Hannah’s door on the other side of the hall. “But be careful, okay?”

  Nancy tossed the toy across the room. Chip bounded after it and brought the bone back to her.

  “Good dog,” Nancy said.

  Just then Nancy heard Hannah’s bedroom door open. She peeked out into the hall, hoping Hannah wasn’t going to scold her for playing fetch in the house. Instead, Hannah picked up the phone and started to dial.

  Nancy ducked back out of sight and scratched Chip’s tummy to keep her quiet. “We’ll finish playing as soon as Hannah goes back in her room,” she whispered. Then Nancy heard Hannah talking.

  “Hello, Joan? It’s Hannah.”

  Nancy knew that Joan was one of Hannah’s good friends. She was the housekeeper for a family on the other side of town.

  “Yes, I’m going on Saturday at ten,” Hannah continued. “I’m looking forward to it, though I’m a bit nervous. I hope it goes well.”

  I wonder what Hannah’s doing on Saturday, Nancy thought. She remembered the note that had fallen out of Hannah’s secret recipe book.

  Then Hannah paused to listen to something Joan was saying. “Yes,” Hannah went on, “but I also think she’ll make a terrific boss.”

  “Why would Hannah care if someone’s a good boss?” Nancy whispered to Chip. She thought for a minute. “The note said something about a meeting on Saturday morning and wearing a suit.”

  Nancy gasped. Grown-ups wore suits when they looked for jobs! And Hannah had just told Joan that the person she was seeing on Saturday would make a great boss.

  Nancy had a terrible idea about what Hannah’s note might mean. She picked up her puppy and hugged her tightly.

  “Oh, Chip,” she cried, burying her face in the dog’s soft brown fur. “Could it be true? Is Hannah going to leave us?”

  3

  Nosy Brenda

  Nancy had to talk to Hannah about what she had heard. She was nervous, but she took a deep breath and walked into the hall. Hannah had finished her call and was in her room again.

  Just as Nancy was about to knock on Hannah’s door, it opened.

  Hannah looked down at Nancy and quickly closed it again. Before she did, Nancy saw papers spread all over her desk.

  “Hannah?” Nancy called. “What are you doing?”

  Hannah’s muffled voice came from the other side of the door. “Just a minute, Nancy.”

  Nancy frowned. Hannah’s keeping a secret, Nancy thought. She didn’t like that. “Never mind,” Nancy called loudly, and stomped back to her room.

  Chip was waiting there with her toy bone in her mouth. “Sorry, Chip, I can’t play right now,” Nancy said. “Hannah’s acting weird, and I think I know why. I’d better start treating this like a real mystery so I can find out for sure.”

  Nancy went to her desk and found her blue notebook under her backpack. Opening to a fresh page, she wrote: “Hannah’s Mysterious Secret.”

  Under that she wrote, “Does Hannah want another job?” Then she listed her clues:

  1. Hannah has a meeting on Saturday.

  2. She’s wearing a suit to the meeting.

  3. She said the person she’s meeting will make a great boss.

  4. She doesn’t want me in her room.

  Nancy read over what she had just written. Then she remembered what Hannah had been talking about earlier that evening. She added one more clue:

  5. Hannah may think I don’t need her anymore.

  “What else could it mean, Chip?” Nancy asked.

  The Labrador retriever yawned.

  Hannah had been taking care of Nancy ever since she was three years old. Nancy loved her and didn’t want Hannah ever to leave.

  She wished she could talk to her father about her problem. But it was only Wednesday, and he wouldn’t be home until Friday night.

  Still, she knew one thing he would say if he were here—not to jump to conclusions. The clues could mean Hannah was leaving, or something totally different. But what?

  Nancy needed help. She went to the phone to call her two best friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne.

  • • •

  The next day Nancy met Bess and George outside Mrs. Reynolds’s third-grade classroom.

  “Did you find any more clues, Nancy?” Bess asked.

  Nancy shook her head. “I can’t believe Hannah might be looking for another job,” she said.

  George put her arm around Nancy. “But it doesn’t mean she definitely wants to leave,” she said. “My dad had an interview last month, but he likes it where he is, so he decided not to take the job.”

  “But what if it’s a really great job?” Nancy glanced around at the other kids in the hall. She didn’t want anyone to overhear. “Hannah might go away and I’ll never see her again,” she whispered.

  “She already has a great job,” Bess said loyally. She pushed her blond hair out of her eyes. “Don’t worry, Nancy. You’ll figure out what’s going on.”

  Just then their classmate Brenda Carlton walked up to them. “What are you guys talking about?” she asked.

  Brenda was always trying to find things to write about for her newspaper, the Carlton News. All the kids in their class read it.

  “None of your business,” Nancy said. She didn’t want anyone else to know about her mystery—especially Brenda.

  “Everything is my business,” Brenda said with a smirk. “You’re hiding something, Nancy, and I’m going to find out what it is!” Brenda’s dark brown hair flipped as she turned and stomped into the classroom.

  All day Nancy thought about the mystery every chance she had. She tried to talk about it with Bess and George at lunch, but Brenda sat at their table without being invited.

  After school Nancy met Bess and George on the steps outside the building. Brenda was standing nearby. Nancy could tell she was trying to listen to what they were saying.

  “We have to talk about the mystery,” Nancy said. She looked over at Brenda. “But where someone can’t follow us.”

  “Let’s go to my house,” George said.

  Nancy hurried home to get permission. Then she rode to George’s house as fast as her bike would take her.

  When all three girls were in George’s room, Nancy took out her mystery notebook. Bess and George flopped on the bed.

  “Let’s think about why Hannah might want to leave,” Nancy said.

  “Maybe she works too hard,” Bess suggested.

  Hannah did work pretty hard, Nancy thought. She was always cleaning up after Chip or reminding Nancy to do her chores, the way she had last night.

  George shook her head. “I bet she just wants more money.”

  “Maybe,” Nancy said, sitting down next to her friends. She grabbed a pillow and sighed. “This is awful.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Bess said quickly. “If Hannah wants to leave, the important thing is to change her mind.”

  “Maybe if we know what kind of job she’s trying to get, we can find a way to talk her out of taking it,” Nancy said.

  “But how?” George asked.

  “I know where her meeting is,” Nancy said. “It’s at Twelve Riverview Lane.” She had copied Hannah’s note in her book that morning when Hannah wasn’t looking. �
€œWe just have to find it.”

  George asked her mother if they could go for a ride. Then Nancy, Bess, and George hopped on their bikes.

  Riverview Lane was a longer street than Nancy had thought. She and her friends rode past the movie theater, the bowling alley, and lots of stores.

  When they got to a toy store, the girls stopped to look at a big teddy bear in the window.

  Nancy looked at her reflection in the glass. Then she saw something behind her. She quickly glanced back to make sure it was true. Brenda was hiding in back of a mailbox with her bike!

  “Brenda’s following us,” Nancy said. “We have to lose her.”

  “Oh no,” Bess said. “Do you think she knows what we’re doing?”

  “Not yet,” George said. “Let’s split up.”

  “Good idea,” Nancy said. “We’ll meet by the bowling alley in a few minutes. One, two, three, go!”

  The three girls sped away as fast as they could. When they got to the corner, Nancy turned left, Bess turned right, and George sped straight ahead. Within minutes the plan had worked. Brenda was gone.

  “We did it!” Nancy cried when the three friends met up again.

  A few minutes later, Nancy, Bess, and George were standing with their bikes in front of 12 Riverview Lane. It was a large white house with a wall around the yard. A big G was on the black iron gate.

  “I know who lives here,” Bess said. “Mrs. Garfield. She was at my house yesterday. My mom’s working on a charity with her. She looks like a mean old crab.”

  Nancy giggled. “Old Mrs. Crabapple!”

  Bess and George laughed, too. But they all stopped when the front door of the house opened.

  “Shhh!” Nancy said, and carefully peeked around the gatepost. She saw a grumpy-looking old woman with short gray hair climb into a car. Then the black gate started to open.

  “Don’t let Old Crabapple see us spying!” George said.

  The three girls quickly wheeled their bikes across the street just as the car came through and drove away.

  “She’s creepy,” Nancy said.

  Suddenly, Bess’s eyes widened. “Oh no!”