Karen's Mystery

by Ann M. Martin

  “We’ll lure her out,” I said.

  “What kinds of things does Emily especially like?” asked Nancy.

  I thought. “Food,” I answered. “But I do not think Emily is hungry. I think she has been eating. She left an awful lot of crumbs…. She likes music,” I added.

  “Put her favorite song on the tape deck,” said Hannie.

  I went back to the playroom. I found the cassette player. I began to play the music from Charlotte’s Web. (Emily likes the song sung by Templeton the rat.) I blasted the music into the crack.

  No Emily.

  “Let’s try being really calm,” suggested Nancy. She tapped her fingers on the wall. Then she called softly, “Emily, Emily, come on ou-out. Please come out, Emily Junior. Emily, your friends are waiting for you.”

  No Emily.

  “I know!” I said suddenly. I ran into the playroom and found one of Emily’s toys. A ball with a bell inside. I brought the toy to the rat hole. I shook it, making the bell jingle. “Emileeeee,” I called. “I have a toy for you.”

  No Emily.

  I was waiting for her to poke her nose and whiskers through the crack. But nothing happened.

  Finally I lay on the floor. I put my fingers as far inside the wall as I could. I wiggled them around. “Come on, Emileeeee,” I called.

  From behind me I could hear laughter. I yanked my hand out of the wall and whirled around. There stood David Michael.

  “What is so funny?” I asked.

  “Yeah, what is so funny?” said Nancy and Hannie.

  “You are,” replied David Michael. “You guys are crawling all over the floor, trying to get a fat rat out of a teeny, tiny hole. Emily Junior is not in there — ”

  I narrowed my eyes. Slowly I got to my feet. “How do you know?” I asked.

  “Because she is in my room,” said David Michael smugly.

  “You took her?” I yelped. “You took Emily Junior?”

  A fight was brewing.

  “Gotta go,” said my friends. They went downstairs.

  David Michael and I faced each other in the hall. My fists were clenched.

  “What is she doing in your room?” I asked, “Did you take her?”

  My brother nodded.

  “But why?”

  “I was mad at you.”

  “Because I would not let you be in the detective agency?” I said.

  David Michael nodded his head again. “Yup.”

  “Then I am telling!” I shouted. “As soon as I check on my rat.” I dashed into David Michael’s bedroom.

  Tattletale

  “Where is Emily Junior?” I demanded.

  “She’s in the closet,” said David Michael.

  “In the closet?” I shrieked. “You locked my rat in a dark closet?”

  “I did not lock her in,” David Michael replied crossly. “She is in there in a special box. I fixed it up myself. Just for Emily Junior. And I left the light on. She is not in the dark.”

  I peeped in the closet. Sure enough, the light was on. And there was Emily curled up in a box. She was sound asleep. She looked just fine.

  “Okay, now I am telling!” I exclaimed.

  I shut the door to the closet. I marched downstairs. (Hannie and Nancy were not there. They had gone home.) But Kristy was there. And Nannie. And Daddy and Elizabeth. They were talking in the living room.

  “Well, I found Emily Junior,” I announced. I stood in the middle of the living room with my hands on my hips.

  “You did?” cried Kristy.

  “Yes,” I answered. “And guess where.” Before anyone could guess, I said, “I found her in David Michael’s closet.”

  “Is she okay?” asked Elizabeth.

  David Michael had joined us in the living room.

  I glanced at him. He looked embarrassed. Even so, I said, “I don’t know. How would you feel if someone had locked you in a closet for four days?”

  “I already told you — I did not lock her in!” shouted David Michael.

  “What is going on, you two?” asked Daddy.

  “David Michael stole my rat!” I cried.

  Daddy, Elizabeth, Nannie, and Kristy turned to David Michael.

  “Is that true?” asked Elizabeth.

  David Michael hung his head. “I guess.”

  “But why? You knew Karen was worried about Emily Junior. We all were.” Elizabeth was frowning.

  “Well, I was angry at Karen.” David Michael told them about the Three Investigators, and how I would not let him be the fourth investigator.

  “That was not very nice, Karen,” said Daddy.

  “Plus, Karen is a tattletale,” said David Michael.

  Daddy sighed. “Let’s go take a look at Emily,” he said.

  Everyone followed David Michael up-stairs and into his room. David Michael showed off the box he had kept my rat in. “See? I put her food here and her water here. And every day I gave her some exercise. I took good care of her. I even bought her a Christmas present.”

  “Did you leave the crumbs in the kitchen?” asked Nannie.

  David Michael nodded. “I was getting a treat for Emily Junior. I had been feeding her the pellets, but I thought she might like some cake.”

  “What about the rat hole?” I asked.

  My brother laughed. “That is just a crack in the wall. But I put the crumbs and stuff there to make you think it was a rat hole. And you did!”

  “Meanie-mo!” I cried. I raised my fist in the air. Daddy caught my arm. “I know, I know,” I said. “No fighting. Use words.”

  “But use them when you have calmed down,” added Daddy. “Karen, David Michael, I am not pleased with what either of you did. So no allowance for a week. That goes for both of you.”

  “Boo,” I said. I picked up Emily Junior and cuddled her. “At least you are safe,” I said. “I promise I will never let you get kidnapped again.”

  Case Closed

  My big mystery was over. The case was closed. Emily Junior was in her cage where she belonged. (And the lid was on.)

  That evening I sat by myself in the living room. I looked at the mistletoe Daddy had hung over the doorway. I looked at the wooden angles and the golden bell and the musical Santa Claus. Then I stood by the window. I looked outside at the lighted trees on our street. And at our own tree with its red and green bulbs. Each bulb was glowing. Since I had caught PJ and Randall, no more bulbs had disappeared.

  I thought about the things that had happened since Andrew and I had arrived at the big house. I thought of the mysteries David Michael and I had solved. The Mystery of Daddy’s Glasses, the Mystery of the Missing Cookies, the Case of the Mysterious Bird. I remembered finding the Mysterious Disappearing Present with Hannie and Nancy. And, of course, catching the Bulb Thieves. Solving mysteries with David Michael had been fun. So had solving mysteries with Nancy and Hannie.

  Then I remembered something else. I remembered the time Hannie was planning to get married to her friend, Scott Hsu. (Just pretend married.) First, Hannie asked me to be her bridesmaid. Then she told me I could not be her bridesmaid. I had felt awful. I had cried. Finally she had told me I could be her bridesmaid after all. Then I felt okay again.

  I turned away from the window. I left the living room and went upstairs to find David Michael. He was lying on his bed, doing nothing. When I came in, he looked over at me.

  “Thanks to you,” he said, “I cannot get the pin I was going to buy Nannie for Christmas. I needed all of my allowance for that.”

  “Sorry,” I said. Then I added, “Well, thanks to you, I cannot buy the musical socks I wanted to get Hannie for Christmas.”

  David Michael rolled over. He turned his back to me. “Big deal,” he muttered.

  “David Michael?”

  “What?”

  “I’m sorry we would not let you in the detective agency,” I said.

  “You are?”

  “Yeah. I just did not want to change the name of our agency. That was pretty silly. You ar
e a very good detective.”

  “Thanks. I’m sorry I took Emily Junior and made you worry,” said David Michael.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. That was mean. I would not like it if someone took Shannon.” David Michael rolled over again. Now he was facing me. I sat next to him.

  “Did you really buy a Christmas present for Emily?” I asked.

  “Yup. I’ll show you what I got.” David Michael pulled out a drawer in his desk. He took out a little box. “Look inside,” he said.

  I opened the box. I saw an eensy Christmas tree, decorated and everything.

  “It is supposed to go in a dollhouse,” said my brother. “But I thought you could put it in Emily’s cage. She should have a Christmas tree.”

  “Oh, thank you!” I exclaimed. “Emily will love it.”

  “Can I give it to her?” asked David Michael.

  “Sure,” I replied. “And you know what else? You can be in the detective agency if you want. ‘The Four Investigators’ sounds even better than ‘The Three Investigators.’ Will you help Hannie and Nancy and me make a new sign? And new fliers?”

  “Yup.” David Michael was smiling. “Thanks, Karen.”

  “You’re welcome. Come on. Let’s go give Emily her Christmas tree.”

  Join the Four Investigators Fun Force!

  Super spy activities to try!

  Okay, Detectives. You’re now officially on the job. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to try these daring detective activities!

  Sweet and Sour Secrets!

  All good detectives know how to keep a secret. Whether the message you need to send is sweet or sour, use this amazing disappearing ink trick!

  You will need:

  a lollipop stick

  a saucer of lemon juice

  ordinary notepaper

  Here’s what you do:

  Dip the stick in the lemon juice. Using the stick as a pen, write your note on a piece of paper. Allow the note to dry. The message will completely disappear! Now pass the paper along to your fellow detective. Whisper to him or her that in order to read the secret message on the paper, the note must be held close to a light bulb. (Make sure never to touch the paper to the light bulb — you don’t want to start a fire!)

  The heat will make the message magically appear! But be sure your fellow detective can keep a secret, too. Once the note reappears, it is permanent.

  The Amazing Alphabet Code!

  This is an easy code to crack. It’s based on the alphabet. In your code, each letter is represented by a different letter from the other end of the alphabet. Just use the code below to send your message.

  Now unscramble this one:

  Kivggb hrnkov, sfs?

  The Secret Decoder Code!

  This simple decoder scheme will make sure your messages are only read by the right pair of eyes!

  Here’s what you do:

  Copy the decoder, drawing A, onto two pieces of paper. Cut out the boxes. Put one decoder over a blank sheet of paper. Write your message in the spaces, as in drawing B. Now remove the decoder and write silly words in between the words in your message (see drawing C).

  Give the note and the second decoder to a fellow detective. That detective will use the decoder to reveal your true message! It works every time — a perfect hole in one!

  Neat-o Number Code!

  Send messages in code to your number-one friend!

  Here’s what you do:

  Assign a number to each letter in the alphabet, starting with the number one. So A would equal 1, B would equal 2, C would equal 3, and so on, until Z equals 26. See the code below.

  Then, write all your notes in numbers. Here’s one for you to crack!

  25-15-21 1-18-5 11-1-18-5-14’19 14-21-13-2-5-18

  15-14-5 6-1-14!

  Double Talking!

  Nothing keeps a secret better than speaking in a language no one else understands. This is a simple secret language that can be spoken just between detectives! (Hint: It’s still a good idea to whisper secrets. Be sure to use your indoor voice when you use this secret language.)

  Here’s what you do:

  Divide any word into syllables. Drop the first consonant of the first syllable. Now say the first syllable. Then attach the consonant to the end of the word and add ooba. Do the same thing with the second syllable of the word.

  Let’s try one. The word is “secret.” Eecsooba-etrooba.

  If the word is only one syllable and it starts with a vowel, just add ooba to it. That makes the word “I’m” I’m-ooba. For one-letter words, just add ooba. That’s how “I” becomes I-ooba.

  Now you’re ready to try a sentence: Ouyooba areooba aooba reatgooba pysooba!

  Make It Bigger

  Every detective needs a magnifying glass to search for clues. Here’s how Karen taught Hannie and Nancy to make their own magnifying glasses.

  You will need:

  a piece of cardboard

  a medicine dropper

  scissors

  tape

  water

  clear plastic food wrap

  Here’s what you do:

  1. Cut a hole about the size of a quarter in the center of the cardboard.

  2. Cover the hole with plastic wrap. Stretch the wrap as smoothly as you can.

  3. Tape the plastic wrap to the cardboard.

  4. Lay a picture under the cardboard.

  5. Put a drop of water on the plastic wrap.

  6. Look at the picture through the plastic wrap and water. It’s bigger than ever!

  Laugh It Up!

  Good detectives always catch the bad guys. These detective and criminal jokes are some of Karen’s favorites, so you know they are gigundo funny! They’ll make you laugh so hard, you’ll have to catch something, too — your breath!

  Q: Why are bakers like bank tellers?

  A: They have their hands in the dough!

  Q: What do you call a detective with a raincoat and webbed feet?

  A: Duck Tracy!

  Q: Why were the suspenders arrested?

  A: For holding up pants!

  Q: What happens when a detective takes a criminal’s fingerprints?

  A: They leave a bad impression!

  Q: What happened when the detectives caught the hamburger?

  A: They grilled it!

  Those Amazing Animals!

  Hide-and-Seek!

  Karen sure had a tough time finding her poor rat, Emily Junior. Of course, she was kidnapped! But many animals make it tough to be found. That’s their way of hiding themselves from their enemies. For protection, many animals have fur or feathers that blend into the background. The fur of some small animals turns white in the winter to blend in with the snow. White-tailed deer give birth to fawns that have white spots. That way, the baby deer will be able to hide in the snowy woods long before its legs are sturdy enough to run from danger! Many birds, like the pheasant, have feathers that are colored to help them blend in with their nesting areas.

  * * *

  Five pheasants are hiding in the following picture. Can you find them all?

  Gigundo-Fun Games!

  Investigators, are you searching for something fun to do? Why not try one of these gigundo-fun games? They come highly recommended by Karen and her pals.

  * * *

  20 Questions (A game for two or more players)

  You don’t need a lot of kids to play this quickie quiz game. But as in any game, it’s more fun with lots of people.

  Here’s how to play:

  Say you are It. First think of a person, place, or thing. Then write your choice on a piece of paper and put it into your pocket. This will prove to everyone that you didn’t change your mind halfway through the game.

  Now the other players start asking questions. The object of the game is for them to ask just enough questions to be able to guess what person, place, or thing you have thought of. The other players can ask anything they want. The catch is, they can only ask questions
that can be answered with a yes or no. The guessers are allowed to ask as many as 20 questions (that’s where the name of the game comes from) before guessing. But the trick is to guess in as few questions as possible, because the person who gets the other players to ask the most questions before guessing is the winner!

  * * *

  I Spy (A game for two or more players)

  This super spy game works a lot like 20 Questions. The difference is that the object you are thinking of has to be in the room you are in. Once you’ve picked an object, start the game with this short rhyme: “I spy with my little eye something ___.” Come up with a word that describes the object you are thinking of. Then, just as in 20 Questions, the other players guess what you are thinking of by asking yes or no questions or by calling out objects in the room.

  Here’s an example:

  Let’s say you’ve picked an apple as your object. You’d say: “I spy with my little eye something red.”

  Now your friends would ask questions like these:

  “Is it round?”

  “Is it bigger than a bread box?”

  “Can you eat it?”

  and so on, until they’ve guessed the object you are thinking of. There is no limit to the number of questions they can ask you. But as in 20 Questions, the person who gets the players to ask the most questions before guessing correctly is the winner!

  Guess Who! (A game for four or more players)

  This missing-persons game will test how good an investigator you are. You must use clues to find a mystery person.

  Here’s how to play:

  Everyone gets paper and a pencil. Now each person must choose someone else in the room and write a short description of that person. When everyone is finished, one player collects the pieces of paper. That player gets to read each description out loud. It’s up to everyone (except the person who wrote the description) to guess the identity of the person being described. And whoever gets the most correct guesses, wins!

  Terrific Treasure Hunt (A game for eight or more players)