Who Stole Mr. T? (Leila and Nugget Mystery Book 1)

by Deserae Brady

  Javy hugged his dad. “I know, Dad.”

  During the hug, Leila brought out her detective notebook to write down a few more clues.

  - A-Team

  - Mrs. Stanley

  - Manny

  She paused and looked up. “Mr. Martinez, what was Manny’s last name?”

  “Margolis,” he said.

  Leila froze and stared at the first clue she’d written at the top of the page. She couldn’t believe it. She may have just solved the case.

  Spies

  “You OK?” Kait whispered to Leila. “You look like you’re gonna hurl.”

  “I think I just solved the case,” Leila whispered. “We need to talk to Javy. Alone.”

  “Hey Javy,” Kait stuck her face between Javy and his dad. “You want to show us those snow fort plans now?”

  “What snow fort plans?” Javy asked. “This is no time for a snow fort! We need to…”

  Kait grabbed Javy’s arm and started dragging him away. “They’re in your room, right? Let’s go!” Javy tried to push off, but Kait had a vice grip. “Don’t wait for us, Mr. Martinez!” she said. “I know you’ve got to eat your lunch and get back to work! Yum yum!”

  “Yum yum?” Leila asked when Javy’s door closed behind them.

  “Snow fort?!” Javy yelled. “I told you two — if you want to play in the snow, that’s fine. But this is important to me! So you can…”

  “Hush,” Kait interrupted. “We just needed to get you in here. Leila solved the case.”

  Javy’s eyes got wide.

  “And just so you know, this is important to us too,” Leila said. “I mean, I was really looking forward to the snow day, but you’re my friend, and now I want to help you get Mr. T back more than anything.”

  “Thank you, Leila,” Javy said. “Now what did you find?”

  Everyone’s eyes were on Leila. Even Nugget had jumped onto the bed and was staring at her. She suddenly got a chill. “I, well, actually I’m pretty cold.”

  Kait threw Leila a blanket. “Just spit it out!” she said.

  Leila wrapped up and settled down. “It’s the first clue I wrote down,” she said. “Look.” She turned around her notebook to show Javy and Kait the name on the red van outside of Javy’s house — Margolis Construction.

  “Okayyyyy,” Javy said.

  “Manny’s last name was Margolis,” Leila explained.

  Kait gasped. “The turtlenapper is back to finish the job!”

  “But why would my dad hire Mr. Margolis if he knows he’s a turtlenapper?” Javy asked.

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out,” Leila said. “Maybe it’s a different Margolis.”

  Javy shook his head. “I don’t think so. I heard my dad speaking Spanish with another man early this morning. I couldn’t hear everything they were saying, but from the way they were talking, it sounded like they’d grown up together.”

  Kait held up her hand. “What about this — we know Mr. Margolis is a criminal, right? Maybe your dad hired him to help him pay for his crimes. Then your dad saw Mr. Margolis steal Mr. T this morning, but Mr. Margolis pulled out a gun and told him not to say anything!”

  Javy, Leila and Nugget stared at Kait confused. Even for Kait, that was a pretty crazy idea. Finally, Leila spoke up. “Javy, I don’t know why your dad trusts Mr. Margolis, but whatever the reason, I think it’s up to us to catch him.”

  “But how?” Javy asked. “Do we question him?”

  “NO!” Kait shouted. “WE SPY!”

  Leila sighed. “I hate to say it, but Kait might be right this time. I think we need to spy.”

  Kait pumped her fist. “Yes! OK Javy, we need binoculars and a listening device. If you don’t have a real spy listening device, a glass cup should do. Now, do you…”

  Leila stopped Kait right there. “No binoculars,” she said. “We need to get close enough to search their stuff.”

  Kait folded her arms across her chest. “Well, I only do far-away spying.”

  “Bark! Bark!” Everyone turned to Nugget. He was standing on the edge of the bed, wagging his tail. “Bark!”

  Javy laughed. “Nugget looks like he’s ready to help.”

  Leila nodded. “And I think I know just the way.”

  Weirdy Beardy

  The kids waited until Javy’s dad was ready to go back to work.

  “Javy, I’m leaving!” Mr. Martinez shouted from the kitchen. “Do I get a hug goodbye?”

  Kait slapped Javy on the shoulder, and he marched to the kitchen. Leila, Kait and Nugget waited in the bedroom while Javy said goodbye to his dad and then secretly scattered chunks of string cheese throughout the kitchen. A minute later, he came back to the room and nodded. Leila then whispered Nugget’s three favorite words into the dog’s ear. “Find the treats!”

  Nugget tore out of the room and sprinted through the house until he found the first chunk of cheese in the dining room. He leaped over a pile of tile on the ground and continued his search inside the kitchen. “I’m so sorry!” Kait said to the startled workers who had to pause what they were doing when a small, furry bullet bounded over them and started sniffing everything in sight.

  The three kids ran through the room, pretending to chase Nugget while they really searched every nook and cranny for signs of turtlenapping.

  “Nugget, come back!” Javy yelled while he poked his head into a toolbox.

  “You’re not being a good dog!” Leila said as she opened a cabinet. She made sure to yell the “good dog” part of the sentence extra loud so Nugget knew he was doing a great job.

  Kait flipped a cardboard box upside down, dumping out covers for power outlets and heater vents. “I can use this box to catch him!” she announced. When she found nothing interesting inside, she moved onto another box. Dump. “Or maybe this would be better!”

  The two workers (whom Kait had earlier nicknamed “Weirdy Beardy” and “Tattoo Tom”) waited patiently while the little show in front of them finished up. When the kids finally decided that the turtle was no longer in the kitchen, Leila swooped Nugget into her arms and apologized to the workers. Time for Part Two of the plan.

  For Part Two, the kids bundled up and went outside to build a snow fort. But this wasn’t the fort they’d been planning for the last week. No, this would be their special base to sneak into the real target — the van. Once they finished the fort, Leila curled up with Nugget inside while Javy and Kait crouched nearby. For a few minutes, everything was silent. Leila’s heart was pounding. This was the most exciting snow day she could have ever imagined!

  At that moment, Weirdy Beardy walked out of the house toward the van. Leila took a sharp breath. This was it! Any second now, Kait should be starting a snowball fight with Javy. She’d hit him and run toward the van. Then Javy would throw a snowball back at her, but he’d throw it way over her head on purpose. When Javy would let go of the snowball, Leila would release Nugget, who’d chase the snowball into the van. Finally, the kids would follow Nugget into the van and find Mr. T. It was, they’d all agreed, the perfect plan.

  PIFF!

  “Ow!” Javy shouted. “Hey, you didn’t need to throw it in my face,” he muttered.

  “Focus, guys,” Leila hissed from her snow fort.

  “Haha, can’t catch me!” Kait ran toward the van just as Weirdy Beardy opened its back door. Javy made a snowball, wound up and threw it at the van. “Go!” Leila said as she turned Nugget loose. Nugget got low to the ground and barreled after the snowball. Javy had thrown a perfect lob. The snowball was just about to land inside the van, when —

  SLAM!

  Weirdy Beardy closed up the van, and…

  PIFF!

  The snowball hit the back door. Nugget stared at the snow spot on the van and then looked back at Leila. Weirdy Beardy walked out the side of the van with a long, plastic tube under his arm.

  Leila jumped out of her snow fort. “Oh no!” she shouted. Weirdy Beardy didn’t even notice her as he walked into the hou
se.

  “What do we do now?” Javy asked.

  “I, I don’t know,” Leila said as she picked up Nugget. “We could try it again when they come back out, but they’ll be expecting it this time. Should we call the police? They probably won’t come. Oh boy. Uh, well we could…”

  While Leila’s mind was spinning in circles, Kait calmly walked to the van’s back door and opened it. “Coming?” she asked.

  Leila and Javy stared with their mouths open.

  “He didn’t lock it. You should have noticed that, detective. Come on.”

  “I don’t know,” Leila finally said. “If Nugget goes in first, I feel like it’s OK to chase him inside, but isn’t this breaking into somewhere we don’t belong?”

  “How can it be breaking in? They’re at Javy’s house. You’re allowed to look inside anything at your own house. It’s the law.” With that, she walked in. Javy looked at Kait, then back at Leila, then jumped into the van.

  Leila didn’t know much about the law, but she was almost positive that’s not the way it works. She was just about to turn around when Nugget squirmed out of her arms and jumped into the van. “Nugget, wait!” She followed the dog inside but stopped short when she found Kait and Javy tearing through boxes and equipment. “Guys, come on,” she said. “We shouldn’t be doing this. Mr. T probably isn’t even…” she stopped midsentence when her eyes landed on a small cooler with a turtle logo on it.

  Javy gasped. “Mr. T!” he shouted. Before he could tear open the cooler, however, a figure appeared in the doorway.

  “What are you kids doing in my van?!”

  Turtle Soup

  “AHHHHH!” Kait screamed.

  “Hey, it’s OK,” the man said.

  “AHHHHH!”

  The man’s expression changed from anger to concern. “Really, it’s OK. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  “AH! AH! AHHHHHH!” Kait’s face was turning red.

  The man looked around nervously. “Come on, people are going to think I’m kidnapping you or something. Get out of the van, and we can talk in the house.”

  Kait instantly stopped screaming. “OK,” she said as she climbed out.

  Leila scooped up Nugget and nodded at Javy, who pulled his home’s cordless phone from his coat pocket and made a quick call. When Leila hopped out of the van, she noticed a Margolis Construction pickup truck parked in the driveway that hadn’t been there before. That must be where the man had come from.

  Back in the house, the man sat across from the kids at the dining room table. “So now can you tell me why you were snooping in my van?”

  Kait stuck her nose up in the air. “Only if you first tell us why you’re stealing turtles.”

  “Wait, what are you talking about?”

  Leila decided to jump in. “Are you Manny Margolis?”

  “I am.”

  “You stole my dad’s turtle in third grade,” Javy shouted. “And you almost got away with stealing him again!”

  “OK,” Mr. Margolis held up his hand. “I’ve told your dad a million times — I did NOT steal that turtle in third grade.”

  Kait rolled her eyes. “Oh please. We’re kids, but we’re not stupid. It’s pretty hard to not notice a giant turtle in your bookbag.”

  “Listen,” Mr. Margolis said. “First of all, that wasn’t my bookbag. That was the AV room bookbag, so I didn’t know what was inside. Second, Mrs. Stanley was in the room with me the whole time I was setting up, so she would have noticed me stealing a turtle. Third…” Mr. Margolis shook his head. “I don’t know why I’m explaining all this to you. You’re not going to believe me now, just like no one believed me back then. Go ahead. Open the cooler and see for yourself.”

  Javy opened the cooler, looked inside, then slumped his shoulders. “It’s soup,” he said.

  “Soup?!” Kait screeched. “You turned Mr. T into soup?! YOU MONSTER!”

  Weirdy Beardy popped his head into the dining room. “Is that my soup?” His eyes lit up when he saw the cooler in front of Javy. “Thanks! I was looking all over for this! I’m starving!” He grabbed the cooler and walked out of the dining room.

  “I’m super sorry,” Leila said.

  “It’s OK,” Mr. Margolis said. “I just wish you would have talked to me rather than look through my stuff. There’s some expensive equipment in there. Plus, breaking into someone else’s vehicle is a crime, you know.”

  Leila shot Kait a glare. Then she looked around the room. “Has anyone seen Nugget?”

  “Great!” Kait said. “Now we’ve got two missing animals? Does this house just eat pets?!”

  “Here he is.” Javy’s dad walked into the room holding Nugget. “He was curled up in front of the living room heater.” He gave Nugget to Leila and turned to Javy. “Now what’s the big emergency that you had to call me home from work?”

  “We thought Mr. Margolis had taken Mr. T, but we were wrong,” Javy said.

  “Why would you think he took Mr. T? Manny’s one of my oldest friends!”

  “Because he stole Mr. T when you were in third grade! We thought the only reason he’d be here is if he were finishing the job!”

  Javy’s dad shook his head. “You don’t stay mad at someone forever just because they do something one time. You forgive people. Mr. Margolis was one of my best friends all through school. That’s why I hired him to do our kitchen!”

  “Well that was our last idea,” Javy said. “We’ll never find Mr. T now.”

  Something about this whole thing had been bothering Leila ever since Javy’s dad had handed her Nugget. Finally, she realized what it was — Nugget was toasty warm. “Mr. Martinez,” she said. “Has the heat been on all day?”

  Javy’s dad looked puzzled. “Of course. It’s been on since last week. Why do you ask?”

  Leila smiled. “I think I just solved two cases.”

  Thunk

  Leila sprinted down the steps to Javy’s basement while everyone else tried to keep up. “Leila, I told you — Mr. T can’t walk down stairs!” Javy said.

  “I know that,” Leila replied. “He’s not in the basement.”

  “What are you talking about?!” Kait asked.

  Without answering, Leila grabbed a broom and looked at the ceiling. Javy’s basement didn’t have any ceiling tiles, which meant Leila had a clear view to all the pipes above. She walked across the room to where she guessed the kitchen was and started banging pipes with the handle of her broom.

  CLANG!

  She walked forward a step and banged again.

  CLANG!

  She took another step and tried one more time.

  THUNK.

  Leila tried twice more.

  THUNK. THUNK.

  “Why does it sound like that?” Javy asked.

  Leila smiled. “Because there’s a turtle in there!”

  Javy’s eyes got wide. “No way!”

  “Let’s go up to your bedroom and find out if I’m right!”

  Nugget led the way by galloping up the stairs. Mr. Margolis grabbed a screwdriver from the kitchen and quickly unscrewed the heater vent from the bedroom wall. Javy reached inside. “Feel anything?” his dad asked.

  “No,” Javy said. Then he reached in a little farther. “Wait!” He leaned in as far as he could, smooshing his face against the wall. He gasped. “Mr. T!” He finally scooped out the turtle. There was Mr. T — a little dusty from the vent, but alive and looking quite pleased with himself.

  “Mr. T, I can’t believe you’re OK!” Javy gave Mr. T a giant hug, or at least as big of a hug as he could give the turtle with Nugget squeezed in between.

  “I’m so confused!” Kait said. “Did Mr. Margolis hide the turtle in there so he could take him later?”

  “NO!” Leila and Mr. Margolis shouted at the same time.

  “It was all Nugget,” Leila explained while she petted her dog. “He loves curling up by the heater when he comes in from the cold. He’s done it all day — at my house, in Mrs. Crenshaw’s house an
d in the living room just now. I just remembered that the only place he hasn’t done it is Javy’s bedroom. That’s because no heat has been coming out of the vent. Notice how cold it is in here compared to the rest of the house? Mr. T’s been blocking the heat to this room all day!”

  “But how did he get in there in the first place?” Javy asked.

  “From the kitchen!” Leila was practically bouncing in place, she was so excited. “Your dad had to let Mr. T out of his turtle home this morning to put his stuff away when the construction guys came. Well, it got cold with them opening the door a bazillion times. We know Mr. T hates the cold — that’s why he has a heat lamp and a flower pot cave in his home. So he went to the warmest cave he could find. Kait, do you remember what fell out of the first box you dumped in the kitchen this afternoon?”

  Kait’s eyes got wide. “The covers for the kitchen heater vents!”

  Leila nodded. “So Mr. T crawled into the duct and tried walking toward Javy’s voice.”

  “I can’t believe he was right here the whole time!” Javy said.

  “You said you solved two mysteries,” Mr. Margolis said. “Does that mean you figured out what happened to Mr. T when I was in third grade?”

  Leila nodded. “Just like today, it was cold then too. Remember? The heat was broken. While the teacher was cleaning Mr. T’s cage, he must have hidden in the warmest cave he could find.”

  “The bookbag!” Mr. Margolis exclaimed.

  Javy’s dad turned in shock. “So you really didn’t steal Mr. T back then?!”

  “That’s what I’ve been telling you for the last 30 years!” Mr. Margolis said.

  The two men did a complicated handshake and hugged. “I should have never doubted you,” Javy’s dad said.

  “And I never should have toilet papered your house to get back at you for doubting me,” Mr. Margolis said.

  “That was you?!”