Mrs. Booth took a look at us, then a deep breath. “I knew you weren’t skaters. But I guess I have no choice but to thank you, Shelby and John. If you’ll excuse me, I have a troubled daughter to deal with.” She exited the rink shaking her head.
Wait a second. Mrs. Booth knew our names. Our real names. She was here. Which meant . . .
“Shelby, did you know it was Belle who was sending the notes?”
“Of course I did.”
OF COURSE SHE DID.
“But how? When?” And, you know, why didn’t she tell me?!?!
“Belle had always been a suspect, but things started adding up in the last two days. You already had the benefit of hearing her motives directly from Belle. When she was forced to wear the wig, I began to pay more attention to her. Her attitude. Her movements, especially whenever anybody mentioned Jordan’s name. We knew she had the code. But she was my lead suspect since Wednesday.”
“Wednesday?”
“Yes, when the water was tampered with.”
“How?” There weren’t any clues except that one fiber from a black glove. “Belle wasn’t wearing a black glove that day.” I should know, I was the one who checked.
“She was wearing a yellow and white snowflake glove made of alpaca. The glove’s wrist, which you couldn’t properly see from the rink, was bordered with a dark gray, almost black, pattern. Which matched the fiber from the one I found on Jordan’s bottle.”
“Then how did you see it? And get a fiber?”
“I told her I admired her gloves and asked to try them on.” Shelby started walking toward the exit. “That was also when I confirmed she was left-handed.”
“Where was I?” I followed her. How did I miss this?
Shelby shrugged. “I can’t be held accountable for your whereabouts at all times. You were around, probably simply not paying proper attention.”
Unbelievable. Actually, no. It was believable because it was Shelby.
“Details, Watson. Details.”
Ugh. I guess she had me. I didn’t notice it. At all.
“Well, it would’ve been nice if you could’ve filled me in!” I argued.
Shelby paused before she opened the main exit to the Sky Rink. “But, what would’ve been the fun in that?”
Shelby and I really needed to have a talk about what the word fun means.
“Besides, you’ve contributed in a few significant ways to this case,” Shelby admitted with a light tap on my back. “You should feel quite pleased with yourself for preventing Jordan from getting injured yesterday. Without your astute observation, she might not have been in any condition to compete tomorrow. Leaving this entire investigation for naught.”
You know what, I was proud of that. It was a big deal. I was getting better with each case. So I didn’t know it was Belle, but I probably would’ve eventually gotten there if, you know, my partner would’ve shared all the facts with me.
“We have an hour before we have to head to school.” Shelby clapped her hands together excitedly. “Now let’s go to Doughnut Plant to celebrate another successful client!”
I shook my head as I followed Shelby out since she’d be the only one eating doughnuts, but who was I to argue?
Another case solved for Holmes and Watson.
Okay. Okay. I’ll admit it: figure skating is a real sport.
However, I’m happy to report that John Watson—or Julian Law—is retired from figure skating.
Jordan was currently skating her free skate program at regionals. She was the last one to perform. Aisha had just finished her program that looked perfect to me and was currently in first place.
Jordan did a jump and landed it perfectly.
“That’s the best triple flip I’ve seen from her,” I remarked to Shelby.
Whoa. WHAT WAS I EVEN TALKING ABOUT?
My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was Dad asking who won.
The good news on the Dad front was that I was hearing from him more now since he’d been back in Kentucky. Plus, it was nice that he knew the people who I talked about, but still. It wasn’t the same. I had to realize it never would be.
And I guess I had to get used to that.
I decided to focus on the positive. Shelby and I had solved another case. Belle did skate with Douglas today because it wouldn’t have been fair to Douglas to leave him without a partner. Although Mrs. Booth was putting Belle in therapy so she could work on her “competitive issues.”
Yeah, that might’ve been an understatement. And honestly, I don’t think therapy would hurt Mrs. Booth, either.
But the coolest part was that Shelby and I were going to be key witnesses in the US Figure Skating Association investigation against Belle since Jordan and Tatiana weren’t going to let it slide.
John Watson: star witness, detective, retired skater.
Tatiana was so happy we figured it out, Shelby was rewarded with a duffel bag full of candy that should last her a month.
And well, I was rewarded, too.
I grasped the new leather journal Tatiana gave me. It was Shelby’s suggestion. She realized that all-candy rewards weren’t really fair to me. So maybe Shelby learned a little something about teamwork with this case. Tatiana also included a twenty-dollar bill inside the journal, which I used to take Bryant out for some pizza to smooth things over. We’re good. For now. Not sure what’s going to happen if we need the guys to help us again. But I have to admit that it was cool to get them involved, even if it made Bryant mad.
“Jordan’s doing well,” Shelby said as she took a bite of five Twizzlers at once.
(Okay, so that bag was only lasting her a week.)
Jordan finished with a superfast spin and the audience jumped to their feet clapping for her. She cracked the tiniest of smiles as she skated off to Tatiana.
“I wonder who’s going to win,” I said.
(And yes, I was rooting for Aisha.
I mean, could you blame me?)
Shelby glanced at her phone and then stood up. “Come along, Watson.”
“But, Shelby,” I protested, “we have to wait for the results!”
“No time.”
No time? We’d know in two minutes who won. We’d spent all week with these people. I was invested!
What on earth—
But I already knew. And as much as I wanted to see the end of the competition, there was only one thing that would drag Shelby away.
I couldn’t wait to hear her say it. It never got old.
“We’ve got another case to solve.”
I am so incredibly grateful to the gold-medal team at Bloomsbury for all their work on this series. Huge thanks to my editor, Hali Baumstein, for not making me cry with her very thoughtful editor letter (hey, there’s a first time for everything!). I’m so appreciative Jeanette Levy and Donna Mark were accommodating when I told them this book featured a cipher and then remarked, “So, good luck with that!” Can I consider myself an artist now? (Better to not answer that.) Bags and bags of candy to the whole team: Diane Aronson, Erica Barmash, Bethany Buck, Cristina Gilbert, Melissa Kavonic, Cindy Loh, Lizzy Mason, Patricia McHugh, Linda Minton, Brittany Mitchell, Emily Ritter, and Sarah Shumway. And cheers to the team in the UK: Nicholas Church, Zoe Griffiths, Callum Kenny, Anna de Lacey, Andrea Kearney, and Lizz Skelly.
I’m so lucky to have Erwin Madrid bring Shelby and Watson to life. Especially as my ciphers showed, I am NOT an artist.
Shelby would still be an idea in my head if it weren’t for my agent’s encouragement. Thank you, Erin Malone and the entire team at WME, especially Laura Bonner.
Writing is a very solitary career, so I’m grateful to all my fellow middle-grade author friends who have been so supportive, especially Jen Calonita, Stuart Gibbs, Varian Johnson, and Sarah Mlynowski.
I didn’t just watch The Cutting Edge on repeat to write this book. Thank you to Annabelle Collins for answering my questions about competitive figure skating. And, Kirk Benshoff, as always for keeping my website as spark
ly as a figure skating outfit.
An author is nothing without readers. So thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to every reader who has picked up my book and every librarian, teacher, or bookseller who has placed my book into a reader’s hand. Shelby and Watson are up for more adventures if you guys are!
One final note: Being a detective means you have to be very clear about the facts, but writing a detective book sometimes means you use your artistic license to fudge a few facts. In reality, there’s a lobby that separates the two skating rinks at Chelsea Piers. I put them together in this book to force the suspects to all be in one room. It made, in my opinion, for a better read. But there’s no doubt that Shelby would definitely not approve. AT ALL. Oh well!
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This electronic edition published in 2018 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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First published in the United States of America in September 2018 by Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Text copyright © 2018 by Elizabeth Eulberg
Illustrations copyright © 2018 by Erwin Madrid
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Eulberg, Elizabeth, author.
Title: The great Shelby Holmes and the coldest case / by Elizabeth Eulberg.
Description: New York : Bloomsbury, 2018.
Summary: Unexpected media attention in their Harlem neighborhood brings Shelby Holmes, nine, and John Watson, eleven, a new case that sends them undercover as figure skaters.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017056224
ISBN: 978-1-6811-9057-0 (HB)
ISBN: 978-1-6811-9059-4 (PB)
ISBN: 978-1-6811-9058-7 (eBook)
Subjects: | CYAC: Mystery and detective stories. | Friendship—Fiction. | Ice skating—Fiction. | Undercover operations—Fiction. | Ciphers—Fiction. | Harlem (New York, N.Y.)—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.E8685 Gs 2018 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017056224
Book design by Jeanette Levy
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The Great Shelby Holmes and the Coldest Case Page 13
