Judy Moody, Girl Detective by Megan McDonald Read Free Book Online Page A

chocolate-chip cookies. Tomorrow — diamonds and jewels and stuff?
    Nancy Drew was always vexed by her cases. Judy Moody was vexed
and
perplexed. Which was just a fancy-Nancy way of saying
stumped
.
    Or was she?
    “Jeepers! I think I’ve got it!” Judy cried. All she needed now was one more clue. One more piece to solve the puzzle and crack this case wide open. And that clue could only come from one person — mailman Jack Frost.
    The rest of the day, Judy Moody was on double-triple pins and needles. As soon as the bus dropped her off, she raced down the street to find Jack Frost.
    “Hi, Jack Frost!” Judy called.
    “So we’re friends again?” Jack Frost teased.
    “Chums,” said Judy, nodding. “One question.”
    “Shoot,” said Jack Frost.
    “Okay, think back to yesterday. Was there anything else, anything in your lunch besides a baloney sandwich?” Judy had her pad and pencil ready.
    Jack Frost scratched his head. Jack Frost stroked his beard. “Well, let’s see. There was a carrot . . .”
    “Uh-huh, uh-huh. What else? What else?”
    “A box of raisins . . .”
    “AND?”
    “Oh, yes. A super-scrumptious, ooey-gooey chocolate-chip cookie. I had my heart set on it, but all that was left were crumbs.”
    “Holy jeepers!” Judy screeched. At last, she, Judy Moody, had a break in the case. She knew just how Nancy Drew felt when she cracked the secret code, “Blue bells will be singing horses,” in
The Password to Larkspur Lane.

Judy raced home to bake cookies. Before you could say I-spy-with-my-eagle-eye, flour was flying and butter was becoming batter.
    “Do I smell chocolate-chip cookie dough?” Stink asked, peering into the bowl. “Sweet! Can I help?”

    “Yeah, you can help by not eating all the chocolate chips. These are super-important detective cookies. Find-Mr.-Chips cookies. Crack-the-case cookies.”
    When the cookie sheets were full, Mom put the cookies in the oven for them. “Stink, we’re ready for Phase One. Go get the fan.”
    “The fan? What for?”
    “We’re going to set a trap. Since we can’t seem to get to Mr. Chips, we’ll get him to come to us. With chocolate-chip cookies. Chocolate-chip cookies are the key to this case.”
    “You mean we’ll blow the cookie smell outside, and Mr. Chips Super-Sniffer will sniff out the cookies and break free and come running?”
    “Right into our arms,” said Judy.
    “Then the bad guys will come running after Mr. Chips to catch him?”
    “Right into Officer Kopp’s arms,” said Judy.
    “Genius!” Stink said. Stink turned on the fan.
    In no time, Judy and Stink heard a noise outside. They went running to the front door. It was Rocky and Frank.
    “We thought you were Mr. Chips!” said Judy. She explained her Master Catch-a-Thief Cookie Plan.
    “How do you know it’ll work?” asked Rocky.
    “It worked on you, didn’t it?” Judy said with a grin. “Time to call 1-800-MR-CHIPS and tell Officer Kopp to come quick if he wants to catch some bad guys.”
    “And tell him to bring backup,” said Agent Pearl. “Just in case.”
    Phase Two: Judy piled a mountain of hot-out-of-the-oven cookies on a plate. Rocky and Frank took some and made a trail of cookie crumbs leading down the sidewalk, around the corner, across the driveway, and right up to the tent.
    “If we don’t catch Mr. Chips, at least we’ll catch a bunch of ants,” said Stink. Stink always had ant farms on the brain.
    “Stink, we’ll hide in the tent with the rest of the cookies and wait for Mr. Chips. You take Frank’s walkie-talkie and hide in the bushes out front. If you see the green van, call us and say ‘Chips ahoy!’ That’s the secret code.”
    “Cool beans,” said Stink. “Wait a sec. No fair. How come you guys get to be in the tent with cookies, and I have to be in the bushes all by myself without cookies?”
    Judy held up the other walkie-talkie. “You can talkie to us any time you feel lonely.”
    Stink grabbed two cookies.
    “Hey!”