James’s Secret

“James did have green sand, ” said Nancy excitedly. “But we have to prove that he was here and that he ruined our castle.”

Lisa scanned the beach. “There he is now, ” she said. She pointed to the water. James’s red head bobbed up and he suddenly splashed another boy.

“Cut that out! ” the other boy shouted. James splashed him again and then ran out of the water back onto the sand. When he ran past the girls, he stuck out his tongue.

Bess stuck her tongue out, too, but George grabbed her arm. “Don’t make him suspicious of us! ” George said.

“Let’s follow him, ” Nancy said. “But don’t let him see us! ”

James had stopped running and was busy putting on his sneakers. The girls walked toward him.

Nancy suddenly froze. “Do you see what I see? ” Nancy whispered.

“I see James, our suspect, ” Bess said.

Nancy shook her head. “Look closer, ” she whispered. “He has a green stain on the side of his sneaker — just like the green sand we found on our castle! ”

James stood and started walking away from the beach.

“It’s lucky he lives next door to our cottage. We can stay on our porch and he won’t even know we’re spying on him, ” Bess said.

The girls quickly ran to their porch. They saw James rush into his house and then come out carrying a bag of green sand. Then he slowly opened the sand and poured it into a wooden box.

Just then Lisa sneezed. James looked up and his face went red.

“Guilty! ” Bess whispered, but Nancy shook her head.

“We still need proof, ” Nancy said. “My father always tells me you can’t accuse people without proof.”

“Hey, what are you doing spying on me? ” James said, standing up.

“What are you doing with that green sand? ” Bess demanded.

James looked puzzled. “I bought this sand for my sister. I’m surprising her with a special sandbox, ” James explained.

Now it was Nancy’s turn to frown. “But we found green sand by our wrecked castle, ” Nancy told James. “The same green sand that you’re using now.”

“So what? I might have run by your stupid castle but I sure didn’t destroy it! ” James said angrily. “I wouldn’t do a thing like that! What kind of guy do you think I am? ”

“The kind of guy who squirts sand castles with water guns, ” George said.

James shook his head. “I just wanted to soak you, not your dumb castle, ” he said.

James crouched down again. A flop of red hair fell into his eyes and he pushed it back. “I have to finish this before my little sister comes back from shopping with my mom. Green is her favorite color.” He looked at his watch. “She’ll be home any moment. Look, it stinks that your stupid castle was destroyed, but I didn’t do it, ” he said. “Now scram so I can finish my work! ”

Nancy took out her detective notebook and found the suspects list. She drew a line through James’s name, then sighed. If James didn’t do it, then who did?

“Let’s go back to the beach and work, ” she said glumly to her friends. “Maybe we can find some more clues.”

The girls walked down to the beach. They looked around, but all they saw was Mrs. Thorton hurrying away. Kurt the reporter was following her.

“Hey! ” George exclaimed. “Let’s follow them! ”

Nancy shook her head. “You can’t follow them if they aren’t moving, ” she pointed out. “Look! ”

Mrs. Thorton was now standing very still watching everyone in the contest. Her mouth was turned down. “Why does she look so unhappy? ” Nancy asked.

“Maybe because of what happened in the contest, ” Lisa said.

“I know just how she feels, ” Nancy said, sitting on the sand. She looked at the way the castle had been smashed in and she felt awful inside. She looked at the green sand and she felt mad. Then she looked at the STAY AWAY written in the sand. She took a finger and in a clean patch of sand wrote her own STAY AWAY.

Nancy’s eyes lit up. “Wait a minute! ” she said. “I’ve got it! ”

“Got what? ” Bess asked excitedly. “Do you know who wrecked our castle? ”

“No, ” admitted Nancy, “but I have an idea. Look at this! ” Nancy pointed to the letters. “See how they slant to the left? ”

“Yes, so what? ” Lisa asked.

“I’m right-handed and the letters I wrote slant to the right! So whoever wrote this first one must be left-handed! ”