Caught Left-handed!

Nancy took out her notebook and found the page that said “Clues.” “Suspect is lefthanded, ” she wrote.

“But which suspect? ” Lisa asked

“Girls! Who would like some lunch? ” Hannah Gruen called. Nancy looked up. Hannah was on the porch of their cottage.

Nancy looked around the beach. Just about everyone else, it seemed, was leaving for lunch, too. “Do you want to come for lunch? ” Nancy asked Lisa.

Lisa stood up. “Sure, thanks. I just have to tell my dad, ” she said quickly. “He’s over there on the beach.”

“I can’t eat anything, ” Bess said, standing up. “I’m too upset.”

“That will be a first, then! ” Nancy laughed, trying to cheer up Bess.

The inside of the cottage smelled delicious. Nancy’s father was already at the table. “Macaroni and cheese, ” he said. “Come sit down.”

The girls waited quietly until there was a knock on the door. “Hi, I’m Lisa, ” Lisa said to Hannah and Mr. Drew.

“Any friend of the girls is a friend of mine, ” Mr. Drew said. “Please sit down and eat.”

Lisa was out of breath. “I ran all the way, ” she said.

The girls began eating quickly. “I can’t wait to get back to the beach, ” Nancy said. “I just have to figure this case out.”

“Finish your lunch first, ” said Nancy’s father. “Remember, you can’t solve mysteries on an empty stomach.”

When the girls were finished eating, Nancy started to clear the plates. “Oh, don’t bother, ” Hannah said. “I know you girls are anxious to get back to the beach.”

“Thank you, Hannah! ” said Nancy. The girls ran back down to the beach.

“Oh no! ” George cried. “Look! ”

Nancy looked down, shocked. The STAY AWAY had been erased!

“Who did this? And why? And how did they do it without anyone seeing them? ” Nancy cried. She looked around at the other teams. “Lara! Jane! ” Nancy called. Lara and Jane looked up. “Did you see anyone around our castle when we weren’t here? ”

“I wasn’t really paying attention, ” Jane said. “Why? What happened? ”

“The ‘stay away’ in the sand is gone, ” George said.

Jane frowned. “Well, don’t look at us. We didn’t do it! ”

“No one said you did, ” Bess told them.

Lisa bent down. “This is terrible, ” she said. “Now we’ll never find out who wrote it.”

“Oh, yes we will, ” Nancy said. “Or I’m not Nancy Drew the detective!

“Look, ” George said, staring straight ahead. “Maybe this is a new clue.”

Ahead of them Kurt the reporter was talking to Mrs. Thorton. He was writing something. “He’s using his left hand! ” Nancy said.

Kurt suddenly turned and looked right at the girls, almost as if he knew they were talking about him. “Look how guilty he looks, ” George said.

“Looking guilty isn’t the same as being guilty, ” Nancy said. “Let’s go over and talk to him.”

The girls walked over. Mrs. Thorton suddenly stopped talking. “Did you need something, girls? ” said Mrs. Thorton. Her voice sounded funny to Nancy, as if she had been crying.

“Is something wrong? ” asked Kurt, his eyes bright.

“The ‘stay away’ sign is gone! ” George blurted.

“What? ” gasped Mrs. Thorton.

“But we still have a clue, ” Nancy continued. “We figured out that someone who is left-handed must have written it.” She looked at Kurt’s left hand.

“Wait a minute, ” Kurt said. “Why are you looking at me like that? Hold on. You don’t think that I wrote that ‘stay away’ in the sand because I’m left-handed do you? Why would I do that? ”

“You told us trouble sells newspapers, ” Nancy said.

“I write about trouble. I don’t make it! ” Kurt exclaimed.

“But you looked so upset, ” Nancy said. “I’ll tell you why he’s so upset, ” Mrs. Thorton said. “Kurt’s interviewing me for the newspaper.” Mrs. Thorton lowered her eyes. “I wasn’t going to tell anyone yet, but I’m thinking about retiring. Kurt’s trying to talk me out of it.”

“She can’t retire! ” Kurt said. “Without her, there really wouldn’t be a contest. She organizes the judges, the prizes, the whole ceremony.”

“I don’t want my last contest to be one with trouble, ” said Mrs. Thorton sadly.

Nancy bit her lip. “Then it’s even more important than ever for us to solve this mystery.”

“You come up with anything, you let me know, ” Kurt said. “I’ll make it front page news. And that’s a promise.”

Nancy pulled out her notebook and crossed off the word “reporter” on her suspect list. Then the girls went back to the sand castle and got to work. Nancy began making a patio out of tiny stones. Bess sprinkled the new glittery sand on the roof of the castle, and George went to get water to pack the sand down more.

“Who would do such a thing? ” Nancy said out loud. She often did her best thinking that way.

“I’d better go check in with my dad, ” Lisa said. “I promised I’d come see him when we got back from lunch.”

“See you later, alligator, ” said Bess.

“In a while, crocodile, ” said George.

“It will be a thriller, gorilla, ” Lisa called, laughing.

Shortly after Lisa left, Katharine came by. She was wearing a bright yellow swimsuit and carrying a beach towel.

“Here comes Miss Friendly, ” said Bess.

“Come on, that’s not nice, ” Nancy said. “Give her a chance.”

“Hi, ” Katharine said, and Nancy smiled.

“Hi back to you, ” said George.

Katharine suddenly dug into her beach bag and brought out a comb. “Want to borrow this? You can make cool patterns by raking it across the sand, ” she said.

“Sure! ” Bess said. “Are you in the contest, too? ”

Katharine shrugged. “Oh, not this year, ” she said. She handed the comb to Bess.

“Oh, let me try! ” said George.

“I’ll just go get some more water, ” Nancy said.

Nancy ran to the water, swinging the pail. Lara and Jane were already there, filling their pails. “Hey, ” Jane said. “How come you have so much extra help? First Lisa, and now Katharine.”

“I think it’s nice they’re helping, ” Nancy said.

“Well, neither one of them would be helping if they could enter the contest themselves, ” Lara said.

Nancy stood up. She knew Lisa couldn’t enter because she had already won, but she didn’t know why Katharine couldn’t. “Why can’t Katharine enter? ” Nancy said.

“Duh — Earth to Nancy, ” said Jane meanly. “Because Katharine’s mother owns Peppermint Park, and Peppermint Park gives out the winning prizes. It wouldn’t be fair if Katharine could enter. If she won, everyone would think the contest was fixed. That’s why this time of year Katharine’s always in a bad mood.”

Nancy was shocked. Maybe that was why Katharine hadn’t been nice to them at first. Katharine probably felt jealous. But why was Katharine being nice to them now?

Nancy walked back toward the castle. Sometimes, she thought, the only way to get at the truth was to ask for it.

Nancy walked swiftly back to the beach. All the girls were patting the edges of the castle. Nancy stared at Katharine. Katharine was making a whirling pattern in the sand, and she was doing it with her left hand!

“Katharine, ” said Nancy, “are you lefthanded? ”

Katharine put her hand down. “So what? ” she asked.

“The person who wrote ‘stay away’ was lefthanded, ” Nancy said.

“Katharine, you didn’t! ” Bess cried.

Katharine stood up. Her face grew very red. “Just because I’m left-handed doesn’t mean I did something like that! ” Katharine cried. She looked over at the beach where Lisa was running toward them. “But I know who did! I didn’t want to say anything, in case I was wrong about this, but one night, when I was running to Peppermint Park to help, I saw only one person on the beach.”

“Who? ” Nancy asked.

“I’ll tell you only if you don’t tell her I told you, ” Katharine said. “I don’t want anyone mad at me. And I’m not going to go over there with you to accuse her.”

“Agreed, ” Nancy said.

“Agreed, ” repeated Bess and George.

Katharine pointed to Lisa, who was down the beach near her father. “There she is! There’s the person who wrecked your castle! It’s Lisa! ”