The Case of the Rock 'n' Roll Dog (7 page)

Tessa crossed her arms over her chest. “Mrs. Hedges,” she said, “did
you
see anyone suspicious sneaking off with Colonel Michaels's baton on Tuesday? Or anyone suspicious sneaking off with something long and skinny where Colonel Michaels's baton could hide?”

Mrs. Hedges wasn't listening. She had set down the duster and was looking around for something. “Well,
that's
a puzzle,” she said. “The polish is right here.” She pointed at a round can on the piano bench.
“And I could have sworn the cloth was with it. Where did it go?”

“We'll help you look,” Tessa said. And we did—we even opened up the bench.

No cloth. But underneath the piano, I found another pile of petals.

“This one used to be a daffodil,” I said.

Tessa took it and looked up at me. “I'm getting a bad feeling,” she said.

Have I mentioned Hooligan loves flowers?

Mrs. Hedges sat down on the piano bench. “Go ahead with your questions, girls. Then I'll get a new cloth from supplies.”

Tessa asked again about anyone suspicious. This time Mrs. Hedges listened, but she didn't answer. Instead, she said, “I don't think you're doing this right.”

In my family, Mom and I are the patient ones. Tessa is more like Aunt Jen and Granny. Now she was getting exasperated. “We're doing exactly what Granny told us!”

“That's as may be,” said Mrs. Hedges. “But what you
ought
to ask me is if I've seen anything strange since Tuesday. I read a lot of mystery books, so I know.”

“
Fine
,” Tessa said. “Have you seen anything strange since Tuesday?”

Mrs. Hedges thought for a minute. “Well, it's strange that my polishing cloth is missing. Don't you think?”

When Mrs. Hedges had gone, Tessa went drama. “
She was no help!
”

“We don't know for sure till we look at the notes,” I said, “but it's true, asking questions is harder than I thought. Let's see who's in the dining room.”

There are two dining rooms on the state floor of the White House: the State Dining Room, which is on the west side, and a smaller one next to it. That was where we found Mr. Patel and Mr. Kane setting up for the night's dinner.

“
Buona sera, bambine
,” said Mr. Kane. “That means, ‘Good evening, children.' Your mom has invited some very important mayors to eat with her a very Italian supper.”

Mr. Kane is medium old with a round face and floppy hair. Mr. Patel is kind of young and really handsome. Aunt Jen says he has a million-megawatt smile. Now he was setting out baskets of breadsticks on tables laid with checkered tablecloths.

I thought of what Mr. Bryant had said—a place to hide something long and skinny. How about a basket of breadsticks?

“Where did the breadsticks come from?” I asked Mr. Kane.

“Made them myself this morning,” he said.

So much for that idea. The baton went missing Tuesday.

“Would you care for a sample?” Mr. Kane asked us.

Tessa and I were feeling cookie-deprived. “Yes!” we answered at the same time.

The breadsticks were delicious. Done chewing, I opened my notebook and waited for Tessa to explain
about detecting—only she didn't. When I looked over, she was grinning stupidly at Mr. Patel.

Oh, brother
. Tessa is only seven. Normal kids don't get crushes till they're nine at least.

“Tessa!” I hissed.

“What? Oh! Sorry—Mr. Patel, have you ever seen any stupid batons running around suspiciously lately?”

“Excuse me?” asked Mr. Patel.

I rolled my eyes. Tessa's brain was clearly scrambled. I would have to do the talking.

“Did I see anything strange on Tuesday?” Mr. Patel repeated my question. “Only your X-treme dog.”

“Same goes for me,” said Mr. Kane. “And as for stolen, all that's missing around here are cookies from a tray.”

I looked up from writing. “Really?”

Mr. Kane shrugged. “But I don't see what that has to do with Colonel Michaels's baton.”

“I don't either,” I said. “It's only that a lot of stuff is missing lately.”

Mr. Kane looked at his watch. “The mayors are due at six, girls. Do you have more questions?”

“That's all for now,” I said. “Thank you.”

“And we really really really appreciate it.” Tessa was back to staring at Mr. Patel.

“Yeah—
really
.” I tugged her arm. “Let's see if we can find Mr. Baney or Mr. Ross.”

THE flower shop is on the ground floor. The fastest way to get there is through the cross hall and down the main stairs. We were on our way down when we saw them—yellow petals everywhere, a daffodil disaster!

“I told you I had a bad feeling,” said Tessa.

And sure enough, here came Mr. Baney carrying a huge bouquet. Only it wasn't a bouquet of flowers. It was a bouquet of stems.

“
That dog of yours!
” he thundered.

Mr. Baney is six feet four inches tall and played football in college. He already doesn't like Hooligan on account of something that happened last month with a vase, some roses and a cabinet secretary.

“Have you seen him?” I asked.

“No, I haven't,” said Mr. Baney, “and he'll stay out of sight if he knows what's good for him.” He waved the stems. “Look at what's left of my beautiful arrangement!”

“We can help clean up,” Tessa said.

Mr. Baney likes Tessa. He thinks she has “flair.” He calmed down a little.

“I appreciate the offer, but the staff will do it. Meanwhile, I just ran into Mrs. Hedges. She said you girls are detecting. Something about a missing baton?”

“That's right,” said Tessa, and then she explained.

Mr. Baney shook his head. “I'm afraid I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary,” he said. “Are you quite sure your dog didn't take it?”

“We were holding him when it disappeared,” I said.

Mr. Baney shrugged. “I wish I could be more helpful.”

My watch said 5:30. There were still a few minutes before the mayors would be arriving. We went back up the stairs to look for Mr. Ross. His office is by the North Portico, but he wasn't there. Leaving it, we ran into Nate. He was coming from the Blue Room and heading for the stairs.

“What are you doing down here?” I asked. “I thought you were busy after school.”

Nate didn't look at us. He just kept walking. “Uh . . . I am busy,” he mumbled, “and now I'm going upstairs . . . to be more busy.”

When he was gone, Tessa looked at me. “Our cousin has issues.”

I was going to agree, but I never had the chance. Two men wearing gray suits came into the cross hall from the East Room. I had never seen them before, which was unusual. Even though more than a hundred
people work in the White House, most of them look familiar.

I was about to ask Tessa if she knew them when Randy, another Secret Service agent, appeared. “Please,” he said to the men, “could you follow me? I think there has been some confusion.”

The men didn't seem to understand at first—didn't they speak English?—but finally they followed him out.

“Could they be our stupid baton thieves?” Tessa asked.

“I don't know,” I said. “I'm like Mr. Bryant—not sure what stupid baton thieves look like.”

IN our family, we never eat dinner till 6:30 or 7. Granny believes we will wake up hungry in the night if we eat earlier. So when Tessa and I got back upstairs, we had time to apply logic. The striped sofa in the West Sitting Hall seemed like a good place for this. It is soft and cozy, good for thinking.

Hooligan was in the West Sitting Hall, too, sound asleep in his bed. To look at him, you'd never believe the damage he does to daffodils.

“Do you think he stole the other stuff, too, Cammie?” Tessa asked. “The place cards and the polishing cloth?”

“Don't forget the cookies,” I said. “And no, I don't. Most times when Hooligan steals something, we find it right away—like the flowers.”

“I don't think we're ever gonna find those cookies,” Tessa said.

“Good point,” I said. “And we know he didn't steal the baton.”

“Do you think there's more than one thief in the White House?” Tessa asked.

“That doesn't seem logical,” I said. “Let's look at our notes.”

It's not easy to write fast standing up. So even though I have good handwriting (ask Evgenia), my notes were kind of a mess. After I crossed out the unimportant stuff, this is what was left:

1)
Mr. Bryant's eyesight is not very good
.

2)
No witnesses had seen anything strange Tuesday afternoon. (Mostly they were too busy chasing Hooligan.)

3)
It's not only the baton that's missing. Also: place cards, polishing cloth, cookies
.

4)
Mrs. Hedges is exasperating
.

5)
Mayors like Italian food
.

6)
A basket of breadsticks would be a good place to hide something long and skinny
.

7)
Tessa has a crush on Mr. Patel
.

8)
Hooligan wrecked the daffodils and scattered petals everywhere
.

9)
Hooligan makes Mr. Baney grumpy
.

10)
Nate was on the state floor this afternoon. (Why?)

11)
And so were two men wearing gray suits
.

Tessa made me cross out the part about Mr. Patel. Then we stared at the list for a while.

Finally I said, “Logic isn't helping.”

“I know,” Tessa said. “Maybe we need more witnesses.”

“There's Mr. Ross,” I said.

“And what about Nate?” Tessa said.

“You're right—he was in the East Room Tuesday. Only he wasn't there the whole time, remember? When we were holding Hooligan, he kind of disappeared.”

Tessa said, “Yeah, that was strange.” Then she looked up. “Hey, we've been asking people about ‘strange' all afternoon, and there it is!”

I was going to say Nate would never steal anything. But then I thought of something logical. “Tessa—remember how you thought they'd have to cancel The Song Boys? I mean because the baton was missing.”

“When I still thought it was the Who-za baton,” Tessa said.

“Sousa. Right. It was Nate who told us that the Band can't play without it.”

Tessa nodded. “But now we know that isn't true.”

“
We
know that,” I said. “But Nate doesn't. He wasn't there when we talked to Colonel Michaels. And after that, we never told him. I bet he still thinks if the baton is gone, then The Song Boys can't play.”

Tessa's eyes got big. “And besides that—remember?—he told us he hoped something would happen so they
can't
play!”

For a moment, the only sound was Hooligan woofing in his sleep. Finally, Tessa said what we were both thinking: “What if Nate took the baton so they'd have to cancel The Song Boys?”

I didn't answer right away. I might hate my cousin. But I couldn't believe he would steal anything.

Tessa, on the other hand, could totally believe it.

“There's only one question left,” she said, “what did he do with the baton?”

I wanted my sister to slow down, but she was on a roll.

“When he came out of the Blue Room today, he wouldn't say what he was doing,” Tessa went on. “You know what I think? The baton is in the Blue Room!”

“Tessa, that's nuts.”

“It's not! Look, Cammie, here's what happened. When Hooligan did the frenzy on Tuesday, Nate grabbed the baton. Then he had to hide it fast. He couldn't carry it upstairs because anybody might see him. So he hid it someplace downstairs.”