The Case of the Mossy Lake Monster (6 page)
Nell sat next to Drake, and together they read the section. Then they looked at each other. “Let’s get to work,” said Drake.
First Nell called Alexandra. “Quick. We need more glamour photos. Drop some off at Drake’s house so we can make new posters for you.”
Alexandra sighed. “New posters? Again?”
“I assure you it’s quite necessary. Tell no one.”
“You’re the boss.”
Click.
Without waiting for the photos, they immediately set to work. They pulled on surgical gloves.
Snap!
And when the doorbell rang, Nell quickly grabbed the photos. “Thanks! Bye!” she said, closing the door in Alexandra’s surprised face. There was simply no time to waste. Back in the lab, they worked and worked until finally they were ready.
They pulled off their surgical gloves.
Snap!
“That should do it,” said Drake, nodding with satisfaction.
“Tomorrow at school,” said Nell, her mouth in a thin line. “Be there.”
On Thursday morning, Drake and Nell hung the new posters. Again, they were careful to wear surgical gloves. When school was finally out, they didn’t follow Frisco or Baloney. In fact, they went to the lab for a relaxing afternoon of experiments. Why? you ask. Because there was no need for surveillance….
The next day was Friday. Election day.
Sure enough, black teeth, black eyes, mustaches, and beards were plastered all over the posters.
Alexandra stamped her foot. “I thought you were going to get to the bottom of this!” she screeched.
Drake plugged his ears. (He had no idea that beauty princesses could screech so loudly.)
Once she stopped screeching and stamping her foot and turning purple, Drake said calmly, “I assure you, Ms. Landsright, it’s all part of the plan. Doyle and Fossey, Science Detectives, will nab your culprit in plenty of time for the election, never fear. Now, here’s what I want you to do …” And he lowered his voice to a whisper.
Afterward, Drake and Nell marched to the principal’s office and received permission from Mr. Hong to carry out the rest of their plan. (Mr. Hong wanted to catch the bad guys just as much as they did. “Do what you have to do,” he said, shaking their hands. “The full resources of the school are yours.”)
That afternoon, all the students filed into the gym. Nell and Drake sat in the first row. Haley Glibb sat beside them. Her fingers were crossed. The row of student candidates sat facing them.
The hour wore on. There was speech after speech. Speeches for wannabe treasurers, secretaries, and vice presidents. Finally, it was time for the presidential speeches.
Frisco was first. “I promise to be a good president. There’ll be no more homework, no more tests, and everyone will get A’s from now on. So,” he said with a smirk, “vote for me. Frisco. Because I said so.” And he sat down to sounds of cheering and applause.
Then Alexandra stepped up to the podium.
And everyone giggled. (Except Alexandra, Drake, Nell, Haley, the teachers, and the principal, of course.) Alexandra cleared her throat and flipped her glossy hair. She then gave a rather nice speech about how she would make a good president, bring beauty to the school, and all of that. “And finally, to conclude, I would like to call on Doyle and Fossey, Science Detectives.”
“Thank you, Ms. Landsright,” said Drake and Nell. Together they took center stage.
“Hey, wait a second,” said Frisco, looking confused. “I don’t think that’s allowed. Is that allowed?”
Drake ignored him and spoke into the microphone. “Drake Doyle here. As everyone knows, an evil plot was hatched this week at Seaview Elementary. It was politics at its dirtiest. Doyle and Fossey, Science Detectives, were hired to handle this most difficult case. Ms. Fossey?”
“Thank you, Detective Doyle.” Nell cleared her throat. “Our mission, of course, was to find out who was ruining Ms. Landsright’s posters.”
“So we set up surveillance,” continued Drake. “Only, it didn’t work.”
“Not even close,” said Nell.
“So we were forced to take drastic measures,” said Drake.
“Is this going somewhere?” Frisco whispered from behind them. “Or should I get some sleep?” “As I was saying,” said Drake, ignoring Frisco, “we took drastic measures. We made twenty new posters, lickety-split. But they weren’t ordinary posters.”
“Not ordinary at all,” agreed Nell.
“We coated them with a secret formula. To be precise, we coated them with ultraviolet thief-detection powder,” said Drake proudly. “A powder used by detectives everywhere to catch thieves.”
Nell looked out at the audience. “It all has to do with light. You see, there are different levels of light. There is light you can see, and light that is invisible to the human eye.”
“Meaning, of course,” said Drake, “that you can’t see it.”
“Precisely. Ultraviolet light is light that you can’t see. Ultraviolet thief-detection powder absorbs ultraviolet energy and—”
“—when exposed to ultraviolet light,” continued Drake.
“—releases that energy in the form of light you
can
see,” finished Nell. “This is called fluorescence.”
“So what?” Frisco asked, yawning loudly. “Does anyone care?”
Nell turned toward Frisco while speaking carefully into the microphone. “Perhaps you will care when we flip out the lights.”
“Huh?”
“Cut the lights!” ordered Nell.
Suddenly, the room was plunged into darkness. Everyone gasped. And then, a great, scary silence settled over everyone.
Finally, Drake spoke into the silence. “Whoever marked up the posters is in this room. They don’t know it, but they are covered with ultraviolet thief-detection powder. In just a few seconds, we will turn on an ultraviolet light.”
“And whoever it is,” said Nell, “will glow like a glowstick.”
“Ultraviolet light, please!” ordered Drake.
And from behind Drake and Nell, a purplish light turned on.
It took only a moment before the culprit was revealed.
Drake gasped.
Nell gasped.
Mr. Hong gasped.
Alexandra gasped.
Haley gasped.
In fact, Haley gasped extra loudly because she was the one glowing like a glowstick. She jumped to her feet and pointed a glowing arm at Frisco. “He paid me!” she shrieked.
“Shh!” hissed Frisco. “You’re ruining everything!”“I’ll take it from here,” said Mr. Hong. “To the office. Both of you.” And out of the gym he marched, holding Frisco and Haley by the arms.
After that, the lights came on. Order was restored. The election proceeded. And Alexandra won by a landslide.
“Congratulations on your election victory,” Drake said later, handing Alexandra his business card. “Call us. Anytime.”
“Oh, thank you,” she gushed. “You were awesome. Who’d have thought it? Haley. Of all people. Naturally, she was jealous of me.” Alexandra tossed her hair and smiled quite dazzlingly. “Most people are.”
“All in the line of duty,” said Drake, his heart pitter-pattering.
Nell rolled her eyes. “I think I’m going to be sick.” And indeed, she looked rather ill.
Later at the lab, Drake wrote in his notebook, sighing just a little as he did so.
Evil plot crushed forever.
Order restored.
Alexandrathe Winner.
Received one autographed
8 × 10 glossy photo.
Paid in full.
Contents
The Truth About Zappy:
Static Electricity
Write a Secret Message:
Ultraviolet Light
A Dark and Stormy …
Mouth: Fluorescence
A
s an amateur scientist, it is handy to have your own work space or laboratory. This can be as simple as a table in the laundry room or a desk in your bedroom. By following these simple steps, you can equip your lab with some essential tools, just like Drake and Nell’s!
1
. You will need a lab notebook. A spiral notebook works fine. Record everything in your notebook: your hypothesis, your procedure, your observations, your results—even your flubs!
A good lab notebook contains
1)
experiment title
2)
method (what you plan to do)
3)
hypothesis (what you think will happen)
4)
procedure (what you did)
5)
observations (what you saw)
6)
results (what actually happened)
