The Case of the Fleeing Fang Read online

  READ ALL THESE

  NATE THE GREAT DETECTIVE STORIES

  NATE THE GREAT

  NATE THE GREAT GOES UNDERCOVER

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE LOST LIST

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE PHONY CLUE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE STICKY CASE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MISSING KEY

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE SNOWY TRAIL

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE FISHY PRIZE

  NATE THE GREAT STALKS STUPIDWEED

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE BORING BEACH BAG

  NATE THE GREAT GOES DOWN IN THE DUMPS

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE HALLOWEEN HUNT

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MUSICAL NOTE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE STOLEN BASE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE PILLOWCASE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MUSHY VALENTINE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE TARDY TORTOISE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE CRUNCHY CHRISTMAS

  NATE THE GREAT SAVES THE KING OF SWEDEN

  NATE THE GREAT AND ME: THE CASE OF THE FLEEING FANG

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE MONSTER MESS

  NATE THE GREAT, SAN FRANCISCO DETECTIVE

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE BIG SNIFF

  NATE THE GREAT ON THE OWL EXPRESS

  NATE THE GREAT TALKS TURKEY

  NATE THE GREAT AND THE HUNGRY BOOK CLUB

  AND CONTINUE THE DETECTIVE FUN WITH

  OLIVIA SHARP

  by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Mitchell Sharmat

  illustrated by Denise Brunkus

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE PIZZA MONSTER

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE PRINCESS OF THE FILLMORE STREET SCHOOL

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE SLY SPY

  OLIVIA SHARP: THE GREEN TOENAILS GANG

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 1998 by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

  Cover and interior illustrations copyright © 1998 by Marc Simont

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Delacorte Press in 1998.

  Delacorte Press is a registered trademark and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

  * * *

  Visit us on the Web! randomhouse.com/kids

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at

  RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  * * *

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-385-32601-8 — Printbook ISBN 978-0-440-41381-3 — eBook ISBN: 978-0-385-37680-8

  Book design by Trish Parcell

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v3.1

  For my dog, Dudley, who _ _ _ _ _ _* at the right time and gave me the solution to this case.

  —M.W.S.

  *ATTENTION, DETECTIVES!

  WHAT IS THE MISSING WORD

  IN THIS DEDICATION?

  (The answer is somewhere in this book.)

  Contents

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One: Happy Detective Day!

  Chapter Two: Where Is Fang?

  Chapter Three: Green Hair and Fluffy-Bunny Shoes

  Chapter Four: A Red Herring

  Chapter Five: Pancakes and Dripping Ice Cream

  Chapter Six: The Real Clue

  Extra Fun Activities

  About the Authors

  My name is Nate the Great.

  I am a detective.

  My dog, Sludge, is a detective too.

  We have solved many cases.

  Many, many, many cases.

  Would you like to solve

  a case with me?

  Would you like to be

  a detective too?

  Good.

  Because I have a case to solve.

  Right now.

  Before the ice cream in front of me

  turns to mush.

  Collapses.

  Before I have to slurp

  strawberry soup.

  Are you ready?

  Our case starts

  when the ice cream

  was young and healthy.

  My doorbell rang.

  I opened the door.

  I saw a row of people and pets:

  Rosamond and her four cats.

  Oliver and his eels.

  Finley and his rat.

  Pip.

  Esmeralda.

  Claude.

  Annie.

  Annie’s brother, Harry.

  “Surprise!” they yelled.

  “Happy Detective Day!”

  Rosamond spoke up.

  “We are having a

  detective party just for you.

  Because you have solved

  so many cases for us.”

  Rosamond was holding two big boxes.

  “Look!” she said.

  “A box of strawberry ice cream

  and a box of tuna fish pancakes.”

  “Tuna fish pancakes?” I said.

  “I, Nate the Great, love pancakes,

  but . . .”

  “My cats, Super Hex, Big Hex,

  Little Hex, and Plain Hex,

  love these pancakes,” Rosamond said.

  “And that is why

  they should eat

  all of them,” I said.

  Rosamond stepped inside.

  “We surprised you,” she said.

  “You, the great detective,

  didn’t have a clue

  that we were coming.

  Ha ha ha.”

  Rosamond has a strange laugh.

  That is no surprise.

  Everyone was laughing.

  Except Annie.

  She looked sad.

  “Fang wanted to come,” she said.

  Annie is always with Fang.

  “Where is Fang?” I asked.

  “He ran away,” Annie said.

  Rosamond nodded. “Now you have

  a new case,” she said.

  “Nate the Great Finds Fang.”

  I, Nate the Great,

  did not want to do that.

  Fang’s teeth get bigger every day.

  Esmeralda spoke up.

  Esmeralda is wise.

  “Nate can’t solve cases today.

  This is his day off.”

  “No problem,” I said.

  “I will teach all of you

  how to be a detective.

  I will teach you how

  to find Fang. Come in.”

  I, Nate the Great, said to Annie,

  “First you have to remember.

  Remember if there was

  anything different

  about Fang today.

  Any reason why he might run away.

  Then remember where you last saw him.

  Remember what he was doing.

  Remember who was there.”

  Annie said, “I got Fang ready

  for the party.

  I didn’t have time to give

  him a bath.

  So I feather-dusted him.”

  “You feather-dusted him?”

  “Yes. It makes his fur

  nice and clean.”

  “Very well,” I said.

  “Fang is clean. What else?”

  �
�Fang was going to do

  a trick for your party,”

  Annie said. “I have been

  teaching him commands.”

  “How?”

  “I’ve got a rhyming book for dogs.

  Each line is a new command.

  The first is Do a trick.

  The second line is

  Lick, lick, lick.

  Then there’s a new rhyme.

  Stop and wait.

  Go to the gate.

  Then there’s another rhyme.

  Go to the park

  and—”

  “Ho hum,” Rosamond said.

  “My cats can do all sorts of tricks.”

  “Well, Fang knows all the rhymes,”

  Annie said. “But he mixes them up.

  When I say the first line

  he does the second.

  Instead of tricks,

  he licks, licks, licks.”

  Annie grinned.

  “But I solved that problem.

  I just say the second line.

  Lick, lick, lick.

  And then Fang does the trick!”

  “Good thinking,” I said.

  “Yes,” Annie said. “And it

  works for all the rhymes.

  Like gate and wait and—”

  “Ho hum again,” Finley said.

  I looked at Annie.

  “Where is the last place

  you saw Fang?”

  “Well, Harry, Fang, and I

  were on our way to your house.

  We were at the corner of

  Dartmouth Street and Oakdale Street.

  All of a sudden two tiny poodles

  came up to Fang.

  They started to bark.

  Fang looked surprised.

  So I tried to shoo the poodles away.

  I barked right back at them.

  Bark! Bark! Bark!”

  “Then what?” I asked.

  “Then Fang ran off,” Annie said.

  “He ran down Dartmouth Street.

  We went after him,

  but he was too fast.”

  “Was he running after the poodles?”

  I asked.

  “No, they just stood there.

  I think he was running away

  from them.”

  “Let me get this straight,”

  I said. “Fang is ten times bigger,

  stronger, and toothier

  than two tiny poodles.

  And he was afraid of them?”

  “Yes,” Annie said.

  I, Nate the Great, raised my voice.

  “Has anybody else seen Fang?” I asked.

  Rosamond spoke up.

  “I am in charge of this case.

  I am the head detective.

  Direct your answers to me.”

  Pip raised his hand.

  Pip hardly ever says anything.

  “I saw Fang,” he said.

  “On the way over here.

  On Dartmouth Street.

  He was following a lady

  in a green hat.”

  “Following?” Oliver said.

  “Good for him.

  I believe in following.

  I’ll follow anybody.”

  I, Nate the Great,

  already knew that.

  Oliver is a pest.

  But he learns things.

  “Have you ever followed the lady

  in the green hat?” I asked.

  “Do you know where she lives?”

  “I have followed her

  from store to store,”

  Oliver said. “But I don’t know

  where she lives.”

  “Has anybody else ever seen this

  lady who wears a green hat?”

  I asked.

  “Yes,” said Finley.

  “She wears a rose in her ear.”

  “Her hair is green too,” Claude said.

  “And her shoes look like fluffy bunnies.”

  I said, “A rose in her ear?

  Green hair?

  Fluffy-bunny shoes?

  This sounds very strange.”

  Rosamond looked mad.

  “It doesn’t sound strange to me,”

  she said. “And this is my case.”

  Oliver tapped me on the shoulder.

  “I can help,” he said.

  He pulled something from his pocket.

  “Sometimes I take pictures

  of people I follow,” he said.

  “Here is the lady in the green hat.”

  “I, Nate the Great, say that

  this lady buys many things

  and carries them around.

  Like meat.

  Maybe Fang smelled her meat.

  Dogs can smell things at a distance.

  Fang might be following

  the smell of meat.”

  “So if we find the lady,

  we find Fang,” Annie said.

  Rosamond clapped her hands.

  “My case is almost solved.

  We can start the party soon.

  This ice cream

  is beginning to melt.”

  “I will put it in the freezer,” I said.

  “No!” Rosamond said. “If you

  keep it out of the freezer,

  it means we must solve

  this case soon.”

  “I, Nate the Great, say it means

  we will eat pink goo.”

  Rosamond went into the kitchen,

  put the box of ice cream

  on the table,

  and came back with pink fingers.

  I said, “The lady in the green hat

  could be a red herring.”

  “A red herring?” Rosamond gasped.

  “My cats love red herring.”

  “No, not the kind you eat,”

  I said. “It’s something that can

  seem like a clue,

  look like a clue,

  feel like a clue,

  smell like a clue,

  but isn’t a clue.”

  “So, what do we do?” Annie asked.

  “I, Nate the Great, say

  that we have talked enough.

  Now it is time to go out

  and look for Fang.”

  “Look for Fang by himself,” I said.

  “Look for Fang and

  the green-hat lady.

  Go to the corner of Dartmouth Street

  and Oakdale Street.

  Go down Dartmouth Street.

  Walk the same streets

  Annie, Harry, and Fang

  walked before they reached

  the corner of Dartmouth Street

  and Oakdale Street.

  Go to their house

  and see if Fang went back home.”

  “This will take forever,” Rosamond said.

  “Split up,” I said.

  “Decide who goes where.

  And go in pairs.

  So that you each have a helper.”

  “A helper?” Pip asked.

  This must have been

  Pip’s big day for talking.

  “Yes, it helps to have a helper.

  I have a great one. Sludge.”

  “Can we take him with us?” Annie asked.

  “I, Nate the Great, need him here.”

  “We’re off!” Rosamond said.

  I made pancakes.

  I gave Sludge a bone.

  We ate and thought.

  We knew that Fang was last seen

  following the lady

  in the green hat.

  She could be carrying meat.

  Fang could want that meat.

  But what if she wasn’t

  carrying meat?

  What if Fang happened

  to be behind her?

  What if he wasn’t really

  following her?

  Maybe she was important to this case.

  Maybe she wasn’t.

  I knew that Fang
<
br />   had to have a reason

  to leave Annie and Harry.

  I looked at Sludge.

  Would he ever run off?

  Maybe if somebody scared him.

  But nobody scares Fang.

  Fang scares everybody.

  I was stuck.

  “We are getting nowhere,”

  I said to Sludge.

  I wrote a note to my mother.

  Sludge and I finished eating.

  But now Sludge was licking.

  Ice cream. It was dripping on him

  from the table.

  “You are supposed to be

  helping me with this case,” I said.

  Sludge always helps with my cases.

  But now he was too busy licking.

  Or maybe he was . . . helping!

  Was Sludge trying to tell me something?

  Yes!

  Licking was a clue.

  That was what Sludge thought.

  And now, that was what I thought!

  I wrote another note.

  Sludge and I went out.

  We knew where we were going.

  We went there.

  We found Fang.

  He was asleep.

  He woke up.

  He was glad to see us.

  We were glad to see him.

  I, Nate the Great,

  never thought

  that I would ever say that.

  Sludge, Fang, and I started

  back to my house.

  Everyone was waiting

  at my house.

  Everyone looked sad.

  Sludge and I walked in.

  Then Fang walked in behind us.

  Annie yelled, “Fang!”

  Annie and Harry

  rushed toward Fang

  and hugged him.

  “My cats and I

  could have found him,”

  Rosamond said.

  “I was born to be a detective.”

  Annie looked at me.

  “You were born to be

  a detective,” she said.

  “Where did you find Fang?”

  “Sludge knew the big clue,” I said.

  “The clue was the mixed-up rhymes.”

  Annie looked puzzled.

  “I, Nate the Great, say

  that Fang must leave the room

  while I explain this.