Maisy And The Money Marauder

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Maisy And The Money Marauder - book excerpt

Chapter 1

Shadows danced across Maisy’s face in the dim light. Dramatic music filled herbedroom, and she reached for the popcorn bowl without moving her eyes from her little TV screen. It was a tense moment in one of her favorite old mystery movies. The villain was about to be caught. Maisy knew that the detective would soon march out from a shadowy corner and catch the bad guy. He would be wearing a long trench coat and a fedora hat. He’d sound so impressive when he demanded that the villain, a sneaky looking robber named Vinny, turn himself in, thatVinny would have no choice but to give up. But, Maisy was still on edge while she watched the scene unfold.

She was curled up with her favorite pup, Reesie, snuggled under the blanket beside her. As soon as Maisy had turned off the lights and started the movie, the little dog had nudged the pillows with her nose to show that she wanted under the covers. Maisy had complied with her request and tossed the pillows to the floor, so that she could scurry under the fluffy, purple comforter. Now, Maisy reached over and patted the lump that was the tiny dog.

The movie wasn’t very scary. After all, it was old and in black and white. Movies like that were not scary at all compared to some movies made today. But, still, Maisy loved the stories and detectives in the old movies so much that she couldn’t help but be drawninto them every time she watched one. She felt a little better having her dog there with her.

Suddenly, the moment she had been anticipating was on the screen. The detective smoothly arrived on the scene and, after a little scuffle, took control. Vinny gave in and put his hands up to show he would go quietly. Maisy relaxed and munched the last bits of her popcorn. As she sighed in relief, a little nose popped out from under the purple covers. It was soon followed by the sweet face of a little black and brown terrier-mix. One of her ears was floppedover, and she stretched her mouth wide in ahuge yawn. Apparently, Maisy had disturbed Reesie’s slumber. The pup crawled around and finally settled herself on Maisy’s lap. She plopped her head down with a sigh and fell back asleep. She didn’t even notice as Maisy shook her head and laughed.

Chapter 2

“Maisy! It’s time to get up for school!” her mother called from the hallway. Maisy groaned and rolled over, finding her footing when her toes touched her softly carpeted floor. She stood and stretched.

“Maisy?” her mother called again.

“I’m up! Good morning, mom,” Maisy replied.

“Don’t forget that I have an early meeting. Mrs. Neptune will be here to pick you up in forty-five minutes.” Her mother pushed the door to Maisy’s bedroom open as she was putting on her earrings. “She’ll be picking you up today, too.” She walked into the room and kissed the top of Maisy’s head.

“I remember, mom. I’ll see you later,” Maisy said as she made her way to the bathroom. She picked up her toothbrush and put a big glob of green and white striped toothpaste right in the middle of the bristles. As she brushed her teeth, she slowly began to wake up more and more. Then, like a cartoon sledge hammer dropped onto an unsuspecting character, realization hit her. It was Monday. It was the Monday after Veronica’s birthday party, to be exact. Soon, Mr. King was going to bring the mice back to the school and speak with Principal Hollendar about what Xander had done. She would know that Xander had stolen West Valley Elementary’s unofficial mice mascots so that his older brother couldn’t steal them as a prank. She would know that Maisy had solved the case, and Maisy would get a reward.Maisy could almost smell the cherry scent of the lollipops she was sure to receive.

Forty-five minutes later, Maisy had eaten a bowl of cereal, gotten ready for school, fed and walked Reesie, and was packing her lunch. When she heard a high-pitched horn sounding from outside, she called out to her dog, “Reesie, it’s time to go in your crate!”

Like a bullet, Reesie sprinted through the kitchen and into the large crate that sat by the couch in the living room. She settled onto her fluffy red and white blanket and began to gnaw on her purple rubber ball. Maisy gave her a treat, which was eaten in roughly half of a second. After a good scratch behind the ears for Reesie and a quick lick on the nose for Maisy, it was time to go. Maisy made sure that the crate’s door was secure. She slung her backpack onto her shoulders, grabbed her lunch box, and made her way to the front door. After double checking that it was locked, she turned and jogged toward the Neptune family’s bright red minivan.

“Hi, Maisy!” a too chipper Veronica called in greeting.

“Hey, Veronica!” Maisy replied. “Thanks for picking me up today, Mrs. Neptune.”

“It’s no trouble at all, dear. Buckle up!”

Maisy reached up to clasp the seatbelt buckle and pulled the belt over her shoulder. As she did so, the shiny metal surface caught a beam of sunlight and blinded her for a moment. Well, if she hadn’t been awake before, she was now.

Chapter 3

While Mrs. Neptune drove, Veronica and Maisy chatted away about the party and everything that had happened.

Vince, Veronica’s little brother, chimed in from the front seat, “I hope that Logan got in big trouble for stealing my tooth! It would serve him right!”

Maisy smiled sympathetically. Poor Vince had gotten caught up in the case of the missing mice by no fault of his own. Logan King, the little brother of Xander King, had stolen Vince’s lost tooth with the hope that the Tooth Fairy would pay him for it. Xander had known about it but hadn’t told anyone, because the extra case of the missing tooth had been a distraction for Maisy. He had hoped that it would take her away from the case of the missing mice so that the fact that he’d stolen the mice wouldremain a secret.

Maisy was still a little annoyed with Xander. He had stolen her lollipops and had even crushed one of them to try to scare her off of the case. But, she couldn’t be too angry with him. He had only taken the mice because he had been worried about what would happen to them if his older brother, Tommy, had gone through with his prank of taking them. She knew she would have to forgive Xander…eventually.

Mrs. Neptune pulled into the school parking lot and drove up to the end of the line of cars that held students waiting to be released. They inched along for a couple of minutes until they finally reached the front door. Mr. Thomas waved to Mrs. Neptune as the girls and Vince unloaded themselves from the minivan. His left eye, the glass one, was rolling slowly back and forth with the motion of his waving hand. Veronica and Maisy shared a little giggle after they walked past him and entered the building.

They strode past the large glass windows and doors of the office. Maisy looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Xander and his father returning the mice. But, the hallway was empty of fathers, mice, and boys who steal mice. She sighed in disappointment and jogged a few steps to catch up with Veronica, who was talking about the school carnival that was coming up tomorrow night. Veronica’s mother had signed up to run the face painting booth. As usual, Veronica was talking a mile a minute and hadn’t even noticed that Maisy had fallen behind. That girl was probably the happiest girl in the whole school, maybe even the whole world. That was one of the reasons that Maisy was glad to have her as her best friend. Veronica’s excitement was contagious.

They entered their classroom and settled into their seats, which were as far apart as possible. Even though Maisy and Veronica were both good students and didn’t mind a little bit of hard work, they got distracted by each other too easily if they were together. Mrs. Kilgore had wisely seated Maisy on the side of the room that was near the door, the counter with the sink, and the little, yellow, cubby-style lockers. Veronica was on the other side of the room, close to the large bookshelves that always needed to be reorganized.There were three whole rows of desks between them.