it?”
“Flush ’n’ Flo?” said Stink.
“Push and Go,” said Rocky.
“Flash and Glo,” said Frank.
“Toilet emergency!” said Stink.
“Stink, not now.”
“It had the words
Toilet Emergency
on the side. I saw. For real. No lie.”
“Stink’s right,” said Frank.
Judy chewed on the end of her pencil. “Toilet emergency. Flush ’n’ Flo. So they must be like those guys that fix toilets and stuff. RARE!”
“The super-bad guys are plumbers?” Frank asked.
“That’s just their cover,” Judy explained. “Everybody knows that international jewel thieves can’t ride around in a van that says
Jewel Thieves.
”
“The phone number was like 1-800-UN-DOG,” said Rocky.
“‘UN-DOG’?” said Judy. “Are you sure it didn’t say ‘UN-
CLOG
’?”
“1-800-UNDER-DOG!” said Stink.
“Great,” said Judy. “Let’s all take an Underdog Super Energy Pill and find a phone booth and change into superheroes. Then we’ll find Mr. Chips.”
“Hip, hip, hip, and away we go!” yelled Stink.
“I know,” said Frank. “Let’s stake out the supermarket till they come back.”
“Yeah, we know Mr. Chips is hungry, right?”
“Yeah, ’cause why else would a cop dog steal a dog bone?” Frank said.
“I can’t believe Mr. Chips is a shoplifter,” said Rocky.
“I don’t think Mr. Chips is the thief,” said Judy. “I bet these guys are so bad, they’re not even feeding him, so poor Mr. Chips has to steal his own food!”
“He’s still gonna have to arrest himself for breaking the law.” Frank cracked himself up. Rocky and Stink cracked up, too.
“This isn’t helping us find Mr. Chips,” said Judy.
“Rule Number One,” said Stink. “A good detective always keeps a sense of humor.”
The rest of Saturday, and all day Sunday, Judy and her fellow junior detectives biked all over the neighborhood in search of a dark green van. They saw black vans, blue vans, brown vans, maroon vans, but not one single green van with
Toilet Emergency
written on its side and driven by chicken-eating guys with pointy ears.
On Monday morning, she, Judy Moody, was in a mood. A why-can’t-I-solve-a-mystery mood. Then came a clue, when she least expected it.
Judy was doodling paw prints with her Grouchy pencil through Mr. Todd’s talk about Healthy Habits when out of the blue, the principal came on the loudspeaker and said three magic words.
“Girls and boys, I’m afraid we have a bit of
toilet
trouble in the third-fourth wing. We had an
emergency
this morning when a pipe burst and flooded the girls’ bathroom. The
plumbers
are here to fix the problem, but we ask that you use the bathrooms by the library until further notice.”
Toilet! Emergency! Plumbers!
Those three words were music to Judy’s ears. She craned her neck to look out into the parking lot. That’s when she saw it: a dark green van, parked right across from the entrance to the school!
Judy took out her notebook and wrote
SOS
in red lipstick. She held it up for Frank and Rocky to see. Her hand shot up. “Mr. Todd, I have to go. Bad. And Rocky and Frank have to go, too.” The whole class cracked up. Frank turned beet-red. “To the bathroom, I mean.”
Jessica Finch raised her hand. “Mayday! Mayday! I have to go, too.” Jessica Finch was just being a big fat copycat. What a Fink-Face.
“Tell you what,” said Mr. Todd. “Let’s all take a quick bathroom break.”
Eagle-Eye Moody was back on the case.
Judy, Rocky, and Frank rushed out the door and down the hall. They did not head for the bathroom by the library. They headed straight for the girls’ room with the busted toilet. On their way, they ran smack-dab into Agent Stink.
“Stink, the girls’ bathroom is broken and the bad-guy plumbers are here fixing it. No lie!” Judy told him.
“Judy saw the van parked outside,” said Frank. “It’s green, just like the one at Speedy Market.”
“Mr. Chips could be right here right now!” said Rocky.
“This is