Secret Admirer Read online

  DINK, JOSH, AND RUTH ROSE AREN’T THE ONLY KID DETECTIVES!

  WHAT ABOUT YOU?

  CAN YOU FIND THE HIDDEN MESSAGE INSIDE THIS BOOK?

  There are 26 illustrations in this book, not counting the one on the title page, the map at the beginning, and the picture of the valentines that repeats at the start of many of the chapters. In each of the 26 illustrations, there’s a hidden letter. If you can find all the letters, you will spell out a secret message!

  If you’re stumped, the answer is on the bottom of this page.

  HAPPY DETECTING!

  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 © 2015 by Ron Roy

  Cover art copyright © 2015 by Stephen Gilpin

  Interior illustrations copyright © 2015 by John Steven Gurney

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  Random House and the colophon and A to Z Mysteries are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and the colophon and the A to Z Mysteries colophon are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Visit us on the Web!

  SteppingStonesBooks.com

  randomhousekids.com

  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.

  ISBN 978-0-553-52399-7 (trade) — ISBN 978-0-553-52400-0 (lib. bdg.) —

  ISBN 978-0-553-52401-7 (ebook)

  eBook ISBN 9780553524017

  This book has been officially leveled by using the F&P Text Level Gradient™ Leveling System.

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

  v4.1

  a

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Map

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  This book is dedicated to Kayden Myrick, whom I admire openly.

  —R.R.

  To Secret Admirers everywhere!

  —J.S.G.

  Detail left

  Detail right

  “I hate being in fourth grade,” Josh said. He tossed a squishy football to Dink. It was Saturday afternoon, and snowing. Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose were hanging out at Josh’s house, upstairs in his room.

  “Why?” Dink asked. “Don’t you think it’s cool being one of the older kids at school?” He chucked the ball to Ruth Rose.

  She caught the ball and flipped it over to Josh. “I love being almost ten!” Ruth Rose said. “Finally, I’ll have two numbers in my age!”

  Josh sighed and got off his bed. He motioned for Dink and Ruth Rose to follow him. He tiptoed in his socks out into the hall, and they did, too. He stopped in front of Bradley and Brian’s bedroom door. Dink and Ruth Rose were right behind him.

  “Listen,” Josh whispered.

  This is what they heard:

  “I can hardly wait to get to school on Monday!” Bradley said.

  “Me too,” Brian said. “It’ll be Valentine’s Day!”

  “We’re getting a cupcake party and a Valentine’s box and a movie and show-and-tell!” Nate added. Nate was Ruth Rose’s little brother and Bradley and Brian’s best friend.

  “Come on,” Josh whispered. He walked to his parents’ bedroom door and stopped.

  His mom was sitting at her desk, chatting away on her cell phone.

  This is what the kids heard:

  “I found my husband the cutest Valentine’s Day present!” she said. “And I’m cooking his favorite dinner. I know he’s gotten me something nice, too. He says he forgot all about Valentine’s Day, but I know he’s just teasing me!”

  Josh sighed and staggered back to his bedroom with Dink and Ruth Rose behind him.

  “It’s not fair,” Josh moaned, throwing himself on his bed. Dink and Ruth Rose sat on the floor. Pal wandered in, leaped onto the bed, and licked Josh’s chin.

  “Maybe we’ll get cupcakes at school Monday,” Ruth Rose offered. “Or something.”

  “It’ll never happen,” Dink said. “Josh is right. Only the little kids get parties on Valentine’s Day.”

  Josh closed his eyes. “You know what we get? Nothing!”

  He sighed again.

  Dink sighed.

  Ruth Rose sighed.

  Pal sighed as Josh stroked his long, silky ears.

  —

  The next morning was Sunday. Dink carried Loretta’s cage downstairs to the kitchen. He liked to clean it every weekend. He set it on the counter, then ran back upstairs and grabbed a bag of pine chips.

  Dink and Loretta had a routine: Dink placed the guinea pig on the floor. She sniffed for crumbs under the kitchen table while he washed the inside of the cage. Then he spread clean pine chips on the bottom.

  Before Dink could fill Loretta’s little dishes with fresh water and food, the doorbell rang.

  “Who’s here so early?” his mother asked as she walked into the kitchen.

  “Watch out for Loretta, Mom,” Dink said. “She’s under the table.”

  “I see her,” his mom said. “Good morning, Loretta!” Then she opened the door.

  Dink’s two best friends stood on the doorstep. “Good morning, Josh and Ruth Rose!” Dink’s mom said. “Come on in.”

  “Hi, Mrs. Duncan!” Josh and Ruth Rose said. They came in and hung up their jackets and kicked out of their boots.

  “I like your outfit!” Dink’s mother told Ruth Rose.

  Ruth Rose liked to dress in a different color each day. Today she wore a green sweater, green jeans, and a green headband.

  Josh had on a thick white sweater and cargo pants.

  “Josh, what’re those brown hairs all over your sweater?” Dink’s mother asked.

  Josh looked down at his chest. “Oh, I was brushing Polly,” he said. “Her coat gets all shaggy in the winter. She loves it when I use a stiff brush to groom her.”

  “She loved it all over your sweater,” Ruth Rose said.

  “Yeah,” Josh said. “While I’m brushing her, she gives me pony kisses.”

  Dink’s mother smiled. “What are pony kisses?” she asked.

  “Polly rubs her lips on my ear,” Josh said. “It feels like two warm marshmallows!”

  “Hey, guys,” Dink called. “What’s going on?”

  “We came to get you to come out and play in the snow,” Josh said.

  “And we found this on your doormat!” Ruth Rose handed Dink a little white lump, wrapped in clear tape. “I think it’s a note!”

  Dink turned the taped note over in his hands. It felt cold and damp.

  “Come into the kitchen, you two,” Dink’s mother said. “Have you eaten breakfast?”

  “I did,” Ruth Rose said.

  “Me too,” Josh said. “But I could always eat another piece of chocolate cake!”

  Dink’s mother laughed. “How about a piece of toast?” she asked.

  Josh beamed. “With peanut butter?”

  “Of course,” she said. “Chunky, your favorite.”

  Josh and Ruth Rose followed Dink into the kitchen.

  �
��Watch where you step,” Dink told his friends. “Loretta’s on the floor.”

  Dink sat at the table and picked at the taped note with his fingernail. When that didn’t work, he took scissors from a drawer.

  Josh flopped on the floor and reached for Loretta. He sat her on his chest and petted her soft fur. Loretta made cute little squeaky noises.

  “Loretta loves me!” Josh said. “She just said so!”

  Ruth Rose laughed. “I think Loretta loves Dink,” she said. “She only likes you, Josh.”

  Josh tickled Loretta’s tummy. She squeaked again.

  “Here’s the bread and the toaster,” Dink’s mother said. “The peanut butter is on the table, and pour yourselves some juice.”

  Josh put Loretta into her cage, then dropped a slice of bread into a toaster slot. Ruth Rose poured two glasses of orange juice.

  Dink finally removed the tape. Inside was a white paper, folded four times. He flattened the paper on the table and read six words: WHERE DOES ABE LINCOLN HANG OUT?

  “What does it say?” Josh asked, spreading peanut butter on his toast.

  “It’s a weird note,” Dink said. He handed the message to Josh.

  “Where does Abe Lincoln hang out?” Josh read. “I don’t get it.”

  Mrs. Duncan was looking over Dink’s shoulder. She glanced at a calendar hanging on the wall. “Maybe it has something to do with Lincoln’s birthday. That was yesterday, February twelfth.”

  Josh dropped the note and took a big bite of his toast.

  Ruth Rose read the message as she sipped her juice. “It looks like some kind of mystery clue,” she said.

  “Well, Abe used to hang out in his log cabin,” Dink said after a minute. “He hung out at the White House, too, when he was president.”

  His mom shook her head. “Those were in the past,” she said. “I think your note asks where he hangs out now. It asks, where does he hang out?”

  “Now?” Dink said. “How could President Lincoln hang out anywhere? He’s dead!”

  “So he hangs out in his tomb,” Josh said.

  Dink studied the note again. “Oh, I know! He hangs out on money!”

  “His face is on five-dollar bills,” Ruth Rose said.

  Dink looked at his mother’s purse, sitting on the counter. “Do you have any fives, Mom?”

  “I might.” She opened her purse and took out her wallet. She emptied a few bills and coins onto the table. “Yep, here’s one.” She handed a five-dollar bill to Dink.

  Josh and Ruth Rose stood behind Dink, and they looked at Abe Lincoln’s picture on the bill. He had shaggy hair, deep lines near his mouth, and wrinkles around his eyes. “Why does he look so sad?” Dink asked.

  “I think our sixteenth president was a sad man,” his mom said. “The Civil War made him unhappy. He was depressed because all those fighting men were being killed. And two of his sons got sick and died. Two little boys.”

  Josh looked up. “President Lincoln had sons who died?” he said. “I didn’t know that. How old were they?”

  “Well, if I remember my history correctly, Eddie was President Lincoln’s second son. He died when he was only three years old,” Dink’s mother said. “That was before Mr. Lincoln became president, and before the Civil War. Then, twelve years later, his third son, Willie, got sick. He died in 1862, the week after the president’s birthday and Valentine’s Day. It was a very sad February in the White House.”

  Dink looked at Lincoln’s sad face, and thought about the president losing his sons at such an early age.

  His mother pushed the coins toward him. “Put these in your money jug,” she said. Then she grinned. “I hope you can save enough for your college education!”

  Dink grinned right back at her. “Can I put the five-dollar bill in my jug, too?” he asked.

  His mom snatched the bill from Dink’s fingers. “Nope, that goes back in my wallet, kiddo!”

  “Thanks, Mom,” Dink said. He put the coins in his pocket.

  “Boy, you’re lucky,” Josh said. “I have to work to get money!”

  “I do, too,” Dink said, picking up Loretta’s cage. Josh and Ruth Rose quickly cleared the table, then followed Dink to his room. Dink set the cage on his desk.

  In one corner of his bedroom stood a big glass jug half-filled with pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Dink dropped the new coins in.

  “You’ll need a lot more to pay for college,” Josh said.

  Looking at all those coins, Dink suddenly realized something. “Guys, Abraham Lincoln’s face is on pennies, too!” he said.

  Dink reached into the jug, took out some coins, and dropped them on his bed. He chose a penny and peered at Lincoln’s face. On the penny, President Lincoln was looking off to one side. “He looks sad on the penny, too,” Dink said.

  Josh picked up some coins. Thomas Jefferson’s face was on the nickel, and he didn’t look happy, either. President Franklin Roosevelt was on the dime. No smile there, either. George Washington looked unhappy on the quarter.

  “It’s hard work being a president,” Ruth Rose said. “But I still want the job when I’m old enough.”

  “I’ll vote for you!” Josh said. “It’ll be so cool to visit you in the White House!”

  Dink returned the coins to the jug. He didn’t know why someone had left that silly note on his front steps. Where does Abe Lincoln hang out?

  As Dink was shoving the jug back into the corner, Josh grabbed his arm. “Wait, what’s that under the jug?” he asked Dink.

  The three kids tipped it on its side. Something square and red was taped to the bottom.

  “It’s a Valentine’s card!” Ruth Rose said.

  Dink pulled the card off and stood the jug back up. Someone had written Dink in yellow glitter on the front of the envelope.

  “Open it!” Josh said. He and Ruth Rose were right behind Dink.

  “I will if you chill,” Dink told Josh. He flipped the envelope over. It was sealed with tape—the same kind of tape that had been wrapped around the note downstairs.

  Dink opened the envelope and slid out a card. On the front was a picture of a big red heart, covered with more glitter. Below the heart he saw two small pictures, a number 4, and some letters.

  Dink blinked in confusion. “This doesn’t make any sense,” he muttered. He laid the card on his desk so Josh and Ruth Rose could see it.

  The first picture was a drawing of a human eye with eyelashes. The second picture looked like a slice of pie. After that came the letter N, the number 4, and the letter U.

  The kids had seen word puzzles like this before. Whoever made up the puzzles used pictures instead of words.

  “4 U probably means for you,” Ruth Rose said. “And this eye could stand for the letter I.”

  “And the next picture is a piece of blueberry pie!” Josh said.

  Dink stared at the mysterious message. “I dessert for you?” he mumbled. “I blueberry for you?” He giggled.

  His mother stuck her head into his room. “I’m going to the mall,” she said. “I won’t be long.”

  Dink held up the card. “Look what I found under my penny jug,” he said.

  “Oooh, a Valentine’s card!” his mom said. “Who sent it?”

  “I don’t know, and I don’t get the message on the card,” Dink said.

  His mom glanced at the card. “That says I pine for you,” she read.

  “Pine? Like a pinecone or a pineapple?” Dink asked. “That’s a piece of pie, Mom. How do you get pine?”

  His mother put her finger on the letter N after the picture of the pie slice. “Pie plus the N is pine,” she said. “The message says I pine for you.”

  Dink shook his head. “Cool, Mom. But what’s that supposed to mean?”

  She smiled. “If someone pines for you, it means they really, really like you!” she said, taking the card. “Oh goodness! Did you see what it says on the bottom? You have a secret admirer, honey!”

  “I do not!” Dink said. He grabbed t
he card back as his mom laughed. He looked at words written near the bottom of the card: FROM YOUR SEKRET ADMIRER.

  Josh and Ruth Rose read the words, too.

  “Well, they spelled secret wrong,” Josh said. “Who wants a secret admirer who can’t even spell secret?”

  “Well, good luck finding out who pines for you!” Dink’s mother said as she left.

  Josh grinned at Dink. “Someone liiiiikes you!” he teased.

  Dink stared at Josh. “Did you leave the note and stick this card under my penny jar?” he demanded. “If you did, I’ll…”

  Josh shook his head. “Nope. Not me,” he said. “Maybe it was Ruth Rose!”

  “Ha!” Ruth Rose said. “I’m a good speller, Joshua!”

  Dink stared out the window at the falling snowflakes. “Then who could it be?” he wondered out loud.

  “Maybe your mom did it,” Josh said. “Goofing on you for Valentine’s Day.”

  Dink shook his head. “She’s an excellent speller, too,” he said.

  Ruth Rose studied the note on both sides. She examined the card, front and back. Finally, she picked up the envelope and peeked inside. “Aha!” she said. “There’s something else in here!”

  “What?” Dink asked.

  Ruth Rose put two fingers into the bottom of the envelope and pulled out a piece of cardboard. It was two inches long and about one inch wide. The cardboard looked as if it had been cut from a cereal box top. On the blank side the kids read these words: Where does a buddy snore?

  “Another crazy clue!” Dink said.

  “Wait, there’s more,” Ruth Rose said. She held the envelope upside down and tapped it on the desk. Six tiny squares of paper fell out.

  “What are these?” Josh asked. “They look like they were cut out of a comic book. See, there’s Spider-Man’s face.”

  “But on the other side, each one has a capital letter,” Ruth Rose said. She lined them up on the desk. P, E, S, E, L, S.

  The kids stared at the six letters.

  “What do they mean?” Josh asked.