Stacey and the Mystery of Stoneybrook Read online

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Letter from Ann M. Martin

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Scrapbook

  Also Available

  Copyright

  As the train started up, I sat back in my seat, leaned my head against the window, and smiled to myself. On the surface it might seem as if I, eighth-grader Stacey McGill, had the perfect life. Most of the time I live in lovely old Stoneybrook, Connecticut. That’s where my train was headed. I go to a great school, have tons of friends, and belong to the best club in the world — but more about that later.

  Every now and then, though — pretty much whenever I feel like it — I get to go on a “Fun-Filled Action-Packed All-Expenses-Paid Weekend in the Glamorous Big Apple, New York City!” as they say on the game shows.

  That’s how it looks on the surface. And, I’ll admit, I had just had a terrific weekend in New York. But as soon as you peek beneath the surface of my life, you’ll see that it isn’t quite as ideal as it looks. Maybe you’ve guessed by now that the reason I go back and forth between Stoneybrook and New York is that my parents are divorced. When they broke up, my mom and I moved to Stoneybrook, and my dad stayed in the city. The split happened pretty recently, and believe me, it was not Fun-Filled, although it was kind of Action-Packed. Before they split up, my parents fought a lot — not physically or anything, but all that yelling really got to me.

  How did my mom and I end up in Stoneybrook? Well, that’s kind of complicated, but here goes. I grew up in New York City, and in a way I’ll always consider it my home. I love all the excitement. I also love eating out, going to shows, and … shopping! There’s no place like New York for great clothes. I still shop there, which means I look pretty sophisticated in Stoneybrook. For example, I had dressed for my train ride in a white jumpsuit, layered over a blue tank top. I had on white push-down socks with blue hearts all over them, a wide blue patent leather belt, and a wild necklace made of all kinds of plastic sea creatures in a rainbow of colors.

  Oops. I think I got off the track there a little. Where was I? Okay, so I grew up in New York, but then when I was in seventh grade my dad’s company transferred him to their Connecticut office. And then, a year later, just as I’d really begun to feel at home in Stoneybrook, they transferred him back to New York. Can you believe it?

  It wasn’t long after we’d moved back to the city that I noticed how my parents seemed to be fighting all the time. And you can guess the rest of the story. They decided to get divorced, I decided to move back to Stoneybrook with my mom (instead of moving to the Upper East Side with my dad), and that’s why I was on that train, thinking about my weekend in New York.

  The first great thing about the weekend was that my dad had taken the whole day off on Saturday just to be with me. I know, you’re thinking, What’s the big deal? Nobody works on Saturday. Nobody except my dad. I guess he’s what you’d call a workaholic. That was one of the things he and my mom used to fight about: how his job was more important to him than his family, how he was never home…. But on this Saturday, I guess it was important to him to show me a good time, because that’s what he did.

  We started the day by going out to brunch, to this little café I’ve always loved. All the waiters are really cute, and you can get any kind of omelette you want. The food is excellent, but what I really love is the cappuccino. (That’s coffee with foamy hot milk in it and cinnamon sprinkled on top. Yum.) I’m not usually allowed to drink coffee, but my dad always lets me have a little of his cappuccino.

  After brunch we just walked around for awhile, window shopping and people watching. You never know who or what you’ll see in New York. At one point, as we were crossing Fifth Avenue, I looked to my right just in time to see Gary Rockman (he is the hottest — and most gorgeous — star around right now) jump into a cab. I nearly died!

  My dad knows that one of my favorite stores is Fiorucci, so when we got near it he suggested that we go in. He told me to pick out anything I wanted. For a second, I considered taking him at his word and asking him to buy me this outrageous purple suede jacket. Was it beautiful! Cropped short at the waist and covered with fringe all up the arms and across the back. But I did the mature thing (silly me!) and picked out a wild pair of sunglasses — heart-shaped ones, in a black-and-white checkerboard pattern. Claudia (my best friend in Stoneybrook) will love them, I know.

  We walked and shopped some more, and by 5:00 we were starving, so we decided to go out for dinner. Dad let me choose the restaurant, so I picked Hunan Supreme, this Chinese place in our old neighborhood. We know the owner there, Mr. Lee, and the food is great.

  Our meal was delicious, but I have to say that dinner was not my favorite part of the weekend. Here’s why: When our food came, I started to dig in, but Dad just sat there looking worried.

  “Are you sure those noodles are okay for you to eat, honey?” he asked.

  That might seem like a silly question, but he actually had a good reason to ask it. I’m a diabetic. I have to be really careful about what I eat, when I eat it, and how many calories it has. If I’m not careful, my blood sugar gets all out of whack, and I can get seriously ill. I also have to take insulin every day. I give myself the shots, which sounds horrible, but it really is no big deal once you get used to it. When I first got diabetes, my parents were constantly fussing over me. They made me nuts. But by now they basically know that I know how to take care of myself.

  Unfortunately, though, I’d recently been told by my regular doctor that I’d have to be even more careful with my diet and with taking just the right amount of insulin. I guess my body is going through some changes right now that make it hard for everything to stay in balance.

  So there I was, about to take another bite of my noodles. I do know that they’re okay for me to eat, of course; otherwise I’d never have ordered them. Who wants to get sick? Then my dad spoke up again.

  “I think you should schedule an appointment with Dr. Werner for the next time you visit me.”

  Dr. Werner is my diabetes specialist. I don’t have to see her regularly — just when there’s a special problem.

  I hate it when my parents start worrying about my diabetes. I don’t feel sick all the time, and I can’t stand being treated like an invalid. To tell you the truth, it scares me a little when they make a federal case out of my diabetes. It reminds me that I do have a serious illness.

  “Dad, it’s under control. Come on! Don’t you think I know how to take care of myself? I’m a big girl now, remember? I’m not your little boontsie anymore.” (“Boontsie” is what my dad calls kids who are at that really cute big-tummy, bowlegged stage, around two or three.)

  He softened. I could tell I’d put off having to see Dr. Werner for awhile, anyway.

  “No, you’re not my little boontsie anymore, are you, Anastasia?”

  He’s the only one who gets away with calling me that. I know, it is my real name, but really. Anastasia?

  So that was my big weekend in New York. On Sunday I woke up late in my dad’s apartment. I could hear him clicking away at his computer keyboard in the room next to mine. I should have known he couldn’t stand to take the whole weekend off. I started
to get a little mad at him — after all, it was Sunday — but just then the doorbell rang.

  I threw on my bathrobe and ran for the door. It was my best-friend-in-New-York, Laine Cummings, carrying a huge, bulging bag from Zabar’s. Zabar’s is only the most incredible deli in the world. Everybody goes there on Sunday mornings to get bagels, fresh cream cheese, and all kinds of other goodies.

  Laine and I pulled everything out of the bag, arranged it on the table, and proceeded to eat and gossip until it was time for me to catch my train.

  * * *

  I’d just started thinking again about that purple jacket, when the conductor came strolling through the car.

  “Stoneybrook, all for Stoneybrook, get off here!” he said.

  I jumped off the last step of the train right into my mother’s arms. She gave me a huge hug.

  “I’ve missed you so much, sweetie! How was your weekend?”

  As we walked to the car, got in, and started home, I gave her a blow-by-blow account of my visit to New York. As she listened to the details of that wonderful Saturday I could see her mouth tighten a little.

  “Do you mean to tell me that he really took the entire weekend off?” she asked. “I can’t believe it.”

  I hadn’t told her about the computer sounds that morning, but I didn’t want to go into it now, even though I could see that I hadn’t made her feel so great by telling her all about the terrific time I had.

  “Mom, I missed you, too. Let’s go into the city together sometime soon. Remember how much fun we used to have in the cosmetics department at Bloomingdale’s?”

  She laughed. I’ll bet she was thinking of the day we tried on at least fourteen different types of perfume each.

  As soon as we pulled into the driveway, I ran up to my room to unpack. It was good to be back — after all, Stoneybrook is really my home for now. After dinner, I called Claud to tell her about my weekend.

  “Oh, Stace, I can’t believe you didn’t at least try for the jacket!” she cried. (Claudia loves clothes as much as I do. Maybe even more.)

  “But wait’ll you see my sunglasses. They’re to die for, I’m telling you.”

  We talked for awhile until my mom called up the stairs to let me know that it was time to get off the phone.

  “ ’Bye, Stace! See you in school tomorrow,” said Claudia.

  “And at the meeting, too,” I reminded her.

  Claudia and I, along with our other Stoneybrook-best-friends (all five of them!) belong to the Baby-sitters Club. The club is really a business — a baby-sitting business, of course — but I’ll tell you more about it later.

  As soon as I hung up the phone, I headed up to bed. I was beat! Those “Fun-Filled Action-Packed Weekends” sure can take a lot out of you.

  I’d been planning to walk over to Claudia’s for the Baby-sitters Club meeting the next day, but for some reason I’d been running late from the second I got up that morning. I guess I’m not used to going back and forth between my two “worlds” — New York and Stoneybrook. It takes me awhile to readjust every time I come back from a weekend away.

  I started out the day by oversleeping. I gobbled my breakfast, threw on any old outfit I could find (the same white jumpsuit with a pink shirt and — oops! — red socks), and practically ran all the way to school. It seemed as though I was rushing around all day, and now here it was, almost 5:30, club meeting time, and I was still at home.

  I grabbed my bike and hopped on. I knew I could still make it on time if I pedaled fast. As I rode, I thought about everyone I would see over at Claud’s. I’d really been lucky to find so many great friends when I moved to Stoneybrook. If it hadn’t been for the Baby-sitters Club, my life would sure be different.

  The BSC was all Kristy’s idea. That’s Kristy Thomas, president of the club. She’s always coming up with excellent ideas, but this one has to be the best.

  It all started at the beginning of seventh grade. At the time, Kristy lived with her mom; her two older brothers, Sam and Charlie; and her little brother, David Michael. Her mom was divorced: Kristy’s dad walked out on the family years ago. Kristy never even sees him. Isn’t that awful? I thought my parents’ divorce was the pits, but at least I get to see my dad pretty often.

  Anyway, Kristy and her brothers used to baby-sit for David Michael most of the time, but when they couldn’t, Mrs. Thomas would have to make a ton of phone calls to try to line up a sitter. One night as her mom was doing this, Kristy had one of her Brilliant Brainstorms. What if parents could reach a whole bunch of experienced sitters with just one call?

  And so the Baby-sitters Club was born. Kristy got together with Claudia, as well as Mary Anne, who lived across the street and was Kristy’s best friend. They immediately decided that they needed more than three people in the club, so Claud suggested me. We had met in school and were already becoming friends. Claudia was elected vice-president, mainly because we hold our meetings in her room. Plus she has her own phone with a private line — very important for the club. Mary Anne became secretary because she’s neat and organized, and I took on the office of treasurer, because I’m good at math. We’d meet three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. During our meetings parents would call us to line up sitters.

  The club has worked perfectly since Day One, but believe me, it has been through some major changes, and so have all its members. I’m not the only one who feels like my whole life has been turned inside out and upside down in the last year or so. Also, the BSC has grown a lot since it started. Besides the original members, there’re now also Dawn, Jessi, and Mallory. Not to mention Logan and Shannon … but I’m getting ahead of myself here.

  Let me go back to Kristy. Besides being brilliant, Kristy can also be bossy at times, and occasionally (I hate to say it) a little babyish. Kristy’s small for her age and is kind of a tomboy. She wears the same thing every day: jeans, a turtleneck, a sweater, and running shoes. But Kristy’s all right. She’s had a crazy year or so, and I’d have to say she’s dealing with it really well.

  While Kristy was starting the club, her mom was falling in love with a real, true millionaire named Watson Brewer. They got married, and Kristy moved across town to live in his — get this — mansion. She wasn’t crazy about Watson or the move at first, but she did like Watson’s kids, her new stepbrother and stepsister, Andrew and Karen. And just as the two families were starting to become one, Kristy’s mom and Mr. Brewer decided to adopt Emily Michelle, a two-year-old Vietnamese girl. (She’s adorable.) And then Kristy’s grandmother, Nannie, moved in to help take care of Emily! So it’s a pretty full house right now, especially when you throw in Shannon, the Bernese mountain dog puppy, and Boo-Boo, the fat, mean, geriatric cat. But they all seem to be getting along well, and Kristy likes her new house, new family, and new neighborhood better all the time.

  As I mentioned before, Claudia Kishi (my best friend, remember?) is the vice-president of the club. Claudia is, well … gorgeous. She’s Japanese-American and has L-O-N-G silky black hair, a perfect complexion (despite her incurable junk-food habit), and almond-shaped eyes. And if there’s anyone in town who’s a wilder, more sophisticated dresser than me, it’s got to be Claud. She’s a really talented artist, and she’s always putting together the most outrageous outfits, then accessorizing them with even more outrageous jewelry, which, of course, she’s made herself.

  Claud’s likes and dislikes? Likes: reading Nancy Drew mysteries. Dislikes: studying. Has a love/hate relationship with her genius older sister, Janine. Misses: her grandmother Mimi, whom she was really close to. Mimi died not long ago and actually we all miss her.

  Mary Anne Spier, the club secretary, has brown hair and brown eyes, just like Kristy. But while Kristy is loudmouthed and always in the spotlight, Mary Anne is extremely shy and sensitive. (And I mean sensitive. She cries at the drop of a hat — probably because she feels sorry for the poor hat!) Mary Anne grew up with just her father. Her mom died when she was really little. For years, Mr. Spier was i
ncredibly strict with Mary Anne, but he’s finally begun to loosen up. He even let her get a kitten!

  If there’s anybody, besides her father, that Mary Anne loves more than Tigger (that’s her kitten), it’s her boyfriend, Logan Bruno. I always think it’s kind of weird that Mary Anne, who is the shyest girl in the Baby-sitters Club, is the only one of us who has a steady boyfriend. I guess Logan must like Mary Anne for the same reasons all of us do: She’s understanding, a good listener, and really a lot of fun.

  Mary Anne is another one who’s had a major change in her life recently, but before I go into that, let me tell you about Dawn Schafer, since she’s got something to do with that change.

  Dawn is the alternate officer of the club, which means that she can fill in for any of the other officers if they can’t make it to a meeting. (She was treasurer the whole time I was living in New York.) Dawn moved here from California when her parents got a divorce. Her mom had grown up here, so it was natural that she’d want to come back. Their first year in Stoneybrook was kind of rough. Dawn’s little brother, Jeff, didn’t adjust well to the move. He never stopped missing his dad and feeling homesick for California. So finally, he moved back there to live with his dad. I know Dawn misses him a lot. But she’s really close to her mom, and she loves the house they live in — it was built in 1795 and it has a secret passage and maybe even a real ghost. Honest.

  Even though she’s lived here for almost two years now, Dawn still looks like a California girl. She dresses like a true individual, and she’s got long, long pale blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. She’s into health food in a major way, and it doesn’t seem to bother her at all when we all make gagging noises at her tofu salads. Dawn just is who she is: She’s got a lot of self-confidence and she doesn’t seem to care too much about what other people think.

  Now, remember when I said that Dawn had something to do with the big change in Mary Anne’s life? Well, get this: Dawn’s mother recently got married. Who did she marry? Mary Anne’s father! Can you believe it? They used to date each other in high school when they were growing up, right here in Stoneybrook. Then, when Mrs. Schafer moved back here, the romance began all over again.