she was hundreds of miles away. Maybe she called her on the phone?"

"Nana Bernardine doesn't own a mobile phone," said Judy. "She's old-fashioned and uses a regular landline telephone."

"Okay, scratch that," said Nick. "But, did she have a phone on her when she walked into the bank? Let's see the surveillance tape again."

Judy had saved the video of the bank surveillance camera on her phone so she could show Nick. She took her phone out and played the video once more. They both watched carefully.

"She doesn't have one on her," said Judy. "Maybe whoever was in the car with her put her in a trance…if there was someone in the car with her…"

"Wait…what's that?" said Nick.

"What?"

"Rewind it a bit, I think I saw something."

Judy restarted the video and Nick looked carefully at each frame.

"There! When she walks into the bank…is that a plush toy?"

Judy suddenly remembered the baby chick plush toy.

"Oh yes, Nana Bernardine said that Woollace, the lamb she was babysitting, left it at her house."

"It's the same as yours," said Nick, looking carefully.

"Yes, it is," said Judy. "You won it for me at the fair."

"From Old Todd's Game Gallery," said Nick.

He fell silent and looked into empty space. Judy wondered what was on his mind.

"Penny for your thoughts," said Judy after a while.

"It may be nothing," said Nick. "And it may be something. Remember Old Todd's dart game at the fair?"

"Aha."

"And remember you missed your shots?"

"Yes."

"Well…I forgot to tell you before, it seemed like something trivial. But Old Todd's game is rigged."

Nick explained to Judy all about the magnet behind the dart boards and how Old Todd flipped a switch to make some customers win and others miss on purpose.

"But…why would he rig the game to make some customers win?"

"I'm still working on that one," said Nick. "But it is suspicious, isn't it?"

Judy nodded, thinking about what Nick had told her.

"I'd really like to get a closer look at that dart booth," said Judy.

"And that magic show," said Nick.

"But we don't have enough here for a warrant."

"Not yet," said Nick. "But I have a feeling we're onto something."

He looked at his watch and saw that it was 1:00 AM.

"C'mon, Carrots, you need to get some sleep. I'll walk you home."

The carnival was in full-blown furore on Friday afternoon. The lines were long, the rides were packed, popcorn and cotton candy got sold almost as fast as it was made and the joy was palpable.

Nick and Judy came walking along opposite ends of the same aisle and met in the middle, right behind Old Todd's Game Gallery.

"Sure you wanna do this, Carrots?"

"Sure I'm sure," said Judy, looking around. "Just a quick look."

"Okay," said Nick, peeking in through the hole in Old Todd's tent. "As soon as he turns his back…now!"

With his foot, Nick lifted the tent just enough for Judy to sneak under. Quick as a rabbit, she disappeared under the gap and Nick stood there, acting natural and keeping an eye out for Madame Mystique. They agreed he'd give her the signal when Madame Mystique's show was about to start.

Judy crouched behind some boxes of prizes and watched carefully from the gap between two boxes. Old Todd chatted cheerfully with his customers as they threw their darts. She watched closely as Old Todd switched the magnet on, made it move to the left, or turned it off.

"Which customers win? And which customers lose?" wondered Judy as she watched closely.

A small poodle child and his father played and won, a horse played and lost…sheep lost…wolf won…dingo won…moose lost…coyote girl won…elk lost…

"I think I'm starting to see a pattern," Judy thought to herself.

"Boy, I suddenly have a craving for a nice, juicy carrot right now," said the voice of Nick from the other side of the tent. That was their signal.

Judy was about to move, when suddenly…Old Todd turned around and came towards the boxes.

"I've got a special prize for you in the back, son!" he said to an excited little wild dog child who had won. "A cute little baby chick that chirps when you tickle its tummy! The grand prize!"

Judy flattened herself behind the boxes, hoping he wouldn't notice. Nick could see from the hole and acted immediately.

"Now, where did I put those fluffy chicks…" mussed Old Todd as he moved closer to Judy's hiding place…just a few feet and she'd be discovered…one foot away…

"Hey! Is that you, Old Todd?!" said a loud, jolly voice from the front of the booth.

"Huh?" said Old Todd, looking behind.

It was Nick! He ran to the front of the booth and greeted Old Todd jovially as if they were long-time friends.

"I remember you! You were at the county fair in Bunny Burrow! I won a prize for my lady friend from your booth, remember?"

"Oh! Hey there! I remember you too!"

Old Todd turned around. That gave Judy a chance to scurry out of the tent. Quick as a flash she escaped the tent, just as Old Todd turned around again to fish for the prize in one of the boxes.

"I'll be right with you! Just as soon as I give the winner o'er there his prize!"

Old Todd walked to the front of his booth with a baby chick plushie and gave it to the wild dog child.

"Wow! Thanks, mister!"

"Come back anytime, son! Everybody's a winner at Old Todd's."

Then the boar turned to Nick.

"Say, you were the gent that won at the Bunny Burrow fair with three perfect bull's-eyes."

"That's me," said Nick.

"Say….you're a cop…er, police officer?"

"Yes indeed, ten months on the force," said Nick. "Say, you don't mind if I have another shot at the darts, do you? Just to make sure I didn't lose my touch."

"Why of course not, Officer! Go right ahead! This round is on the house!"

"Much obliged," said Nick, taking three darts in his paw.

Judy, behind the tent, stood on tiptoe and watched through the hole as Nick got ready to throw his darts. Old Todd secretly flipped the switch to the left, making the magnet move away from the centre. Nick threw his first dart and missed, landing it on the board next to the target.

"Hmm…must be getting rusty."

"The first pitch is always the practice one, Officer! Go on, show us your mettle!"

Nick threw the second one a little off centre, and it landed on the second ring outside the bull's-eye area. Judy noticed Old Todd's face twitch.

"Well, whaddaya know? You're right!" said Nick cheerfully. "This next one is gonna hit dead-centre."

Nick threw his dart towards the right-side of the board, purposefully throwing it off target. Then, as if magically, the dart moved towards the target and hit right in the middle of the bull's-eye.

"Aha! There you go!"

"Amazing, Officer!" said Old Todd, but there was a nervousness in his voice.

"Well, that was fun," said Nick, "but I gotta run! Be seeing you around, Todd!"

"Have a nice day, Officer! Come back anytime, everybody's a winner here!"

Nick walked away and turned at the corner of Todd's tent, then turned again at the back, where Judy was standing acting natural.

"Sly fox," said Judy.

"That was a close one," said Nick. "Care for a walk?"

"Sure do."

They walked away from Old Todd's booth, looking around them and greeting familiar faces.

"Did you see anything strange?" asked Nick.

"Well, he wanted to make you lose this time," said Judy. "Could it be because he saw you in uniform?"

"Could be," said Nick. "He seemed pretty surprised."

"If he's doing anything dodgy, I'm sure he doesn't want a cop catching whiff of it."

"Did you notice anything about the customers?"

"Yes," said Judy. "The winners…they were all canines."

"I have another hunch, but I gotta test it first," said Nick. "As soon as Madame Mystique has her next show, we'll see if I'm right."

They waited for Madame Mystique's next show to start as they stood close to the refreshment stands. All sorts of treats were available: popcorn, cotton candy, candied apples, ice cream sticks…

"Kinda makes me wanna sell a few Pawpsicles," said Nick with a mischievous look.

"Your Pawpsicle-selling days are over, mister," said Judy, fake-punching him on the arm.

"Alas," said Nick, fake-longingly.

Finally, Madame Mystique walked into her tent when she had enough people in her audience to start her show. Judy approached and walked into the tent, sitting in the back row.

"And now, my dears, the wonders of magic and mystery…"

Her show went on as usual. Then, at the end, she chose a coyote girl from the audience, the same Judy had seen at Old Todd's booth. She was holding her fluffy baby chick plush toy.

"And now, my dear, look closely at this watch…"

The coyote girl seemed to go into a trance and was soon singing a lovely

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