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fingerprints. And a koala’s fingerprint looks almost exactly like a human’s.”
    “I didn’t see a single koala in the kitchen while I was making the sandwich, so I guess that mustard print is mine,” said Jack Frost.

    “So the fingerprint is just a red herring,” Judy said.
    “What’s a red herring?” asked Stink.
    “A PU stinky fish,” said Rocky.
    “No, a false clue,” Judy told them. “To throw us off. That means . . . Hypers! The missing baloney sandwich is the clue, not the mustard fingerprint. We’re lucky we stumbled on it, just like Nancy Drew in
The
Clue in the Crumbling Wall
.”
    “But how is the baloney sandwich a clue if it’s missing?”
    “Don’t you get it? The bad guys are training Mr. Chips to steal stuff. You saw how smart he was at school that day. First it was my backpack. Then it was a dog bone; now it’s people food. Think what could be next. Diamonds? Jewels? Or will they train him to rob a bank?”
    “Oh, no,” said Frank. “Mr. Chips is turning into a jewel thief.”
    “Or a bank robber,” said Rocky.
    “Or a clock stealer,” said Stink. “Like in Judy’s book.”
    “Sounds like your Mr. Chips has gone over to the dark side,” said Jack Frost, opening up the back of his mail truck. It was heaped with bins full of mail.
    “Yeah, we’ll have to call him Mr. Darth Vader Chips,” said Frank.
    Suddenly, she, Judy Moody, could not believe her eagle eyes! In the back of the mail truck, she spied a bunch of magazines tied up
with rope
. Rope exactly like the rope the plumbers had. Rope that could be used to tie up Mr. Chips!
Jack Frost, fake mailman, with the rope, in the mail truck!
    “Who is this Mr. Chips, anyway?” asked Jack Frost. “Some kind of canine criminal?”
    “Like you don’t know,” Judy muttered. Then, louder, “Where’d you get this rope? Do you like dogs? Did you really lose your baloney sandwich? You say that was
your
fingerprint? Are all those mailbags really for mail?”
Pow. Pow. Pow.
Judy fired detective questions at her new suspect.
    Stink yanked on her arm and pulled her to the other side of the street. “Are you cuckoo?” he whispered. “Why are you being such a meanie to Jack Frost?”
    “Rule Number One, Stink: Everyone’s a suspect. Didn’t you see that rope he had in the back of his mail truck? It’s just like the rope used to tie up Mr. Chips. Admit it, Stinker, Jack Frost could be working with the dognappers. He could be part of a ring of international jewel thieves!”
    “Hel-
lo
! Jack Frost is not a thief,” said Stink. “He’s a mailman. And he’s my friend. Look at him — he looks like Santa Claus.”
    “That’s just it,” said Judy. “Anybody can be a bad guy. Even Santa Claus. Think about it, Stink. One — a mailman always carries dog treats. He could be helping the bad guys train Mr. Chips to sniff out the loot for stealing. Two — he knows when people go on vacation, so he could case the neighborhood and tip off the bad guys when people aren’t home. And three — what’s the perfect place to hide loot like diamonds? A mailbag. Pretty soon, nobody will get any mail, and there won’t be any jewels left in the whole state of Virginia. I rest my case.”

    “Jack Frost gave you mittens for Christmas! Jack Frost made it snow! Would a jewel thief give you mittens? Would a dognapper make it snow for Christmas?” Stink ripped off his bug-pin badge and handed it to Judy. “I quit!” he huffed.
    “Before you quit,” said Judy, “go ask Jack Frost where he got that rope.”
    Stink crossed his arms. He uncrossed his arms. He walked over to Jack Frost. Judy came along behind him. He asked about the magazines tied up with rope.
    “Oh, I’m just helping out Mrs. Stratemeyer down the street. She’s old and can’t get out, so she bundles up her used magazines and I recycle them for her.”
    “Aha! So you
did
see an old lady today,” said Judy.
Liar, liar, pants on
f
ire.
    “Sure,” said Jack Frost.