Officer RinTin E. Youngsheep picked up Nancy Drool and the ever insouciant Bobbi Boxer an hour after the Inspector had phone them. Herman Shepherd, the director of the aquarium had been found hung to death.
The thought of suicide was dismissed immediately. There was no note. The noose was fashioned by the dead body of one of the aquarium's prized Fillipino lampreys. Such a bizarre manner of death had made the Inspector assume gematria was involved.
Outside the aquarium the museum curator from the Cult of the Niptuck mystery was at the ticket booth. He ushered the group inside.
Bobbi queried, "The signage says it's free admission. What are you doing here?"
The curator answered, "I'm writing my book."
Bobbi continued, "At a ticket window? In a free admission facility? With no pen, paper, computer or typewriter?"
"Yes."
"Ooooohhhh Kay."
"Well, we do take donations."
By the time Nancy, Bobbi and Officer RinTin arrived at the scene of the crime the inspector had Yenta, the matchmaker in handcuffs.
"Nancy, I think we're done here. Despite insisting on her innocence, I was reminded of the Buckingham Palace Construction case. After congratulating myself on the good fortune that a Scotland Yard theme was already present in your cases, I recalled in some detail the solution to that case."
Nancy was familiar, but Bobbi was not.
The Inspector continued to recap. "In order to tie into Pi, even though Pi had virtually nothing to do with the narrative, the perpetrator had tampered with evidence to conceal his identity. It was noted that Buckingham Palace was constructed in 1703 and this year is the 314th anniversary, hence Pi. Because of the Pi aspect we knew that it was gematria related. They just can't keep their Pi holes shut about it. We needed to find the birthdate of the killer. He or she had left a note bragging about how the anniversary of the palace's construction was his birthday present to himself."
Noting the approving look from Nancy and relishing his own brilliance the inspector continued, "Ah, but what date exactly. We aren't sure of the year. When the land was first purchased? The first building constructed? After all in 1703 it was known as Buckingham Commons, not Palace. After the last major renovation? One of the intermediate renovations? So many dates to choose from, which is the correct one. We determined it was the disgruntled day care worker. Arranging play dates..play...dates....playing with dates. That day care worker insisted on her innocence, just like Yenta."
Yenta interrupted, "I am innocent! I was trying to enjoy my afternoon off after rehearsing my namesake's part, Yenta the Matchmaker in Fiddler on the Woof!"
"So you say.". The Inspector finished his recap. But that disgruntled day care worker was your roommate, who had ties to Gypsy Organized Word Crime families. You being a matchmaker by trade makes you an expert on Tindering, the gematria game of playing around with dates."
Nancy had to stop everyone here. "Inspector, release Yenta and arrest Officer RinTin. After administering a dose of Pysagorean Trues Serum, with or without the lisp additive, I can prove it's him with just two questions."
After the drug took effect Nancy asked the first question.
"When was your previous birthday?"
"Yesterday."
"When will it be your next birthday?"
"After today's birthday the next one us tomorrow."
Nancy's simple questions proved that RinTin was knowledgeable about Tindering. Since he loved birthdays so much he learned that he could change the span of dates between periods by including or excluding the 'end date.'. Something that gematria users waffle around with all the time as it is the date version of PhraseShopping most commonly used; essentially saying a day before or after is "close enough." As for the aquarium, Buckingham palace or any structure it's a lamprey argument in regards to pinning down an exact date, so gematria allows you to pick anything you want no matter how much you might stretch it. As for the immediate fingering of RinTin, this is to be expected as long as the current editor (with his habit of atrocious puns) of Nancy's adventures keeps relating them. Young sheep=lamb. R.E. Lamb. Lamb RE. Lamprey.
After the drug wore off RinTin did make the obligatory parting comment.
"And I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling pups!"
Bobbi wanted to know, "Case closed? Back to Scrabble?"
"Not quite, "said Nancy, "I think one more pun before we're through."
"So, RinTin. I heard you used to date Holly Jablonowski. How did you meet?"
"We had something in common. She loved Christmas so much she would celebrate it by going to the shore at Aphelion all summer long. She loved the Christmas song. You know, the one with the line-
- 'Tis the season to beach Holly."
<He's lucky he didn't get the electric chair for that one>
Nancy Drool will return in The Tomb of The Encryptkeeper.
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