In the morning, Grandfather dropped the children and Watch off at the Greenfield Mall. Day Two of the Wundermutt commercial audition was about to begin.
“Hello,” Lisa said. She bent over Watch and asked, “Are you ready for a fresh start?”
Watch happily licked her hand.
Jessie held the suspect list and a red pen. “Um, Lisa,” she said. “I have a quick question.” Jessie clicked open her pen. “Yesterday you said you were an inventor. Is your invention a secret?”
“It’s not a secret,” Lisa said. “But no one ever asks me about it. Thanks for being interested.” Lisa smiled and her eyes lit up. Yesterday she had often seemed to be in a bad mood. But not now.
“I created a new kind of pet repellant,” Lisa told them.
“What’s that?” Benny said.
“Repel means to make something go away,” Henry explained.
“Exactly!” Lisa said. “My repellant is a spray that dogs don’t like. Sometimes people want to keep their dogs off the furniture. They can spray this on the couch, and the dogs will stay off. I call it ‘Get Away Spray’” Lisa was talking very fast. “I used all natural ingredients in the mixture,” Lisa said. “I think this stuff will sell like crazy.”
“Sounds interesting,” Henry said. “Did you show it to Mr. Lillipool?”
“Oh, gosh, no,” Lisa said, shaking her head. “He’s too busy and I’m too shy to talk to him.” She looked across the room. Mr. Lillipool had just come in.
Violet nodded. She was shy, too.
“If you don’t show him, how will he know about it?” Benny asked.
“I gave some of my spray to Ms. Werner,” Lisa said. “She said she’d show it to him for me. She told me she has a special meeting with him next week.”
Just then, Ms. Werner called across the room. “Lisa, I need your help.”
“Gotta go,” Lisa said. “I’d give you a sample, but Watch is really well trained. You don’t need it.” Lisa went to help Ms. Werner.
“Maybe Lisa isn’t a suspect anymore,” Henry said. “Her big plan wasn’t to ruin the audition; it was to get Ms. Werner to have a meeting with Mr. Lillipool.”
Jessie crossed out Lisa’s name on the list.
Timmy burst into the room. “Sorry, I’m late,” he said. “But, you are not going to believe my news! My agent just called. I’m going to be the star of Lightning Man! It’s a new superhero movie. After this commercial, I’m going start filming!” Timmy was very happy.
“Wow, Timmy. That is amazing!” Benny said. “I can’t believe I’m talking to the star of a new movie!”
Timmy smiled. “I’m going to go tell Mr. Lillipool.” He hurried off.
“Timmy’s news means that he didn’t need to act with Ninja in this commercial to become a famous movie star,” Violet said. “He figured out how to get a movie job all on his own.”
Jessie crossed Timmy off the suspect list.
Henry looked over Jessie’s shoulder at her list. “There are only four suspects left,” he said. “Mr. Benjamin, Mr. Lillipool, Ms. Werner, and Dante. Let’s watch them carefully.”
Ms. Werner announced to everyone that they were ready to begin. “This will be the last part of the audition.” She carried two bowls of Wundermutt food. Lisa had a third bowl in her hands.
“Wow!” Benny said, looking at the bowls.
These weren’t the plastic bowls they’d used yesterday. These bowls were silver. Each had one of the contestant’s names written on it in gold, glittery letters.
“The dogs must each eat a bowl of our Wundermutt food,” Ms. Werner explained. “We can’t have a commercial starring a dog that doesn’t like our food.”
Jessie looked at Henry. “I’m worried,” she said.
“After the audition is over, the bowls are yours to take home,” Ms. Werner told the dog owners. “They are a gift from Mr. Lillipool.”
Ms. Werner put down Ninja’s and Watch’s bowls. Lisa set the food down for Buffalo.
“Do you smell citronella again?” Jessie asked Violet.
Violet sniffed the air. “Yes. Someone around here sure does like that scent,” she said.
“Achoo.” Benny sneezed. “Achoo!”
Jessie gave Benny a tissue from her pocket.
“I wonder if there is a connection between the food and the perfume smell,” Henry said. “I remember smelling it yesterday around the food, too.”
“Maybe,” Jessie said. “But I don’t know what the connection could be.” She took her notebook out of her purse. She wrote on a blank page: citronella and dog food.
“It’s time for our doggie contestants to eat,” Ms. Werner said. “Buffalo will go first.”
“No! Ninja will go first,” Mr. Benjamin said strongly. He immediately removed Ninja’s leash. Ninja trotted right past Dante and Buffalo. He went directly to his bowl of food.
Ninja got to his bowl, sniffed the food, then suddenly turned and walked away. “Must not be hungry,” Mr. Benjamin said with a snort. “Ninja eats when Ninja wants to eat.”
“You insisted on going first, so if Ninja doesn’t eat right now,” Ms. Werner said, “he won’t get any points for this part of the audition.”
“I can’t believe you haven’t hired Ninja for this commercial already,” Mr. Benjamin replied, his voice strained. “He did the best by far in all the other parts of the audition! So what if he won’t eat right this second. He’s the best dog actor there is. Ninja deserves this part.” Mr. Benjamin stomped his foot in anger.
He turned toward the Aldens with an accusing look on his face. “It’s those kids,” he said, pointing at the Aldens. “They must have done something to Ninja’s bowl of food.”
“We didn’t do anything,” Benny replied. “I would never do anything to Ninja. I love his show!”
Jessie put a hand on Benny’s shoulder to quiet him. “Mr. Benjamin,” she said calmly. “We wouldn’t do anything to ruin Ninja’s audition.”
“Sure you would. Your dog did poorly yesterday, so you need to ruin Ninja’s audition today,” Mr. Benjamin said. “Your dog can’t get over a log or under a bench without messing up. And he toppled the entire slide. Well, that’s just bad training.” Mr. Benjamin put his hands on his hips. “Your dog didn’t deserve to win any points yesterday.”
Mr. Benjamin faced Dante. “And your dog! Your dog is an even worse actor. He couldn’t get through that audition with Timmy, could he? I’ll bet he kept running off the stage! Buffalo is a house pet, not an actor.”
“But Buffalo didn’t run off the stage,” Dante said.
“What is Mr. Benjamin talking about?” Benny asked his brother.
“I really don’t know,” Henry replied.
After insulting Watch and Buffalo, Mr. Benjamin turned back to Ms. Werner. “Bring me a fresh bowl of food and I’ll get Ninja to eat it,” Mr. Benjamin said.
“It’s this bowl or no bowl,” Ms. Werner said. “It shouldn’t matter what bowl the food’s in.”
Ms. Werner and Mr. Benjamin stared at each other. They were both angry.
“Wait! I just figured out who’s been ruining the audition for Watch!” Henry said.
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