Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case

by Donald Sobol

  “It looks bad for your friend, Leroy,” Chief Brown said. “Do you think you can get him to tell you where he hid the baseball?”

  Encyclopedia looked into the case again. There were pieces of glass all over the bottom and on the pedestal that had held the baseball just this morning. “Can I ask a question first?”

  His father nodded.

  Encyclopedia turned to Mr. Harvey. “How many people have keys to the case?” he asked.

  “I have the only key,” Mr. Harvey answered.

  “I unlock the case for the maid when the glass needs cleaning.”

  “There’s no need to question Billy, Dad,” Encyclopedia said. “Mr. Harvey is the only one that can tell us where the ball is hidden.”

  HOW DID ENCYCLOPEDIA KNOW?

  (Click here for the solution to “The Case of the Lucky Catch.”)

  The Case of the Missing Money

  On Saturday, Encyclopedia and his father headed to the west side of town to help build houses.

  An organization called Shelter from the Storm was building three houses on what used to be a farmer’s field. Where tomatoes and cucumbers once grew, families who lost their homes in hurricanes would be putting down roots of a different kind.

  A busy team of volunteers was already at work. Encyclopedia and Mr. Brown grabbed their hammers and walked up to the chief carpenter to get their tasks.

  Patrick Freeman wore a carpenter’s apron that had a small picture of a house in the center. The apron held all kinds of tools, including nails and a tape measure in the two front pockets. A hammer hung from the loop on the apron’s right side.

  Mr. Freeman thanked the Browns for coming and pointed to two other carpenters. Both wore carpenter’s aprons with the same picture. “That’s Fred,” he said. Fred was framing the walls on house number two.

  “And there’s Dan.”

  Dan was showing a group of volunteers how to put up wallboard.

  “If you get into any trouble, be sure to ask one of us to lend a hand,” Mr. Freeman said.

  Encyclopedia and his father spent the first half of the morning helping to frame a house. The volunteers were amazed at how quickly a house could be built when so many people worked together.

  It was hot, thirsty work. Encyclopedia took a break and ran into Mr. Freeman by the water table. A car was just driving away, and Encyclopedia noticed Mr. Freeman slip a twenty dollar bill into an inside pocket on his apron.

  “The folks in Idaville sure are generous,” he said. “People keep stopping by to give me donations. At this rate, we’ll be able to build three more houses next weekend.”

  A few minutes later, their house was framed and Mr. Freeman showed Encyclopedia’s team how to hammer down the floorboards. He grabbed a nail from his front left pocket and reached for his hammer.

  “You want to use a firm grip,” he said, demonstrating. “And hit the nail right in the center.”

  Encyclopedia watched him drive the nail in, then reach for another nail, then another.

  All three houses were well on their way to being finished by lunchtime. The front porch was already in place on house number one.

  Encyclopedia and his father sat at a portable picnic table with the rest of the volunteers while Mr. Freeman and his carpenters inspected the morning’s work. Encyclopedia kept his eyes on them while he unpacked the ham and cheese sandwiches, apples, and cookies that Mrs. Brown had made for him and his father. He watched Dan remove a crooked nail and hammer a new one in its place with the same easy rhythm as Mr. Freeman.

  The carpenters seemed satisfied. They hung their aprons over the porch railing of house number one and joined the volunteers for lunch. Mr. Freeman entertained the crowd with stories of building houses all over the country.

  “Once, in Idaho, we discovered that we were erecting a house in a field full of snakes,” he said with a laugh. “Boy, did we change our location—and fast.”

  “Have you ever been as far away as Alaska?” Encyclopedia asked.

  “Sure have,” Dan said. “I’ve built houses in every one of the fifty states.”

  Fred was brand new to the carpentry field. “I’ve only been in a couple of states so far,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the country.”

  While they were eating, three more people stopped by with donations. It seemed like anyone from Idaville who wasn’t on the building site with a hammer in his or her hand stopped by with money to help build more houses.

  After lunch, everyone cleaned up their garbage and grabbed their hammers. Dan and Fred put their carpenters’ aprons back on and showed the volunteers how to raise the walls on house number two. Mr. Freeman stepped into his trailer to take care of some paperwork.

  Chief Brown and Encyclopedia held a wall in place. Dan fumbled reaching for his nails and almost hammered a hole in the middle of his tape measure with his left hand.

  A few minutes later, they heard a cry. Mr. Freeman stood in front of house number one with his carpenter’s apron.

  Chief Brown rushed over, followed by Encyclopedia.

  “Someone’s stolen the donations,” Mr. Freeman said. “I put them in an inside pocket in my apron, and now they’re gone.”

  “Are you sure that’s your apron?” Chief Brown asked.

  Mr. Freeman examined it again. “It sure looks like mine. But new Shelter from the Storm aprons were issued to us just last month, and they all look the same.”

  Fred and Dan came over as soon as they could get away. Chief Brown asked to see their aprons. Mr. Freeman was right. They were exactly the same. The inside pockets of all three aprons were empty.

  “Hundreds of dollars—gone!” Mr. Freeman shook his head. “That money would have helped build new houses for people who need them.”

  “One of the volunteers must have taken the money,” Dan said.

  Chief Brown surveyed the group, who were still busy hammering, sawing, and building. “The aprons were in plain view all during lunch,” he said. “If someone picked up an apron and removed a stack of bills, they would have been seen.”

  “Someone’s stolen the donations,” Mr. Freeman said.

  Encyclopedia cleared his throat.

  “Did you see something, Leroy?” Chief Brown asked.

  “Are you left-handed?” he asked Mr. Freeman.

  “No, I’m right-handed,” he asked with a puzzled expression.

  Fred looked worried and confused. “Chief Brown, don’t you think you had better start questioning the volunteers?” he asked. “What if the thief sneaks away?”

  “You don’t have to do that, Dad,” Encyclopedia said. “I can tell you who took the money.”

  ENCYCLOPEDIA KNEW WHO TOOK THE MONEY. DO YOU?

  (Click here for the solution to “The Case of the Missing Money.”)

  The Case of the Stolen Confederate Stamps

  Encyclopedia’s stomach rumbled. He put down his book and checked his watch. It was ten minutes past dinnertime, and no one had called him to the table.

  He followed the smell of spaghetti and meatballs to the kitchen.

  “Your father will be a little late tonight,” Mrs. Brown said. “He’s tied up with a case at the convention center.”

  Encyclopedia’s eyes lit up at the prospect of a case. “Do you think Dad needs help?” he asked. Then his stomach rumbled again.

  “Your stomach and your curiosity will have to wait a few more minutes,” Mrs. Brown said.

  At half past six, Chief Brown came home.

  “What’s happening at the convention center this week?” Mrs. Brown asked, after he had washed up and sat down at the table.

  “The Philatelic Society is having its annual convention,” he answered.

  “The stamp collectors,” Encyclopedia said. “Sally and I plan to bike there tomorrow and look at the new stamps.”

  “Two very old stamps were stolen this afternoon,” Chief Brown said. “We recovered them, but we don’t know who stole them.”

  “Give Lero
y all the details,” Mrs. Brown said. “He’s helped you out before.”

  Chief Brown pulled his notebook out of his pocket with a sigh. “I don’t know,” he said. “Even Leroy might have trouble with this case. It’s got me licked.”

  Encyclopedia ate his spaghetti while he waited for the details.

  “A dealer named Mr. Sansbury brought two rare stamps to the show,” Chief Brown said. “Both were issued by the Confederate government after the Civil War began. The first was a five-cent green Jefferson Davis stamp. The second was a ten-cent stamp with a picture of Thomas Jefferson.”

  “There must be lots of suspects,” Mrs. Brown said.

  “No.” Chief Brown shook his head. “Mr. Sansbury didn’t put these stamps on display. He kept them locked in a small office. But he gave three collectors, all of them longtime friends, the key to the office so they could view the stamps in private. They each spent time alone in the room before Mr. Sansbury noticed the stamps were missing.”

  “But you said you already found the stamps,” Mrs. Brown said. “Didn’t they also lead you to the thief?”

  “We searched each of the three suspects thoroughly,” Chief Brown answered. “Then Officer Lopez discovered that someone had pried up a corner of the carpet and slipped the stamps underneath. The thief must have intended to go back for the stamps at a later date. But it’s impossible to find out which one of the three is the real thief.”

  Mrs. Brown glanced at Encyclopedia. She seemed a little disappointed that he hadn’t solved the mystery yet.

  “Tell us about the suspects,” she prodded.

  Chief Brown turned the pages of his notebook. “Each one of the suspects was alone in the room for a short time. The first was a Mr. Beckman from Tampa. He told us that he already had these stamps in his collection, a fact that Mr. Sansbury was able to confirm.

  “Mrs. Dwyer is planning to open a stamp museum and store in the northern part of the state. But she couldn’t believe that a serious stamp collector would hide such valuable stamps on a damp concrete floor where they could be damaged.”

  “Perhaps it was the third suspect,” Mrs. Brown said.

  “That may be,” Chief Brown said. “Mr. Patterson has a well-known album of early American and Confederate stamps. And he has long been searching for these two to complete his collection.”

  Mrs. Brown looked at Encyclopedia. She had run out of questions herself and hoped he was ready to ask the one that would truly crack the case.

  Suddenly his eyes opened. “What kind of carpet was on the floor?” he asked.

  “A standard dark blue carpet for a place like the convention center where there’s lots of foot traffic,” Chief Brown answered. “The thief had pulled up one corner.”

  Encyclopedia opened his eyes. “Then it’s obvious who the thief is, it’s…”

  WHO WAS IT?

  (Click here for the solution to “The Case of the Stolen Confederate Stamps.”)

  SOLUTIONS

  The jewel thief was forgetful. Mrs. Brown suspected he might have written his hiding places down, and she was right. As soon as Encyclopedia learned about the onion juice he was able to shed some light on the situation.

  Onion juice can be used as an invisible ink. The words, but not the smell, disappear as soon as the juice dries on the paper. Encyclopedia realized that while the thief had used a regular pen to write what seemed like ordinary letters, in between the lines, he wrote with onion juice. The thief knew that his mother would keep all his letters. She never dreamed of the secrets they contained.

  Encyclopedia and his father carefully heated the letters under a 150-watt lightbulb until the secret writing appeared. Each letter revealed a hiding place for a secret stash of jewels.

  Chief Brown called the police chiefs in each and every town, and soon all of the stores had their jewels back.

  Bugs may not have signed the book, but he gave away his trick when he penned the author’s name for Encyclopedia. He got the name right, but he spelled it wrong. Alice in Wonderland was written by Lewis Carroll, not Louis Carol.

  When confronted with the proof, Bugs admitted that he saw Taffy on Melissa’s front lawn and thought the tiger would make a great mascot for his clubhouse. He went home, found the old book, and had Rocky sign it with the author’s name. He made up the tiger thief story when Melissa didn’t want to trade.

  If Bugs’s baby cousin hadn’t cut pictures out of the book and ripped out the title page, they would have known the correct spelling of Lewis Carroll.

  Luckily for Melissa, they didn’t.

  Bugs gave back Taffy the Tiger and apologized—gritting his teeth the whole time.

  Bugs wanted to get even with the boy detective who always outsmarted him. He wanted revenge on Sally who always out punched him.

  He watched the detectives help Sonia close up her lemonade stand and noticed that no one locked up the money. He pretended to be Sonia on the phone. Then he watched as the detectives walked right into his trap.

  Bugs’s plan might have worked except for one thing. He talked too much.

  Bugs said that he caught Encyclopedia and Sally red-handed. Later he said that he watched them grab the money.

  But that was impossible.

  If Bugs had really caught the pair “red-handed,” the money would still be in their hands when Encyclopedia and Sally were swept up in Bugs’s trap. The money was still stacked neatly on the shelf when Bugs added his dime.

  When Encyclopedia pointed out the flaw in Bugs’s story, the bully confessed.

  Officer Muldoon drove beside Encyclopedia and Sally as they biked to the First National Bank. They deposited the money in Sonia’s account.

  Encyclopedia knew Wilford Wiggins was no historian with a million-copy best seller up his sleeve. But he didn’t know how to prove it until Wilford brought out his “most important artifact”—George Washington’s letter to Martha Washington.

  Encyclopedia knew something Wilford didn’t. George Washington wasn’t one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. As Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, he was in New York fighting the British, not in Philadelphia signing the Declaration.

  When Encyclopedia pointed out this truth to Wilford, he admitted that all of his “revolutionary antiques” were fakes. For the letter, he soaked a piece of paper in tea to make it look old. Then he added the words and the signature himself.

  The neighborhood kids kept their money, and Wilford gave Mark Goldberg his savings back. Mark got to keep the rusty lantern, too, just in case the British ever decided to invade Idaville.

  Encyclopedia suspected Mrs. Sweeney the minute she asked about fingerprints. Her shoulders slumped in relief, not sadness, when Chief Brown told her the thief’s fingerprints would only be useful if the thief’s prints were on file.

  But Encyclopedia was sure as soon as he flashed the light on the tree outside the window. Mrs. Sweeney said the crook had climbed down the tree. But if that were true, Mrs. Monarch and the other club members in the living room would have been alerted to trouble when the butterflies took flight. And they would have seen the masked man through their binoculars.

  When confronted with Encyclopedia’s theory, Mrs. Sweeney admitted to slipping the brooch into her pocket.

  Mrs. Sweeney left the Butterfly Gardener’s Club and Idaville in disgrace, and Mrs. Monarch put the butterfly brooch in the bank—except for very special occasions.

  An assistant brought fresh water to the judges after each tasting. But Encyclopedia noticed that judge number two made sure her water glass was full before tasting Joey’s cookie. She knew it would taste awful and wanted to have a glass of water at the ready.

  When confronted with the evidence, she confessed. Judge number two wanted her cousin Mary to win the contest and was afraid Joey’s cookies would be impossible to beat.

  She was right. Joey remixed his cookie dough with the right ingredients. He walked away with the blue ribbon for first prize, a check for fifty dollars, and a cha
nce to have his recipe published in a cookbook.

  Encyclopedia wondered why a real NASA astronaut would have to raise money from schoolkids, fifty cents at a time. He suspected the astronaut was a fake the minute he started talking about top secret missions. But he didn’t know for sure until he saw the duck.

  If that duck had truly flown in space, it wouldn’t have lived to quack the tale. Ducks need gravity to swallow. It would have starved in a weightless space capsule.

  The man admitted that he was a phony. He was simply trying to make some fast money and pretending to be an astronaut was his latest scam. When he came across a doll’s space helmet—the perfect size to fit a duck—he got the idea for an astronaut duck. He used a computer to put the duck into the pictures so it would look like the duck had flown in space.

  The man set the duck free, and Moonboy kept the fifty dollars he was saving for space camp.

  Encyclopedia noticed a clue that his father had missed.

  There was glass sitting on the small pedestal in place of the baseball. If someone had broken the glass case and then taken the baseball, the pedestal would not have had broken glass on it.

  Ace Harvey wanted to collect the insurance money and keep his baseball as well. Billy Turner was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. When Mr. Harvey walked in and found him with a piece of glass in his hand, he decided to frame him for the robbery.

  When Encyclopedia stated his theory, Mr. Harvey confessed. A couple of weeks later, he sold the ball to a baseball museum. By the next spring, he had moved out of Idaville.

  After Billy’s hand healed, he started catching fly balls again.

  Dan was an experienced carpenter who had built houses in all fifty states. But after lunch he started fumbling and almost destroyed a tape measure. Encyclopedia realized that was because Dan was left-handed. He normally kept his nails in the right pocket of his apron, leaving his left hand free to hold the hammer. But the nails in the apron he wore after lunch were on the left side. The apron belonged to a right-handed carpenter.