Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case (2 page)

Between schoolwork and police work, Encyclopedia kept busy during the winter. During the summer he ran his own detective agency in his family garage. He solved cases for the children of the neighborhood.

Every morning during the summer he hung his sign outside the garage:

 

The first customer Friday morning was Melissa Stevens. Melissa was only five, and her favorite game was tea party. She set up a tea table in her front yard every afternoon and served tea to her dolls and stuffed animals.

“My Alice book is broken,” she announced.

“Broken?” Encyclopedia asked. He had read more books than just about anybody, but never a broken one.

“Bugs Meany talked me into trading my Taffy the Tiger for it,” Melissa said. “I didn't want to at first, but he said there was a tea party in the book. And that it was worth a whole bunch of money because the author signed it. But there's no tea party.”

Bugs Meany was the leader of a gang of tough older boys. They called themselves the Tigers. They should have called themselves the Screwdrivers. They were always twisting the truth. Encyclopedia spent a lot of his time protecting the neighborhood kids from Bugs and his gang.

“There is a tea party in Lewis Carroll's
Alice in Wonderland
,” Encyclopedia said with a smile. He reached for the book and flipped through a few pages. Half of the pictures had been cut out, and there were whole pages missing. “But you're right—it's not in this book.”

Melissa's eyes widened. “Do you think the tiger thief tore up the book?”

Encyclopedia frowned. “Tiger thief?”

“Bugs said there was a tiger thief in town and Taffy wasn't safe,” Melissa said. “I miss Taffy. I bet the author didn't even sign the book like Bugs said.”

Encyclopedia turned to the front of the book. There was an autograph all right, but it wasn't the author's.

Melissa laid two quarters on the gas can beside Encyclopedia. “I want to hire you for two jobs—to get Taffy back from Bugs and to catch the tiger thief.”

Encyclopedia gave her back one of her quarters. “I'll try to get Taffy back for you,” he said. “But there is no tiger thief.”

Melissa gasped. “Bugs lied?”

Encyclopedia nodded. “Bugs made that up to scare you into trading Taffy for his book.”

“Can you get my Taffy back?”

“I'll do my best,” Encyclopedia said. “We'd better go find Bugs.”

“I have to tell you something very important,” Melissa said nervously. She was afraid to go with him. “I'll stay here.”

The detective talked Melissa into going with him. She had to identify Taffy.

The Tigers' clubhouse was an unused toolshed behind Mr. Sweeney's Auto Body Shop. The closer they came to it, the slower Melissa walked.

Bugs was sitting on an orange crate out front. Taffy stood at attention on the clubhouse roof.

“There he is,” Melissa whispered. “And there's Taffy.”

Upon seeing Encyclopedia, Bugs growled. “Scram before I hit you on the head so hard you'll blow your nose with your socks. This is Tiger land.”

“Call the police,” Melissa whispered. “All of them.”

“We're here to get Melissa's tiger and give you back your book,” Encyclopedia said.

Duke Kelly and Rocky Graham, two of Bugs Meany's Tigers, came out of the clubhouse and stood behind Bugs, sneering.

Bugs stood and puffed out his chest. “You two must have fallen down a rabbit hole and knocked your brains out,” he said. “That book is signed by a famous author. It's worth a lot of money—way more than a silly stuffed tiger.”

“Then you won't mind trading back,” Encyclopedia said.

“No way,” Bugs said. “A deal's a deal. Besides, I've gotten attached to Terrible Ted the Tiger. He's the mascot for our clubhouse.”

Melissa stamped her little foot. “
Her
name is Taffy,” she said.

“Well, he's mine now, and I can name
him
whatever I want,” Bugs roared. “Besides, a book signed by the author is priceless. You could buy a hundred stuffed tigers for what that book is worth.”

Melissa eyed Taffy longingly. “Maybe I should keep the book,” she said. “If it's worth a lot of money.”

“A storyteller signed this book,” Encyclopedia said, “but it wasn't the author of
Alice in Wonderland
.”

“You're crazy. That book was signed by the guy who wrote it.” Bugs glared at Encyclopedia and Melissa. “Now get lost, bookworms. Slither back underground before I feed you to the birds.”

Duke and Rocky laughed at Bugs's joke, but Melissa hid behind the detective again.

“I don't think he wants to be friends,” Melissa said in a whisper.

Encyclopedia swallowed. It was three against one, but he had promised Melissa to get her tiger back. “You fooled Melissa with that phony story.”

“You can't prove anything,” Bugs said. “How do you know the author didn't sign that book?”

“If I can prove it,” Encyclopedia asked, “will you give Melissa her tiger back?”

“Why not?”

Encyclopedia pulled a notebook and pen out of his back pocket. “Would you write the author's name on this paper for me?”

Bugs eyed his Tiger friends with a smirk and swaggered up to Encyclopedia.

Melissa took a few steps back.

“You think I signed the book, but I didn't.” Then Bugs grabbed the pen and wrote in big letters:

 

LOUIS CAROL

 

“See,” he said, “the handwriting doesn't match.”

The handwriting didn't match. But Encyclopedia had all the proof he needed. “A deal's a deal,” he said. “Give Melissa back her tiger.”

 

HOW DID ENCYCLOPEDIA PROVE THAT THE AUTHOR HADN'T SIGNED THE BOOK?

 

(Click here for the solution to “The Case of the Autographed
Alice in Wonderland
.”)

Bugs Meany hated being outsmarted by Encyclopedia all the time. He longed to get even. But every time he thought about giving Encyclopedia a mouth full of knuckles, he remembered Sally Kimball.

Sally was Encyclopedia's junior partner. She was also the prettiest girl and the best athlete in the fifth grade. What's more, she had done what no one—boy or girl—thought was possible. She had punched out Bugs Meany.

Bugs was trying to bully a little boy out of his bicycle the first time Sally knocked him silly. There was nothing Sally hated more than a bully.

“You need help,” Sally said, dusting Bugs's chin with a straight right.

Bugs walked around like a boy who didn't know whether he was walking or riding. “I hope she isn't asking me to dance,” he blubbered. Her punch had knocked him silly.

“Bugs doesn't like you any more than he likes me,” Encyclopedia warned Sally. “His brain is working overtime on revenge.”

“I'm not worried about anything he thinks up,” Sally said. “His picture should be in the dictionary next to the word birdbrain.”

The detectives were biking to the baseball field at South Park to watch their friends Fangs Liveright and Pinky Plummer play a Little League game. It was a hot ride.

“Let's stop for a cold drink,” Sally said, spotting Sonia Easton's lemonade stand.

“Good idea,” Encyclopedia agreed.

Sonia's lemonade stand was an Idaville landmark. She used it to raise money for the children's wing at the local hospital. Every year, she tried to top the year before.

“Two lemonades, please,” Sally said, putting two dimes down on the counter.

“You're just in time,” Sonia said, pouring two icy glasses of her famous thirst quencher. “I'm about to close up shop for a week. We're going to visit my cousins in Tallahassee.”

“Won't that hurt business?” Encyclopedia asked.

“Not this year,” Sonia said, pointing to a stack of coins and bills on the shelf behind her. “I'm way ahead of last year already.”

Sally's forehead wrinkled in concern. “That's a lot of money to have sitting around. Shouldn't it be in a bank?”

“It's more than three hundred dollars!” Sonia said proudly. Then she explained. “The TV station was just here to do a story about me for the news. That's the only reason the money's here. Otherwise I keep it in the First National Bank.”

Suddenly Sonia's eyes narrowed and she scowled. Encyclopedia looked over his shoulder. Bugs Meany was strolling by, listening to their conversation.

“That Bugs Meany,” Sonia said. “He's never bought one glass of lemonade from me. But the minute the news crew showed up, he tried to get his ugly mug on television.”

Sally shook her head. “Lucky he didn't break the camera.”

A few minutes later, Sonia's mother came outside to hurry her along. Encyclopedia and Sally helped her carry her lemonade supplies into the house before they locked the stand's shutters and closed the side door Sonia used to get in and out.

Encyclopedia didn't think about Sonia again until early the next morning. He was eating his breakfast and reading about Fangs's home run in the
Idaville Morning News
when the phone rang.

The voice on the other end was high-pitched and muffled.

“Encyclopedia?”

“Yes,” Encyclopedia answered.

“I forgot the money!”

“Who is this?” Encyclopedia asked.

“It's Sonia!” she said in a panicky voice. “I left all the money in the lemonade stand by accident. It's not safe!”

Encyclopedia strained to hear. Sonia's voice was barely understandable.

“I want to hire you to get it and keep it safe for me,” she begged. “I called Sally already.”

Encyclopedia was about to agree when the line went dead. A few minutes later, Sally coasted to a stop by the back door.

“Did Sonia call you?” she asked.

“Yes,” said Encyclopedia, heading for his bike. “It was a terrible connection, but it sounded like she left all that money sitting inside the lemonade stand.”

“We have to get it out of there before someone steals it,” Sally said.

Encyclopedia hopped on his bike and pedaled as fast as he could. Keeping up with Sally wasn't easy.

Sally pulled up alongside the lemonade stand and waited for Encyclopedia. He arrived a couple of minutes later, huffing and puffing.

“When did you get your pilot's license?” he asked, joking.

Sally shook her head. “You were driving way under the speed limit,” she answered.

As soon as he could breathe, Encyclopedia understood why Sonia was so panicked. The lemonade stand's front shutters had a padlock, but the side door didn't have any kind of lock at all. Anyone could walk in and take the money.

He pushed the door open and stepped inside. “Did you bring a flashlight?” he asked Sally.

“No, I didn't think of it,” she said, stepping in behind him and blocking the light from the door.

Encyclopedia took another step. The next thing he knew, a big fisherman's net dropped on top of him, trapping him inside. Sally struggled behind him. She was trapped, too.

Someone ran out from behind the stand and yelled at a passing police car. “Help, Officer! I've caught a couple of dangerous thieves.”

Encyclopedia recognized the voice. It was Bugs Meany.

“I should have known Bugs was behind this,” Sally muttered.

Encyclopedia watched Officer Muldoon walk toward them. The police officer helped Encyclopedia and Sally out of their trap.

All the while, Bugs was chattering in the background.

“The son of the police chief stealing money from sick kids,” Bugs said, shaking his head sadly. “It's a disgrace!”

“What exactly were you doing here so early in the morning, Bugs?” Encyclopedia asked.

“I heard you two plotting to rob this place at the ball game last night,” Bugs sneered. “Do you think I could stand by and let that happen? I waited all night for you to step into my trap. I caught you red-handed.”

“Help, Officer! I've caught a couple of dangerous thieves!”

“He's trying to frame us!” Sally said, rubbing her ankle. “We weren't going to steal the money. We were protecting it from people like him.”

“People like me?” Bugs asked with a surprised expression. “I'm not the one trying to steal money from sick children.” He turned to Officer Muldoon. “Call me as a star witness in the court case,” he said. “Someone needs to lock these two up and throw away the key.”

“Someone needs to give you a case of lockjaw,” Sally said, making a fist.

Officer Muldoon eyed her sternly, and then turned to Bugs. “Tell me exactly what happened,” he said, pulling out his notebook.

“I always suspected their little detective business was a front for a crime ring,” Bugs said, puffing out his chest. “Then last night I heard them plotting to rob the lemonade stand. Money that was supposed to go to sick kids in the hospital.”

Bugs put his hand over his heart. He seemed ready to weep phony tears down to his feet. “I knew no one would believe me over the police chief's son. So I laid a trap and hid here all night long. Sure enough, first thing this morning they crept in and grabbed the money. I caught them red-handed.”

“Bugs Meany, that's the biggest lie you've ever told,” Sally said, stamping her foot. “And you've told plenty of whoppers!”

Bugs ignored her and focused on Officer Muldoon. “I don't want a parade or a medal,” Bugs said. “I just want those poor, sick kids to get every penny of that money.”

He pulled a dime out of his pocket and added it to one of Sonia's neat stacks. “Here's another contribution from me.”

“These are very serious charges,” Officer Muldoon said. “I'm afraid I'm going to have to bring you all downtown and let your father sort it out, Leroy.”

Sally was furious. “Encyclopedia,” she cried. “Don't let Bugs get away with this!”

“He won't,” Encyclopedia said calmly. “I can prove that Bugs is lying.”

 

HOW?

 

(Click here for the solution to “The Case of the Lemonade Stand.”)