The Case of the Exploding Plumbing (3 page)

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Authors: Donald J. Sobol

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As Gus lifted the case, a car came up the driveway. Wilma Hutton jumped out. She hurried toward the house, taking tripping little steps because of her tight skirt. All the while she screamed, “Police! Police! ”
The front door swung open. Out charged Bugs Meany. Behind him was Officer Carlson.
“There’s your Skunk Ape, officer! ” cried Wilma. “As I drove up, those kids were putting the costume in that cello case.”
Gus laid the cello case on the ground and opened it. Inside was an ape costume. The smell made him stagger.
“That’s a dirty lie!” exclaimed Sally.
“Better open the case, Gus,” said Officer Carlson.
Gus laid the cello case on the ground and opened it. Inside was an ape costume. The smell made him stagger.
“What died in there?” gagged Bugs.
“Your brain,” snapped Sally. “This is a frame-up! ”
Bugs clenched his fists and snarled, “May a giant clam bite you on the nose.”
“May a sandbag fall on your head,” retorted Sally.
“Cool it, you two,” said Officer Carlson. “Bugs reported that the Skunk Ape has been frightening his cousin Wilma for days. So I came over to watch for it.”
“Wilma can’t take much more,” Bugs said to the policeman. “She’s an artist on the cello. Artists are very high-strung and nervous. That’s why they picked on her.”
“Oh, that’s rich!” said Sally. “She’s seventeen and a date with Frankenstein would be laughs. You’re just trying to get even, Bugs Meany!”
“They knew Wilma’s parents are off in Europe,” went on Bugs. “Poor girl, she’s all alone in this big house. A shock like seeing a Skunk Ape can ruin her career.”
“What about mine?” howled Gus.
Officer Carlson waved his hand as a sign for the children to be quiet. “We can get to the bottom of this. Is that your cello case, Gus?”
“It looks like mine,” replied Gus. “But a lot of cases look like mine.”
“Well, it certainly isn’t
mine,”
declared Wilma.
She went to her car and opened the trunk. She lifted out a cello case.
“I’ve been in Glenn City playing the cello,” she said. “When I arrived home, I saw these kids among the trees with the Skunk Ape costume. When they saw
me,
they shoved it into the cello case fast.”
“Wilma and Bugs are in this together,” Sally whispered angrily to Encyclopedia. “I wish I could prove it!”
“You don’t have to,” replied Encyclopedia. “I can.”
 
WHAT WAS THE CLUE?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(Turn to page 89 for the solution to The Case of the Skunk Ape.)
The Case of the Counterfeit Bill
Armand Jenks was eight and loved birds. He thought they were nicer than people.
When school let out for the summer, Armand spent his time in the woods. He hardly ever talked. He chirped.
The morning he came into the Brown Detective Agency, however, he wasn’t chirping. He was holding a bird’s nest.
“The devil has won!” he announced. “Birds are acting like humans—money crazy!”
He laid the nest on the table in front of Encyclopedia. Woven into the lining was a twenty-dollar bill.
“Hopping hoot owls, Armand!” exclaimed Encyclopedia. “Birds can’t tell money from a bubble-gum wrapper. Calm yourself....”
Suddenly Encyclopedia was frowning. He had touched the twenty-dollar bill. It felt thin. He got out his magnifying glass.
“This bill is counterfeit,” he said. “It doesn’t have red and blue fibers.”
“Where did you find the nest, Armand?” asked Sally.
“Over in Glenn City,” he replied. “There are some good woods behind the old railroad yard.”
“Show us the spot,” said Encyclopedia.
The children caught the ten-o’clock bus to Glenn City. During the ride, Armand talked sadly about the changes in nature.
“Pretty soon birds won’t seek the peace and quiet of the woods anymore,” he said.
“Humans have spoiled them,” agreed Encyclopedia.
“Birds today go where the action is,” said Armand. “I’ve seen nests lined with match-books, mittens, labels from cans, stockings, and pipe cleaners.”
“Can you tell where a nest was built just by looking at it?” inquired Encyclopedia.
“Sometimes,” said Armand. “I’ve found nests near a woodworking shop that had wood shavings curled around a few twigs. Tickets are used near theaters, and long hair near beauty parlors.”
The bus had reached their stop. The children got off. They walked past the old railroad yard and into the woods.
“Birds have become lazy,” said Armand. “They slap together junky nests and grow fat on backyard feeders.”
“It’s not so bad for them,” said Sally. “They have lots more time for themselves.”
Armand stopped by a large tree and pointed to a branch.
“That’s where I found the nest with the counterfeit bill,” he said. “Do you think the counterfeiters are near here?”
Encyclopedia climbed the tree and looked around.
“It’s possible,” said Encyclopedia. He climbed the tree and looked around.
“I can see three houses,” he called down. “We’ll each take a house and meet back here in half an hour.”
The children spread out. Encyclopedia headed for the farthest house.
He approached carefully. As he got near, the front door opened. A man in a policeman’s uniform stepped out.
“Can I help you?” he asked pleasantly. He unbuttoned his right breast pocket and pulled out a notebook and pen. Above the pocket was pinned a Glenn City police badge with the number 14.
“I—I guess I lost my way,” mumbled Encyclopedia.
He turned and hurried off. Back at the tree, he waited, panting, for the others to return. Armand appeared first.
“Dancing and counterfeiting!” he exclaimed. “They go together!”
As Encyclopedia’s jaw dropped, Armand explained.
The front part of the house that he had scouted was a ballet school. A class of small girls was dancing to the music of “The Sugar Plum Fairy.” After watching them for a while, he had walked around to a rear window.
“Six women were playing cards in the kitchen!”
“Is that a crime?” inquired Encyclopedia.
“Dancing and cards
lead
to crime,” insisted Armand. “Those women start by teaching kids to be graceful. Later, they teach them to pick pockets on tippytoes. After that, gambling and counterfeiting!”
“You’d better go and lie down,” muttered Encyclopedia. He was glad to see Sally approaching.
“I got chased by a duck,” she said.
She sat down under the tree and told what had happened.
When she had got close to the house she had picked, she heard a loud honking. A big duck charged her.
“A fat man leaned out a window and asked me what I wanted,” said Sally. “I said I wanted to get away from the duck.”
“Ducks make great watchdogs,” piped up Armand.
“The man seemed to be leaving on a trip,” continued Sally. “He had a suitcase, a tennis racket, and water skis by the front door. Did you find out anything, Encyclopedia?”
Encyclopedia told her what he and Armand had seen at the other two houses.
“Those women are the counterfeiters,” said Armand stubbornly. “They were probably playing cards and betting with counterfeit money when the wind blew the twenty-dollar bill out the window. A bird picked it up and used it to line its nest.”
“That might be true,” said Sally. “It makes as much sense as anything. But I’m afraid the counterfeiters don’t live close by after all.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure,” replied Encyclopedia. “The money isn’t the only phony thing around here.”
 
WHAT DID ENCYCLOPEDIA MEAN?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(Turn to page 90 for the solution to The Case of the Counterfeit Bill.)
The Case of the Window Dressers
The detectives were shopping in Hector’s Department Store when Sally’s eyes suddenly widened.
“Watch out behind you, Encyclopedia!” she cried. “You’re about to be struck by a bull.”
Encyclopedia had heard of a bull in a china shop, but never in women’s sportswear. Still, he wasn’t taking chances. He jumped to his right.
A bull’s head with long, curving horns swept by him. It was made of papier-mâché.
“Sorry,” apologized a man in shirt sleeves. He hurried on his way, steering the bull’s head through the mob of shoppers.
Behind him trailed a parade of slender young men and women. Sally and Encyclopedia stopped to observe them.
First came four women struggling with the rest of the papier-mâché bull. They were followed by two men carrying bullfighters’ costumes and a man with a large color poster of a bullfight.
Next came three more men. Each held a plastic female figure, the kind used in displaying clothes. Bringing up the rear were a man holding several petticoats and a woman with a clothesbrush.
“What’s going on?” asked Encyclopedia.
The woman with the clothesbrush lifted her nose. “We are dressing the number seven show window with a display of toreador pants,” she answered and strode off.
“Toreador pants?” repeated Encyclopedia. “Who wears them in Idaville?”
“Oh, you males,” said Sally disgustedly. “Toreador pants for women are very big this season. They’re styled after the pants worn by bullfighters.”
Encyclopedia had never seen a bullfight or a show window being dressed. “Let’s go watch,” he suggested.
The number 7 window was in the front of the store. The area was roped off to keep customers clear.

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