The Case of the Mysterious Handprints

T
here was more to Idaville than met the eye.

To passing motorists, Idaville looked like an ordinary seaside town. It had lovely beaches, a Little League, and two delicatessens. It had churches, a synagogue, and four banks.

To police chiefs all over the country, however, Idaville was far from ordinary. No one got away with breaking a law in Idaville.

How did Idaville do it? What was the secret behind the town’s spotless police record?

Only two grown-ups, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, knew the answer. Idaville’s war on crime was masterminded by their only child, ten-year-old
Encyclopedia, America’s Sherlock Holmes in sneakers.

Mr. Brown was the Idaville police chief. He was a fine officer, brave and smart. But sometimes he came up against a crime that even he could not solve. When that happened, he knew what to do. He drove home. At the dinner table he went over the facts of the case while Encyclopedia listened carefully.

Nothing else was necessary. Encyclopedia usually figured out the guilty person before dessert. If he needed a few minutes extra, his mother was disappointed.

Chief Brown hated keeping his son’s sleuthing under cover. He would have liked the president to declare Encyclopedia a national treasure.

But if he told the truth, who would believe him?

Who would believe that the mastermind behind Idaville’s crackdown on crime didn’t look in the mirror after washing to see if his face was clean. He looked in his towel.

As for Encyclopedia, he never told anyone about the help he gave his father. He didn’t want to seem different from other fifth-graders.

He was stuck with his nickname, however.

Only his parents and teachers called him by his real name, Leroy. Everyone else called him Encyclopedia.

An encyclopedia is a book or set of books filled with facts from A to Z. So was Encyclopedia’s head. He had read more books than anyone in Idaville, and he never forgot what he read. His pals insisted that he was better than a library. They learned all kinds of things about books from him—such as footnotes don’t come from squeaky shoes.

At the dinner table Friday evening, Chief Brown poked at his meat loaf. Encyclopedia and his mother knew what that meant. A case had him puzzled.

Chief Brown put down his fork. “There was trouble at the Yacht Club this morning,” he said at last. “Someone smashed the rudder of
Defiance.”

“Isn’t
Defiance
one of the sailboats in the Commodore’s Cup finals?” Mrs. Brown inquired.

“Defiance
is racing
Childhood II,”
replied Chief Brown. “Whichever boat wins two out of three races will be awarded the Commodore’s Cup for the year. Yesterday
Defiance
won the opening race.”

Encyclopedia had read about the Commodore’s
Cup finals in the
Idaville News. Defiance
was owned and sailed by Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Day.
Childhood II
was owned and sailed by John Cushing and his brother, Tom.
Childhood II
was faster in light seas.
Defiance
was faster in rough seas. With Mr. Day at the helm,
Defiance
had sliced through angry waves yesterday to win by more than two minutes.

“Why don’t you give Leroy the facts about the smashed rudder, dear,” Mrs. Brown suggested. “He’ll figure out who did it.”

Chief Brown smiled and withdrew a small notebook from his breast pocket. “Here’s what I have,” he said.

At seven o’clock that morning, the night watchman at the Yacht Club went off duty. As he was leaving, a cleaning woman arrived. A few minutes later the woman glanced out the window and saw a blond man carrying a hammer. He was walking out on pier 2 toward the slip where
Defiance
was tied up. A light rain was falling.

The cleaning woman didn’t bother about the man. Not more than ten minutes passed when she happened to glance out the same window. The pier was deserted. The man was gone.

Chief Brown said, “So far as I can tell, no one else was on the pier until eight o’clock. Then five or six men and women arrived to take out their boats. That’s when the smashed rudder on
Defiance
was discovered.”

“Do you think the blond man is responsible?” Mrs. Brown asked.

“Perhaps,” Chief Brown answered cautiously. He flipped a page in his notebook.

“The manager of the Yacht Club telephoned Mr. Day, owner of
Defiance,”
Chief Brown continued. “After examining the rudder himself, Mr. Day called me. He said the rudder couldn’t be repaired in time for today’s race, which was to start at noon. So the second race had to be postponed until tomorrow.”

“That’s a tough break for the Cushing brothers,” Encyclopedia said. “The seas were calm today.
Childhood II
might have beaten
Defiance
and squared the series at one victory apiece.”

“True,” Chief Brown said. “But one of the brothers might have smashed the rudder, hoping that it could not be repaired at all.”

“What a horrible example of sportsmanship,” Mrs. Brown said. “I feel so sorry for the
Days. They’re among the best-liked couples at the Yacht Club.”

“I questioned the Cushing brothers,” Chief Brown said. “They don’t have an alibi for seven o’clock, when the blond man was on the pier. They insisted they were eating breakfast. They could be lying. They live alone, and no one saw them at breakfast.”

“What about Mr. and Mrs. Day?” asked Mrs. Brown.

“Mr. Day said he and Mrs. Day were still sleeping at seven o’clock,” answered Chief Brown. “Like the Cushing brothers, the Days live alone. And like the brothers, there is no one to support their story.”

Chief Brown leafed through several pages of his notebook.

“Shortly before nine o’clock this morning,” he said, “Mr. Day drove his wife to the beauty parlor. There is a supper dance at the Yacht Club tonight, and she wanted her hair set. Mr. Day said that he had just returned home when the phone rang. It was the manager of the Yacht Club calling. According to Mr. Day, that was when he learned about
Defiance
’s smashed rudder.”

Mrs. Brown looked at Encyclopedia out of the corner of her eye. He had not asked his question. Usually he solved the toughest mystery with one question.

“If only the cleaning woman had recognized the man!” she declared.

“She saw only his back,” Chief Brown said. “Oh, I nearly forgot. I found a blond wig on top of a trash can outside the kitchen of the Yacht Club. The cleaning woman swears the wig wasn’t there when she came to work.”

Mrs. Brown looked at Encyclopedia again. She seemed to expect him to solve the case now that he knew about the blond wig.

Encyclopedia had closed his eyes. He always closed his eyes when he did his deepest thinking on a case. But he wasn’t ready yet to ask his one question.

So Mrs. Brown said, “What color hair do John and Tom Cushing have—and Mr. and Mrs. Day?”

“The Cushing brothers have dark hair,” Chief Brown replied. “Mr. Day’s hair is blond. Mrs. Day is a redhead.”

Suddenly Encyclopedia opened his eyes. He asked his question. “Dad, did you check with
the beauty parlor to see if Mr. Day drove his wife there this morning as he claims?”

“He told the truth,” Chief Brown stated. “One of the beauticians saw him drive Mrs. Day up to the door.”

“Leroy,” Mrs. Brown exclaimed. “The rudder of the Days’ sailboat was smashed around seven o’clock. They reached the beauty parlor some two hours later. What has one got to do with the other?”