Encyclopedia Brown Finds the Clues

Table of Contents

 

“Trouble has just arrived,” whispered Sally.

A police car drew up by the Brown Detective Agency. Out stepped Bugs, his mother, and Officer Carlson.

“The Meanys have brought a serious charge against you,” Officer Carlson said to Encyclopedia.

“This little do-gooder here was part of the gang that kidnapped me!” said Bugs.

“Tell him what you overheard,” said Mrs. Meany.

“I heard the kidnappers say Encyclopedia Brown was going to pick up the money,” said Bugs.

“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” said Encyclopedia. “What kidnappers? What money?”

“Don’t play dumb,” sneered Bugs. I heard the kidnappers say he was to get one hundred dollars for picking up the ransom money.”

“That’s a lie!” said Encyclopedia.

Officer Carlson said to Encyclopedia, “Is this some kind of prank?”

“Yes, sir,” answered Encyclopedia. “It is.”

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First published in the United States of America by Dutton Children’s Books,
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Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2007

 

Copyright © Donald J. Sobol, 1966
(Member of the Authors League of America, Inc.)

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Catalog Card number: AC66-10230

eISBN : 978-1-101-00708-2

 

 

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His head bent low over the handlebars of his bike, Encyclopedia Brown rounded the comer of Maple Avenue like high-speed sandpaper.

It was three minutes before six o’clock of a summer evening. With a bit of luck and a following wind, Encyclopedia hoped to make it home on time for dinner.

Suddenly someone called his name.

“Leroy! Leroy Brown!”

Right off he knew it had to be a teacher calling. Only teachers and his mother and father called him Leroy.

Everyone else in the town of Idaville called him Encyclopedia.

He didn’t look much like an encyclopedia, which is a set of books filled with all kinds of facts. Or even like one book.

People called him Encyclopedia because he had read more books than a bathtub full of professors. And he never forgot anything he read.

“Leroy! Leroy!”

It was Mrs. Worth, his old fourth-grade teacher. She was standing beside her car, looking very sad.

“I can’t get it going,” she said. “Can you help me? ”

“I’ll try,” said Encyclopedia. He leaned his bike against a tree and raised the hood.

“Start her again, please, Mrs. Worth,” he said.

The motor coughed and sputtered out.

“The trouble must be in the carburetor,” said Encyclopedia, beginning to disappear under the hood.

He lifted off the air filter. Now he could reach the butterfly valve in the carburetor. He poked it open with his finger.

The motor roared to life when Mrs. Worth again tried to start it.

Mrs. Worth was delighted. When Encyclopedia returned to view, she thanked him over and over again.

“Golly, it wasn’t anything,” said Encyclopedia. “Just a stuck valve.”

He smiled as Mrs. Worth drove off—till he looked at his watch. It gave him unsmiling news. It was past six o’clock, the Brown’s dinner hour. He’d catch it for being late!

His mother put down a pot of boiled cabbage to stare at him. Dirt and grease from Mrs. Worth’s motor coated him from ears to sneakers.

“Where have you been?” she asked, kissing the one clean spot on his cheek.

“Fishing,” answered Encyclopedia.

“In an oil well?”

“The water was so dirty,” Encyclopedia said quickly, “the goldfish looked like black bass.”

He didn’t mention Mrs. Worth’s motor. He seldom spoke to anyone, not even his parents, about the help he gave others. And he
never
spoke about the help he gave grown-ups.

His mother looked out at Rover Avenue through the kitchen window. Oddly, she hadn’t scolded him for being late.

“Your father knows we are having corned beef and cabbage tonight,” she said in a worried voice. “What could be keeping him?”

“Dad wouldn’t miss his favorite dish without a good reason,” said Encyclopedia. “Maybe he’s chasing a dangerous crook or something.”

Mrs. Brown looked even more worried.

Encyclopedia tried again. “Don’t worry, Mom,” he said. “Dad is the best police officer in the state. He’ll be home soon.”

Encyclopedia was right. As he was washing the back of his neck, he heard his father close the garage door.

A moment later Mr. Brown entered the house. He was a big, broad-shouldered man dressed in a police chief’s uniform.

His uniform was the envy of every lawman in the United States. Although Idaville was like many other American towns, its police force was
unlike
any other.

For more than a year, neither child nor grown-up had got away with breaking a law.

Hardened criminals had passed the word: “Stay clear of Idaville.”

This was partly because the Idaville policemen were well trained, smart, and brave. But mostly it was because Chief Brown had Encyclopedia at the dinner table.

Chief Brown never whispered a word of how Encyclopedia helped him. After all, who would believe the truth?

Who would believe that a fifth-grader solved difficult cases while eating dinner in the Browns’ red brick house on Rover Avenue?

Naturally, Encyclopedia never let out that he was the mastermind behind Idaville’s war on crime.

So the name Leroy Brown was missing from the honor roll of the world’s great detectives.

“I’m sorry to be late, dear,” said Chief Brown as he sat down to eat. “A terrible thing happened this afternoon.”

After he had said grace, he raised his head and looked at Encyclopedia. “Mr. Clancy, the plumber, was beaten and robbed.”

“Was he badly hurt?” asked Mrs. Brown.

“He’s in St. Mark’s Hospital,” Chief Brown said. “The doctors say he’ll be all right. I’m afraid we’ll never catch the man who attacked him.”

“Why not, Dad?” asked Encyclopedia. “Didn’t anyone see what happened?”

“John Morgan saw everything,” said Chief Brown. “He’s Mr. Clancy’s helper. He was sitting in the truck when a tramp attacked Mr. Clancy.”

Chief Brown unbuttoned his breast pocket and drew out his notebook. “I wrote down everything John Morgan told me. I’ll read it to you.”

Encyclopedia closed his eyes. He always closed his eyes when he did his heavy thinking on a case.

His father began to read what John Morgan had told him about the beating and theft.

“Clancy was driving the truck and I was sitting beside him. We had turned onto the dirt road near the Benson farm when the motor overheated. Clancy stopped, walked around to the front of the truck, and lifted the hood. As he took off the radiator cap, a tramp jumped out of the woods. The tramp struck Clancy on the head with a piece of pipe.

“Clancy fell over the radiator and slid down the front of the truck. I leaped out of the truck, but the tramp was already racing into the woods. He carried the pipe and Clancy’s wallet. I let him go in order to get Clancy to the hospital right away.”

Chief Brown finished reading and closed his notebook.

Encyclopedia opened his eyes. He asked but one question: “Did Mr. Clancy have an unusually large amount of money in his wallet?”

His father looked startled.

“Why, yes,” he answered. “It so happened that Mr. Clancy had two hundred dollars in his wallet. He had just been paid for work on a new apart ment house. What made you think he was carrying a lot of money?”