The Case of the Slippery Salamander (8 page)

Garth and Todd claimed that they had spotted the huge shadow of someone hiding behind the tree. But when Encyclopedia checked the time, he realized that it was a few minutes after noon—the time of day when the sun is directly overhead. If someone had really been hiding behind the tree, the person would have cast only a very small shadow.

When Encyclopedia confronted the boys with the facts, Todd and Garth admitted that they took the surfboard to get back at Benny. Benny’s cousins retrieved the board from where they had buried it in the sand and gave it back to him.