Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case by Donald Sobol Read Free Book Online Page A

the boy detective who always outsmarted him. He wanted revenge on Sally who always out punched him.
    He watched the detectives help Sonia close up her lemonade stand and noticed that no one locked up the money. He pretended to be Sonia on the phone. Then he watched as the detectives walked right into his trap.
    Bugs’s plan might have worked except for one thing. He talked too much.
    Bugs said that he caught Encyclopedia and Sally red-handed. Later he said that he watched them grab the money.
    But that was impossible.
    If Bugs had really caught the pair “red-handed,” the money would still be in their hands when Encyclopedia and Sally were swept up in Bugs’s trap. The money was still stacked neatly on the shelf when Bugs added his dime.
    When Encyclopedia pointed out the flaw in Bugs’s story, the bully confessed.
    Officer Muldoon drove beside Encyclopedia and Sally as they biked to the First National Bank. They deposited the money in Sonia’s account.
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    Encyclopedia knew Wilford Wiggins was no historian with a million-copy best seller up his sleeve. But he didn’t know how to prove it until Wilford brought out his “most important artifact”—George Washington’s letter to Martha Washington.
    Encyclopedia knew something Wilford didn’t. George Washington wasn’t one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. As Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, he was in New York fighting the British, not in Philadelphia signing the Declaration.
    When Encyclopedia pointed out this truth to Wilford, he admitted that all of his “revolutionary antiques” were fakes. For the letter, he soaked a piece of paper in tea to make it look old. Then he added the words and the signature himself.
    The neighborhood kids kept their money, and Wilford gave Mark Goldberg his savings back. Mark got to keep the rusty lantern, too, just in case the British ever decided to invade Idaville.
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    Encyclopedia suspected Mrs. Sweeney the minute she asked about fingerprints. Her shoulders slumped in relief, not sadness, when Chief Brown told her the thief’s fingerprints would only be useful if the thief’s prints were on file.
    But Encyclopedia was sure as soon as he flashed the light on the tree outside the window. Mrs. Sweeney said the crook had climbed down the tree. But if that were true, Mrs. Monarch and the other club members in the living room would have been alerted to trouble when the butterflies took flight. And they would have seen the masked man through their binoculars.
    When confronted with Encyclopedia’s theory, Mrs. Sweeney admitted to slipping the brooch into her pocket.
    Mrs. Sweeney left the Butterfly Gardener’s Club and Idaville in disgrace, and Mrs. Monarch put the butterfly brooch in the bank—except for very special occasions.
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    An assistant brought fresh water to the judges after each tasting. But Encyclopedia noticed that judge number two made sure her water glass was full before tasting Joey’s cookie. She knew it would taste awful and wanted to have a glass of water at the ready.
    When confronted with the evidence, she confessed. Judge number two wanted her cousin Mary to win the contest and was afraid Joey’s cookies would be impossible to beat.
    She was right. Joey remixed his cookie dough with the right ingredients. He walked away with the blue ribbon for first prize, a check for fifty dollars, and a chance to have his recipe published in a cookbook.
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    Encyclopedia wondered why a real NASA astronaut would have to raise money from schoolkids, fifty cents at a time. He suspected the astronaut was a fake the minute he started talking about top secret missions. But he didn’t know for sure until he saw the duck.
    If that duck had truly flown in space, it wouldn’t have lived to quack the tale. Ducks need gravity to swallow. It would have starved in a weightless space capsule.
    The man admitted that he was a