The Clue in the Recycling Bin by Gertrude Chandler Warner Read Free Book Online Page A

soon as the lights went on, they saw somebody running away across their lawn. It looked like a man, but they couldn’t be sure.
    The children walked into the sunporch with Grandfather. Watch stood at the screen door, barking loudly. The running figure reached the road and disappeared.

    Grandfather phoned the police.
    â€œSomebody was trying to get into our house,” said Violet.
    â€œBut Watch chased the burglar away,” said Jessie. She petted Watch. “Good dog,” she said. “Good dog.”
    Henry looked at the screen door, which was still locked on the inside. “Look,” he said. “Somebody started to cut a hole in the screen door.”
    â€œWatch heard him and chased him away,” said Benny. “We are lucky to have Watch.”
    â€œWe are also lucky to have a strong door between the screen porch and the house,” said Grandfather. “I don’t think the burglar could have gotten into our house.”
    Henry grabbed a flashlight from a shelf and opened the screen door.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” asked Grandfather.
    â€œThe ground is wet,” said Henry. “I’ll bet the intruder left a lot of footprints.”
    The children and Grandfather and Watch all stepped onto the sidewalk that led up to their screen porch. It didn’t take long for Henry to find a trail of footprints.
    One set came toward the screen porch. “That’s where he—or she—came up to the house. See how close the footprints are to one another?” asked Henry. “The intruder was walking slowly and quietly.”
    â€œLook,” said Violet, pointing to a second set of footprints. “Those footprints are going away from the house. They’re far apart from one another.”
    â€œThat means the intruder was running away,” said Jessie. “Let me get my notebook.”
    â€œDoes Jessie want to take notes?” asked Grandfather.
    â€œNo,” said Henry, “she wants to look at a drawing.”
    In a minute Jessie was back with one of her new notebooks. She flipped it open, and the children stared at the first footprint drawing she had made.
    â€œNo,” said Violet. “These footprints are not the same as the first ones we found outside the recycling center.”
    Jessie flipped the page. “But these footprints are exactly the same as the second ones we found outside the recycling center —the ones outside the Other Stuff bin.”
    Henry, Violet, Benny, and Grandfather all looked at Jessie’s second drawing.
    â€œWhat does it mean?” asked Grandfather.
    â€œI’m not sure, but I have a hunch it means that somebody wants something that was in the Other Stuff recycling bin,” said Henry.

CHAPTER 7
    One Solution
    T he next morning, the children had a plan. After breakfast they got on their bikes and pedaled to Tío’s Tacos. There they bought six bottles of Doo-Dah Tea: three mint-flavored and three raspberry-flavored.
    When they reached the recycling center, they saw Ethan working in the same corner he had worked in before. Once again he was raking up leaves and grass clippings.
    When Kayla saw the Aldens, she told them that the recycling center had been broken into again.
    â€œThis is so frustrating,” Kayla said. “There was no real damage except that the bags of leaves and grass clippings are all broken open. Thank goodness Ethan showed up to volunteer this morning.”
    The children looked at one another and nodded their heads.
    â€œWe know who is breaking into the center and crushing the bags of leaves and grass clippings,” Jessie said to Kayla.
    â€œYou do?!” Kayla seemed surprised. “Who?”
    â€œWe think the person who’s doing it wants to tell you himself. And he will, very soon,” said Henry.
    Kayla looked confused. “Well, okay,” she said.
    Violet took two bottles of tea out of her bike basket. “Would you like a bottle of