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Authors: Donald J. Sobol

Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret Pitch (5 page)

BOOK: Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret Pitch
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The two friends planned to search in a new area. They entered the woods near Mill Creek and walked northward.
This way they could avoid the garbage dump. But they would have to pass close to the ancient burial grounds in order to end up at Charlie’s house.
“I used to spend a lot of time in the garbage dump,” said Charlie. “But all I ever took away were sore feet. Did you ever get a toe stuck in an old dishwasher?”
“No, I can’t honestly say that I ever did,” answered Encyclopedia. “Once I caught my hand in a bed I was making. I had my mind on a case.”
The two boys moved slowly through the woods, their eyes searching the ground.
After a mile Charlie found two raccoon teeth.
He threw them away. He already had a complete set.
Encyclopedia found a few bottle caps, an old tennis ball, and a last month’s newspaper. Then, near the ancient burial grounds, he found something worth keeping.
He found a felt hat—like those worn by Bugs Meany and his Tigers.
“What do you suppose the Tigers were doing away out here?” wondered Encyclopedia.
“I don’t know,” said Charlie. “And I don’t care. This place gives me the spooks. Let’s go.”
Encyclopedia stared over the rusty fence. Weeds had overgrown the graves. Wild vines twisted around the small tombstones, which bore the names of early settlers and soldiers.
Encyclopedia pointed to a tree near the fence. Nailed to the trunk was a red and white target.
“Come back!” hollered Charlie as Encyclopedia climbed the rusty fence. “It’s against the law to go inside the ancient burial grounds.”
“I’m only going to sit on the fence,” said En-cyclopedia. “Now get on my shoulders. Take a close look at that target.”
“Now take a close look at that target.”
“Not me,” said Charlie. “I could fall in
there.”
Nevertheless, he did as Encyclopedia bid him.
He put his nose close to the target. “Somebody’s been doing a lot of shooting with an air gun,” he called. “The bull’s eye is filled with pellets.”
“Hmmm,” said Encyclopedia. “Come on down.”
As Charlie landed, he let out a yelp. He rolled on the ground moaning, “My foot, my foot.”
Suddenly he sat up, as if struck by a happy thought. “Maybe I was bit by a buffalo tooth,” he said hopefully.
Encyclopedia knelt beside the tooth hunter. He wiped the blood from his friend’s left foot with a clean handkerchief.
“W-why,” Encyclopedia gasped in astonishment. “You’ve been shot! There’s a little pellet in your big toe. Does it hurt much?”
“Not much,” said Charlie. “But the longer we stay around this place, the worse I feel.”
Encyclopedia helped Charlie to his feet and out of the woods.
Ten minutes later Charlie’s mother watched anxiously as Dr. Ross removed the pellet from her son’s toe.
“Do you know who shot you?” asked the doctor.
“We have a clue,” answered Charlie. “Encyclopedia found a hat—the kind all the Tigers wear. We think one of them shot me.”
“Stay away from those boys” said Charlie’s mother. “They’re wild. Let the police handle them.”
“I’m going to need one of Charlie’s old shoes,” said Dr. Ross. “I’ll have to cut a hole for the big toe so Charlie can walk with this bandage on.”
“Will you get his old blue sneaker?” Charlie’s mother asked Encyclopedia. “It’s in his closet.”
“I’ll be back in a wink,” said Encyclopedia.
Leaving the doctor’s office, the boy detective saw Duke Kelly, a Tiger, pacing the sidewalk. Duke looked worried.
Encyclopedia thought quickly. “Hey, Duke,” he called. “You live near Charlie Stewart. Will you run to his house?
“What for?”
“Charlie’s been shot in the foot,” said Encyclopedia. “The doctor wants to cut a hole in one of his shoes so he can walk around with the bandage on. Mrs. Stewart says to use one of his old blue sneakers. They’re in his closet.”
“Charlie’s room is on the second floor in the front, isn’t it?” said Duke. “All right, I guess I can find one of his blue sneakers.”
When Duke returned with the sneaker, Encyclopedia took it to Dr. Ross. The doctor cut a hole in the sneaker for the wounded toe. Then he slipped the sneaker over Charlie’s bandaged foot. It fit perfectly.
Immediately Encyclopedia marched outside.
“You’re in a pack of trouble,” he told Duke.
“The Tigers have been secretly shooting a high-powered air gun in the ancient burial grounds. Now you’ve shot Charlie!”
“Me!”
exclaimed Duke. “I didn’t shoot anybody.”
“You shot Charlie and followed us to the doctor’s office. You were scared. So you waited around to learn how seriously Charlie was hurt.”
“You’re as nutty as a chestnut tree,” retorted Duke. “I just happened to be standing here when you came out. I didn’t know anything about Charlie being shot in the foot!”
“Yes, you did,” said Encyclopedia. “Like every criminal, you made one mistake!”
WHAT WAS DUKE’S MISTAKE?
 
 
 
(See the section SOLUTIONS for the solution to The Case of the Wounded Toe.)
The Case of Excalibur
Bugs Meany walked into the Brown Detective Agency. He placed twenty-five cents on the gasoline can.
“I want to hire you,” he said.
Encyclopedia wasn’t sure that he had heard right.
“The job I need done is hush-hush,” the Tigers’ leader muttered out of the corner of his mouth. “Undercover stuff, get me?”
“I’ll keep it undercover. You won’t know it from the inside of your bed,” muttered back Encyclopedia. “What have you in mind?”
“I want you to get Excalibur.”
“Is that worse than a sore throat?” said Encyclopedia.
“Excalibur is my new penknife,” explained Bugs. “Remember Woody Fanfingle, the little squirt who beat me for the Idaville Mumblety-Peg championship last year? He just stole Excalibur.”
“Why should he steal Excalibur?” asked Encyclopedia.
“Excalibur is a great knife,” said Bugs. “Woody’s afraid that with Excalibur I’ll beat him this year.”
“Are you certain it was Woody who stole the knife?”
“Fifteen minutes ago I found him sneaking about the Tigers’ clubhouse,” said Bugs. “He picked up Excalibur—it’s a purple knife and my name is cut into it. He saw me and ran—we bumped as he got out the door. He shoved Excalibur into the pocket of his green pants as he got outside and kept running.”
“You didn’t chase him?”
“Naw, Woody broke his arm last week, and I don’t fight one-armed kids,” said Bugs. He rolled his eyes toward heaven. “Anyhow, his mother will be my math teacher next year.”
“You want me to get the knife back without anyone knowing Woody stole it, is that the idea?” asked Encyclopedia.
“If Woody’s mother hears I caught her son stealing, she’ll hate me. I couldn’t pass math next year in a flying saucer,” said Bugs.
The Tigers’ leader started for the garage door. “Woody is at the Little League game. Good luck, Brains, old boy.”
Encyclopedia thought over the sly look on Bugs’s face as he biked to Sally’s house. He told her about the theft of Excalibur.
Sally stamped her foot. “Ooooh, that Bugs Meany!” she cried. “Don’t trust him, Encyclopedia. Drop the case!”
“I don’t trust Bugs any farther than I can throw a cheese cake under water,” replied Encyclopedia. “Still, I’m in business. I take my customers as they come.”
“But he lied to you,” protested Sally.
“Woody’s mother isn’t Mrs. Fanfingle, the math teacher. His mother is Mrs. Fanfingle, the lady barber on Watson Street. Bugs Meany is up to no good!”
“Then come along,” said Encyclopedia. “I’ll need you.”
The two detectives rode their bikes behind the Idaville Elementary School. On the play-ground, the Little League game was underway.
Encyclopedia spied Charlie Stewart in the crowd. He asked Charlie to point out Woody Fanfingle.
Charlie pointed to an eight-year-old sitting on the bench. Although his broken left arm was held in a cast from his fingertips to above his elbow, Woody had on his baseball uniform.
“He gets dressed for every game,” explained Charlie. “His teammates help him. They think he brings them good luck.”
Encyclopedia returned to Sally. “I’m going down to the locker room,” he said. “Stand by the door. Whistle if anyone approaches.”
“I don’t like this one bit,” said Sally.
The locker room was empty. Encyclopedia went through each locker till he found one with a pair of green pants. The name Woody Fanfingle was sewn into the waistband.
Encyclopedia hesitated. Then, hearing no one, he quickly searched the pockets.
In the right pocket was a handkerchief, two stones, and a piece of string. In the left pocket was a penknife with “Bugs” cut into the purple handle—Excalibur!
As Encyclopedia slipped the knife into his pocket, a voice called, “Stop where you are!”
Mr. Evans and Bugs Meany suddenly appeared from the washroom. Mr. Evans was the school guard.
“Leroy Brown!” he exclaimed in astonishment. “So you’re the boy who has been stealing from the lockers during the baseball games!”
Before Encyclopedia could answer, Bugs had rushed up. He pulled Excalibur from the boy detective’s pocket.
“So you’re the boy who has been stealing!”
“Why look, Mr. Evans,” said Bugs. “It’s my knife Excalibur—the one that Woody Fanfingle stole from the Tigers’ clubhouse half an hour ago!”
Mr. Evans sent Bugs out to fetch Woody. A few moments later a grinning Bugs brought in a badly frightened Woody.
Mr. Evans questioned Woody sternly. Woody admitted that he had gone to the Tigers’ clubhouse just before the game.
“I looked in at the door,” said Woody. “I didn’t see anyone. So I left and came over here and changed into my baseball uniform.”
“He’s lying like a carpet,” sneered Bugs. “I saw him put my knife into his left pants pocket as he ran from the Tigers’ clubhouse. You saw Brown take it from the same pocket with your own eyes!”
“That I saw,” agreed Mr. Evans, as Bugs fairly danced in glee.
“I owe you an apology,” Mr. Evans said to Bugs. “Till you asked me to watch with you from the washroom, I had the idea you might be the locker room thief.”
“Everybody suspects the worst of me,” said Bugs righteously. “I don’t mind. You got the real thief, Mr. Evans. And I got my knife back. That’s all that matters.”
Mr. Evans took Encyclopedia and Woody by the elbow.
“Come up to my office, boys,” he said.
“Wait,” said Encyclopedia. “Woody didn’t steal Excalibur. Bugs planted it in his pants pocket while Woody was out on the field. Woody beat him in the Mumblety-Peg tournament last year, and Bugs wants to get even.”
“Next you’ll be telling me I didn’t see you trying to steal the knife out of the locker,” said Mr. Evans.
BOOK: Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret Pitch
8.95Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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