Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Soccer Scheme Read online

  ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN, BOY DETECTIVE

  ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN AND THE CASE OF THE SECRET PITCH

  ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN FINDS THE CLUES

  ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN GETS HIS MAN

  ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN SOLVES THEM ALL

  ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN KEEPS THE PEACE

  ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN SAVES THE DAY

  ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN TRACKS THEM DOWN

  ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN TAKES THE CASE

  ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN LENDS A HAND

  ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN AND THE CASE OF THE DEAD EAGLES

  ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN AND THE CASE OF THE MIDNIGHT VISITOR

  ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN CRACKS THE CASE

  ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN, SUPER SLEUTH

  ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN AND THE CASE OF THE SECRET UFOS

  DUTTON CHILDREN’S BOOKS

  A division of Penguin Young Readers Group

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. • Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) • Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) • Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa • Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2012 by Lobos Enterprises, LLC

  Illustrations copyright © 2012 by James Bernardin

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Sobol, Donald J., date.

  Encyclopedia Brown and the case of the soccer scheme / by Donald J.

  Sobol ; illustrated by James Bernardin.—1st ed.

  p. cm.—(Encyclopedia Brown)

  Summary: Idaville’s secret weapon against lawbreakers, ten-year-old Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown, helps the police force solve ten new cases, the solutions to which are found in the back of the book.

  eBook ISBN 978-1-101-59167-3 [1. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Bernardin, James, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.S68524Epao 2012

  [Fic]—dc23 2011049551

  Published in the United States by Dutton Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group,

  345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 • www.penguin.com/youngreaders

  Designed by Jason Henry and Irene Vandervoort

  For Rose,

  Who Deserves All the Dedications

  Contents

  More in This Series

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  The Case of the Friendly Watchdog

  The Case of the Red Roses

  The Case of the Jelly-Bean Holdup

  The Case of the Soccer Scheme

  The Case of the Hole in the Book

  The Case of the April Fools’ Plot

  The Case of Wilford’s Big Deal

  The Case of the Ten-Dollar Bike

  The Case of the Hidden Money

  The Case of Lovely Lana

  Solution to The Case of the Friendly Watchdog

  Solution to The Case of the Red Roses

  Solution to The Case of the Jelly-Bean Holdup

  Solution to The Case of the Soccer Scheme

  Solution to The Case of the Hole in the Book

  Solution to The Case of the April Fools’ Plot

  Solution to The Case of Wilford’s Big Deal

  Solution to The Case of the Ten-Dollar Bike

  Solution to The Case of the Hidden Money

  Solution to The Case of Lovely Lana

  The Case of the Friendly Watchdog

  Idaville looked like many seaside towns on the outside. On the inside, however, Idaville was different. Very different.

  No one, grown-up or child, got away with breaking the law in Idaville.

  The center of the war on crime was not police headquarters. It was the redbrick house at 13 Rover Avenue. There lived Mr. and Mrs. Brown and their only child, ten-year-old Encyclopedia.

  Mr. Brown was chief of police. He was brave and smart. Whenever he came up against a case he couldn’t solve, he went home to dinner.

  Encyclopedia solved the case at the table. Usually by asking one question. Usually before dessert.

  Chief Brown would have liked to tell everyone about Encyclopedia. Who would believe him? Who would believe that the mastermind behind Idaville’s crime cleanup was a fifth grader?

  So he kept his son’s detective police work a secret, and so did Mrs. Brown.

  Encyclopedia was content to forego fame. Helping to keep Idaville a safe place to live was the best reward.

  However, he was stuck with his nickname. No one but his parents and his teachers called him by his real name, Leroy. He knew so much that everyone else called him Encyclopedia.

  An encyclopedia is a book or set of books filled with facts from A to Z. So was Encyclopedia’s head. He had read more books than just about anyone in Idaville, and he never forgot what he read.

  On Thursday Chief Brown was in Glenn City helping the police there solve a holdup. Right before he had left, a theft had taken place in Idaville. He had one of his officers take charge of the case, write a report, and leave a copy with Mrs. Brown.

  Mrs. Brown read the report out loud. Encyclopedia listened to every word.

  Jewelry was stolen Wednesday from the home of Adam and Gilda Lang. Any other watchdog would have barked at whoever committed the crime, but not their Morris. The neighbors didn’t hear a sound.

  Morris was a Great Dane and as friendly as a kitten. If he saw a stranger in the yard, he didn’t bark. He wagged his tail.

  Earlier in the year Mrs. Lang had signed him up for obedience school.

  Morris could not pass the first test—sitting still for two minutes.

  Mrs. Lang had urged him in no uncertain terms. “Sit, Morris, sit. For just two minutes, dear. That isn’t hard. Be a love and sit!”

  Morris decided to forget the whole thing. He dropped onto his stomach and licked his paws.

  The following week Mrs. Lang entered him in Calvin’s Canine College to improve his mind. He flunked.

 
Next she entered him in the Idaville Dog Show. Brains didn’t count. Looks were all-important.

  That’s where Morris started disliking bald-headed men.

  A woman was judging him. A trainer, who was bald as a lightbulb, tripped and knocked her down. She hurt her hip. A male judge replaced her. He, too, was bald. Morris barked like crazy at him and had to be pulled away.

  Ever since then, Morris loses his temper whenever he sees a bald-headed man. He barks but never bites.

  Mrs. Lang discovered her jewelry missing when she came home from a trip yesterday. Mrs. Lang’s brother, Dudley Nelson, lives across the street from the Langs. The Langs were out of town for two days. Whenever they are gone, Dudley takes care of Morris.

  Before they left, the Langs told Dudley to expect two repairmen in the morning. Hans was to fix the pool pump. Tex was to fix the lawn sprinklers.

  * * *

  Dudley tended his garden in front of his house while waiting for the two men. A little after nine o’clock Hans parked his truck by the gate of the Langs’ fenced property. Two minutes later Tex drove up. Both men were bald. Neither had a hat.

  Dudley told them that Morris barked at bald men. He loaned Hans a Yankee baseball cap. Hans, a baseball fan, was delighted. Dudley loaned Tex a ten-gallon Texas cowboy hat. Tex was delighted. Its wide brim shaded his face and neck.

  Both men worked outside behind the house. Dudley lost sight of them. A seven-foot hedge surrounded the fence, and so the men were also out of sight of neighbors.

  At ten o’clock, Hans drove off for about an hour. He returned with a bulging shopping bag. Then Tex drove off and came back in a little more than an hour. He, too, had a bulging shopping bag. When questioned by detectives, both men claimed to have gone to buy parts. That turned out to be true.

  Each man was alone while the other went for parts. So each man had time to steal the jewelry. Morris never barked.

  The doors to the house were locked. However, Morris goes in and out by a doggy door between the kitchen and part of the yard behind the house. It is automatically locked at five o’clock. Hans and Tex are small. Dudley said either man could have squeezed through the doggy door and into the house and stolen the jewels.

  The men quit work within a minute of each other. Their tool cases could easily hold their tools and the jewels.

  There the report ended.

  “The report has all the facts except who was the thief, Hans or Tex,” said Mrs. Brown. “It has to be one or the other.”

  “It’s the one at whom Morris wouldn’t bark,” said Encyclopedia.

  WAS IT TEX OR HANS?

  (Click here for the solution to “The Case of the Friendly Watchdog.”)

  The Case of the Red Roses

  Encyclopedia helped his father solve crimes all year-round. In the summer when school was out, he helped the children of the neighborhood as well. He opened a detective agency in the family garage.

  After breakfast he hung out his sign:

  Encyclopedia used reason rather than muscle to solve cases. Once in a while, reason didn’t work.

  He therefore took in Sally Kimball, a classmate, as his junior partner. Sally was the best girl athlete in the school. She also had what it takes. She could tame the bullies.

  On Sunday the detectives biked to the Harris Drugstore, which had the best greeting cards. Sally wanted to buy a get-well card for a friend.

  Mr. Harris was at the cash register. Some thirty feet away Bugs Meany was standing at a table loaded with red roses for sale.

  “What is that no-good Bugs doing by the roses?” Sally said. “He can’t tell a rose from a turnip.”

  “He seems to be watching,” Encyclopedia observed. “From the table of roses he can see the racks of candy, the line of customers waiting to pay, and Mr. Harris. I’d say Bugs is at the roses for a purpose.”

  Bugs Meany was the leader of a gang of tough older boys. They called themselves the Tigers. They should have called themselves the Lamp Chains. They were always pulling something shady.

  Sally had dealt with Bugs and members of the Tigers many times. Last week she had taken care of a Tiger named Duke Kelly. Duke was threatening to rough up Robby Pickens unless he traded his new bicycle seat for a can of ginger ale.

  Sally had told Duke to leave Robby alone.

  “Go kiss your elbow,” Duke had said with a sneer, and went for the first punch. He threw a left. Sally ducked and bashed his nose with a right.

  Duke wobbled around like a boy looking for himself. “I must be having a bad day,” he moaned, and bit the grass.

  Now, ten days later, Duke, Bugs, and Robby were in Mr. Harris’s drugstore. Bugs stood by the roses. Duke stood right behind Robby in the line to pay.

  “I don’t like this,” Encyclopedia said to Sally. “Duke and Bugs are up to no good. They might be trying to get even. Robby is responsible for your punching out Duke.”

  As he spoke, a lady accidentally bumped her shopping cart into the table with the roses. The roses and their polished brass vases were shaken.

  One of the vases toppled to the floor. The roses spilled out.

  A clerk hurried over. He knelt on one knee and gathered the roses. Carefully he stuck them back in the brass vase.

  By then Robby had reached the front of the line. He was paying Mr. Harris for a chocolate bar. Duke had edged nearer to Robby.

  “What do I behold, Mr. Harris?” Duke suddenly thundered. “This!” He held up a chocolate bar. “I just pulled it out of Robby’s back pocket!”

  “That’s not true,” Robby exclaimed in shock.

  Bugs raced from the roses to Mr. Harris. “Don’t listen to the little sneak! At last he got caught. I saw him take two chocolate bars off the candy rack. He hid one in his back pocket. I saw him myself! I saw him with my own eyes!”

  “Who knows how long he’s been shoplifting,” Duke broke in.

  “We’ll find out when the police work him over,” Bugs said.

  Mr. Harris looked uncertain. “I can’t settle this at the moment, children. Wait for me out back.”

  “I was smelling the roses near the candy. Roses are the love of my life. I can smell them by the hour.”

  Out in back Sally glared at Bugs. “You’re lying, you bag of doughnuts. You didn’t see Robby take two chocolate bars off the candy rack and hide one.”

  “I saw him!” Bugs swore.

  “How come you happened to see Duke lift the chocolate bar from Robby’s pocket at just the right time?” Encyclopedia demanded.

  “Some people are born with special gifts,” Bugs boasted. He sniffed the air dreamily. “I was smelling the roses near the candy. Roses are the love of my life. I can smell them by the hour.”

  He sniffed twice more and gave Encyclopedia a cocksure grin. “I saw over the roses. I’m an expert on roses. Robby was at the candies. He took two chocolate bars. He slid one into his back pocket and got in line to pay for the other. It’s the truth. Man, oh man! To think that I, Bugs Meany, America’s teenage heartthrob, would tell a lie chokes me with unspeakable fury.”

  “Save the act, Bugs,” Encyclopedia said. “You and Duke tried to get Robby in trouble.”

  WHAT CONVINCED ENCYCLOPEDIA?

  (Click here for the solution to “The Case of the Red Roses.”)

  The Case of the Jelly-Bean Holdup

  On Friday Encyclopedia and Sally took the bus to Mr. Whitten’s toy store where the jelly-bean contest was being held.

  The boys and girls who entered the contest had to guess the number of jelly beans in a glass jar. Whoever guessed the correct number or who came closest would win the jelly beans plus a professional basketball.

  The detectives were at the door of the toy store when Pete saw them.

  Pistol Pete was six years old and a fan of the W
ild West. He sported a gun belt, holster, and water pistol. He drew the pistol on children who passed his house. If they didn’t reach for the sky fast enough, he threatened to squirt them between the eyes. Often he made good.

  His real name was Peter Peabody. The name didn’t fit the fearless sheriff of Idaville, defender of law and order. So he called himself Pistol Pete.

  The children of the neighborhood had another name for him. They called him the Town Bell. They often felt like wringing his neck.

  He pointed his water pistol at Encyclopedia and Sally and commanded, “Stick ’em up!”

  The detectives raised their hands.

  “Don’t shoot!” Sally said, fighting back a chuckle.

  “Don’t be scared. I’m just practicing my fast draw,” Pistol Pete explained. “Butch Ribrock wants me to pull a holdup at the jelly-bean contest.”

  Everyone got along with Butch Ribrock by keeping their distance. He looked like he had his fun knocking out a Ford with a smack on the bumper.

  “Butch promised me I’d get my name in the newspapers if I held up the jelly-bean contest,” Pistol Pete said. “I’ll be the most famous gunslinger west of California.”

  “I think we’d better keep an eye on Butch,” Encyclopedia said.

  “Every minute,” Sally agreed.

  “Butch is sure he’ll win the contest,” Pistol Pete stated. “He promised me half the jelly beans.”

  “You told him you’d pull the holdup?” Encyclopedia asked in amazement.

  “Sure,” replied Pistol Pete. “I’ll just be doing my thing.” He twirled his water pistol into his holster like a pro.

  “Butch fast-talked you,” Sally said. “Don’t pull a holdup half-cocked. Think it over first.”

  The small gunslinger was thinking it over as the detectives entered the toy store. A crowd of children was waiting for the jelly-bean contest to begin.

  Mr. Whitten, the owner of the toy store, came from a back room. He carried a glass jar full of jelly beans. With him was his niece, Trudy Pickens.