Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Disgusting Sneakers Read Free

you,” Sally retorted, “it will be a waste site.”
    She turned to Officer Friedman. “Dust the vase for fingerprints.”
    The policeman shook his head. “There won’t be fingerprints. That’s why the rag is wrapped around the neck of the vase. It’s where it was held.”
    “Can’t you see Bugs is trying to frame us?” Sally exclaimed.
    “I fear this poor girl is past medical help,” Bugs sighed. “Find her a warm and comfortable cell.”
    Officer Friedman frowned. “I don’t know who’s telling the truth. We’ll have to straighten everything out at headquarters.”
    All at once Sally looked worried. “Encyclopedia, say something. Don’t let Bugs get away with this!”
    “He won’t,” Encyclopedia assured her.
    WHY NOT?
    (Turn to this page for the solution to The Case of the Broken Vase.)

The Case of the Three Vans
    C hief Brown hung up the kitchen telephone.
    “I’ve got to leave,” he said. “It seems we have another case with a message in code. This time it’s a kidnapping.”
    “Why don’t you take Leroy along?” Mrs. Brown suggested. “He’s so good at codes.”
    Encyclopedia stopped scraping the dinner plates. He held his breath until his father smiled.
    “Let’s go, Leroy,” Chief Brown said.
    Encyclopedia let out a whoop. Being withhis father on a real police case was the thrill of thrills.
    He whipped through the last two dishes and was seated in the patrol car before his father even got behind the wheel.
    As they drove, Chief Brown told Encyclopedia what little he knew about the case.
    “A man named Harry Dunn was kidnapped this morning,” he said. “About an hour ago, the kidnappers telephoned his sister, Mrs. Allen. They demanded half a million dollars in ransom.”
    “What about the coded message, Dad?”
    “We’ll know more when we see it.”
    As they pulled up to Harry Dunn’s big house, Officer Kent greeted them at the curb.
    He said, “Harry Dunn’s sister, Mrs. Allen, is in the living room. Also a neighbor, Mr. Tradd. He may have seen Harry Dunn being kidnapped.”
    Mrs. Allen was a pale, middle-aged woman. Her eyes were red from crying. Chief Brown questioned her first.
    “I received a telephone call late this afternoon from a man with a deep voice,” shesaid, sobbing. “He said my brother had been kidnapped and the ransom was half a million dollars. I’d be told where to leave the money later.”
    “You called the police right away?” asked Chief Brown.
    “No, first I called Harry,” Mrs. Allen said. “There was no answer. So I drove here and let myself in—I have a key. The house was empty. That’s when I called the police.”
    Chief Brown turned to the neighbor, Mr. Tradd. “What can you tell us, sir?”
    “About ten o’clock this morning, I borrowed some garden tools from Harry,” Mr. Tradd said. “He didn’t answer the doorbell when I returned the tools at noon. The garage door was open, so I left the tools on his workbench.”
    “Which house is yours?” Chief Brown inquired.
    “The one right across the street,” Mr. Tradd replied. “I was planting in the front yard. So I saw everyone who came to Harry’s front door.”
    “The back door was locked from the inside,” Mrs. Allen put in. “Whoever kidnappedHarry used the front door.”

    “Did you see anyone at the front door?” Chief Brown asked Mr. Tradd.
    “While I was planting, three delivery vans drove up, about fifteen or twenty minutes apart. But each of them blocked my view of the front door,” Mr. Tradd said.
    “So Mr. Dunn could have been taken out the door and placed in one of the vans,” Chief Brown said, “without your seeing him.”
    “That’s possible,” Mr. Tradd agreed.
    Chief Brown took out his pocket notebook. “Can you describe the three vans?”
    “Each van had its company’s name painted on the side—Bill’s Fish Market, ABC TV Repair, and Sun Drug Store.”
    “Was that the order in which they parked at Mr. Dunn’s front door?” Chief Brown