Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Treasure Hunt Read Free Page A

advised him.
    “Will you please tell me what’s going on?”Sally protested. “I want to know how you are going to catch the cheater without anyone finding out.”
    Encyclopedia explained his plan as they biked to the Johnson Dairy garage.
    Sally looked at him with a mixture of awe and anger. “Why didn’t I think of that?” she grumbled.
    They rode in silence the rest of the way to the garage.
    “There it is,” Encyclopedia said.
    The red “You Won” card was under the windshield wiper of a pickup truck where Mr. McPherson had tucked it. Encyclopedia tore up the card.
    “Now we wait,” he said.
    After what seemed forever, Sally nudged Encyclopedia, and they ducked behind the pickup truck.
    Regina Castleberry was coming down the ramp from the alley.
    “That figures,” Sally said under her breath. “I know Regina. The only time she’s in bad company is when she’s alone.”
    “Sssh,” Encyclopedia warned. “We don’t know anything yet.”
    Regina walked to the pickup truck. Shestared at the empty windshield wipers, puzzled.
    Encyclopedia stood up. “Looking for something?”
    Regina was startled, but she recovered herself. “Yeah, the winning card in the treasure hunt.”
    “What made you think it was here?” Sally demanded.
    “The last clue said it was,” Regina replied. “Say, why are you two hanging around? You ought to be out playing with squirrels.”
    “We’ve been waiting for the cheater who followed Mr. McPherson as he laid out the treasure hunt,” Encyclopedia said. “And you’re the one.”
    WHAT MADE ENCYCLOPEDIA SO SURE?
    (Turn to this page for the solution to
The Case of the Treasure Hunt.)

The Case of the Stolen Jewels
    O n Saturday Encyclopedia and Sally closed the Brown Detective Agency early and biked to the ocean.
    They planned to swim, read, and relax in the sun. They didn’t expect to solve a mystery. Neither did they expect to meet Dustin Durant.
    Dustin was eleven and a photography whiz. When Encyclopedia and Sally spotted him, he was taking a picture on the path that overlooked the beach. His subjects were a man, a woman, and the President of the UnitedStates. The woman was shaking hands with the President—kind of.
    Dustin pulled the picture from his camera. The man showed the picture to the woman, and they walked away chuckling. The President remained motionless.
    Encyclopedia and Sally parked their bikes and hurried over for a closer look.
    The “President” was a life-size, black-and-white photograph mounted on plywood.
    Encyclopedia admired the propped-up President, who was standing straight as a board and smiling stiffly. His right arm was outstretched, ready for the next cash customer.
    “Gosh, Dustin, what a great idea!” Sally exclaimed. “How much do you charge?”
    “Five dollars for a black-and-white picture, and three dollars if the customer wants to use his own camera and film,” Dustin answered. “But for the two of you, it’s on the house.”
    The detectives posed gleefully. They took the picture proudly to the beach, where for ten minutes they had peace and quiet. Then Dustin came flying across the sand.
    “Some man just stole my camera!” he cried. “Dad will have a fit!”
    He explained. His father, a professional photographer, had made the cutout of the President. Dustin took the picture and collected the money.
    “You’ve got to recover Dad’s camera!” Dustin wailed.
    “Calm down and tell us what happened,” Sally said.
    “After I took your picture, two men sat down right over there,” Dustin replied, pointing to a bench near the cutout President. “They were saying some pretty strange things.”
    “What do you mean?” Encyclopedia asked.
    “I couldn’t hear everything,” Dustin said. “But the tall man said something about ‘delivering the goods’ this afternoon to the house on Highland Avenue. The short man nodded and said he’d better write down the exact address before he forgot it. Then the tall man said,