Encyclopedia Brown Gets His Man Read Free Page A

“A g-ghost? Where? ”
    “In the old deserted Morgan house,” said Fabius.
    Encyclopedia recovered himself quickly. “I don’t believe in ghosts. I believe in facts.”
    “The facts,” announced Fabius. “Yesterday I went into the old house to hunt interesting bugs. I was about to photograph a spider when this ghost came down the stairway.”
    “You got the shakes and ran out of the house, leaving the camera behind?” said Encyclopedia.
    “Right,” said Fabius. “I raced out the front door so fast my own mother wouldn’t have known me from a flying tank. An hour later, I went back for my camera. It was gone.”
    “Did you notice anything special about the ghost?”
    “It was white as a sheet,” said Fabius. “And it was making scarey noises and whistling at the same time.”
    “It might have been a dog trainer in life,” suggested Encyclopedia. “Let’s go to the old Morgan house and look around.”
    Fabius got his bike, and the two boys rode to the “haunted” house. On the way they passed the home of Rocky Graham, one of Bugs Meany’s Tigers.
    Two blocks farther on was the old Morgan place. The big house had not been lived in for fifty years. It was a rotted wood building looking for a place to fall down.
    The boys leaned their bikes against a pine tree. They walked through the hip-high grass and weeds, up onto the creaky front porch, and into the entrance hall.
    “I left my camera at the foot of the stairs while I explored,” said Fabius. “When I came back for it, there was the ghost, wailing and whistling.”
    He led the way into the kitchen.
    “I wanted to photograph that!” he said, pointing to the back door.
    Encyclopedia gasped in admiration. Across the lower half of the door a spider had spun a beautiful, wheel-shaped web.
    “The best example I ever saw of the work of a Theridiosoma radiosa—otherwise called a ray spider,” said Fabius in a glow.

    “The work of a ray spider,” said Fabius.
    While Fabius adored the spider web, Encyclopedia returned to the entrance hall. He found footprints in the heavy dust on the staircase.
    “Ghosts don’t wear shoes,” he thought out loud. “At least not in the summer.”
    “How’s that?” called Fabius. “Did you find a clue?”
    “Your ghost left footprints,” said Encyclopedia as Fabius hurried from the kitchen. “I think I know who it was.”
    “You’re smarter than the FBI!” exclaimed Fabius. “Who was it?”
    “A boy who saw you come here with your camera yesterday,” said Encyclopedia. “Rocky Graham.”
    “Aw, a lot of people could have seen me go into the house yesterday,” said Fabius, disappointed. “Why Rocky Graham?”
    “Because he lives close to this old house; because he’s a member of the Tigers; and because he knocked out two front teeth a few days ago trying to break into a parked car.”
    “I heard that his screwdriver slipped and hit him in the mouth,” said Fabius. “But what have two missing front teeth got to do with it?”
    “Without his two front teeth,” explained Encyclopedia, “whenever Rocky says the letter S, he whistles .”
    “The ape!” bellowed Fabius, hopping up and down in anger. “That rat in a bedsheet!”
    “Take it easy,” said Encyclopedia. “We haven’t any proof—yet. I want to hear what Rocky has to say for himself.”
    When the two boys arrived at the Graham house, Rocky was sitting on the ground groaning. He had just aimed a kick at a cat and missed, twisting his ankle.
    “You dressed up in a sheet and scared me in the old Morgan house yesterday,” said Fabius.
    “Then you stole his camera,” said Encyclopedia. “I’ll bet a lot of people saw you go up the front porch. So don’t deny it!”
    Rocky’s face showed how hard he was struggling for a fast alibi.
    “Sure,” he said, whistling a little. “Sure I saw you go inside. Another kid, carrying a sheet, went in just behind you. Pretty soon you came sailing out. I went inside to find out what was the