Ivy and Bean Take the Case Read Free Page A

smudged handprints on cars. Or anything. “Do you see anything that looks mysterious?” she whispered to Ivy.
    â€œMrs. Trantz’s rocks?” suggested Ivy. Mrs. Trantz had white rocks in her front yard instead of grass. Why would anyone do that?
    â€œNot good enough,” said Bean. “We need something strange and mysterious, like—” She stopped. “That,” she said, pointing.
    It was Dino’s house she was pointing at, but the house wasn’t the mysterious part. The mysterious part was a bright yellow rope that dangled from the roof of the house to the ground. One end was tied around the chimney. The other end was sitting in the middle of Dino’s front lawn.
    â€œWhat is that?” asked Ivy.
    â€œIt’s a mystery!” said Bean. Whew! Just in the nick of time!
    Ivy began to smile. “It’s a rope of mystery.”

    â€œStill not scared!” hollered Trevor. He and Dino were picking bark off sticks and throwing it at each other.
    â€œHey, Dino!” called Bean. “What’s that rope on your house?”
    Dino stopped throwing bark and looked at his house. He frowned. “I don’t know.” He threw another piece of bark. Then he came to stand next to Bean and Ivy. “It wasn’t there before.”
    â€œSo this is the first time you’ve seen it?” asked Bean.
    Dino nodded. Then he frowned some more. “Weird.”
    â€œStrange,” Bean corrected him.
    â€œAnd mysterious,” said Ivy.
    Trevor threw a piece of bark at Dino. It bounced off. “What are you guys doing?” he asked, coming closer.
    â€œI’m going to ask my mom,” said Dino. “She probably did it. Or something.”
    Bean and Ivy and Trevor watched the rope until Dino and his mom came back. Dino’smom looked busy. She had two pairs of glasses on her head and a sticky note on her shirt that said Don’t forget Friday!
    â€œThat,” said Dino, pointing at the rope.

    Dino’s mom looked up to the chimney. She looked down to the grass. She frowned. She went to the rope and pulled it gently. She frowned more. “That’s weird,” she said. Still frowning, she turned to Dino. “If you went up on that roof, there’s going to be trouble, young man!”
    â€œI didn’t do it!” yelped Dino. “If I did it, I wouldn’t ask you about it!”
    â€œRight. Sorry.” His mom shook her head. “I have no idea what it is. I didn’t put it there. I couldn’t, actually. We don’t have a ladder that goes all the way up to the roof.” She frowned again. “Strange.”
    Bean looked at Trevor and wiggled her eyebrows, which was sort of like sticking out your tongue, but you couldn’t get in trouble for it.
    Dino’s mom stared at the rope for a little while longer and then shrugged. “I don’t know.But I have to finish this e-mail. We’ll figure it out later.” She went back in the house.
    Bean waited patiently until she was gone. Then she turned around to Dino and Trevor. “Well, whaddaya know?” she said. She put her hat on again. “We’ve got a mystery on Pancake Court!”

PANCAKE FALLS
    The first thing Bean did was dust for fingerprints. Al Seven was always dusting for fingerprints. Here’s how you dust for fingerprints: First, you sprinkle powder. Then you gently dust it away. And then you whip out your magnifying glass and peer through it, and— ta-DA!—you see the fingerprints of the bad guy!
    Bean didn’t really understand how that part worked, but the dusting part was fun.
    Gently, Bean sprinkled baby powder on the yellow rope. Gently, she brushed it away with a paintbrush.
    Everyone leaned in to look.



Bean whipped out her magnifying glass and peered through it. She saw rope. “Just as I thought,” she said. She nodded slowly and made her voice low. “There are no fingerprints