Encyclopedia Brown Tracks Them Down by Donald J. Sobol

Author:Donald J. Sobol [Sobol, Donald J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101042403
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 1971-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

“Coins fell all over the sidewalk,” said Stella.

“Yes, and I’m beginning to understand,” said Stella with a sigh. “He wanted the coin and not my beautiful flowers.”

“Would you know the boy if you saw him again?”

Stella shook her head. “Everything happened so quickly.”

Encyclopedia’s brain was going fast. The boy must have stolen the coins. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been scared off by a passing car.

He would be hanging around the neighborhood, waiting for another chance at Stella....

Encyclopedia pushed her into the house and locked the doors. “Can you bake?” he inquired.

“Only sugar cookies,” she replied. “They’ll simply melt in your mouth.”

“Great,” said Encyclopedia and hurried to telephone police headquarters.

He wasn’t surprised to learn that the theft of a rare coin collection had just been reported. He told his father about Stella and the Confederate half-dollar.

“I think I can trap the thief,” said the boy detective.

Chief Brown listened to his son’s plan. “It might work,” he said. “I’ll send Officer Hall and Policewoman Taylor to help you.”

After giving the police officers half an hour to get into place, the two children started for Stella’s house. Stella carried the flower can. Encyclopedia carried his own coin collection.

“I can feel someone watching us,” whispered Stella.

“It’s Officer Hall,” said Encyclopedia. “He’s across the street selling tickets to the policemen’s ball door to door. The thief won’t bother us while he’s on the block.”

When they entered Stella’s house, they found Policewoman Taylor dressed as a maid.

Encyclopedia swiftly set the stage for the arrival of the thief.

He spread his coins on the kitchen table. The flower can with the wild flowers and the Confederate half-dollar he put behind the electric mixer, where it could not be easily seen.

Stella meanwhile got out what she needed to bake sugar cookies—butter, an egg, a bottle of vanilla, a can of baking powder, matching cans of sugar and flour, a teaspoon, a measuring cup, and a rolling pin.

“Officer Hall turned down Worth Street,” said Policewoman Taylor from the window. “He just disappeared around the corner.”

“We can expect our thief any minute,” said Encyclopedia.

Five minutes later Policewoman Taylor answered the doorbell. She led a nervous boy of eighteen into the kitchen.

“Hi,” he said. “My name is Bret. I’m selling magazines to work my way through college.”

“I’m a great reader,” said Stella. “What magazines are you selling?”

Bret took out a large folder showing many magazines.

“I can’t look right now,” said Stella. “Ooops! ”

She had nearly knocked over the can of flour reaching for the butter.

“Would you hold the flour for me a second?” she asked.

“Sure,” said Bret. He took the flour and glanced at the table, where Encyclopedia was rattling his coins noisily.

“Are you interested in coins?” asked the boy detective.

“It’s sort of a hobby of mine,” replied Bret.

“I found a funny coin this morning,” said Stella.

“I’d like to see it,” said Bret.

“I hid it in the flower can,” said Stella, wiping her hands on her apron.

Bret walked around the kitchen till he spied the can of wild flowers sticking up behind the electric mixer.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.