Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Disgusting Sneakers by Donald J. Sobol Page A

to put his will on the kitchen table. It leaves everything he owns, including his palm-tree nursery, to Davenport.”
    “What’s suspicious about that?” Mrs. Brown asked.
    “Nothing about the will itself—just about a sheet from his desk calendar. It was clipped to the will,” said Chief Brown.
    He took out his pocket notebook and leafed through the pages.
    “I copied what Nolan wrote on the sheet,” he said. “Here it is.”
    He handed the notebook to Mrs. Brown.
    She read what he had copied. “It has Davenport’s name and address,” she said, “and four words I don’t understand.”
    She handed the notebook to Encyclopedia.
    “What do you make of the four words, Leroy?”
    Encyclopedia read the four words below Davenport’s name and address: “Nom Utes Sweden Hurts.”
    Mrs. Brown looked at him hopefully. Usually, he needed to ask only one question to solve a case before dessert. They were still on the soup.
    Encyclopedia leaned back and closed his eyes. He always closed his eyes when he did his hardest thinking.
    After several seconds, he opened his eyes and asked his question.
    “Is there a young fir tree in Mr. Nolan’s palm-tree nursery?”
    Chief Brown thought a moment. “Yes, there is … one. On the south side of the house. How did you know?”
    “The four words say so,” Encyclopedia answered.

    “They do?” said Chief Brown.
    “See for yourself,” Encyclopedia urged.
    Chief Brown studied the four words—
Nom Utes Sweden Hurts
. He shook his head and passed the notebook to Mrs. Brown again. “Can you figure it out?”
    “Nom
is a shortening of
nominative
, a grammatical term,” stated Mrs. Brown, who had taught English and other subjects in high school.
“Utes
are an American Indian tribe. Sweden is a country in northern Europe.
Hurts
is ‘hurts.’ ”
    She lifted her gaze to Encyclopedia and shook her head.
    “I can’t figure it out,” she confessed.
    “Davenport disappeared right after the holdup,” Encyclopedia reminded her. “As Dad said, Davenport and Nolan must have hidden the stolen jewelry. Probably not more than a week or so ago, Nolan changed the hiding place.”
    “You think that he tried to tell Davenport by phone and failed to reach him?” Mrs. Brown asked. “So he wrote the four words as he was dying?”
    Chief Brown nodded. “We’ll find Davenportnow that we know his address.”
    “He’ll learn he has been left the palm-tree nursery,” Mrs. Brown said. “And the four words will tell him where the jewelry is hidden!”
    “Right,” Encyclopedia said. “The code is simple, especially as it’s written on a sheet from a calendar. Davenport will understand it easily. Still, it wouldn’t make much sense to someone who isn’t looking for a hiding place.”
    “Leroy!” Mrs. Brown exclaimed. “What do the four words mean?”
    “You already guessed, Mom. They tell where the jewelry is hidden.”
    Mrs. Brown looked ready to explode with impatience.
“Where?”
    Encyclopedia smiled.
    “Why, under the fifth word,” he said.
    WHAT WAS THE FIFTH WORD?
    (Turn to this page for the solution to The Case of the Fifth Word.)

The Case of the Teacup
    E ncyclopedia helped his father solve mysteries year-round. During the summer, he helped the children of the neighborhood as well.
    When school let out, he opened his own detective agency in the family garage. Every morning he hung out his sign:

    The first customer Monday morning was Becky Regan. Becky was only nine, but already she was collecting chinaware for her future house.
    “What does
etiquette
mean?” she asked.
    “Simply put, it means having good manners,” Encyclopedia answered.
    “I’d rather have my cup,” Becky said. “Bugs Meany took it.”
    “Uh-oh,” Encyclopedia murmured. “Bugs, Bugs.”
    Bugs Meany was the leader of a gang of tough older boys. They called themselves the Tigers. They should have called themselves the Steel Clocks. They were always giving some little kid a hard