Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case by Donald Sobol Page B

reached into his pocket and pulled out the letters. The odor got even stronger as he fanned the papers out on the table.
    â€œOnions!” Mrs. Brown proclaimed, holding her nose and blinking back tears. “The letters smell like onions.” She looked more than a little relieved that the odor came from the letters and not her husband.
    â€œIt’s peculiar,” Chief Brown said. “This fellow claims he needs to drink a glass of onion juice every day for his health. I had to ask Max at the diner to make up a batch for him. Everything the thief touches smells like onions.”
    Encyclopedia blinked back a couple of onion tears.
    His mother waited for him to ask the question that would solve the case.

    The odor got even stronger as he fanned the paper out on the table.
    But Encyclopedia didn’t need to ask another question. He already had his answer.
    â€œHe might be a forgetful jewel thief,” Encyclopedia said. “But if we read between the lines, we’ll find out where he hid the jewels.” He picked up one of the thief’s letters. “All we need a 150-watt lightbulb.”
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    WHY DID ENCYCLOPEDIA NEED
A LIGHTBULB TO SOLVE THE CASE?
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    (Click here for the solution to “The Case of the Forgetful Jewel Thief.”)

The Case of the Autographed Alice in Wonderland
    Between schoolwork and police work, Encyclopedia kept busy during the winter. During the summer he ran his own detective agency in his family garage. He solved cases for the children of the neighborhood.
    Every morning during the summer he hung his sign outside the garage:

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    The first customer Friday morning was Melissa Stevens. Melissa was only five, and her favorite game was tea party. She set up a tea table in her front yard every afternoon and served tea to her dolls and stuffed animals.
    â€œMy Alice book is broken,” she announced.
    â€œBroken?” Encyclopedia asked. He had read more books than just about anybody, but never a broken one.
    â€œBugs Meany talked me into trading my Taffy the Tiger for it,” Melissa said. “I didn’t want to at first, but he said there was a tea party in the book. And that it was worth a whole bunch of money because the author signed it. But there’s no tea party.”
    Bugs Meany was the leader of a gang of tough older boys. They called themselves the Tigers. They should have called themselves the Screwdrivers. They were always twisting the truth. Encyclopedia spent a lot of his time protecting the neighborhood kids from Bugs and his gang.
    â€œThere is a tea party in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland ,” Encyclopedia said with a smile. He reached for the book and flipped through a few pages. Half of the pictures had been cut out, and there were whole pages missing. “But you’re right—it’s not in this book.”
    Melissa’s eyes widened. “Do you think the tiger thief tore up the book?”
    Encyclopedia frowned. “Tiger thief?”
    â€œBugs said there was a tiger thief in town and Taffy wasn’t safe,” Melissa said. “I miss Taffy. I bet the author didn’t even sign the book like Bugs said.”
    Encyclopedia turned to the front of the book. There was an autograph all right, but it wasn’t the author’s.
    Melissa laid two quarters on the gas can beside Encyclopedia. “I want to hire you for two jobs—to get Taffy back from Bugs and to catch the tiger thief.”
    Encyclopedia gave her back one of her quarters. “I’ll try to get Taffy back for you,” he said. “But there is no tiger thief.”
    Melissa gasped. “Bugs lied?”
    Encyclopedia nodded. “Bugs made that up to scare you into trading Taffy for his book.”
    â€œCan you get my Taffy back?”
    â€œI’ll do my best,” Encyclopedia said. “We’d better go find Bugs.”
    â€œI have to tell you something very important,” Melissa said