Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Disgusting Sneakers Read Online Free PDF

condition.”
    The judging had begun when they reached South Park. Ann Little, Phoebe’s classmate, hurried over to her.
    “I was getting worried,” Ann said. “I thought something happened to you.”
    “Something did,” Phoebe replied sadly.“Somebody stole my right sneaker while I was clipping my nails.”
    “I don’t see Bugs Meany,” Sally remarked, glancing around. “He’s been bragging all week that he’s a ‘shoe-in.’ ”
    “Bugs was thrown out on his ear,” Ann answered happily. “He beat up his sneakers with an electric weed cutter, but he didn’t fool the judges.”
    “Have you been judged?” Phoebe asked.
    “At the moment I’m in the lead,” Ann said. “But Stinky Redmond, Tessie Bottoms, and lots of others haven’t had their turn.”
    “Tessie’s just been called,” Sally said.
    Tessie, an eighth-grader, strutted up confidently. She removed both sneakers and laid them on the table in front of the judges.
    All the judges wore rubber gloves for protection. They picked up each sneaker and examined it at arm’s length.
    Tessie received seventeen points, putting her in the lead. She paraded over to Phoebe.
    “Top that, kiddo!” she gloated.
    “Knock it off, Tessie,” Ann said. “Phoebe’s not in the contest this year. Somebody stole her right sneaker while she was clipping her toenails.”
    “If she ever learns what socks are for, she won’t have to worry about her toenails,” Tessie jeered.
    Suddenly there was a big fuss by the table. Mrs. Carstairs, one of the judges, had swooned and couldn’t continue.
    “You’ve got to smell this contest to believe it,” she muttered as she was helped away. “I should have brought a gas mask.”
    “Maybe the judges should get prizes,” Sally observed.
    Encyclopedia mumbled. His mind was on something else.
    Something he had heard or seen bothered him. He was trying to remember what it was when Stinky Redmond’s name was called.
    “Stinky could have dressed up as a girl and stolen Phoebe’s sneaker,” Sally said. “He’s tricky enough to slip a full moon past a werewolf.”
    Stinky wore black-and-white jogging sneakers. He laid them on the judges’ table and looked cockily at Tessie.
    “Did you see that?” Phoebe exclaimed. “He looked at Tessie as if she were his biggest rival, not me. He knows I can’t defeathim because I have only one sneaker!”

    “Phoebe’s right,” Ann said. “Stinky gave himself away. He’s the thief!”
    “Someone ought to wrinkle his chin,” Sally said.
    “Wait,” Encyclopedia cautioned. He was still trying to remember.
    The winners were announced at three o’clock. Stinky won. Tessie finished second.
    Sally and Phoebe and Ann cheered an instant later. Ann had taken third.
    Encyclopedia didn’t groan or cheer. He had remembered.
    “You’re the thief,” he said to …
    WHO WAS THE THIEF?
    (Turn to this page for the solution to The Case of the Disgusting Sneakers.)

The Case of the Smugglers’ Secret
    O n Friday, Encyclopedia and Charlie Stuart went camping. They pitched their pup tent by a stream miles from town.
    The next morning they were awakened at dawn by the tapping of rain—and by the noise of a helicopter flying too low.
    “Sounds like it’s going to crash!” Charlie yelped.
    Both boys struggled out of their sleeping bags and into their clothes.
    They raced from their campsite, across a bridge and into a thick wood.
    The helicopter had not crashed. It hadlanded in a muddy clearing.
    “Something’s funny,” Encyclopedia whispered. “Get behind a tree and stay down.”
    A gray van drove up. The driver got out. He and the pilot moved three large boxes from the helicopter to the van.
    “Smugglers,” Charlie breathed.
    The men shook hands, and the pilot got back inside the helicopter. It took off in a whir of blades. The van rocked but did not move. A rear wheel whined, spinning in the mud.
    The driver got out of the van and swore, looked at the wheel, then swore again. He