The Case of the Slippery Salamander Read Online Free PDF

asked.
    “She’s not for sale anymore,” Ron replied. “I sold her yesterday. In fact, I wrapped up the paperwork this morning.”
    Encyclopedia was curious. “Who bought the yacht?”
    “Maury and Estelle Hinton bought it,” the salesman answered. “They want to cruise around the Greek islands with their nine-year-old son. They paid over a million dollars for it. Can you believe that?”
    “Wow.” Sally let out a low whistle. “That’s a lot of money.”
    “It sure is, and I’ll tell you kids something,” Ron went on. “Not everyone could handle a big sale like that. If I weren’t such a good salesman …”
    Ten minutes later, Encyclopedia and Sally finally managed to escape the talkative salesman.
    “Whew!” Sally stifled a yawn. “I thought he was going to brag about selling that boat all day long.”
    “Me too,” Encyclopedia agreed. “He sure likes to talk.”
    As they started down the aisle toward the sailboats, Encyclopedia spotted his father. Chief Brown was writing in a small notebook as he spoke with a tall, well-dressed man. The man had an arm around a woman who was weeping.
    “Dad!” Encyclopedia hurried over. “Is everything okay?”
    “Hello, Leroy.” Chief Brown spoke quietly and his expression was grim. “This is Mr. and Mrs.Hinton. Their son was kidnapped from the convention center a short while ago.”
    “Oh, no!” Sally exclaimed.
    Encyclopedia instantly recognized the name. “You’re the couple who bought
Amazing Grace
, right?”
    “That’s right,” Mr. Hinton said with a scowl. “Thanks to that loudmouth salesman from the Ship-Shape Company, everyone in the convention center knows we bought that boat!”
    Mrs. Hinton nodded as she dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. “We think that’s why our son was kidnapped. Someone must have heard Ron talking about how much we paid for
Amazing Grace
.”
    Encyclopedia listened closely as his father filled in more details about the case.
    The Hintons had come to the convention center first thing that morning to finish signing the papers to buy the boat. While they were busy, their nine-year-old son, Kent, sat by himself in an empty office.
    “He had a pad of paper and his calculator with him,” Mr. Hinton said. “Kent is a math genius, and he’s always been able to amuse himself for hours with his calculator.”
    “He loves to solve problems and play trickswith that thing,” Mrs. Hinton added, bursting into tears again.
    “Now, now, honey.” Her husband patted her shoulder.
    “When the Hintons went to collect Kent, he was gone,” Chief Brown finished. “An hour later, they discovered that a ransom note had been left for them at the Message Center—the kidnapper is demanding two million dollars for Kent’s return.”
    Sally gasped at the huge figure.
    Encyclopedia offered to help, then asked his father to lead him to the office where Kent had been waiting for his parents.
    As the Hintons had described, it was a small, bare office just off the main floor of the convention center. The only furniture was a metal desk and a chair. A blank white pad and a calculator sat in the middle of the desk.
    Chief Brown explained that since the office was a crime scene, nothing in it had been touched or moved.
    “Is that Kent’s?” Encyclopedia asked, pointing to the calculator.
    Kent’s parents nodded.
    “It was left behind, with the power still on,” Chief Brown said.

    Encyclopedia went behind the desk and looked at the calculator. It was a new and very expensive model that could perform lots of fancy functions. When he looked at the display screen, he noticed a series of numbers— 577345 .
    Sally scratched her head. “I wonder what Kent was calculating.”
    Encyclopedia looked at her, still thinking.
    “I know what Kent was calculating!” he burst out a moment later. “He was counting on someone to read the numbers from the
front
of the desk, not behind it!”
    What does Encyclopedia mean?
    (Turn to this page for the