“Yes,” said Abner. “He comes by every day and brags about what a swell job he’s doing of protecting me. Then he takes something to eat for his services.”

“He’s protecting you clean out of business,” said Encyclopedia.

“I never needed him. He fooled me with his fast talk,” said Abner.

“What’s his name?” said Encyclopedia.

“Bugs Meany.”

Read all the books in the Encyclopedia Brown seriesl

No. 1 Encyclopedia Brown Boy Detective
No. 2 Encyclopedia Brown and the
Case of the Secret Pitch
No. 3 Encyclopedia Brown Finds the Clues
No. 4 Encyclopedia Brown Gets His Man
No. 5 Encyclopedia Brown Solves Them All
No. 6 Encyclopedia Brown Keeps the Peace
No. 7
Encyclopedia Brown Saves the Day
No. 8 Encyclopedia Brown Tracks Them Down
No. 9 Encyclopedia Brown Shows the Way
No. 10 Encyclopedia Brown Takes the Case
No. 11 Encyclopedia Brown Lends a Hand
No. 12 Encyclopedia Brown and the
Case of the Dead Eagles
No. 13 Encyclopedia Brown and the
Case of the Midnight Visitor

For My Son Eric

PUFFIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
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Registered Offices: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England
First published in the United States of America by Dutton Children’s Books,
a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 1968
Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2008

(Member of the Authors League of America, Inc.)
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card number: 68-22746

eISBN : 978-1-101-04233-5

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The Case of the Missing Clues

Although there are thousands of private detectives in the United States, the town of Idaville had but one.

Idaville did not need more. Its one detective was Encyclopedia Brown, and he had never lost a case.

Aside from Encyclopedia, Idaville was like most towns its size. It had three movie theaters, two delicatessens, and four banks. It had rich families and poor families. It had churches and synagogues, and a lovely beach which everyone could use.

And for more than a year, no grown-up or child had got away with breaking the law.

Encyclopedia’s father was chief of the Idaville police. People across the country believed he was the best police chief in the world.

Chief Brown was proud of his record. He was proud of his men. But he was proudest of his only child, Encyclopedia.

Alas, Chief Brown had to keep his pride in Encyclopedia a secret. Whom could he tell? Who would believe him? Who would believe that the real mastermind behind Idaville’s war on crime was ten years old!

Whenever the police came up against a puzzling case, Chief Brown knew where to go. He went home. Encyclopedia would solve the case during dinner in the Brown’s red brick house on Rover Avenue.

Encyclopedia never whispered a word about the help he gave his father. He didn’t want to seem different from other fifth graders.

But he was stuck with his nickname.

Only his parents and teachers called him by his real name, Leroy. Everyone else in Idaville called him Encyclopedia.

An encyclopedia is a book or set of books filled with all kinds of facts. Encyclopedia had read more books than anyone in Idaville, and he never forgot what he read. He was the only library in America that could get around on a two-wheeler.

Between schoolwork and police work, Encyclopedia kept busy during the winter. During the summer he ran his own detective agency. He solved cases for the children of the neighborhood.

Every morning during the summer he hung his sign outside the garage:

Early one afternoon a small boy pulled a red wagon into the Brown Detective Agency.

The wagon was loaded with fresh fruit. The boy was loaded with anger.

He slammed twenty-five cents onto the gasoline can beside Encyclopedia.

“My name is Abner Nelson,” he said. “I want to hire you. I sell fruit.”

“Is business dropping off?” said Encyclopedia.

“No, it’s disappearing!” said Abner. “For the past two weeks a big kid comes to my stand every day. He helps himself to whatever he likes. And he doesn’t pay!”

“You need protection,” said Encyclopedia.

“Protection!” screamed Abner. “Oh, no! I want to be
protected
from protection!”

Abner explained. He grew the fruit in his back yard and sold it at a stand on Grant Road. Two weeks ago a big kid had stopped at the stand.

“He told me I needed protection,” said Abner.

“From whom?” asked Encyclopedia.

“From other boys who have fruit stands during the summer,” replied Abner. “The big kid said they might wreck my stand.”

“So he offered to protect you?”

“Yes,” said Abner. “He comes by every day with a big grin and brags about what a swell job he’s doing of protecting me. ‘Nobody has bothered you, right?’ he says. Then he takes something to eat for his services.”

“He’s protecting you clean out of business,” said Encyclopedia.

“I never needed him. He fooled me with his fast talk,” said Abner. “You’ve got to stop him before he eats me into the poorhouse.”

“What’s his name?” said Encyclopedia.

“Bugs Meany.”

“I might have guessed!” said Encyclopedia.

Bugs Meany was the leader of a gang of wild older boys. They called themselves the Tigers. They should have called themselves the Berries. They were always getting into one jam after another.

“That Bugs is awful tough,” said Abner.

“Don’t be afraid,” said Encyclopedia. “I’ve dealt with him before. Let’s hear what he has to say for himself.”

“He won’t say anything about the bag of cherries he took an hour ago,” said Abner glumly.

The Tigers’ clubhouse was an unused tool shed behind Mr. Sweeny’s Auto Body Shop. When Encyclopedia and Abner arrived, Bugs was alone.

The Tiger leader was getting ready for school. He wasn’t studying a book. He was studying a bicycle lock. He was teaching himself to open it with a hairpin.

Seeing Encyclopedia, he hastily shoved the hairpin into his pocket. “Make like a tree and leave,” he snarled.

“First pay Abner here for all the fruit you’ve lifted from his stand,” said Encyclopedia.

“You owe me three dollars and a quarter,” said Abner. “And forty cents for the bag of cherries you took an hour ago. I never needed your protection!”

“What’s this? Protection? Bag of cherries?” cried Bugs. “Say, you two guys better not walk too close to a candy factory. They’re looking for nuts like you.”

Encyclopedia picked up a paper bag from the floor beside Bugs. Inside were three cherries.

“Where did you get these cherries?” demanded the boy detective.

Bugs worked hard at appearing calm. “Whwhy, I bought a pound of them at the supermarket this morning.”

“You mean you helped yourself to a pound from my fruit stand an hour ago!” said Abner.

“Listen,” growled Bugs. “I’ve been right here in the clubhouse all afternoon, eating cherries and thinking. I don’t know anything about protection, a fruit stand, or
your
bag of cherries.”

“If that’s true,” said Encyclopedia, “you won’t mind if I look around.”

“Go right ahead,” said Bugs. “Search till your eyeballs blister.”