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Here are all our cases so far. Like in Encyclopedia Brown, try to solve each one yourself
before you read the solution! I put the solutions at the bottom of each case so don't scroll too
fast. — Nelson, Chief Detective
CASE #1: THE MISSING GARDEN GNOME
Opened: June 17 Client: Miss Jessie, next door |
THE MYSTERY: Miss Jessie has a garden gnome named Herbert who has stood in her flower bed
by the porch for 14 years. On Thursday morning he was GONE. She was very upset because her
husband gave him to her. She heard about our club from my mom and hired us. Our first case!
CLUES:
- A round dent in the dirt where Herbert stood, no drag marks.
- Tiny drops of white paint on the grass, in a line going from the porch toward the garage.
- Miss Jessie's porch railings had just been painted white. They were still sticky.
- Copper sniffed the dent and then went straight to the garage door and sat down.
SUSPECTS:
- The big kids down the street, who were out late on Wednesday. (Heather interviewed them. They
said "what gnome?" and they seemed honest.)
- The lawn mowing man. (But he comes on Mondays.)
- Miss Jessie's son Gary, who painted the porch on Wednesday.
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SOLUTION: The paint drops led from the porch to the garage. Who had white paint? The person
who painted the porch! Heather asked Miss Jessie to call Gary. He had moved Herbert into the
garage so he wouldn't get paint on him, and forgot to tell her. Herbert was on the workbench,
safe, with one white dot on his hat. Miss Jessie said she likes the dot. She gave us a whole plate
of oatmeal cookies.
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CASE #2: THE BROWNIE THIEF
Opened: July 7 Client: Heather's mom |
THE MYSTERY: Heather's mom made a pan of brownies on Monday for a church thing on Wednesday.
Every morning there were fewer brownies. Monday night: 24. Tuesday morning: 21. Tuesday night: 20.
Wednesday morning: 16. Somebody in that house was a brownie thief.
CLUES:
- The brownies were always taken from the corner of the pan nearest the wall, so the hole wouldn't
show from the doorway. A smart thief.
- Brownie crumbs on the carpet going toward the den, not toward the stairs.
- Thomas dusted the pan lid with cocoa (funny, because brownies are chocolate too) and got a
thumbprint. It was BIG.
- The TV in the den was on the ballgame channel when Heather woke up Wednesday.
SUSPECTS:
- Heather's brother, 16. He eats everything.
- Heather's little sister, 5. But she can't reach the counter.
- Heather's dad.
- Their cat. (Cats don't eat brownies. Ruled out.)
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SOLUTION: The crumbs went to the den, not upstairs where Heather's brother sleeps. The thumbprint
was too big for a kid. And who watches ballgames late at night in the den? HEATHER'S DAD! When
Heather interviewed him he tried to say it was the cat, but then he laughed and confessed. He
bought the whole Squad ice cream cones. Heather's mom made a second pan for church.
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CASE #3: THE BLINKING LIGHT ACROSS THE STREET
Opened: July 29 Client: none (we found this one ourselves) |
THE MYSTERY: We had a sleepover in the fort (my dad stayed in the yard). Around 10:30 we
saw a light blinking in the upstairs window of the house across the street where Mr. Carlton
lives. Blink blink blink, really fast, and then slow, and then fast again. Kristopher said it might
be Morse code. Was somebody sending a signal? Was somebody in trouble?
CLUES:
- Kristopher wrote down the blinks for 5 minutes. They were NOT Morse code. They were too even.
- The blinking got faster at 10:45 and then it stopped blinking and just stayed on.
- It was a really hot night.
- Desiree remembered that Mr. Carlton got a big box delivered on Monday.
SUSPECTS:
- A spy. (Thomas's idea.)
- A burglar with a flashlight. (We were kind of scared of this one.)
- Mr. Carlton.
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SOLUTION: Because of Rule #3 (tell a grown-up if it could be dangerous), I got my dad. He
looked at it with us and he smiled and said he had a theory, and in the morning he walked us over
to ask. The box was a new CEILING FAN! It was right in front of his lamp, so every time a blade
went by the light blinked. When he turned the fan up to high it blinked faster, and when it got
cooler he turned the fan off and the light stayed on. Mr. Carlton thought it was really funny and
let us see the fan. Kristopher was a little disappointed it wasn't spies.
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CASE #4: THE MYSTERY FOOTPRINTS
Opened: August 14 Client: Me (it was MY fort!) |
THE MYSTERY: It rained Friday night. Saturday morning there were muddy footprints across our
patio going right to the tree fort, and back. Somebody had been at HQ!!! Was our security
breached?
CLUES:
- We measured the prints with the ruler: 11 and a half inches long. A grown-up.
- They were boot prints, not sneakers. And every right heel print had a little star mark, like
there was something stuck in the boot.
- The rope ladder, which had a broken rung, was FIXED. With a new rung.
- Copper sniffed all around the bottom of the tree and found a coffee cup in the grass.
SUSPECTS:
- The paper boy. (But he rides his bike and never goes in the backyard.)
- My dad. (But he wears sneakers on Saturday and his shoes are 10 and a half.)
- My grandpa, who was coming over for lunch that day.
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SOLUTION: Who fixes things, drinks coffee all day, and wears work boots? When Grandpa came to
lunch I asked to see the bottom of his right boot. There was a NAIL stuck in the heel, which made
the star mark! He came over early while I was asleep and fixed the ladder as a surprise. My mom
let him in the back gate. Everybody knew but me. Grandpa says he is proud of me for figuring it
out and he is an Honorary Member now. He got the nail out with pliers.
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CASE #5: THE VANISHED LIBRARY BOOK
Opened: September 8 Client: Desiree (one of our own) |
THE MYSTERY: Desiree had Surprise Island (a Boxcar Children book) checked out
from the library and it was due. She looked EVERYWHERE and it was gone. She was going to have to
pay for it with her own allowance.
CLUES:
- We made a timeline of every place she went for a week: home, school, the bus, the fort, her
grandma's, the grocery store, the library on Saturday with her mom.
- She remembered reading it last on Thursday night in bed.
- Friday her mom cleaned her room.
- Saturday her mom went to the library to return her own books, and Desiree stayed in the car.
- Desiree's mom had a canvas library bag.
SUSPECTS:
- Desiree's little brother, who hides stuff.
- The school bus.
- Copper, who chewed a Hardy Boys once. (That was Thomas's book. Sorry Thomas.)
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SOLUTION: Look at the timeline. Desiree's mom cleaned her room on Friday and then went to the
library on Saturday with a bag of books. Heather interviewed Desiree's mom, and she said she
picked up "a library book" off the floor Friday and put it in the bag with hers. So we asked the
lady at the library desk, and she looked it up on the computer, and the book had been RETURNED
on Saturday! It was back on the shelf the whole time. It wasn't lost, it was home! Desiree
checked it out again to finish it.
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OPEN CASES: None right now. We are waiting. If you live in our neighborhood and something
weird is going on, e-mail us at [email protected].
SQUAD RECORD: 5 cases, 5 solved. Copper helped on 2 of them.
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