Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case (7 page)

Dan was an experienced carpenter who had built houses in all fifty states. But after lunch he started fumbling and almost destroyed a tape measure. Encyclopedia realized that was because Dan was left-handed. He normally kept his nails in the right pocket of his apron, leaving his left hand free to hold the hammer. But the nails in the apron he wore after lunch were on the left side. The apron belonged to a right-handed carpenter.

Dan had watched Mr. Freeman put money into his apron all morning long. When his boss stepped into the trailer after lunch, Dan decided to switch aprons. He slipped the money out of the apron and into his pocket when no one was looking. But his fumbling for nails gave him away. Both Mr. Freeman and Fred were right-handed and kept their nails on the opposite side of the apron as the left-handed carpenter.

When Encyclopedia laid out the facts, Dan confessed and returned the money.

As soon as his father said the carpet was standard for a place like the convention center, Encyclopedia realized it had to have been a wall-to-wall carpet. Only the person who pulled up the carpet would know what the floor was like underneath. Mrs. Dwyer gave herself away when she said that she would never hide the stamps on a damp concrete floor.

After dinner, Chief Brown and Encyclopedia confronted her and she confessed. She did worry about damaging the valuable stamps on the floor. But the Confederate stamps would have drawn a lot of people into her museum and store, so she decided to take her chances. She planned to return to the convention center and retrieve the stamps after the show was over.