Ivy and Bean Take the Case Read Online Free

shouted Dino. “I didn’t do anything!”
    â€œOkay. But what about your dad?” asked Bean. “Or Crum . . . I mean, Matt?” Everyone called Dino’s brother Crummy Matt except Dino. It was hard to remember to call him just plain Matt when Dino was around.
    â€œIt wasn’t my dad or Matt,” said Dino. “They’re on a field trip. But you can look in our basement if you want.”

    Dino’s basement was surprising, but not because there was yellow rope in it. There were lots of paintings in it and they were all of clouds. Dino’s dad had painted them.



At Sophie S.’s house, they kept their junk in the garage. There was plenty of junk in there. But no rope.
    Ruby and Trevor’s house was the neatest place in the world. Even in the shed, all the stuff was in baskets and each basket had a little sign on it. Ivy and Bean found green garden string, but no rope.
    They went to Prairie’s house, Sophie W.’s house, and Jake the Teenager’s house. Jake the Teenager said his gecko was sleeping, so they couldn’t come in. But he said he knew for sure he didn’t have any yellow rope. Then they went to Ivy’s house and Bean’s house, too, just to be fair. They saw many interesting things. But not one of the things they saw was a yellow rope.
    After that, everyone went to Bean’s office to rest. Bean sat in her spinny chair, thinking. They had done all the kid-houses. Eightkid-houses, no rope. That left seven—no, eight—houses with no kids or tiny kids or grown-up kids. How was she going to get into those basements and sheds? Could she sneak in? She might have to break a window. Al Seven would do it in a second. Al Seven had probably never been grounded.
    Ivy cleared her throat.
    Bean spun.
    Ivy cleared her throat again.
    Bean looked at her. What?
    Ivy wiggled her eyebrows. She tossed her hair.
    Bean gave Ivy a bug-eyed look.
What?
    Ivy tapped her nose.
    â€œWhat?!” Bean shouted.

    â€œI have an idea!” yelled Ivy. Everyone looked up. “Well, I do,” she said. “I read a book that said you can tell when people are lying if they look to one side or cover their mouths or pull their ears while they’re talking.”
    â€œPull their ears? Who pulls their ears?” asked Sophie S., confused.
    Bean pulled her ear. “It doesn’t make me feel like lying.”
    â€œNo,” said Ivy. “It doesn’t make you lie to pull your ear, but if you
are
lying, you’ll pull it.”
    â€œOh.” Bean thought about that. “Great.”
    â€œDon’t you get it?” asked Ivy. “We go around Pancake Court. We ring the doorbell and show people the rope. We say, ‘Have you seen this rope before?’ Everyone will say no, but if they look to one side or cover their mouths or pull their ears while they say it, they’re lying! And then,” Ivy smiled, “we have our suspect!”

PLAN AHEAD!
    The Tengs weren’t home.
    + + + + + +
    Mr. Columbi scratched his neck. “Nope.”
    + + + + + +
    Kalia said, “Potty, potty, potty!”
    Kalia’s mom said, “Sorry, I don’t think so, girls. Oh, honey, yuck!”
    + + + + + +
    Mr. Ensor, who was really incredibly old, rubbed his forehead and said, “Don’t need any rope. Thanks anyway.”





“I love your hat!” squealed Eleanor-who-lived-in-the-blue-house. “A rope? Give them enough rope! Ahahahahaha! You kids are wild! Great!”
    + + + + + +
    Mr. Larson was talking on his phone. “Not now. No. Rope? No. I’m not talking to you, Frank. It’s these kids. No, no rope! Come back later or something.”
    Mrs. Larson said, “Get off the phone, Bennett! It’s not ours, Bean, sorry.”
    + + + + + +
    Fester the dog barked. There was nobody at his house except him.
    + + + + + +
    Ivy took a deep breath. She took one step onto Mrs. Trantz’s front