Ivy and Bean Take the Case Read Online Free Page A

path. Like magic, the door opened, and Mrs. Trantz was standing on her porch.
    â€œWhat are you doing in my garden, little girl?” yelled Mrs. Trantz.
    â€œHi, Mrs. Trantz,” began Ivy politely.
    â€œDon’t Mrs. Trantz me!” yelled Mrs. Trantz, not politely. “What are those children doing on the sidewalk there? Is that Bernice?” She peered at Bean, who was bravely standing at the edge of Mrs. Trantz’s white gravel, and at the other kids, who were sort of crouched in the hedge next door. “Go away!”
    Ivy held up the yellow rope. It was shaking a little. Most grown-ups at least pretended to like kids. Not Mrs. Trantz. “We were wondering—”

    â€œSpeak up!”
    â€œWe were wondering,” Ivy said a little louder.
    â€œStop whispering!”
    Ivy’s face turned red and the rope shook a little more. “We—” she began, and now her voice was shaking, too.
    Most of the time, Bean was scared of Mrs. Trantz. But sometimes she couldn’t stand her more than she was scared of her. This was one of those times. Bean charged through the white gravel, grabbed Ivy’s arm, and hauled her toward the porch. “Look, Mrs. Trantz,” she yelled. “We found this rope! Is it yours?” She waved the rope at Mrs. Trantz.

    â€œI don’t know what you’re talking about!” yelled Mrs. Trantz. “I don’t have rope! Go home!”
    Bean knew how to drive Mrs. Trantz around the bend. She stepped right up beside her and smiled with all her teeth. “Great! Thanks, Mrs. Trantz!” Mrs. Trantz took a step back, and Bean followed, still smiling. She put up her arms like she was about to give her a big hug. Mrs. Trantz squeaked and scuttled back inside her house.

    â€œGo!” she shouted. “Go along!” She waved her hands to dust them away.

    + + + + + +
    Back in the P. I. office, they agreed that no one had lied. No one looked to one side, covered their mouths, or pulled their ears. Eleanor-who-lived-in-the-blue-house hadn’t really answered, but she hadn’t acted like she owned the rope, either. They decided that the rope didn’t belong to anyone on Pancake Court. There were no suspects.
    Bean rubbed her face.
    Dino and Ruby and Trevor and Prairie and Sophie S. watched her in a worried way. “So what are you going to do next?” asked Sophie S.
    Bean leaned back in her chair. Whoops! That was the broken part. She sat up. “I’m going to do some hard thinking,” she said. Al Seven had said the same thing when he was sitting in his car.

    â€œThinking about
what
?” asked Prairie.
    â€œSecret,” said Bean. She straightened her papers. “Tomorrow morning, I will reveal my plan.”
    They all nodded in a worried way, and then they went home, very quietly, except Ivy.
    Bean spun in her chair. She slammed her phone down a few times.
    â€œDo you have a plan?” asked Ivy.
    â€œSure!” said Bean. She spun around a few more times. They believed her. She was the P. I. of Pancake Court, just like she had wanted to be. Dino and Sophie S. and Ruby and Trevor and Prairie were all expecting her to catch Mr. Whoever-tied-the-yellow-rope. They were going to be mad if she didn’t. “I sort of have a plan,” she said. “A little bit.”
    Ivy twiddled her hair. “What would Al Seven do?”
    â€œHe’d sit in his car.”
    â€œYou think your dad would let you sit in his car?” Ivy asked.
    Bean sighed. “Probably not.” When Bean was a little kid, she had locked herself in her dad’s car and honked the horn. For a long time. Ever since then, she wasn’t allowed tosit in the car by herself. “I don’t think it would do any good anyway,” she said. “It isn’t sitting in the car that solves Al’s cases. It’s thinking.”
    Ivy nodded. “Okay.” She watched Bean think.
    Bean thought. The