COUNT ON DETECTIVE DRAKE! by Arthur Stamos

ADVISED advised (ad – vised ) verb Offers ideas about solving a problem The dentist advised me to brush more often.

DEPART depart ( de – part ) verb To leave or go away The bus will depart at 7:00 a.m. If you are late it will leave without you.

DISCOURAGED discouraged ( dis – cour – aged ) adjective Having little or no hope The team felt discouraged after losing three games in a row.

INCREASE increase ( in – crease ) verb To make bigger or greater We will increase the size of our garden by 10 square feet.

OBSERVED observed ( ob – served ) verb Learned by studying someone or something The students observed the changes in temperature over a three week period and recorded their data.

SUITABLE suitable ( suit - a - ble ) adjective Proper or right New paintbrushes are a suitable gift for the Art teacher.

WEARILY wearily ( wear – i – ly ) adverb Acting very tired The bus driver wearily returned home after a very long day.

COUNT ON DETECTIVE DRAKE! by Arthur Stamos

on his desk when the phone rang. He yawned Detective Drake was napping with his feet up on his desk when the phone rang. He yawned and picked it up. “Hello?” he said wearily. “I’ll take the case. I will depart at once.” Drake grabbed his umbrella, which was suitable for the rain outside, and walked out into the noisy city.

Drake pulled up to the police station. “We’ve been THE CASE Drake pulled up to the police station. “We’ve been getting unfinished math problems in the mail,” the Chief said. “They’re signed ‘Guessss Who?’ Every day the number of letters increases. We keep getting more. They are clogging up the mail room.”

+ 32 = 51 Guessss Who? He observed one letter’s clue. Drake looked at the paper in the Chief’s hand. He observed one letter’s clue. + 32 = 51 Guessss Who?

“The word guess isn’t spelled right,” Drake said GATHERING CLUES “The word guess isn’t spelled right,” Drake said thoughtfully. “Give me the clues, Chief,” he said. And if someone asks you, say that I’ve advised you not to discuss the case. If you do what I say, I’ll get this problem solved quickly.”

First, he filled in the missing numbers. Then, he Drake took the clues and went back to his office. First, he filled in the missing numbers. Then, he wrote the numbers in a notebook: 1 1 5 5 5 8 10 11 11 14 19 20

“Maybe it’s an alphabet code!” Drake shouted. When he “Is it a code?” he thought aloud. “Think, Drake, think!” “Maybe it’s an alphabet code!” Drake shouted. When he matched the numbers to the letters of the alphabet, this is what he had: A A E E E H J K K N S T

JAKE THE SNAKE “This doesn’t add up,” he said, disappointed and CASE SOLVED “This doesn’t add up,” he said, disappointed and discouraged. He kept moving the letters around. Finally, he had it: JAKE THE SNAKE

“I knew I could count on you!” said the Chief. Drake called the Chief. “That snake, Jake, is your man.” “I knew I could count on you!” said the Chief.