Philip and the Thief (9781619500648) (4 page)

Philip shook his head, embarrassed. “I can’t
solve every mystery.”

“
Follow the teacher’s morning,” Mrs.
Moriarty insisted.

Philip drew a breath. “He sat at his desk
looking through some books trying to decide what to read aloud to
us. Tyler’s mother showed up and interrupted him. He took Tyler
outside the room. As soon as the teacher left, Jason started
walking around. He came over and teased Emery and me about being
detectives. I never even saw the envelope the teacher
mentioned.”

“
Did this Jason walk near the teacher’s
desk?”

“
He did—on his way around the room
toward Emery and me.”

“
Then what happened?”

“
Then Tyler came back into the room
alone while his mother and Mr. Ware stayed outside a while
longer.”

“
And where did he walk?”

Philip thought a moment.
“
He
walked past the teacher’s
desk, too, on the way to his seat. Hmmm. He was real mad because
his mother came to school. I never thought of him.”

“
Go on. What happened next?” Mrs.
Moriarty asked.

“
Then Mr. Ware came back inside and
couldn’t find the envelope with the money.”

“
What kind of envelope was
it?”

“
Just a regular white one. Hey! Emery
walked past the teacher’s desk, too, earlier. Mr. Ware sent him
next door to Mr. Lerner’s class to get a big brown manila envelope.
Emery went next door and asked for a
vanilla
envelope. Mr. Lerner told him they were
all out of vanilla but he could let him have a chocolate envelope
if he wanted. Emery believed him. He believes anything. Emery took
the envelope back to class and asked Mr. Ware whether the chocolate
envelope would do. Everybody laughed.”

“
Was Emery upset at being laughed
at?”

“
He got grumpy is all.”

“
Grumpy enough to take the teacher’s
money?”

Philip shook his head. “No, not that grumpy.
Emery is goofy sometimes, but he wouldn’t steal anything. No, not
Emery. Anyway it happened way before the money disappeared.”

“
Get me my purse, Philip,” said Mrs.
Moriarty. “See it over there?”

Philip got the purse and handed it to Mrs.
Moriarty. She opened it, reached inside, and pulled out a
five-dollar bill. “Take this for your detective work, Philip.”

Philip started to say no, but Mrs. Moriarty
stopped him. “Detectives should be paid. They have expenses, too.
If you solve mysteries for anyone else, be sure to charge them
something. You shouldn’t work for free. Here, now. Take this.”

Embarrassed, Philip took the five-dollar bill
and shoved it into his pocket. “Thanks,” he said and left.

Chapter Eight

When Philip got over his discomfort at
Mrs. Moriarty’s giving him so much praise and money, he felt like
telling somebody about his success. His father was at work and his
mother had the baby to take care of.
Ha!
Emery!
It would feel good to tell Emery what he’d
missed. It would show him the detective agency really could solve
mysterious cases and even make money.

Emery opened the door when Philip knocked and
said, “Shhh. Both babies are asleep.”

Philip tiptoed inside. He waved to Mrs.
Wyatt who put her finger to her lips and startled Philip with a
loud, “
Shush!”
Emery motioned
him upstairs and the two boys went to Emery’s room.

“
I hate it when the babies are
sleeping. I can’t do anything,” said Emery. “But I hate it when
they’re awake, too.” He shrugged hopelessly.

“
Listen, you should have stayed in my
detective agency. I just earned five dollars.” He held up Mrs.
Moriarty’s five-dollar bill and told Emery the story.

Emery thought a moment. “I think I’ll be a
detective again.”

“
You can’t have any of
this
five dollars.” Philip jammed the
money back into his pocket. “I solved the case myself.”

“
I know. I know,” Emery
agreed.

“
You’re sure you want to be a detective
again? You don’t care about stupid Jason teasing you?”

“
I don’t think he’ll tease anyone for a
while. He’s worried about getting caught for stealing the teacher’s
money.”

“
You think he took it?”

“
Who else? He’s the only one who would
do it.”

“
Maybe not,” said Philip, and he went
over the morning of the crime with Emery as he had with Mrs.
Moriarty.

“
Tyler,” said Emery. “I never thought
of Tyler. You’re right. He
did
walk right by Mr. Ware’s desk, and he
was
real mad at him for telling his mother he
didn’t do his work. Yeah, I think he took it.”

Philip looked quietly at his friend for a
moment. “A minute ago you thought Jason took the money.”

“
Right. Jason took it. Or
Tyler.”

“
You’re sure?”

“
Absolutely.”

“
But not Emery?”

“
Emery! Me?”

“
You walked by the teacher’s desk with
your chocolate envelope.”

“
Mr. Lerner said it was chocolate, not
me.”

“
You believed him.”

“
Why can’t there be chocolate and
vanilla envelopes? The one he gave me was brown. Lots of other
envelopes are white. When ice cream is brown it’s chocolate and
when it’s white it’s vanilla.”

Philip knew Emery was talking nonsense, but
couldn’t think of a winning argument to prove it, so he returned to
the topic at hand.

“
Never mind the envelope. You were at
the teacher’s desk with it.”

“
Yeah, but he was standing there
staring at me. How could I take anything? You’re crazy. No, no. Not
me.”

“
Only kidding, Emery.”
Emery takes everything so seriously,
thought Philip.

“
Somebody will tell on him,” said
Emery.

“
Him, who?”

“
Himwho? Who’s Himwho?”

“
Who’s him who? What do you
mean,
who’s him who?
What are
you talking about? Him who’s him, the culprit.”

“
Himwho’s the culprit who took the
money? We don’t have anybody named Himwho in the class.”

“
I never said anybody named Himwho took
any money. You said somebody would tell on him and I said him
who?”

“
There, you said it again. There’s no
Himwho in the class. Who are you talking about?”

Philip gritted his teeth, then spoke
slowly.

“
Emery. You said somebody would tell on
him. Did you say that?”

“
Yeah, and somebody
will
tell on him.”

Philip’s voice rose. “There are
two
hims. Tyler and Jason. You didn’t
say which him you meant when you said somebody would tell on him
and I asked you him . . .” Philip paused, “. . . who? Which him did
you mean when you said somebody would tell on him? Him
who?””

“
Ohhhh.” Emery laughed. “I thought you
meant a third person—like Billy Himwho.”

“
Billy Himwho! Who’s Billy Himwho?”
Philip’s voice rose in exasperation.

“
He’s nobody.”

“
How could nobody take the money?”
Philip’s voice rose higher.

“
Nobody couldn’t take the money.
Somebody had to take it. I just made up the name Billy Himwho, like
I thought you meant we had a boy in class I never heard of who took
the money.”

Philip threw his hands into the air. “How
could there be someone in our class you never heard of?”

Emery’s mom’s voice came up the stairs. “Stop
that shouting.”

Philip pulled in a deep breath.

“
Somebody will tell on Jason or on
Tyler, you said. Who did you mean?”

“
That’s what I meant. Somebody will
tell on Jason or Tyler.”

Philip narrowed his eyes and squinted
fiercely at Emery.

“
Jason probably.

“
So why didn’t you just say
so?”

“
I did. I said. . . .”

“
Please, never mind.” Philip rolled his
eyes. Emery had the makings of a great detective.

Chapter Nine

Jason never did well in school any day, but
on Tuesday he got everything wrong. Six times, Mr. Ware called on
him. Twice for answers to math and he got them both wrong; once for
reading part of the story they were doing and he read from the
wrong page; and the other three times he didn’t even know the
question Mr. Ware asked him and simply said, “Huh?” Tyler paid
close attention to everything, though. Philip guessed Tyler didn’t
want his mother visiting again.

Philip knew why Jason couldn’t pay attention
in class—getting caught for stealing the teacher’s forty dollars
filled up his brain. Getting punished filled up his brain. But the
only thing Mr. Ware did on Tuesday was tell the class how
disappointed he felt when no one put the money back on his desk.
Everyone in the class went home in a bad mood.

That night as Philip lay in bed, his mother
stopped into his room and said, “I have a mystery for the best
detective on the block to solve. You helped Mrs. Moriarty. She told
me how you found her stamps. Now maybe you can help me.”

“
What’s the mystery, Mom?”

“
I went to the supermarket today with
Becky. We got groceries and I carried them home. Becky started
crying so I put everything down to take care of her as soon as I
got inside the house. She finally quieted down and I put the
groceries away. Now I can’t find my change from the store. The last
I remember, I had it in my hand in the store."

Philip yawned. “Why did you wait until so
late to tell me?”

“
I had things to do and I forgot. Do
you need to ask me any questions?”

“
Did you buy any candy at the
store?”

“
How will knowing if I bought candy
help solve the mystery?” his mother asked in a puzzled
tone.

“
It won’t. I just want to know if
there’s any candy in the house.”

Philip’s mother frowned. “No, I did not buy
any candy. Do you think you can solve the case?”

“
I’ll try, Mom. Tomorrow.”

“
Good enough,” his mother said and she
rubbed her palm against his cheek. Philip hated when she did that.
“Go to sleep now. Rest up for school.” His mother turned to
leave.

“
How much change?”

“
Five dollars and fifty-seven
cents.”

Philip yawned again. “I’ll find it tomorrow.
Good night.”

~~~~~

The first thing next morning in school Mr.
Ware called Jason up to his desk. The class watched the teacher
speak softly to him. They guessed the topic of the conversation
when Jason shook his head and opened his eyes wide.

“
Step outside, Jason,” Mr. Ware said.
He gave the class something to do and he followed Jason into the
hall.

Emery leaned toward Philip. “He got caught. I
didn’t tell on him, did you?”

Philip shook his head. Both he and Emery
looked around the classroom. Michael caught their gaze and pointed
to the girl who sat in front of him—Susan—the teacher’s pet. Her
desk sat right in front of Mr. Ware’s.

“
Susan probably did,” whispered
Emery.

Philip whispered back. “What do you think’s
going to happen now?”

Mr. Ware came back into the classroom before
Emery could answer. He came back alone. Philip glanced toward the
open classroom door in time to see Jason disappearing down the
hallway, the principal, Mr. Greif, walking next to him.

Chapter Ten

Jason didn’t return to the classroom until
after lunch and when he did, he had red eyes and an angry face.
Jason went to his seat and sat quietly while Mr. Ware went over the
week’s spelling words. As he finished, Mr. Greif walked into the
room with the gym teacher, Mr. Sundack. He addressed the class.
“Mr. Sundack will be taking you to the yard to play for a little
while. Take your coats. It’s a bit chilly.”

No one cheered this unexpected development
because everyone knew it had something to do with Jason. The class,
including Jason, lined up and followed Mr. Sundack to the yard.
When they reached the yard, Jason walked off by himself and a few
of the boys joined him. Emery ran off to play, but Philip decided
to buzz around Jason in case he had anything to say about the
case.

Jason started right in. “Boy, I better not
find out who said I took the money because I didn’t take it.”

“
What did your mother say?” asked one
of Jason’s friends.

“
She told Mr. Greif she didn’t give me
the money. And she didn’t. My father did. He always does. That’s
what I told them. I bought the game with money my father gave
me.”

“
So he’ll tell Mr. Greif he gave it to
you, won’t he?”

Jason didn’t answer. He looked around and
when his eyes met Philip’s, an angry look came over his face.
Philip looked away quickly and moved off to join Emery.