Philip and the Thief (9781619500648) (5 page)

When the children returned to the classroom,
the principal stood in the front of the room along with another
man—Jason’s father, Philip guessed. Jason left with the two men,
and the children saw no more of him that day.

~~~~~

Philip hurried home from school, relieved he
didn’t run into Jason along the way. He opened his front door and
started up the stairs to his room. “I’m home, Mom,” he called.

He threw his books on his bed and went to get
his secret shoebox. There were seven candy bars in it. Three Milky
Ways, two bags of M & Ms, a Hershey Bar, and a Baby Ruth. It
gave Philip a warm feeling to find himself so well supplied with
candy. He could have two a day for the rest of the week and still
have one left over.

Philip heard his mother coming up the stairs
and quickly put his shoebox away. His mother didn’t like him eating
too much candy. Especially before dinner. His bedroom door opened
and Philip looked at his mother, who seemed much more serious than
usual.

“
Philip,” she said. “I can’t tell you
how surprised I am at you.”

Philip frowned in confusion. What had he
done? He quickly scanned his behavior of the past few days and
couldn’t find anything to cause such surprise in his mother. He’d
done his homework. His clothes weren’t all over the floor. His
mother hadn’t scolded him for anything in particular. What could it
be?

“
Did you find the money I told you I
lost?” his mother asked.

“
Your change? The five dollars? No. I
didn’t even look yet.”

“
Then why, when I did the laundry
today, did I find this in your pants pocket?” His mother showed him
the five dollars Mrs. Moriarty had given him for solving her
mystery.

“
Five dollars.” Philip couldn’t believe
he forgot he had so much money.

“
Yes, five dollars. Is this my
change?”

“
Your change? No. It’s . . . you think
I took it? Stole it?” asked Philip. His stomach started to hurt.
Not in his whole life had his mother ever accused him of
stealing.

“
I don’t know what else to think,
Philip. I lose five dollars and find five dollars in your
pocket.”

“
I didn’t steal it,” said Philip. Now
his throat started to hurt.

“
What is this money doing in your
pocket then?”

“
It’s not your money,” said Philip. Now
his eyes began to burn.

“
Whose is it then?”

“
Mine,” said Philip.

“
Yours!”

“
Mrs. Moriarty gave it to me for
finding her stamps. You can ask her. She gave it to me as a
reward.”

Philip saw a funny look flash into his
mother’s eyes. “Mrs. Moriarty gave it to you?”

“
Yes. I didn’t take your money. I
didn’t.”

“
Why didn’t you tell me she gave you
money?”

Philip could tell from his mother’s tone she
felt embarrassed.

“
I don’t know. I didn’t want her to
give me any money, but she made me take it. I put it I my pocket
and forgot about it. I don’t know.”

“
Well. I’m sorry, Philip. I . . . I
guess I made a mistake. Well, never mind. Here, put this in your
piggy bank.”

Philip’s mother handed him the five-dollar
bill.

“
Mine is still missing, then,” she
said.

“
I’ll look for it,” said Philip. “I’ll
find it for you.”

His mother nodded as she left the room, and
Philip waited for his eyes and throat and stomach to stop hurting.
Suddenly, he felt tears pile up in his eyes and start to trickle
down his cheeks. When he wiped the tears away, his eyes felt
better. After he swallowed hard a few times, his throat felt
better. He took three deep breaths and finally his stomach felt
better. The strange feeling in his heart that came from his mother
thinking he was a thief, though, didn’t feel any better.

Philip took another deep breath, then
swallowed hard and wiped his eyes again. The terrible feeling in
his heart started to go away a little, but he knew he’d never
forget an awful feeling like that.

Chapter Eleven

“
Susan said she didn’t tell on Jason,”
Emery reported to Philip as both boys waited in line for Mr. Ware
to show up the next morning.

“
Are you sure?” asked
Philip.

“
I heard her tell some other girls. She
said she wouldn’t tell on anybody unless she actually saw them do
it, and she didn’t see Jason take the money. Nobody
did.”

“
But it had to be him,” said Philip.
“Who else could it be?”

“
Uh-oh,” said Emery. “Here comes
Jason.”

All alone, Jason walked slowly toward the
line. When he noticed Philip and Emery, he stopped near them.
Another boy joined Jason and the four boys stood together.

“
What happened when you went home?”
asked Roy, the fourth boy.

“
My father and mother both think I
stole the money, but I didn’t. My father said he never gave me that
much, but he did. Just not at the same time. He gave it to me
different times and I saved it up. I wish I knew who told the
teacher I took it.” He looked toward Philip and Emery, who listened
with great interest. When Jason looked their way, Philip and Emery
turned and stared at each other, each wishing he could think of
something to say.

“
Did one of you tell Mr. Ware I took
the money? Maybe you think you’re smart because you have a stupid
detective agency.”

“
I quit it,” said Emery.

Philip scowled at Emery but then said
quickly, “I didn’t tell. We don’t know who told. Why don’t you ask
Mr. Ware?”

“
I did. He said it wasn’t important,
but it’s important to me. I didn’t take his money, and I want to
know who said I did. Now, even my parents think I took
it.”

Philip didn’t know what to say.

“
Here comes Mr. Ware,” said Emery. The
four boys walked toward their line-up spots; Philip and Emery,
relieved to see the teacher arrive and have the conversation
end.

Mr. Ware led the class into the building. As
soon as the children settled in, Mr. Greif entered the room. He
stood before the class, and Mr. Ware stood by his desk.

“
Boys and girls,” said Mr. Greif, “we
need your help. You know what’s going on here. You know the
problem. I know none of you wants to be a tattletale. None of you
wants to tell on a friend of yours and maybe get your friend into
trouble, but we need to know what happened to Mr. Ware’s money. And
we
don’t
want to accuse anyone
wrongly. When you go home today, think over whether you know
anything about this missing money. If you do, we want to know about
it. Tell Mr. Ware tomorrow morning if you remember anything. It may
be hard for you to do, but you’ll be doing the right thing. Think
about it. Maybe tomorrow one of you will be able to help out, and
we can put this episode behind us.”

Mr. Greif nodded to Mr. Ware and left the
room.

“
All right, children,” said Mr. Ware.
“Think about what Mr. Greif told you. Try to help if you can. Take
out your math books.”

After school Philip and Emery walked home
together. It was the coldest and windiest day yet, and both boys
hurried along. Emery lifted his chin above his neck scarf and said,
“I hope they throw Jason out of school.” He buried his face in his
scarf.

Philip tilted his head so his mouth
poked free from his
scarf and said, “Why?” The wind
stung him, and he dived back inside his scarf.

Emery waited for the wind to stop before
lifting his face. “He keeps looking at me like he thinks I told the
teacher on him. I didn’t. Susan says she didn’t. I don’t know who
did. Maybe nobody did. Maybe Mr. Ware suspects him because he acts
suspicious.” Emery was too cold to say more and he buried his face
in his scarf.

Philip turned and walked backwards so the
wind didn’t hit him in the face and said, “He looks at me the same
way, too.”

Emery turned backwards, too.
“This
is
a better way to walk.
You’re the detective. Prove he took the money. Then maybe Mr. Greif
will put him in another class or throw him out of school. I don’t
want him in my class.”

Philip didn’t disagree with Emery. He
wondered if he really could prove Jason took the money. Maybe if he
really concentrated . . .

“
I’ll try,” he announced to Emery. “I
found your ball and Mrs. M’s stamps.” He knew better than to
mention Emery’s half a candy bar. “I’ll try to figure it out
tonight.”

Suddenly, Emery tripped over a big crack in
the sidewalk and tumbled to the cement. He got up and said, “It’s
stupid to walk backwards. You better prove Jason took the money and
get him kicked out.” Emery nestled himself deep inside his scarf,
and the two boys trudged frigidly onward.

When Emery reached his house, he ran up the
path to the front door without even saying good-bye to Philip.

Philip ran, too. He wanted to get home and
get warm fast. He had a lot of thinking to do.

Chapter Twelve

When Philip reached home, he put his book bag
down inside the front door and took off his heavy coat. The candy
bars in his secret shoebox would taste extra good today after the
cold walk home. Philip laughed when he thought of Emery walking
backwards and falling down. That was Emery.

“
Philip,” said Mrs. Felton. “I see your
stuff spread all over the floor so I know you’re home. Hang up your
coat.”

“
I did,” said Philip.

“
The ball of the banister doesn’t
count. In the closet, please.”

“
It’s not a ball. It’s a newel,” said
Philip, practicing one of the week’s new vocabulary
words.

“
Aren’t we smart,” his mother said with
a smile. “I wanted to tell you I found the missing five
dollars.”

“
Where was it?”

“
In my coat pocket. I swear I looked
there first, but Becky was fussing so I must have missed it.”
Philip’s mother put her hand in her dress pocket. “And I’m sorry
about my misunderstanding and accusing you. Very sorry. So I got
you these.” His mother pulled two Chunkies from her
pocket.

Philip took them. “Thanks, Mom.”

“
It’s too cold to play outside. Want to
invite Emery over? See if he wants to stay for dinner.”

“
Okay.” Philip took his coat to the
closet and then went to the telephone.

~~~~~

Philip thought back over his day as he
lay in the dark and quiet of his bedroom. His mother had really
treated him special, and he knew why—because of the five dollars
she thought he took. She knew she’d made a big mistake, and she
treated him so well—inviting Emery over, candy bars, making
hamburgers and French fries for dinner—to make up for it. He almost
felt glad she’d made the mistake, but then Philip remembered how
badly he’d felt when his mother thought he might be a thief. No,
Philip decided after some consideration. He
wasn’t
glad she’d made the mistake. Not at
all.

Then he thought of school and of what
Emery had said. Jason was
not
nice. He
was
always
bothering people. He
did
give
mean looks to him and Emery. Philip decided he would try his best
to prove Jason was the thief. Maybe he
could
get him kicked out of class. If he did,
then he and Emery wouldn’t have to worry about him
anymore.

And so Philip lay in the dark, thinking back
over each of the mysteries he’d solved during the past week.
Finally, though, his eyes got heavy and he drifted off.

~~~~~

The next morning, Philip stood in one
corner of the schoolyard and watched the other children play. He
didn’t feel like playing. He didn’t feel like talking to anyone. He
knew he could get Jason into trouble if he wanted because when he
opened his eyes that morning he knew how the teacher’s money
disappeared. At least he
thought
he knew. He couldn’t really be sure until he checked, but the
only way he could check was to reveal the solution and see if he
was right. Plus, now that he knew how to get Jason into trouble, he
had to decide whether he should or not.

Philip spotted Emery being chased by Anthony.
Then he saw Jason enter the schoolyard. Philip moved behind the
corner of the school so Jason wouldn’t see him. He peeked out and
watched Jason walk along very slowly. No one went over to greet
him, so he walked to where the class lined up and stood alone until
the bell rang. When it did, Philip walked almost as slowly to the
line as Jason had.

When the children saw Mr. Greif waiting at
the classroom door, they settled in quickly. Mr. Greif followed the
class into the room. No one bothered to take out any books because
they knew the principal planned to talk to them again.

Emery leaned toward Philip. “Did you solve
it?” he whispered. “Can you get Jason into trouble?”

Philip nodded. “I think I can,” he whispered
back.

“
Then do it,” Emery said.

The principal began to speak. “Yesterday Mr.
Ware and I asked everyone to think about something.”