Philip and the Thief (9781619500648)

by Paulits, John (COR)

  “And did you solve it?”

  Philip shook his head slowly. “No.”

  “Tell me about the school mystery, but first go and get yourself another Hershey Bar. You deserve one. Bring me one, too.” She laughed and added, “You know where the box is.”

  Philip obeyed happily. He enjoyed the way Mrs. Moriarty treated him like a real detective. After he handed Mrs. Moriarty the candy bar, he told her the story of the teacher’s forty dollars.

  “Wow!” Mrs. Moriarty exclaimed. “Forty dollars is a lot of money. Did the teacher catch the thief?”

  “No one got blamed yet, but someone’s probably going to tell on Jason. He spent thirty dollars at lunch on a new Pearl Quest.”

  Mrs. Moriarty tilted her head. “A Pearl Quest?”

  “You know. A game.” Philip bounced his thumbs up and down.

  “Oh, one of those. Is Jason the kind of boy who might steal?”

  Philip thought a moment. “I think he is.”

  “Then his buying a new game is suspicious,” said Mrs. Moriarty.

  “After school he told me and Emery he bought the game with money his father gave him.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  Philip shrugged. “He always has money.”

  “Did you piece together the teacher’s actions like you did mine? Let me see you do it. I’ll bet you can solve the teacher’s mystery right here and now.”

  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 so
mebody 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.

  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.