“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.”
Philip took a quick peek Jason’s way. Jason had his head down, his eyes on his desk. Philip turned back to Mr. Greif, afraid Jason would notice him staring.
“If anyone has anything to tell me, now’s the time.”
No one said anything.
“If it’s too hard for you to do like this, I would like you to write a note and make sure it gets to me. You can put it in my mailbox in the main office when no one’s looking if you choose, but I hoped we could get this cleared up this morning. Anyone?”
The room stayed quiet and Philip’s mind raced. Should he get Jason into trouble or not? What should he do? He had to decide quickly. He could feel Emery looking his way.
Mr. Greif went on. “Well, I’ll hope someone tells me something soon.” He turned to leave.
“Philip,” whispered Emery excitedly. “Hurry up. Tell on him.”
Philip didn’t know what to do. The principal stopped at the doorway. “I’ll be back after lunch one way or another,” he said.
Philip looked over at Jason, who had sunk even lower and rested his head on his arms. He looked very unhappy.
Philip popped to his feet. “Wait,” he said.
Mr. Greif turned and said, “What is it, Philip?”
Everyone looked Philip’s way. He felt very embarrassed, but he had begun and now he had to finish.
“I think I can tell you what happened to Mr. Ware’s money.” Philip’s eyes were drawn toward Jason, who had lifted his head and looked Philip’s way.
“Yes, Philip?” said Mr. Ware.
“I think I know who has your money,” said Philip.
Philip could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on him. Most of all he could feel Jason’s gaze.
“You know who has my money?” said Mr. Ware.
“Yes, Philip?” said Mr. Greif. “Who has Mr. Ware’s money?”
Philip took a hard swallow and said, “You have it, Mr. Ware.”
“Me!”
The class got noisy and everyone, children and grown-ups alike, looked at Philip as if he were crazy.
“Quiet, children,” said Mr. Greif. “Please explain what you mean, Philip.”
Philip cleared his throat. He wished he could get a drink of water. “Well, Mr. Ware, would you get the book about the Greek myths?” Philip pointed. “The big one with Pegasus on the cover. Right, that one. Now look inside it.”
No sooner had Mr. Ware opened the book than a white envelope dropped out. The class gasped. Mr. Ware picked up the envelope and opened it.
“It is my money!”
The class got really noisy.
Mr. Greif held up his hand and slowly the class quieted. “Philip, how in the world did you know where to find the money?”
The way everyone looked at Philip now felt different from the way they’d looked at him a moment ago. He was no longer crazy, but the boy who held the solution to the mystery.
Philip cleared his throat and swallowed. “I solved some mysteries lately. Emery lost a candy bar and a Superball and I found them.”
“What candy bar?” Emery whispered.
“A neighbor of mine lost a book of stamps and I found it. My mother lost five dollars. I didn’t find it, but my mother did. In all of these mysteries, people just forgot things. Emery forgot his candy bar.”
“What candy bar?” Emery whispered.
“Then his mother forgot where she put the Superball. My neighbor forgot where she put her stamps, and my mother forgot where she put her money. They were all doing one thing, but were busy thinking about something else. When I figured that out, I thought about the day the money disappeared. Mr. Ware was looking through his books. I remembered he had the Greek myth book in his hands when Tyler’s mother came to the door. He put the book away. When the book disappeared, the money disappeared. Mr. Ware didn’t read us the Greek myth book, so he probably didn’t open the book again. Like the other mysteries, he was doing one thing, got interrupted, and lost something. I made a guess he probably put the envelope into the Greek myth book without even thinking about it.” Philip sat down.
“Why, Philip,” said Mr. Ware after a moment, “that is amazing. You thought this all out by yourself?”
Philip nodded.
“Well,” said Mr. Greif, “I suppose we all owe Jason an apology. Jason, both Mr. Ware and I are sorry for having suspected you. I will call both your parents as soon as I get back to my office, but you really shouldn’t bring so much money to school. It only leads to trouble.”
Jason looked at Philip. Philip noticed and turned away quickly, hoping the whole mysterious episode had come to an end.
Chapter Thirteen
“What candy bar?” Emery asked, rushing up to Philip when Mr. Ware dismissed the class at three o’clock. Philip had been too busy at lunch telling his story over and over to the kids in class for Emery to get him alone. “What candy bar did I lose? Do you still have it?”
“I ate it,” said Philip. “You left half a candy bar on my bureau and it fell down behind the back. I figured out what happened to it. So I found it and ate it.”
“Oh, I remember. I didn’t want it. It fell under the bed and got all dirty.”
Philip stopped walking. “Dirty? Why didn’t you throw it away? Why’d you put it on my bureau?”
Emery shrugged. “Forgot. Did you really eat it?”
Philip nodded.
“Yuck,” said Emery and repeated, “It fell under the bed.”
“I cleaned it. It was clean when I ate it.”
Emery made a sour face and said, “I doubt it. Oops, here comes Jason.”
The three boys paused and stood uncomfortably quiet for a moment.
“Philip,” said Jason. “You can play my Pearl Quest game tomorrow at lunch if you want.”
Philip said, “Thanks,” and Jason walked off.
“Now he’s your friend,” said Emery. “He won’t bother you anymore. I hope he remembers I’m in the detective agency, too. Then he’ll be my friend.”
“You kept telling him you quit. Remember?”
“Oh, yeah,” Emery said gloomily.
The boys walked a while, and then Emery asked, “Did you really figure out the mystery like you said?”
“Yeah. Grownups always forget where they put things.”
“I know. My mother was taking care of the two babies and started looking for her glasses. She looked a long time. Know where they were? On the top of her head. I had to tell her where when she asked me what I was laughing about. She got mad because I didn’t tell her right away, but I thought it was too funny to tell. She sent me to my room.”
The two boys reached Emery’s house.
“Want to come over later?” Philip asked. “We can play outside. It’s not so cold today.”
“I’ll ask my mom. I’ll call you.”
Philip finished the walk to his own house. When he got inside, his mother hung up the phone.
“Hi, Mom.”
“That was Mr. Ware, Philip. He told me you’re quite a detective, figuring out the classroom mystery about the missing money. Tell me about it.”
Philip happily told his mother the whole story; how when he’d awakened in the morning, the answer popped into his head. He left out the part about spending time deciding what to do. He knew if he didn’t reveal what happened to the missing money, everyone would continue to think Jason was the thief and maybe he and Emery would get their wish—no more Jason in the class.
Philip remembered, though, how gloomy Jason looked when he talked about how his mother and father both suspected him of stealing the m
oney. Philip knew what that felt like. He didn’t tell his mother, though, about his not wanting to let Jason feel as badly as she’d made him feel when she suspected him wrongly. It was too personal.
“Well, this certainly is a proud day, Philip. Wait until your father hears this story. I’ll bet he’ll want to celebrate with a dinner at the Shake Shack and ice cream afterwards.”
Philip smiled. His father would like the story. After all, his father had helped him get started in the detective business.
“The Shake Shack and ice cream sounds good,” Philip said through his smile.
“So go get your homework done.”
“Can we invite Emery along? He’s part of the detective agency, too. At least I think he is.”
“Sure,” his mother answered. “Give him a call.”
“Okay,” said Philip. He hung his coat in the closet and started toward the telephone. It was no mystery to him that tonight was going to be a very special night.
The End
About the Author
John Paulits is a former teacher in New York City. He has published five other children’s novels, four about Philip and Emery, as well as two adult science fiction novels, HOBSON’S PLANET and BECKONING ETERNITY. His previous Gyspy Shadow book, PHILIP AND THE SUPERSTITION KID, was voted best children’s novel of 2010 in the Preditors and Editors readers poll.
WEBSITE: http://www.johnpaulits.com/
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=750790110&ref=search
Philip and the Thief (9781619500648) Page 4
