Dunc and the Scam Artists Read Online Free PDF

like you would be involved in something as dishonest as this. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
    “Now, now, don’t get excited honey. Everybody has to make a living.”
    “That’s enough talk,” Frankie said. “What should I do with them Auntie?”
    Mrs. Dell’s sweet expression changed again. “Take them upstairs and lock them in a closet. By the time they get out, we’ll be in sunny Mexico.”
    Frankie marched them upstairs and shoved them into a small closet.
    “Can’t we talk about this?” Amos asked.
    Frankie slammed the door in his face.
    “Not very talkative, is he?”
    Dunc pushed on the door. “Gorillas don’t have a very good command of the English language.”
    The closet was dark, too dark to see anything.There was only enough room to stand up or sit with their knees pulled up close.
    This was going from bad to worse
, Dunc thought. Out loud he said, “Don’t worry Amos. I’ll think of something.”
    “You mean, this was not a part of your original plan?” Amos’s voice was sarcastic.
    “Not exactly. It’s more like a sidetrack. But I’m sure something will turn up.”
    Amos sighed. “I sure hope it does soon. It’s getting hard to breathe in here.”
    He had no sooner said that than they began to hear sirens. Police sirens.
    “Here comes the cavalry,” Dunc said. “Let’s let them know where we are.”
    They pounded and kicked the closet door and screamed at the top of their lungs.
    “Stand back from the door. We’ll have to pry it open.”
    The door flew open and two grateful boys came tumbling out to land at the feet of two policemen.
    “Thanks officers,” Dunc said.
    “No problem. We heard the racket and figured someone was in here.”
    Downstairs, two officers were sortingthrough the green metal box. Handcuffs were being applied to Mrs. Dell, who was protesting and claiming her innocence in her sweetest little-old-lady voice.
    “Good work boys.” The officer in charge shook their hands. “We’ve been after these two for a long time.”
    Out in the yard the creep was facedown in the grass. His arms were outstretched, and his knees were bent and his feet were sticking straight into the air.
    “What happened to him?” Amos asked.
    “I did.” Mrs. Hawkins came up from the side of the porch. “I saw you two ride in, but I never saw you ride out. So I called the police, then came over on my own to check things out. He came after me and I hit him.”
    “Hit him?” Dunc asked. “What with?”
    “A shovel. It left a print of his face in the metal. I hate to ruin a good shovel like that but it was an emergency.”
    “Well, however it worked out, thank you for saving us. We might have been in that closet for years.” Dunc smiled. “If there’s anything we can do for you, just let us know.”
    Mrs. Hawkins studied him. “To be honest, Icould use a couple of strong boys to do a little yard work over at my place.”
    Amos shook his head, tried to signal Dunc but it didn’t work.
    “You’ve got it,” Dunc said.

The police were kind enough to take the two exhausted boys and their bikes home.
    Dunc’s parents restricted him to the house, Mrs. Hawkins’s yard, and school until further notice or old age, whichever came first. Amos’s parents hadn’t even missed him, except that the house didn’t seem to be quite as wrecked as usual, so he could go over to Dunc’s house.
    Dunc was sitting on his bed. “We’re getting pretty good at this detective stuff. I think I’ll work us up a resume. Maybe we should advertise. All things considered, I think this was one of our better cases, don’t you?”
    “If you like centipedes, dark closets, the IncredibleHulk pushing you around and your life being threatened, I guess it was great.” Amos said. “Personally, I’d rather have a tooth pulled.”
    “Every case has its drawbacks. It’s the end result that matters. Mrs. Dell and her nephew are in custody. Frankie is squealing like a stuck pig. The police have enough