Philip and the Haunted House (9781619500020) Read Online Free PDF Page B

exasperation. “You think they sit at the windows
and wave hello to people?”
    “ How can we know when to go
in?”
    “ It has to be after a day when they
didn’t commit a robbery.”
    “ It could be today,” Emery
said.
    “ But we’re not sure. Look, let’s both
listen to the radio before we go to school tomorrow. If there’s
another robbery around here, it will on the radio. Remember, as
soon as you wake up, turn on the radio, and if there was no
robbery, we’ll sneak around back tomorrow after school and see if
we can find a way in.”
    Both boys felt a chill as they thought of
what they planned to do.
    “ Let’s get out of here,” said Philip.
“We’ll look suspicious if we stand around much longer.” He and
Emery turned and, filled with thoughts of what tomorrow might
bring, walked the rest of the way home.
     
     

Chapter Nine
     
    “ Dad, were there any more robberies?”
Philip tried to sound casual as he asked the question.
    “ Robberies?”
    “ You know. Like the two in the
neighborhood, the pizza store and the sandwich store.”
    “ Oh. No, not since Saturday
night.”
    Philip thought a minute. “Did they catch the
bad guys yet?”
    “ I don’t think so.” Philip’s father sat
reading the newspaper. The family had finished dinner, and his
mother had gone down to Mrs. Moriarty’s house.
    “ What’s the newspaper say?”
    “ Nothing about any more robberies.” His
father folded the newspaper onto his lap. “What’s up?”
    “ Do you know if there’s a reward? You
know, if someone found the money and gave it back.”
    “ I don’t know, but it’s likely the
stores would show their gratitude. Why? You got a lead in the
case?”
    Philip stomach jumped. He looked at his
father, but saw he was only kidding.
    “ Suppose someone found the money and
kept it?”
    “ I think they could land in lots of
trouble if they did.”
    “ Would they go to jail?”
    “ It’s possible.”
    Philip didn’t like the sound of that. He and
Emery would have to be satisfied with the reward. Philip’s father
opened up his newspaper again, and Philip made his way up to his
room. There was nothing to do now but to listen to the radio
tomorrow morning.
     
    “ This is WIBG in beautiful Brunton,
Pennsylvania. The temperature is a seasonable 46 degrees. At the
tone the time will be 8 o’clock. beep And now the news.”
    Philip listened to stories about Washington,
President Obama, the Middle East and something about wrangling over
debt.
    “ And now your local news.”
    Philip sat up and gave the radio every ounce
of his attention. The Mayor did this. Somebody else did that.
Something about school taxes. A story about a lady whose cat got
stuck in a tree for two whole days. Philip knew when they got to
the cat story the serious news was over. He sighed with relief. He
dashed back to his room and stuck his flashlight into his book bag.
They’d need it if they had to go down into the haunted house
basement.
    Philip racked his brain, but couldn’t come up
with anything else they might need. He’d told his mother he’d be at
Emery’s house after school, but he knew as soon as he and Emery
dropped off their book bags, their adventure would begin.
     
    “ How long do you think this’ll take?”
Emery asked as he and Philip huddled together in a bush behind the
haunted house.
    “ I don’t know. Why?”
    “ I don’t want to be in there when it
gets dark.”
    “ No, no. Me either,” Philip admitted.
He looked at his watch. “It won’t take that long. We have plenty of
time.”
    “ You sure?”
    “ Yeah.”
    “ How do we get in?”
    “ How do I know?”
    “ Kind of important.”
    “ Yeah, real. Look, if the front windows
went up and down, maybe the back windows go up and down,
too.”
    “ Maybe the back door’s even unlocked,”
Emery said hopefully.
    Both boys eyed the house carefully.
    “ We know we can’t go in the front way.
Somebody might see us,” Philip said.
    “ Somebody could see