Read Philip and the Case of Mistaken Identity and Philip and the Baby (9781597051095) for Free Online

saw where she was
going—they hoped it was the library again—they would remove their
disguises and go talk to her. They were determined to find out
whether she was Joanie or Janie and why she was trying to trick
them.
    They waited until lunchtime but no one
entered or left the house. They decided to go to the playground
after lunch and take up their watch at ten o’clock next
morning.
    The next day, Tuesday, they met at ten and
were at their posts, disguised, by ten-fifteen.
    “How long are we gonna stay today?” Emery
asked.
    “Until lunch, I guess. Maybe tomorrow we
should pack our lunches. We only have this week to figure this out
and then we have to go back to school.”
    “I know... look!”
    The grandmother was leaving the house. She
paused on the sidewalk to look into her purse, then closed it, and
turned right.
    “What’ll we do?” Emery said excitedly.
    “You think she might be going to get the
girl? Maybe the girl left earlier for someplace and she’s going to
bring her home.”
    “Maybe. You follow the granny and I’ll stay
here in case the girl is still in the house. Go, she’s turning down
the street.”
    Philip didn’t argue about following the
grandmother. He was glad to have some real spying to do. He made
certain his big nose was securely glued in place, adjusted his big
ear, and straightened his two baseball caps. He was confident the
girl would never recognize him.
    The grandmother had turned the corner and was
out of sight. Philip ran after her and when he reached the corner,
he spotted her walking down the street. He stayed behind her,
keeping a sharp eye on her. She would not get away from him. After
three more blocks the grandmother turned left onto Oxford Avenue, a
wide street lined with stores and businesses. Philip stayed across
the street and watched as she entered the Orkis Music School. Five
minutes later the grandmother came outside along with the girl, who
was carrying a violin case.
    Philip waited to see whether they would start
out the way that the grandmother had come and head right home. When
they did, Philip ran to the corner and dashed up the block. He
pulled off his nose and yanked off his ear. He took off his hats
and stuffed them into his pocket. Then he walked slowly down the
street toward Oxford Avenue.
    There they were, crossing the avenue and
about to start up the street toward Philip. He kept going toward
them, his eye on the girl. When she was close enough to hear him he
said, “Hi.”
    The girl looked at him then up at her
grandmother. The grandmother smiled at him but the girl gave him a
mean look—a look that said ‘don’t talk to me again.’ She brushed by
Philip, who had stopped walking.
    “Hi?” he said again, but the girl took her
grandmother’s hand and pulled her forward.
    Philip stood and watched them move off down
the sidewalk. He let them get out of sight and then started back to
the supermarket parking lot. When he got there, Emery was gone, so
Philip went home and knocked on Emery’s door. Emery’s mother said
that Emery had not come home yet, so there was nothing Philip could
do but to go home and wait for Emery to call.
    About an hour later he did call. He said to
meet in front of his house. Philip hung up the phone and ran
outside and down to Emery’s house.
    “I followed the girl,” Emery said.
    “You followed her? I followed her.”
    “No, about twenty minutes after you left she
came outside. I followed her and she went to library again. I took
off my disguise and went in after her and purposely bumped into
her. She made believe she didn’t know me! I said, ‘Hi, Janie,’ and
she gave me a look and said she wasn’t Janie, so I walked away
fast. I went back to the parking lot to look for you but you
weren’t there, so I thought maybe you came back already and went
home.”
    “I did. I followed the grandmother to a music
school on Oxford Avenue and she picked up the girl there.”
    “What?”
    “So I took off my disguise and