The Burglar Who Bit the Big Apple Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  MY REPORT

  Chapter Two

  THE HOTEL

  Chapter Three

  A GIRL

  Chapter Four

  A MISSING PLANET?

  Chapter Five

  CATCHING SOME Z’S

  Chapter Six

  ANTON’S ALIBI

  Chapter Seven

  CAUGHT!

  Chapter Eight

  LADY IN THE HARBOR

  Chapter Nine

  THE GAME IS UP

  Chapter Ten

  THE LONG GOODBYE

  Literary News

  Arts & Entertainment

  A Detective’s Dictionary

  Sam’s Paper

  Further Investigations

  In Your Own Detective’s Notebook …

  Copyright

  Back Cover

  STUDENTS

  Samantha Archer

  A.K.A: Sam

  D.O.B: August 20th

  POSITION: 6th Grade

  INTERESTS:

  Old movies, field trips-Why are these kids so interested in field trips? I will look into this!

  KNOWN ASSOCIATES:

  Duran, Catalina; Garrison, Edward; and Shoo, James.

  NOTES:

  Samantha frequently uses expressions many of the stundents–and even some of the teachers–do not understand. These seem to come from the old movies she watches at home.

  Samantha recently called Mr. Spade’s “Bruno” what does this mean? I will look into this, too.

  CHAPTER ONE

  MY REPORT

  This has been a crazy field trip.

  Most of my class is asleep. So are the teachers and chaperones. Two days in the Big Apple will make you tired.

  And two days in the Big Apple solving the vandalism crime of the century will make you dead tired.

  They say there are eight million stories in New York City. And maybe that’s so. But this is one of them. It all started when we landed at the airport …

  * * *

  “Everyone over here!” Mr. Spade, our sixth-grade teacher, called. All the students were still making their way off the plane, and the teachers were pushing us along.

  “Come on, kids,” Ms. Stanwyck, our art teacher, said. “We need to do another head count before we leave the gate.”

  Cat looked confused. “I don’t get it,” she said to me. “How could we need another head count now? If the right number of students were on the plane, they must have gotten off.”

  Gum laughed. “Unless someone jumped off with a parachute,” he said.

  Egg rolled his eyes. “I think we would have noticed that,” he said.

  Gum shrugged. “Maybe Anton Gutman locked himself in the bathroom,” he said. We all laughed at that. Even Ms. Stanwyck laughed quietly.

  The four of us hauled our bags over to where Mr. Spade was standing. The other teachers and chaperones were there too. There was Ms. Duran, Cat’s mom; Ms. Stanwyck; Mr. Neff, our science teacher; and Mr. Gutman, Anton’s father.

  Mr. Neff was pointing at everyone from our class and counting off out loud. “Twenty-two,” he said. “That means four are missing. Where are Stan and Puppy and Butter and Candy?”

  I tapped Mr. Neff on the shoulder. “Um, Mr. Neff?” I said. “It’s Sam, not Stan.”

  “Yeah,” Cat said. “And it’s not Puppy. It’s Cat.”

  “And Egg,” Egg added.

  “And Gum,” Gum added.

  I nodded and said, “And we’re right here. So that makes twenty-six.”

  Mr. Spade smiled. “Great!” he said. “Let’s get to our bus.” He turned to Mr. Gutman. “Why don’t you and Mr. Neff bring up the rear to make sure we don’t have stragglers?” Mr. Spade said.

  Anton’s dad sighed. “Fine,” he said. “Whatever. I’ll walk in back with the weird guy.”

  Cat elbowed me. “Did you hear that?” she whispered. “He’s just as rude as his son.”

  “So that’s where Anton gets it,” Gum murmured.

  Egg already had his camera out. He was snapping some pictures of the airport terminal when we stepped outside.

  Then Cat spotted a couple of real New York City cops. “Check it out, Sam!” she said, pointing.

  I ran over to them.

  “Officers!” I called. I made sure to smile so they would know there was no emergency.

  One of them looked at me. He smiled back. “Hey, there, young lady,” he said. He was about my height, and he had a thick mustache.

  His partner was skinny and way taller than him. “Is everything okay?” he asked me.

  “Oh, sure,” I said. “I was hoping you’d let my friend take a picture of me with you two.”

  I turned around and called to Egg. “Hey! Egg! Come over here!” I yelled, waving at him. I stood next to the two cops.

  “Of course you can take a picture with us,” the shorter policeman said. “Is this your first time in New York City?”

  “That’s affirmative, officer,” I replied. The cops laughed.

  Egg had reached us and was snapping some photos. I was about to thank the cops when the walkie-talkie on the shorter policeman’s belt started crackling.

  “Unit one-twenty reporting,” a voice said over the walkie-talkie. “The statue of Ralph Kramden has been robbed at Port Authority Bus Terminal. I repeat, Ralph Kramden’s lunchbox is missing.”

  The two officers looked at each other. “Seriously?” the policeman said. His partner shrugged.

  “Sorry, kids,” the policeman said. “We have to run.” They hurried off.

  “What are you kids doing?” a gruff voice said. We spun around.

  It was Mr. Gutman. “What do you think would happen if the bus left without you?” he snapped.

  “Sorry, Mr. Gutman,” I said.

  “You could have ruined this trip for me!” Mr. Gutman added. He took me by the wrist and Egg by the camera strap, and dragged us toward the bus. “I wouldn’t be able to have fun if everyone was blaming me for two dumb kids going missing at the airport, would I?”

  “Um,” Egg muttered, “I guess not.”

  Mr. Gutman brought Egg and me to the bus. “That’s the last of them,” Mr. Gutman said to the driver.

  The door closed with a hiss, and we drove off.

  As we came down the airport exit onto the highway, the New York City skyline came into view. Even the grown-ups gasped.

  And that’s when the adventure really started.

  CHAPTER TWO

  THE HOTEL

  The bus crawled across Manhattan toward our hotel. There were so many people! They were rushing all over the sidewalks, and riding bikes right past our bus and between cars.

  On every corner, there was someone selling something, like newspapers or magazines or handbags or food. I could see people selling pretzels and hot dogs and ice cream and gyros and … everything you could imagine.

  “Wow,” Gum said. “I could never live here.”

  “Why not?” Egg said. “You love trying new foods.”

  “Exactly!” Gum said. “I’d use up a year’s allowance in twenty minutes!”

  When the bus finally came to a stop, Cat’s mom walked up the aisle to our seats. “Here we are, kids,” she said, patting her daughter on the head.

  “Mom, I’m not a puppy, remember?” Cat said. “Don’t pat my head, please!”

  Ms. Duran chuckled. “Okay, sweetie,” she said. “Now let’s get inside and check out our room.”

  “I’m not staying in your room,” Cat said. “I’m staying with Sam in her room.”

  “We’ll see,” Ms. Duran said mysteriously. Then she turned and headed off the bus.r />
  The hotel lobby wasn’t what I’d imagined. It was tiny. In fact, it was almost impossible for the whole class to fit in the lobby at the same time. By the time we were all checked in, it was getting late. Mr. Neff and Ms. Stanwyck went out to get pizzas for our dinner. Meanwhile, Cat and I grabbed our key cards to check out our room on the sixth floor.

  To my surprise, the room door was wide open. I spotted it from down the hall and grabbed Cat’s wrist.

  “Wait,” I whispered. “Someone’s in our room.”

  Cat’s eyes shot open and she stopped. I stepped in front of her and pushed her against the wall of the hallway. Quietly, on tiptoes, I moved along the wall toward our open door.

  With my back flat against the wall, I reached the door. In the room, something fell with a thud. Someone muttered under their breath.

  Slowly, I bent around the door and peeked into the room. Someone was in the bathroom.

  I hissed back to Cat, “Stay there. We have a prowler!”

  Still on my toes, I moved into the room without making a sound. I crouched as I walked, moving around the far side of the bathroom door, which was open. The prowler was still in the bathroom. I could hear the sink running.

  Then, suddenly, I burst into the bathroom.

  “Freeze!” I shouted.

  The prowler dropped her toothbrush and shrieked. “Aaaahhh!” she yelled.

  “Aaahhh!” I yelled back.

  Cat came running into the room. “Mom?” she shouted. “What are you doing in our room?”

  CHAPTER THREE

  A GIRL

  I don’t think anyone in my room slept too well that night. Cat had to take the rollaway bed, since she was the shortest. I wouldn’t even fit on the thing!

  Ms. Duran spent most of the night telling Cat that she couldn’t play detective on this field trip. She kept saying how dangerous New York was. Then Cat would roll her eyes. I tried to ignore them.

  Ms. Duran fell asleep on one of the beds while Cat and I were still watching TV.

  Finally morning came. Cat and I got dressed and got out of the room quickly. I think Cat was pretty happy to escape her mom for a while.

  In the lobby, Mr. Spade and Mr. Gutman were arguing about something while Mr. Neff and Ms. Stanwyck were handing out packed breakfasts to everyone.

  We found Gum and Egg at the front of the group of students waiting for their food.

  Mr. Neff did a quick head count. “Everyone’s here,” he said when Ms. Duran finally made it down to the lobby.

  “On the bus,” Mr. Spade ordered us. “Our first stop today is the Museum of Natural History.”

  Anton groaned. “A museum?” he said. “Boooorriiiing.”

  I’d heard about this museum, and I was excited. “Quiet, Anton,” I said.

  “Yeah,” said Cat. “This museum has dinosaurs and other cool exhibits. I think it’s going to be awesome.”

  “That’s because you’re a nerd,” Anton said. His friends laughed, and the three of them headed to the bus.

  We rolled our eyes at one another and followed them.

  The American Museum of Natural History was a gorgeous old building, with these big stone steps up the front. They led into a huge marble hall, with a big dinosaur right there to greet you!

  When everyone was inside, Mr. Spade shook hands with a woman in a museum uniform.

  “Hi, everyone,” she said. “I’m Angela. I’ll be your guide in the museum today, and in the planetarium after lunch.”

  Then there was some noise behind us. We all turned around to see what was going on and three older kids — they might have been in high school or even college — came shoving through.

  “Excuse us,” one of them said. They each held up a card and walked right past the ticket desk into the museum.

  “How rude,” Cat said. Egg, of course, snapped some photos.

  “What was that all about?” I whispered to my friends.

  Angela smiled. “Okay, let’s start our tour of the museum,” she said. Then she turned and began walking into the first hall.

  It was so cool. There were dinosaurs and fossils, and a whole exhibit about global warming that Mr. Neff and Cat were excited about.

  Right before lunch, Angela took us to the Human Origins hall. It was full of skeletons of prehistoric people. One of the skeletons wasn’t labeled.

  Egg raised his hand. “Angela?” he said. “Which skeleton is this?”

  Angela smiled at him. “Read the plaque on the base of the case,” she said.

  Egg and I walked around the case looking for the plaque.

  All the other cases had a plaque, but this one didn’t. At one spot, there was some dried-up glue or tape, like something had been removed.

  “This plaque is missing,” I called over to Angela. She walked over.

  “That’s odd,” Angela said. “It looks like someone took the plaque off this case. I’d better tell security.”

  Egg took a photo of the case. Just then, someone pushed past me. I thought it was Anton, but I turned to find a stranger.

  It was a girl, about our age, but she wasn’t from our class. She was wearing torn jeans and a T-shirt that looked like it was too big for her.

  When she realized I was looking at her, the girl turned and pushed herself into the crowd. I lost sight of her.

  “Who was that?” I said, elbowing Gum.

  “Who was who?” he asked.

  “That girl,” I said. “The one in the ripped jeans.”

  Gum looked around. “I didn’t see any girl in ripped jeans,” he said.

  “Weird,” I said.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  A MISSING PLANET?

  After a quick lunch, Angela led us to the Hayden Planetarium. As we walked, I spotted the girl in the torn clothes. She was skulking around near the back of the group.

  I grabbed Gum by the wrist to slow him down. The two of us fell back to the rear of the group, where Mr. Gutman and Mr. Neff were walking.

  “She’s right behind us,” I whispered to Gum.

  He turned around. “Who?” he said loudly.

  “Shh!” I said. “The girl I told you about. I think she stole that plaque.”

  Gum nodded. “Gotcha,” he said. “On three, we grab her. One. Two.”

  “Three!” we both said, and we spun around.

  The girl jumped, but I had her by the arm. “Who are you?” I asked.

  “I …,” she said. “I’m in this group, too.”

  “You are not,” Gum said. “We’ve never seen you before.”

  The girl looked over my shoulder. “Hey, teacher!” she called out. “These two are bullying me.”

  I spun, letting go of the girl’s arm, and saw Mr. Gutman coming toward me. He looked mad.

  “What are you kids doing?” he snapped. “Keep up with the group.”

  “But, Mr. Gutman,” Gum started to say. “This girl —”

  But she was gone. Vanished!

  “She was right here!” I said to Mr. Gutman.

  He shook his head. “Don’t care. Keep moving,” he said.

  Angela clapped, so we all looked at her. “This is our model of the solar system,” she said. “If we start at the sun, in the center —”

  Egg interrupted her. “Angela,” he said, “I think a planet is missing.”

  “That’s right,” Angela said. “When this model was made, there was a big surprise: the scientists who made it decided Pluto was not a planet, and they didn’t include it. So there are only eight planets on this model.”

  Egg shook his head. “This model is missing Mercury, too.”

  Angela looked shocked. She spun around and looked at the model.

  “See?” Egg said, pointing at the empty spot. “It should be right here, near the sun.”

  The whole class, even the teachers and parents, gasped. Angela reached for the walkie-talkie on her hip. “Security,” she said. “Security!”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CATCHING SOME Z’S

&nbs
p; After security came and Gum explained about the planet, we had more sights to see in New York City.

  “All right, class,” Mr. Spade announced as we gathered outside the planetarium entrance. “Stay together. We’re going to wait here for our bus. It’s going to take us to the Bronx Zoo.”

  Everyone in the group was chattering as we stepped into the sunlight outside of the museum. Our bus pulled up, and we got on.

  Some people were still excited about the planetarium, and some were excited about getting to the zoo. But not me and my friends. No, the four of us couldn’t stop discussing the mysterious girl in the tattered clothes.

  “She’s behind all this!” I said quietly. “I know shady characters when I see them, and that girl, my friends, is a shady character if I ever saw one.”

  Gum shook his head and popped a stick of gum (banana) in his mouth. “Sam, Sam, Sam,” he said. “There are two Gutmans on this trip, and you’re blaming some girl we never heard of? Don’t be silly.”

  Cat rolled her eyes. “Oh, Gum, you’re always blaming Anton,” she said. “You think he’s responsible for everything.”

  Gum nodded. “I sure do,” he said. “Remember that time we found shaving cream in Egg’s camera case? I was right that time, wasn’t I?”

  Egg nodded and said, “How about that time we found Cat’s collection of animal figurines in the cafeteria trashcans? That was Anton too.”

  Cat nodded. “Yeah, it was,” she said.

  “Okay then,” Gum said. “I’m keeping Anton and his dad on my list of suspects for these crimes.”

  Soon, we reached the zoo. Right at the entrance, a young man was waiting for our group. He was dressed in khaki shorts and a green top.

  “Zookeeper,” Cat said. “We sure are getting the royal treatment on these tours.”

  “Yeah,” Egg agreed. He lifted his camera. “It’s pretty cool, having personal guides at every stop!”

  As Egg snapped a shot of the zookeeper, two older boys ran by, practically knocking over Ms. Stanwyck. They each flashed something as they entered the zoo, and they didn’t pay any admission fees.