Dunc and the Scam Artists (4 page)

The man growled, “Are you out of your mind? We don’t need anybody around here, least of all now. You get rid of that kid. I mean it. We’ve got business to take care of—urgent business.”

Amos took his time in the kitchen. First he got a drink. Then he washed his hands. Then he blew his nose loudly on a paper towel.

“That is a real nice kitchen you’ve got there Mrs. Dell,” he said, walking back into the living room. “In fact, you have a real nice place here. The water tastes great too. Thanks.”

Amos stood in the living room looking around and making small talk. “Is this your nephew? Nice to meet you. Do you live around here?”

“Hrummp.” The big man brushed Amos aside and strode out the front door. “I’ll be back and you’d better be ready to talk business.”

Dunc made it around the corner of the house just in time to remain unseen.

“Thanks again for the water. I’d better be going.” Amos moved to the door.

Outside, Dunc beamed at Amos. “You were
great. I didn’t know you had it in you. You saved the day.”

Amos thought about it, then nodded. “I was kind of great, wasn’t I?”

Tragedy struck.

Little Brucie had exposed Amos to the chicken pox.

Amos looked awful. Small red bumps covered his entire body. White sticky lotion covered the red bumps. Between weed-wallopers, picket fences and now chicken pox, he looked like the original leper.

“How come you never had this stuff when you were a kid?” Dunc asked. “I think I got ’em when I was about five.”

“Just lucky I guess,” Amos replied sullenly. “What are we gonna do about the case now?”

“Don’t worry about it. You just relax and try
not to itch. I rode out to Mrs. Dell’s place to see if she had any more work for us. There was a note on the door. She’s going out of town for a while. So she’ll be okay and we can just take it easy. Do you want anything?”

“Yeah—Little Brucie’s head on a platter.”

“Seriously. I brought you all kinds of snacks and comics and junk. All guaranteed to make you feel better.”

“Hand over one of those Elastic Man comics. What are you going to do with the rest of your spring break?”

“I guess we better keep trying to think of a way to get the goods on the creep before he rips off somebody else. By the way, did you see that new piece in the paper about the old folks who were already ripped off? The article says the police think the crooks have probably left town. We may never see them again.”

“That wouldn’t break my heart. Besides, I thought you were going to stay here and take care of me in my hour of need.” Amos pouted. “You know, bring me pizza, and …”

“I am. I am—mostly. I just thought if we needed something to do, we could think about it.”

“You go right ahead, Dunc. Give it your best shot. Think up your wildest, most off-the-wall plan. Just remember—I’m sick.”

“Well, I was thinking about having you dress up like an old woman, since you can knit and all, and trying to lure the crooks back here. I thought you could—”

“Boy, am I glad I’m sick. Maybe Brucie’s not such a bad kid after all.”

“Don’t worry. I knew that one wouldn’t work. You don’t have anything a crook would want—that is, besides your baseball cards. And I’m not sure the crooks would come all the way back here for a four-dollar-and-seventy-five-cent baseball card collection.”

Amos wasn’t paying attention. He had backed up to the closet and was rubbing his backside up and down against the edge of the door.

“Stop that,” Dunc ordered. “Do you want all those bumps to turn inside out and make gross, ugly marks all over you? Your mom said not to scratch. Get back in bed and behave yourself.”

“I can’t help it. This is worse than that time when we were running from a bear and I fell in the poison ivy.”

“It wasn’t a bear. It was Carley’s little brother in his Roy Raccoon suit. And you wouldn’t have fallen if you hadn’t gotten so scared that you tied your shoelaces together in a hurry to get dressed.”

“Details,” Amos said. “Anyway, this is worse.”

“Try not to think about it. Look at the bright side. You are going to be well in time for Melissa’s birthday party.”

“Melissa’s having a birthday party? How do you know? No one told me about it.”

“Her mother told mine. They’re in the same bowling league. Anyway, that’s a long time from now. You ought to be as good as new by then.”

Amos had a worried look on his face. “I bet she’s been calling and calling me. And I’m stuck up here in bed, not even allowed to come downstairs so I won’t infect anybody else. I wonder if I could get a phone installed up here in my room?”

Dunc threw a pillow at him. “I wish I had never mentioned it. I just thought it would make you happy to know that you’ll be well by then.”

“Happy? I’ve got to start making plans for a fabulous present. Something that will really wow her. Diamonds would probably be a little much. What about a sports car? A red one with a sun roof?”

“Amos, she can’t drive yet. Get real. I have to go now. I’ll come over and check on you tomorrow.”

Amos was staring at himself in the mirror above Dunc’s dresser.

“I think they are all gone. I can’t find any bumps anywhere.”

“Too bad you were sick most of spring break. Pure bad luck, having to go back to school on the first day you’re well,” Dunc said.

“You said it. Trasky really poured on the homework too. He thinks all we have to do at night is sit around reading about Attila the Hun.”

Dunc picked up a folder from the dresser. “Mrs. Ellerthorp gave me an A on my current
events project about the elderly. She hopes they catch the crooks.”

“She gave me a C. Just because I dropped it in Scruff’s water dish. You could still read it and everything. It was just slightly wrinkled. Some people are overly picky,” Amos said.

Dunc was looking at his paper. “Want to ride over and check on Mrs. Dell before we get started on our homework? She could be back from vacation by now. I’d like to make sure that her so-called nephew isn’t busy trying to pull a fast one on her.”

“You’ve got my vote. Anything beats homework. Hey, let’s stop and get a triple-whammy grape Sno-Kone on our way.”

Mrs. Hawkins waved at them as they rode past her house. She held Napoleon, the poodle, in her lap the way you would hold a real baby.

At Mrs. Dell’s house, no one was home. They decided to sit on the front porch and finish what was left of their Sno-Kones before heading back.

Then a strange scratching sound came from inside the house.

“Did you hear that?” Dunc asked.

Amos gulped. “Yeah, I heard it. It’s coming from just inside that door. It’s the same sound the monsters make in movies. The kind where they eat people.”

Dunc walked over to the door and slowly opened it. A ball of black fur jumped into his face.

“Meeooww.”

A large black cat ran off into the bushes.

Amos laughed. “That cat sure had me worried for a minute.”

Dunc didn’t hear a word he said. He was staring transfixed into the living room.

“What is it?” Amos said. “Is something wrong? What are you looking at?”

Dunc pointed toward the doorway.

Amos ran over to the door, spilling what was left of his Sno-Kone down the front of his shirt.

Across the room, sitting on a low table, was a green metal box with a white handle in the shape of an angel.

“What is that doing here?” Amos said.

“We have a situation,” Dunc said. “I think the crooks are back. Poor Mrs. Dell is probably in a lot of trouble. We’d better get that box down to the police station.”

Amos picked up the box. “This thing weighs a ton. What’s in here?”

Carefully, he opened the lid.

Money.

Stacks of money.

“Wow, I’ve never seen so much money in all my life.” Amos said.

“Here’s the evidence we need.” Dunc pulled several titles and bank books out of the box.

“How do you suggest we carry this thing on our bikes all the way downtown?” Amos asked.

“Look around for a stick or something we can run under the handle. We’ll ride carrying it between us on a pole.” He looked quickly around the room and shook his head. “There’s nothing that will work in here. I’ll get something from the shed.”

He had just stepped inside the tool shed when he heard a car pull up. He saw the creep and Mrs. Dell get out and go inside the house.

Dunc watched helplessly from the shed window. Amos was in there alone.

He tried to clear his thoughts.

He had to come up with a surefire way to get Amos out of there.

He had to do something.

What?

He frowned. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as he thought it was. Maybe Amos had heard them drive up and had hidden. Maybe the creep wouldn’t catch him after all. It was possible that they wouldn’t even know Amos was in there. He and Dunc had parked their bikes at the side of the house, after all.

They probably didn’t suspect a thing, Dunc decided.

I’ll just wait right here. They’ll have to go somewhere after a while and then Amos will be free to come out of hiding
.

Time ticked by slowly, seeming to drag along, making Dunc feel impossibly old.

How long should he wait? What if the creep had caught Amos? He could be torturing him for information even now. Rubbing honey on him and looking around for an anthill.

Dunc shook all over. That was it. He couldn’t wait any longer. Amos was his best friend. No matter what happened, Dunc had to try and save him.

He looked around the shed for something that would take the creep’s attention off of Amos. An ax handle was leaning against the back wall.

He grabbed the handle and ran for the door.

A blue car was parked in front of the house. Dunc eased up behind it and slipped around to the driver’s side.

The door made an irritating metallic screech as he opened it.

He held his breath. No one came out of the house.

Dunc took the ax handle and propped it up in the driver’s seat. Then he took a deep breath and quickly wedged it against the car’s horn.

Hoonnnnnkkk!

Dunc ran wide open for the back door and slammed around the corner, just as the front door flew open and the creep ran out to his car.

Amos came flying out the back door at the same time and nearly ran over Dunc.

“No time to explain,” Dunc said. “We’ve got to hide. He’ll be looking for us. Under the back porch.
Now!
”