Read Online Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief by Wendelin Van Draanen - Free Book Online Page B

a hose, then lean way over and drown my head in freezing cold water.
    Marissa’s head pops out the back door. “What are you
doing?
”
    â€œTaking a shower! Quick—get me a towel!”
    She comes back and throws me the towel. “Hurry! I think they’re getting suspicious!”
    â€œWhat do they look like? Is one of them really fat?”
    â€œYeah! And the other’s really skinny. What is going
on?
”
    â€œI can’t explain right now. It’s too complicated.” I yank off my shoes and put the towel over my shoulders. “Let’s go!”
    We go charging through the kitchen and den, and then catch our breath right outside the living room. Marissa opens the door and says, “Here’s Sammy,” then smiles and backs way off into a corner to watch.
    Now the McKenzes’ living room is glass. Nothing but glass. Glass tables, glass shelves with little glass figurines, glass lamps, even glass
chairs
. And sitting there in one of those dainty glass chairs is Officer Borsch, looking like an elephant trying to squeeze into a fishbowl.
    I smile at them and rub the towel on the side of my head. “Hi. Sorry you had to wait. What’s up?”
    All that leather gear and equipment around their stomachs kind of creaks and jingles as they stand up. “We’d like you to take a look at a few pictures, if you would.”
    â€œSure.”
    I start rubbing the hair on the other side of my head, trying to act casual, but the whole time I’m wondering why in the world Marissa’s pulling funny faces and jerking her arm back and forth like she is.
    Officer Borsch pulls a photograph out of a big envelope. “Is this the fella you saw at the Heavenly the other night?”
    Marissa’s pulling faces like a blowfish and slapping at air, and I’m doing my best to ignore her as he hands me the picture. Then I see Mikey, peeking around the living room door, looking like a bumblebee in a black-and- yellow shirt.
    I check out the picture. “It’s not him.”
    â€œAre you sure?”
    â€œI’m sure.”
    â€œYou didn’t look at it more than a second, how can you be so sure?”
    â€œI just am. I’m positive.”
    The Borsch-man wants to give me an argument, but Tall ’n’ Skinny says, “Try the other one.”
    Officer Borsch pulls out another picture. “Take your time.”
    So I’m watching Marissa out of one eye, and I’m watching Mikey out of the other, and then Mikey decides—he’s coming in.
    I hand the photograph back to Officer Borsch. “It’s not him.”
    Mikey pipes up with, “Let me see!”
    Officer Borsch looks at Mikey, then back at me. “Who’s this?”
    I smile and say, so Mikey can’t hear me, “My brother.” I look over at Marissa like Help! because I know that any minute Mikey’s going to give me away and then who
knows
what Officer Borsch will decide to do with me?
    So what’s Tall ’n’ Skinny do? He turns to Mikey and says, “It’s all right, son. We’re just asking your sister a few questions about someone she saw.”
    Mikey grins at me like boy, has he got something over on me or what, and he’s about to spout off when Marissa comes flying across the room and yanks him back into the hallway. “Maybe we’ll just wait outside...”
    Mikey starts screaming and kicking, but Tall ’n’ Skinny and Officer Borsch just kind of look at each other and shrug.
    I try to distract them by asking, “So, has any more...uh...evidence turned up?”
    Officer Borsch squints at me like he knows I’m up to something, but Tall ’n’ Skinny says, “We’ve just had a purse turn up. It was reported missing almost a week ago and we think it’s somehow connected to the other burglaries on that end of town. So if you remember any details about the man you saw at the