Read Online The Stranger Next Door by Peg Kehret - Free Book Online

you’ve just bought a new house it’s really bad.”
    “We don’t own the house,” Mr. Morris said. “We’re renting.”
    “You should call your landlord,” the chief said. “He needs to know about the fire. He’ll want to notify his insurance company.”
    “You’re welcome to use our phone,” Mr. Kendrill said.
    “By any chance do you have the number for AliciaWoolsey?” Mr. Morris asked. “That’s who we’re renting from. Her husband built our house, and I think he built this one, also.”
    Mr. Kendrill found the number. Mr. Morris dialed.
    “Don’t let that man come here!” Pete cried. “He’s a mean, terrible person. He hates cats. He hates children. He—”
    Pete’s conversation was cut short by Mrs. Kendrill, who picked up the cat and shut him in the downstairs bathroom.
    “You’ll regret this!” Pete howled. “1 have information that you need. I know who set the fire!”
    The humans, as usual, ignored him.
    “Mr. Woolsey sounded really upset about the fire,” Mr. Morris said, “especially when I told him we barely got out in time. He thought we were moving in next Saturday. He had not yet put batteries in the smoke alarms.”
    The firefighters left.
    “I need to make another call,” Mr. Morris said.
    Alex heard him ask for Gus Franklin, then tell about the fire.
    Alex hoped Mr. Morris would accept his parents’ invitation to sleep at the Kendrill home that night. Rocky could bunk in his room. Rocky had talked to Alex more in the few minutes while he was getting dressed than he had in the entire week since he moved next door. Maybe now they would finally become friends.
    However, when Mr. Morris hung up, he said, “Thanks for the offer, but a friend is coming to get us.”
    Alex glanced at Rocky, to see if he was disappointed, too. Rocky had his head down, staring at the floor.
    Within half an hour, Mr. Franklin arrived to get Mr. Morris and Rocky.
    When they had left, Alex lay in bed with Pete beside him, thinking about the fire. In particular, he wondered why Rocky had looked so scared when the fireman asked if they knew of anyone who might have deliberately set the fire.
    Rocky had said he didn’t think Duke was responsible. Did he suspect someone else? Did the Morris family have an enemy? Or had Rocky himself started the fire, then pretended to be asleep? Did Rocky look fearful because he was afraid of being caught?
    Alex didn’t want to think that. He liked the way Rocky had stood up to Duke; he wanted Rocky to be his friend. Yet he could not deny the fact that Rocky Morris had lived next door for less than a week, and in that time there were vandalized street signs and an arson fire.
    Maybe Benjie was right; maybe Rocky was the troublemaker. He certainly kept to himself and talked only when necessary. Still, that didn’t mean he was a hoodlum. Maybe he was shy.
    Alex didn’t know what to think.
    When Pete lay down on Alex’s chest and started to purr, Alex let him stay. The low rumbling purr was comforting.
    Alex petted the cat. “It’s been quite a night, hasn’t it, Pete?” he said.
    “You don’t know the half of it,” Pete replied.

8
    R ocky got in the backseat of Mr. Franklin’s car.
    “There’s a Holiday Inn about ten minutes away,” Mr. Franklin said. “You can stay there tonight.”
    “Do you think they’ve found us?” Rocky asked as they drove away from Valley View Estates.
    “A fire is not the mob’s usual style,” Mr. Franklin said. “If they knew where you were, they would use a method that leaves you no possible escape.”
    “How comforting,” said Blake.
    “There’s always a chance that this was a warning, a form of harassment,” Mr. Franklin said, “but we don’t think so.”
    Rocky chewed on the inside of his lip. He wished his mother were in the backseat with him, instead of in Washington, D.C.
    “I have alerted the program,” Mr. Franklin said. “I told them where you’ll be staying tonight. Someone will notify