Amos and the Chameleon Caper (2 page)

Tiffany led them to the entrance of an elegant apartment complex. The doorman held the glass door open. “Good afternoon, Ms. Tiffany. Anything I can do for you today?”

“Not today, Grimes, thank you.”

Dunc elbowed Amos, whose mouth was still hanging open, and whispered, “I thought you said she was a sissy.”

Tiffany pushed the button beside the elevator. “Dad’s meeting went long, so he sent me to get you. Boy, am I glad you guys came. Things around here were getting
a little boring. Do you play any sports?”

Dunc pounded Amos on the back. “Amos here is the checker king of our school.”

The elevator doors opened. Tiffany held them while the boys stepped in. “No, I mean real sports. Are you on any teams?”

Dunc frowned. “Not unless you count the debate team. I’m the captain.”

Tiffany looked disappointed. “How about martial arts? Judo? Kung fu? Karate?”

Dunc shook his head.

Amos finally found his voice. “Jim Gots Yu.”

Dunc stared at him, but Amos ignored him and went on, “I’m really into it. It’s one of those highly specialized forms.”

The elevator stopped. Tiffany moved to a door with marble columns on either side and put her key card in the slot. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that one. Is it new?”

She heard a yes and a no at the same
time. Dunc had said the yes. Amos glared at him. “It’s one of those old Chinese ones. Very old. In fact, it’s so old only a select few people in the world even know it still exists.”

“Sounds neat. Maybe you could show me some moves later.” Tiffany opened the door and scooped up a black-and-white cat. “Spats, you entertain these guys while I get changed.” She pointed down the hall. “Your room is the third on the right. Make yourselves at home. I’ll be right back.”

Dunc waited until she was out of hearing range. “Jim Gots Yu?”

Amos shrugged and headed down the hall. “It was the best I could do on short notice. You don’t want her to think we’re a couple of wimps, do you?”

Dunc put his bag on one of the twin beds. “What are you going to do when she wants to see some of your moves?”

Amos stretched out on the other bed. “She’ll probably forget all about it, and if she doesn’t, I’ll wing it. How hard can it be?”

“Look at this view,” Dunc said as he pulled the curtains open. “There’s a courtyard down there. The building is in the shape of a horseshoe.”

Amos sat up. “Shut the curtains. People from the other side can probably see us.”

“It’s her!”

“Who?” Amos jumped off the bed and moved to the window. “A movie star? Don’t tell me—Melissa is in Iowa.”

“It’s not her—it’s
her
.” Dunc was almost screaming. He pointed to the apartment directly across from theirs.

“I don’t get it. It’s only a gray-haired little woman.”

Tiffany burst through the door. “Is everything okay? I thought I heard yelling.”

Amos moved back to the bed and sat down. “To be fair, I really should explain something to you about my friend Dunc. He’s crazy.”

Dunc turned. “You don’t understand. The woman in that apartment is the one who claimed she was hit by the cab.”

Tiffany was confused. “Some woman was hit by a cab today?”

“That’s just it,” Dunc said. “She wasn’t. She only pretended to be hit. She was dressed in rags as if she was real poor. The cabdriver gave her a whole lot of money so she wouldn’t turn him in. But when I picked up her purse I noticed that it was made from alligator skin, which is really expensive. I think she’s a con artist.”

“Here’s what we have so far.” Dunc made a couple of notes in his pocket notebook. “An elderly woman pretending to be poor who lives in a classy building like this and carries an alligator purse …”

They had just sat down to lunch. Amos took the first bite of his sandwich. “She’s probably visiting here, and her daughter from Cleveland gave her the purse.”

Dunc ignored him. “… who only pretended to be hit, when in fact the cab never touched her.”

Tiffany came back into the room. “I looked in the phone book. There are no
doctor’s offices anywhere near the bus station.”

“… and who lied about going to see her doctor,” Dunc said smugly.

“Give the lady a break.” Amos peeled a banana. “Maybe she’s senile on top of everything else.”

“Amos does have a point.” Tiffany sat on the arm of the sofa. “How could you prove any of this?”

“Please don’t ask him that.” Amos moaned and closed his eyes.

Dunc looked at his notes. “First we need to find out her apartment number, and then we’ll talk to Grimes, the doorman, and find out who she is. Then, if our suspicions are correct, we’ll need to set up a surveillance network.”

“A surveillance network?” Tiffany asked, scratching her head.

“I told you not to ask,” Amos said. “He thinks he’s some kind of detective. We really shouldn’t encourage it.”

Tiffany laughed. “Sounds like fun to me. How do we find out her apartment number?”

“That part’s easy enough. Come on.” Dunc led the way out the door.

“Wait.” Amos grabbed an apple. “What about lunch?”

He was talking to air.

“Which one is it?” Amos rounded the corner with Spats trailing behind him.

“I don’t know.” Dunc looked at the nameplates on the doors as they walked by. “It’s gotta be one of these two. But from this side, I can’t tell which. I guess we’ll have to wait until someone comes out.”

“I have a better idea.” Tiffany picked up Spats. “The woman has already seen both of you. She might get suspicious if you hang around. Wait behind that plant over there.”

Tiffany put Spats on the floor and let
him run off down the hall. Then she knocked on the first door.

A large man with bulging muscles, blond hair, and a thin mustache answered.

“Yeah.”

“Excuse me, sir. I’ve lost my cat, and I was wondering if anyone in your apartment had seen him.”

The man yelled over his shoulder. “Hey, Wanda. You seen a cat?”

A gorgeous redhead slithered up next to the man and shook her head. The man looked back at Tiffany. “Ain’t seen no cats.”

“Thanks any—”

The door slammed in her face.

Tiffany turned to the plant and shrugged. Dunc motioned for her to go to the next door. She moved to it and knocked. There was no answer.

The boys stepped out of their hiding place and helped Tiffany catch up with Spats.

“I don’t get it,” Dunc said. “I was so sure.”

“Everybody makes mistakes.” Amos took a bite of his apple. “I wouldn’t let the fact that you tend to make them more often than anybody else—in the whole world—bother you.”

Tiffany opened the door of her apartment and stopped. “You know, there could have been another person in that apartment.”

Amos frowned. “I told you not to encourage him.”

She went to the hall closet and searched through the shelves. “Here’s what we need.” She held up a pair of binoculars.

“Great.” Amos plopped on the sofa. “My best friend and my cousin are turning into Peeping Toms.”

“Come on, Amos.” Dunc took the binoculars and headed for the bedroom. “This way we’ll know for sure.”

“You two should be ashamed of yourselves—spying on people like this.” Amos followed them down the hall. “I mean, how would you like it if someone did it to you?” He sat on the bed beside Dunc,
squinting out the window. “Do you see anything yet? Maybe we should take turns.”

Dunc held up his hand. “Wait. There’s the muscleman. Looks like he’s leaving. Okay, now the redhead is going into another room. So far I don’t see anyone else.”

“Do you need me to watch for you now?” Amos moved closer.

“Bingo!” Dunc handed Tiffany the binoculars. “Take a look at that.”

Amos jumped up. “What is it?”

Tiffany put the binoculars down. “I guess you were right. Now what?”

Amos grabbed the binoculars. “Now, we let
Amos
have a look.” He focused on the window. It was the woman from the accident. She was patting her gray hair. Then she picked up her purse and went through the door, smiling.

Tiffany put the phone back on the receiver and sighed. “That was my mom. My dad and his secretary had to fly to Washington, and my mom is still meeting with her home care committee. She won’t be back till late, as usual.”

“Did she say we could order out for pizza?” Amos asked hopefully.

“Let’s do that later. Right now, why don’t you show me some holds?”

“Holds?”

Dunc looked up from writing in his notebook. “You know—
martial arts
holds.”

“Oh, those kind of holds. Well, I would,
but shouldn’t we take this opportunity to—to—”

Dunc stood up. “Why don’t we use this time to go talk to Grimes?”

“That works for me.” Amos headed for the door.

Tiffany shrugged. “That’s funny. I didn’t think Amos was even interested in the case.”

“Don’t let that empty look fool you,” Dunc said as he and Tiffany hurried out to the hall. “Deep down Amos is really a detective at heart. He loves these things.”

“What things?” Amos punched the elevator button.

“I was just telling Tiffany how much you love detective work.”

“Yeah, it’s right up there on my list with zits and liver.”

When they stepped out of the elevator they nearly ran over Grimes. He was sweeping up a cigar ash from the marble floor.

He straightened and smiled. “Why, hello again. Is there something I can help you young people with?”

“As a matter of fact, there is,” Tiffany answered. “My friends and I ran into a sweet little elderly lady from apartment thirty-five-B. We were thinking of taking her some cookies later, but you know how fussy my parents are about strangers. I was just wondering what you thought of her.”

Grimes rubbed the back of his neck. “I think you’re confused, Ms. Tiffany. The only elderly people in this building are Mr. and Mrs. Greenstein in twenty-four-A.”

“Are you sure? Maybe she’s visiting.”

Grimes moved behind a counter and looked through his record book. He shook his head. “No visitors have been logged in for the DeFraud apartment.”

“Is that the couple’s name who lives there?”

“There’s no couple. Ms. DeFraud is a single lady. She just rented the apartment last week. I don’t know anything else about her except that she paid cash and asked not to be disturbed.”

Dunc nudged Tiffany’s shoulder. “It’s probably our mistake. Come on, Tiffany, we really should get back to our bird-watching now.”

“Right.” Tiffany moved toward the elevator. “Well, thanks anyway, Mr. Grimes.”

Amos followed. “We’re going bird-watching?”

Dunc jerked him into the elevator and waited for the doors to close. “Of course not. You didn’t want me to tell Grimes we were watching Ms. DeFraud’s apartment, did you?”

“Are we still doing that?”

“Look, Amos, it’s like this …”

“Something weird is going on in that apartment,” Tiffany interrupted, “and we have to find out what it is.”

Dunc looked at her appreciatively. “I like the way you think. It’s rare to find someone who understands real detective work.”

The elevator doors opened and Amos stared at Dunc and Tiffany as they
walked down the hall comparing notes. “Scary is a better word for it,” he muttered.