Home Alone 2 by Todd Strasser Read Free Book Online

way to New York to get spied on."
    The concierge swallowed. "Of course not. Will he be down soon?"
    "He already left." Kevin lied smoothly.
    "Oh." The concierge looked disappointed. "I would like to have offered my personal apology."
    "If some guy looked at you in the shower, would you ever want to see him again?" Kevin asked.
    "I suppose not," the concierge admitted.
    "I don't think you'll see him for the rest of our trip," Kevin said. He turned away and hurried toward the front doors, hoping he had the concierge fooled. Behind him, the concierge watched and wondered. The kid's story sounded plausible, but something about it still bothered him. Stepping over to the reservations counter, he started to type some information on the computer. The first place he'd check was the credit card company. Maybe, just maybe, he could find an answer to this puzzle.
    At the Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park, Marv and Harry sat on a wooden bench at the edge of the ice, enjoying their newfound freedom. Harry read the newspaper. Marv watched the skaters. Without warning, a pigeon settled on Harry's shoulder.
    "Hey, get outa here!" Harry took a swipe at the bird with his paper and the pigeon flew away. "Jeez, you ever seen so many pigeons?"
    Marv didn't answer. He was too busy concentrating on a young boy skating toward them. Hanging from the boy's sleeves were a pair of blue mittens. As the boy came close, Marv reached out and grabbed one. The mittens were attached through the boy's jacket by a length of yarn, and as Marv pulled, the boy spun around like a top. A moment later the second mitten popped out. Marv waited while the boy stopped spinning and skated dizzily away. Then he turned to Harry.
    "Mittens?" he asked, offering them to his partner.
    "You wanna knock it off, Marv?" Harry was really annoyed with Marv's nickel-and-dime thefts.
    "But they're wool," Marv said.
    "Never mind the stupid mittens," Harry snapped. "We gotta face the facts. We don't got the tools to pull off a big robbery. Your banks, your jewelry stores . . ."
    "Your art museums," Marv added.
    "Exactly," Harry said. "They all take a good set of burglar's tools. Not only that, even if we had 'em and knocked off a big job, what would we do with the loot? We don't know no fences in New York."
    "Looks pretty bad for us," Marv said, keeping his eye on a teenaged girl skating nearby. A long red scarf flapped in the breeze behind her.
    "What we need is cash," said Harry.
    As the girl skated past, Marv reached out and gave the scarf a sharp yank. It was in his pocket before she crashed to the ice.
    "How about hotels?" Marv asked as the girl lay on the ice, looking bewildered. "Tourists carry cash."
    "With our luck we'd hold up some guy carrying traveler's checks," Harry said, thumbing through the paper. "I got a better idea. Look at all these Christmas ads. All these stores are open the day before Christmas, but they ain't gonna make deposits on Christmas Eve."
    "So they gotta keep the cash in the store until the day after Christmas," Marv said.
    "Right." Harry nodded. "Now what store is gonna do the most cash business on Christmas Eve that nobody's gonna think to rob?"
    Marv scratched his head. "Liquor store?"
    "No, dimwit, even nine-year-olds know how to rob liquor stores," Harry replied impatiently. " This is what I had in mind."
    He pointed down at a large ad in the paper for Duncan's Toy Chest, the world-famous toy emporium.
    "A toy store!" Marv gasped. "That's brilliant, Harry."
    Harry grinned and his silver tooth glistened in the winter sun. "There's nobody dumb enough to knock off a toy store on Christmas Eve."
    "There is now." Marv grinned back.

December 24

    New York City

    9:30 A.M.
    Kevin sat in the red leather seat of the long white stretch limo as it cruised slowly through the city. He had just finished his pizza breakfast, and was watching Pink Panther cartoons on the limo's TV. This is the life, he thought. Buzz, if only you could see me now.
    As the limo