Al Capone Does My Homework by Gennifer Choldenko Read Free Book Online

ask.
    “Yep.”
    “How will you get your cockroach inside the cell house and then out again?” Piper
     wants to know.
    “Can’t,” Jimmy agrees.
    “What’s your plan, then?” Annie whacks a cobweb away from her arm.
    “The dock,” Piper says.
    Jimmy nods. He’s sitting cross-legged, fiddling with the screwdriver he used to get
     us in the secret passageway. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.”
    “First, let’s go to the Flanagans’ apartment and look around. Then we can meet back
     here to discuss what we find,” Piper says.
    “Won’t we get in trouble? Moose’s apartment could be dangerous,” Annie says.
    “Why? The fire’s already out,” Theresa says.
    “Yeah, but you might fall through the floor where it’s burned.” Annie again.
    “Ohhhh,” Theresa says.
    “Has anyone said not to go in there?” Piper asks as she crawls toward the Chinatown
     door.
    “No,” I say.
    “Better to ask forgiveness than permission. That’s what my uncle always says.” Piper
     waits for us to catch up.
    “Ouch!” Annie bumps her head on the ceiling. “Have you ever asked either?”
    “Never needed to,” Piper says. “It’s all about loyalty anyway. You take care of people
     and they’re loyal to you. Then it doesn’t matter if you have permission or not.”
    “That’s the Al Capone model,” I say.
    “More or less,” Piper says.
    “Wait.” Annie sits back, blocking my way. “We can’t all march in there at once. The
     dock tower guard will notice that for sure.”
    “Let’s go in teams,” I suggest.
    “Moose and I have to be first,” Piper says.
    “I’m next.” Theresa waves her arm in the air. “I have to be, in case you need something,
     right, Piper? Right? Natalie, you come with me.”
    For a second I worry about this. “What if Theresa can’t get Nat out of here?” I whisper
     to Annie.
    “Then I’ll run get you,” Annie says.
    “Annie and Jimmy, you’re last,” Piper commands. “That way Jimmy can close up the passage
     door.”
    “Just remember . . . don’t mess with anything. This is a crime scene,” Jimmy says.
    “We don’t know it’s a crime. It could have been an accident,” Annie points out.
    “Don’t be a spoilsport,” Piper tells her.
    “Piper, come on. This is Moose’s family we’re talking about, not some fun game you
     just thought of.” Annie’s face is flushed. She flashes a quick look at me.
    Piper shrugs. “Let’s go, Moose,” she orders. “Jimmy, you have a watch. You time us.
     Wait five minutes between teams.”
    I follow Piper out with Jimmy’s phrase stuck in my head: crime scene. I’m having a
     hard time accepting that. I don’t want this to be about me and whether or not I fell
     asleep. But I don’t want there to be somebody out there targeting us, either. That
     is just too scary.

8. The House of Sticks
    Monday, January 20, 1936
    The windows of #2E are shattered. The door is black as the night ocean. The air is
     thick with the smell of smoke. The door is jammed, the knob is gone.
    Piper stands back while I kick it in. I don’t have to kick hard before it crumbles,
     like the house made of sticks in the story of the Three Little Pigs.
    “Watch where you put your feet. It’s hard to know how stable the floor is,” I tell
     Piper as I take a cautious step through the rubble. Around the living room some things
     are burned to a crisp, others are ruined by water. Water puddles on the floor, pools
     in the sagging seat of the chair, and fills the light fixture like a fish bowl.
    Natalie’s room is mostly okay, but mine is scorched, the closet a mess of ashes on
     the floor.
    I stare at everything, trying to take it all in. Did someone do this to us?
    It couldn’t have been Natalie. I wasn’t asleep for that long . . . . was I? But if
     not Natalie, who? Can your house get burned down by accident? My mouth is dry. My
     head begins to throb like someone is digging my brain out with a trowel.
    “Hey Piper,” I