Cora Flash and the Diamond of Madagascar (A Cora Flash Children's Mystery, Book 1) (16 page)

"
I didn
'
t sleep very well last night, so I couldn
'
t wait for it to open. That guy beat me to it, though
.
"

"
You mean Mr. MacEvoy?
"

"
Yeah, him,
"
she said.
"
The weird guy. He
'
s always so nervous.
"

If anyone else had been in the car with the
i
nspector
and Abigail, they would have seen an
eleven-year-
old leg stick out briefly on one side of the cart.
Luckily, neither the Inspector nor Abigail appeared to have noticed
my
extension.

"
Did you see anyone else as you made your way to
breakfast
?
"

"
No,
"
she replied.
"
Just Willy. He was walking in the hallway as I passed by.
"

Dabruzzi
was suddenly interested.
"
In the hallway of the next car? The sleeper car?
"

"
Yeah, he was making his way up to the front of the car. We had to squeeze by each other in the hallway to get by. People must have been much skinnier when they built these trains.
"

"
Did he say where he was going?
"

"
No, but I didn
'
t ask. I know Willy from way back when. He has worked for the rails as long as my
d
ad
. He knew me since I was a little girl. When my parents were still together. He came to the wedding, I think.
"

"
So you just passed by without saying anything?
"

"
Of course not,
"
she said, a little insulted.
"
He said good morning. Good morning, Minnie, he said to me. He always called me Minnie because I used to carry around a Minnie Mouse doll that my
d
ad
got me when we went to Disney
World
. It was the last family vacation we took together and I carried it around with me for the longest time.
"

"
When you went to the
d
ining
car, did you say anything to Mr. MacEvoy?
"

"
No,
"
she
snapped
.
"
I
'
m not here to make friends. I just wanted to get my breakfast and be done with it. I have no interest in chit
-
chatting my way across the country. I wanted to eat and get back to my book. There are enough people talking all the time, I don
'
t need to join in.
"

"
Don
'
t you find it helps to pass the time when you can talk with other people?
"

"
I talk with other people all day. At school, at home, at my part-time job. Sometimes all I think I do is talk, talk, talk. I need some quiet time.
"

"
Abigail,
did
you notice if the door
t
o Mr. Sloane
'
s compartment was open when you passed by?
"

"
I can
'
t really say that I noticed one way or the other.
No one came into the hallway from any of the compartments, that much I
can
say.
"
Abigail paused for a second and then changed her gaze to a
n
intense stare.
"
You know
, if
there was anyone here who I would suspect, it would be Mr. Sloane himself.
"

"
Mr. Sloane? But it
'
s his diamond. Why on earth would he fake
a robbery
?
"

"
Because,
"
Abigail
sneered
, almost condescendingly
,
"
n
o
one would suspect him. An inside job. Why would anyone suspect him if he was the one crying foul?
He probably has the diamond stashed somewhere in his compartment.
"

"
Ah, you are already mistaken there
.
Don
'
t you remember I said I searched his compartment? The diamond was most definitely not there.
"

"
Oh,
"
she
said in a disappoint
ed
tone. She clearly thought she had figured it out.
"
Then he already got rid of it. It
'
s somewhere else on this train, or he threw it off to someone else
who was waiting for him
.
"
             
"
I have considered this
.
Not necessarily in the context of Mr. Sloane, mind you, but as a method of disposing of the
gem
. However, I think it would be
utterly
foolish for anyone to throw the diamond out into the farmlands we have been
passing
through. It would be next to impossible to recover.
"

"
So you think it
'
s still on the train?
"

"
Yes, I do.
"

"
I have no reason to steal that diamond
,
"
said Willy.

"
As I have said to the others
,
I am no
t
accusing or implicating anyone in the crime
.
I am just trying to figure out where everyone was and if they may have seen anything.
"

"
I see
.
I have been thinking about this morning over and over, but I can
'
t think of anything that would help your investigation. I wish I had seen something.
"

The inspector asked,
"
How well do you know Abigail?
"

"
Abby? Oh, I
'
ve known her since she was born. I worked with her father for years and years, before that terrible accident. I still keep in touch with her
father;
in fact we are going to have dinner the day after tomorrow,
at
Topaz Mountain
. She
'
s a good girl, smart
as a whip
.
"

Willy paused for a moment
, as if he were thinking
that
Dabruzzi
might be accusing her of the crime.

"
Inspector!
"
he exclaimed.
"
Don
'
t tell me you think Abby had something to do with this
?"

"
I have not heard any evidence to suggest she is involved. However, I must take everything
into
consideration.
"

"
I don
'
t like you accusing her of anything, Inspector. She is one of the brightest young ladies you will ever meet. Everyone should wish they had a daughter like her. I love that girl like my own, and I know her well enough to know she is not in any way involved in this theft.
"

"
I certainly hope not
.
It would be an awful shame for such a bright young lady to risk her promising future.
"

"
I should say so. It would be a terrible, terrible shame,
"
Willy
agreed
.

"
Do you know anyone else on the train
,
Willy? Can you vouch for anyone else
'
s character?
"

"
Gee, I don
'
t think so,
"
he
said after considering the question for a moment.
"
We have so many people travelling these lines. Not as many as before, mind you, but enough that I can
'
t keep track of them. Some people look familiar, but I don
'
t know anyone else by name.
"

"
At what time,
"
Dabruzzi
began his next question,
"
did you start your day?
"

"
Six
thirty
.
I get up at six and start setting out
placemats
for the breakfast.
It used to be a job for two of us, once upon a time. Now, it
'
s just me. So I get up a little earlier and prepare things.
I s
et out the
tablecloths
, the cutlery
,
and
start cooking things. You know.
"