Cora Flash and the Diamond of Madagascar (A Cora Flash Children's Mystery, Book 1) (20 page)

Although
I was
quite far away,
I
swear
I
could see the relief on Calvin
'
s face.
We
continued watching for quite some time
. I
t was a very, very long relief.

After Calvin finished, the
i
nspector
turned to lead Mrs. Bronwyn back to the train. She yelled something, whic
h
we
could not h
ear, at
him,
who rolled his eyes and turned back to the fence. Calvin, apparently, was not quite done yet.

The dog
resumed his sniffing along the fence, heading toward
Dabruzzi
and spinning around in one spot several times before hunching over in a squat position for the second part of his bathroom break.
As Inspector Dabruzzi watched the continuing events, he took a step back.

When Calvin was finished, he immediately tried sprinting back to the train, anxious, no doubt, to get back to the mystery. Mrs. Bronwyn tightened the leash, causing Calvin to flatten out in a stubborn concession of defeat. Mrs. Bronwyn reached into a little
sack
attached to Calvin
'
s leash and pulled out a small black plastic bag
gie
.

She bent down and scooped up Calvin
'
s business and neatly tied a knot in the bag before handing it to the
officer
.

"
She
'
s giving it to him!
"
exclaimed Ted.
"
I can
'
t believe it.
"

Inspector Dabruzzi reluctantly reached out his hand to take the bag from Mrs. Bronwyn.
As soon as he had taken
it
, she returned to the train.
Inspector Dabruzzi deposited
the baggie
in a large trash bin.
With another roll of his eyes, he followed
her
back to the train.

Once inside, Calvin happily jumped into
my
lap and started licking
my
face.

"
Oh, Calvin
!
You must have missed me.
"

"
You see, Inspector,
"
Mrs. Bronwyn
thundered
, ensuring all the other passengers could hear her.
"
No harm, no foul. Calvin had his business to do, and that
'
s it. No one made a break for it. Everyone is still here.
"

Inspector Dabruzzi made a quick survey of the
room
to make sure she was right,
and
that no one had left the train.
She was, in fact, correct. Everyone was accounted for.

"
Very well, Mrs. Bronwyn,
"
he
said.
"
You have made your point. As much as I
'
m sure you have all appreciated this slight diversion from our investigation, I
'
m afraid we must get back to business. We only have a
little time
until we reach
Topaz Mountain
, and I must finish
before we arrive
.
"

"
But there is no one left
!
You’
ve spoken to everyone,
"
volunteered Mr. Sloane.
"
Who will you interrogate?
"

"
I
'
m not interrogating anyone,
"
he
said.
"
I am searching for information,
hoping someone
can shed some light on the case.
"

Mr. Sloane rubbed his chin.
"
I guess t
hat makes sense
.
"

Everyone slowly
dispersed
to take their seats, ready for the
Dabruzzi
to announce the next step of the investigation.
Calvin had settled
quietly
in
my
lap and was starting to snore.
The events of the room were not as exciting for a puppy dog as they were for the other passengers.

The train whistle broke the silence, announcing its departure from Pecan River.
We
would soon be in
Topaz Mountain
.
N
ot much time
was
left to discover who stole the Diamond of Madagascar.

After determining that the diamond was not in anyone's possession, and not among their belongi
ngs, the
i
nspector
seemed to need some time to consider his options. "If you'll excuse me," he said. "I must
look over
the facts."

And with that, he left
us
and entered the
l
ounge
.
We could see him through the glass door of the car, pacing back and forth, talking to himself and scratching his head repeatedly.

I
knew
there was no point staring at
him,
so
I
decided to conduct a search of my own. There were clues
he
may have missed, and I took it upon myself to discover them.

In the
s
leeping
c
ar
, there were only four
compartments
, one of which was taken by Mr. Sloane. At the end of the
area
were the two washrooms everyone
in the regular car had to share.
I
wasn
'
t looking forward to searching in there.

The first room, closest to the
d
ining
area
, was the compartment Mr. Sloane
had occupied
.
I
thought
I
would start in the car immediately beside it.

My
first thought was that in some movies, there
was
a connecting door between the cars. Perhaps that
was
how someone got in to the compartment to steal the diamond and
escaped
without being noticed.

Once i
nside
the compartment,
I
was surprised at how large it was, even though it was on a train. There was a large bench along one wall that
I
supposed converted to a bed. Across from that was a small sink and mirror. Immediately beside the sink was a
tiny
closet.
I
was a bit taken aback when
I
opened the door and discovered it was not actually a closet but, in fact, a toilet. Above the toilet was a showerhead, which
I
guessed would drain out through a small hole in the center of the water closet. It was all a little to
o
crowded for
my
taste, but
I
was impressed at its efficiency.

Unfortunately,
my
hunch was incorrect. There was no connecting door between the compartments.
"
So whoever stole the diamond,
"
I
whispered
to
myself
,
"
m
ust
have entered Mr. Sloane
'
s compartment through his door.
"

There was nothing left to discover in this particular
compartment
, so
I
continued
to the next one. It was exactly the same as the first
,
except the bench had already been converted into a bed. It looked like someone had slept in it. Perhaps
Willy had taken a
nap. After determining there was nothing of interest,
I
moved along to the fourth and final
room
.

The fourth looked just like the first one, the one next to Mr. Sloane.
The bed was still a bench, and the room was empty of anything other than what should have been there.

Just as
I
was about to leave,
I
stepped in a small wet spot in the carpet.
"
Huh,
"
I
said.
"
That
'
s funny.
"

It was strang
e f
or there to be a wet spot in a
room
that was unoccupied.
I
looked up at the ceiling to see if there was a leak of some sort, but the ceiling
did not show any obvious signs of leaking.

My
next thought was that perhaps Calvin had relieved himself on the carpet, not quite able to make it to
Pecan River
. There was a small box of tissue beside the sink
,
so
I
took it upon
my
self to press
a few tissues
into the damp spot on the floor. The tissue turned wet as it soaked in the liquid from the carpet, but
it
was clear, not yellow as
I
though
t
it
might
be. It appeared the stain was water, and not of Calvin
'
s doing.