Cora Flash and the Diamond of Madagascar (A Cora Flash Children's Mystery, Book 1) (22 page)

"
He
'
s right,
"
said Abigail.
"
Stay with me.
"

"
Okay
.
Safety in numbers, right?
"

"
Right,
"
Abigail and Willy said at the same time.

We
started to
walk
to the
d
ining
room
, but just as
we
were about to go through the door,
my
cell phone rang. The call display told
me
it was
my
mother.

"
It
'
s my
mo
m
,
"
I
said.
"
Hello?
"
I
said, answering the phone.

"
Hi sweetie, it
'
s Mom. How are you?
"

"
Fine,
"
I said
.
"
I
'
m fine.
"

"
Have you made any friends on the train?
"

"
I
'
ve
made some friends
,
"
I
answered.
"
There are some, um, interesting people on board.
"

"
That
'
s good
.
Anything
fun
happening on the train?
"

I
thought
about her question but decided not to say anything to her,
not just yet
,
anyway.

"
No,
"
I
answered.
"
Nothing
fun
is happening on the train.
"

"
Ladies and gentlemen,
"
Inspector Dabruzzi
said
as we assembled in the
l
ounge
.
"
I am afraid
we have reached a dead-end. I
have not been able to locate the diamond. It is still unaccounted for.
"

"
Oh
,
dear me,
"
said Mr. Sloane, taking a seat on one of the sofas.
"
Oh
,
dear me. This is simply horrible.
"

"
But,
"
interjected Sheila
,
"
y
ou
searched everyone's belongings and our seats and could not find
it
. So where did it go?"

"
It could have been taken off the train
," he replied.

"
But how?
"
asked Abigail.
"
No one has left the train except for you and Mrs. Bronwyn, and you were standing beside her the whole time.
"

"
That
'
s right, Inspector,
"
said Mrs. Bronwyn.
"
You and I were the only two people to leave.
Are you
suggest
ing
someone threw the diamond off
?
"

"
That would be lunacy!
"
cried Mr. MacEvoy.
"
To throw a diamond off a moving train, into the wilderness?
It would be lost
forever;
no one would ever be able to find it again.
"

"
Quite right, all of you,
"
said the
officer
.

"
So where is it?
"
demanded Mr. Sloane.
"
If you can
'
t find it on the train, and it would be foolish to throw off the train, then where in the world is the diamond?
"

Dabruzzi
had a defeated look on his face.
E
veryone was depending on him for an answer, but he did not have one.

"
Is it possible,
"
said Ted
,
"
t
hat
the diamond was smashed up into little pieces and that is why we can
'
t find it? It has been broken into many smaller pieces?
"

"
Impossible,
"
said Mr. Sloane.
"
You cannot cut diamonds very easily. If someone were to attempt to do that, they would discover very quickly that they were trying to do something hopeless.
"

"
Oh,
"
said Ted, disappointed that his
theory
was not possible.

"
I think we should not let ourselves get carried away,
"
said Mrs. Bronwyn.
"
After all, the police in
Topaz Mountain
will meet us when we arrive, and they will surely be able to assist in the investigation.
"

"
Wait a minute,
"
said Abigail.
"
I
’
m not going to go through the entire investigation again when we get to the mountains. Someone had better just speak up now. Whoever did this had better confess.
"

Everyone in the room began to
glance
at each other, wondering which person was most capable of stealing the diamond.

"
I don
'
t think anyone is going to confess that easily,
"
said
Dabruzzi
.
"
If they would like to, please be my guest, but I doubt it.
"

There were still several things that
I
was struggling to understand. Who would lock
me
in a compartment? Why was there a wet spot on the carpet? How did the diamond vanish into thin air?
I
was not sure the wet spot had anything to do with the crime, or if being locked in a compartment was related, either, but
the
re
seemed
to be
too many strange occurrences to not be somehow connected to the missing
jewel
.

"
Ladies and gentlemen
,
"
said Willy.
"
I
’
m sure you
’
re all getting hungry and thirsty, so if it is al
l
right with the
i
nspector
, I am going to start serving lunch now.
"

"
Yes,
"
said
Dabruzzi
.
"
Of course. Please, everyone, make your way to the
d
ining
car for lunch.
"

The crowd slowly filed to the
dining room
, with Calvin naturally in the lead.

"
If he could open the doors himself,
"
said Mrs. Bronwyn, jokingly
,
"
h
e
would!
"

Once inside the
d
ining
car, where
we
had spent the majority of
our
journey,
we
s
a
t at the same tables
we
had occupied for breakfast.

Willy walked around carrying a large tray of glasses. He
s
e
t
a nice cold
cup
of ice water in front of each person and dropped a small menu beside the glass.

"
Oh,
"
raved
Sheila
with a smile
.
"
We have a choice!
"

I
could not help but stare at her glass of water. There was something interesting about it, but
I
could
n’t
quite put
my
finger on it.