Cora Flash and the Diamond of Madagascar (A Cora Flash Children's Mystery, Book 1) (23 page)

"
Let
'
s see,
"
said Mrs. Bronwyn.
"
We have a turkey club,
gazpacho
, and a burger. Oh, goodness
.
It
’
s not much of a selection.
"

"
What is
gazpacho
?
"
asked Ted.

"
Cold soup, darling,
"
replied Sheila.
"
You won
'
t like it.
"

She was playing with her wedding ring, probably not quite used to wearing two rings on her finger.
I
could not help
but
notice the diamond ring she had on. It was nowhere near the size of the Diamond of Madagascar, but it was still a beautiful
piece of jewellery
.

"
Cora,
"
said Sheila.
"
What will you be ordering?
"

I
did not answer right away
, for I
was stuck on a thought.
My many
fragments of were beginning to come together. Things were
starting
to make sense, but
my first hunch
could not possibly be correct
, could it?
It was so unlikely, so completely crazy
,
that
I
could not possibly have figured it out. Or
had
I
?

"
Cora?
"
prodded Ted, looking to see what
I
was going to order.

I
slowly
peered
up at the table. Ted, Sheila
,
and Mrs. Bronwyn were all staring at
me
. Even Calvin, who was sitting on Mrs. Bronwyn
'
s lap, had his head cocked to on
e
side, waiting for an answer.

"
Of course!
"
I
yelled.
"
I
'
ve figured it out!
"

"
Cora?
"
asked Mrs. Bronwyn.
"
Whatever do you mean?
"

I
stood and walked over to Inspector
Dabruzzi
, who had not taken his seat and was standing at the back of the car, surveying the room.

"
Inspector,
I need to talk to you.
"

"
Yes, of course
.
What is it?
"

"
I think I know what happened to the diamond. Or at least, part of what happened.
"

"
What do you mean?
"

"
Yes,
"
interrupted Mr. Sloane.
"
What do you mean?
"

By this time, everyone in the car was watching
me
with great interest. They had heard
my
exclamation and were curious to see what
I
was talking about.

I
realized
I
was not going to simply be able to tell the
i
nspector
what happened,
that
I
would need to address everyone.

"
Well,
"
I began
,
"
I could not figure out how someone was able to get into Mr. Sloane
'
s compartment to take the diamond. It would be too difficult for an
yone
to slip into the car, take the
gem,
and then slip out again with Mr.
Sloane
standing right there. The cabins are very small,
so
this would be very difficult.
"

"
Are you suggesting it was a child?
"
Mr. MacEvoy asked.

"
Since I am the only child here, I don
'
t think I would be
accuse
myself!
"
I
exclaimed.

"
Then a teenager,
"
he said, motioning to Abigail.

"
I am
not
a teenager,
"
she snapped
.

"
No, not her either,
"
I
clarified.
"
I don
'
t think there is any person on this train who actually
stole
the diamond.
"

Everyone in the room started laughing, or
r
emark
ing
on the silliness of
my
conclusion.

"
Cora,
"
said the
cop
, trying to help
me
.
"
We know someone took the diamond.
Y
ou can
'
t say no one took it when we know it has disappeared.
"

"
That is not what I said, Inspector
.
I said no
person
took the diamond. I don
'
t think it was taken by a person.
"

The
other
passengers looked at each other, obviously confused.
I
needed to explain
myself
or
I
was going to lose the room.

"
I think it was taken by someone who could get into the room quickly and get out again without being noticed. I think
i
t was taken by
...
Calvin!
"

"
What?
"
exclaimed most everyone in the room, most noticeably Mrs. Bronwyn.

Dabruzzi
took a step forward.
"
What do you mean?
"

"
I think Calvin stole the diamond,
"
I
said.

"
What would a dog want with a diamond?
"
asked Mr. MacEvoy.
"
To p
ut
it on his collar?
"

"
Earlier today
,
I was locked in a
cabin;
someone jammed the door so I could not get out. And while I was I there
—
"

"
Wait a second, please,
"
interrupted
Dabruzzi
.
"
You were locked in a compartment?
"

"
Yes, but it
'
s fine, Abby an
d
Willy got me out. Anyway, while I was in the room, I could not help
but
notice a wet spot on the carpet.
At first, I thought Calvin was not able to wait long enough to have his bathroom break, but when I checked the colour of the liquid, I discovered it was clear.
"

"
Like water?
"
asked Sheila.

"
Like water,
"
I
confirmed.
"
But not just regular water. Melted ice.
"

"
Ice?
"
said Ted.

"
Yes, ice. I
’
ve noticed that Calvin has a special fondness for ice cubes. Mrs. Bronwyn asked for some last night, saying
he
likes to chew on them before bed.
"

"
That
'
s right, she did,
"
said Willy.

"
Well
,
what if he doesn
'
t really like to chew them at all? Maybe the ice cubes were for some other purpose?
"
I
proposed.

"
What does this have to do with the diamond?
"
demanded
Mr. Sloane.

"
Everything, sir,
"
I
said.
"
Ice cubes may not look
like anything else to us but
to a puppy dog
, they would look like
—
"