Cora Flash and the Diamond of Madagascar (A Cora Flash Children's Mystery, Book 1) (7 page)

"
Oh!
"
he
yelped.

"
I
'
m sorry,
"
I said
.
"
I was just passing by.
"
My
voice was nervous and quick,
and I was
flustered
at being caught.

"
This is private!
"
he
snapped
, shutting the door with
a bit
less force than a slam.

Embarrassed can hardly describe how I felt at that moment.
And to make it worse, I
was horribly upset
that
I
did not get a chance to see what was in the case
.
I
was
so
curious to
find out
if Mrs. Bronwyn was right,
and
if in fact he
was
carrying the Diamond of Madagascar.

I guess I
'
ll never know
.

Inside the
d
ining
car, the girl in her
twenties
was sitting alone at a table for two, quietly reading a book and munching on some dry toast.

The nervous man
,
who was compulsively polishing his glasses
,
was also
already
seated. He had a full cup of coffee in front of him, which
I
couldn’t
imagine was a good idea.
As nervous as he
appeared to be
,
the last thing
he
needed was
caffeine
.
He was staring at the door of the car, as if he
were
waiting for someone to arrive. Perhaps he had made arrangements to eat breakfast with someone else on the train.

Soon after settling at a table for four, Willy stopped by and
offered
me
something to drink.

"
Just an orange juice, please
.
"

"
Did you want anything to eat?
"

"
I
'
m going to wait,
"
I
told him.
"
Sheila and Ted will be joining me soon. I
'
ll just have the juice until then.
"

“All right, then.”
Willy went to get
the
juice.

The door slid open and the large Italian man with the dark glasses came in and surveyed the room.
He walked down the
same
side of the car
I
was sitting
on
and
made to sit
at a table for two.

"
Excuse me,
"
I
said.
"
Would you like to join us?
"

"
Us?
"
he
said, clearly noticing
I
was alone at the table.

"
Oh, my friends are coming in a minute. The newlyweds, from the
l
ounge
last night.
"

"
I would be happy to,
"
he said
with
an
accent.
"
But what about your older lady friend, with the dog?
"

"
Oh
,
I wouldn
'
t worry about her. She isn
'
t even awake yet, so there
’
s an empty seat at our table. We would love
for
you to join us.
"

"
Well
,
then
, i
n
that case, how can I refuse?
"

He
plopped
down at the table with a big smile.
Across the small room,
the nervous man
watched
our
exchange closely.
I
wondered if he was offended that
I
hadn’t
offer
ed
a seat to him, but dismissed the thought when the Italian man introduced himself.

"
My name
i
s Rudolpho Dabruzzi.
"

"
Hello, Mr. Dabruzzi. I
'
m Cora Flash.
"

"
It was very nice of you to invite me to join you.
It
'
s not always much fun to travel by your
self, so I am always pleased when someone is as courteous as you.
"

"
It
'
s my pleasure
.
We should have asked you to join us last night in the
l
ounge
.
"

"
I
'
m afraid I would not have been very interesting company last night,
"
he said with a chuckle.
"
I fell asleep not long after I sat down!
"

We
chatted about
our
journeys
, and
I
told him all about Uncle André and visiting him for a week. Mr. Dabruzzi,
I
learned, was a watch salesman, on
h
is way to a convention in
Topaz Mountain
.
He traveled quite a lot, and always by train.

"
The train, you see
,
i
s quite peaceful and has traditionally been thought of as romantic. Although I have yet to meet a special lady, there is always ho
pe
for the next trip!
"

"
That
'
s exciting,
"
I
said.
"
I love old movies where characters are on trains, but there are usually murders and mysteries, not many romances.
"

"
Ah, yes, murder and mystery has always been a popular subject for the motion picture people
.
"

Just then, the door to the
d
ining
car opened and in walked Sheila and Ted.
They looked pleased to see
me
sitting with Mr. Dabruzzi.

"
Good morning, everyone,
"
said Ted.

"
Hi
,
Ted!
"
I
said enthusiastically.
"
This is Rudolpho Dabruzzi.
"

"
Well
,
hello, Mr. Dabruzzi
.
I
'
m Sheila
Houseman
, and this is my new husband, Ted.
"

"
New husband?
"
said Mr. Dabruzzi.
"
Oh, how wonderfully exciting. Congratulations. I am pleased to meet both of you. But please, and Cora this applies to you as well, do not call me Mr. Dabruzzi. I insist you call me Rudolpho.
"

"
A
l
l
right then, Rudolpho, we would be happy to,
"
said Ted. And with that, Sheila and Ted at the table.
"
So
, w
hat
’
s on the menu for this morning
?
I am starving!
"

"
Then I have come just in time,
"
said Willy. He always had a knack for entering the picture just at the right time.
"
Good morning
,
folks!
"

We all
wished
him
a good morning before he proceeded to tell
us
about the specials for the day.
"
As I mentioned to Cora this morning
, w
e have French
t
oast
on the menu today. A bit unusual for us, so I would recommend you take advantage of it
,
because it might not be here for your trip back.
"

Sheila
,
Rudolpho
,
and I
ordered the French
toast
,
and
Ted ordered bacon and eggs,
sunny
-
side
-
up.
I
had heard the expression
"
sunny
-
side
-
up
"
before, but
I
was not entirely sure what it meant.
I
was ex
c
ited to find out!