Cora Flash and the Diamond of Madagascar (A Cora Flash Children's Mystery, Book 1) (8 page)

"
Did anyone notice,
"
said Sheila in a hushed tone
,
"
t
hat
Mr. Sloane
'
s door was open this morning
?
"

"
Yes!
"
I
cried
.
"
I did! He saw me looking in the room, though. I didn
'
t get a chance to see
if he had the diamond in his
case.
"

"
Excuse me,
"
said Mr. Dabruzzi.
"
Do you mean to s
uggest
the funny little man with the silver briefcase is carrying the Diamond of Madagascar? On this train?
"

"
You know about the diamond?
"
I
asked.

"
Most certainly
.
It was in all the papers just before I left. I heard that someone in
Topaz Mountain
had won the auction, but I did not realize it would be traveling by train. Especially this one!
"

"
Well,
"
said Sheila
,
"
w
e
don
'
t know for sure that it
’
s on this train, but wouldn
'
t that be just fantastic!
"

"
But that diamond
is worth millions of dollars.
Why wouldn
'
t it be t
aken on a special plane
?
"
asked Ted.

"
Planes can
'
t land in
Topaz Mountain
,
"
I
said.

"
That
'
s right,
"
agreed
Mr. Dabruzzi
.
"
And don
'
t forget about that incident where they were transporting all that gold by plane and
then it
was hijacked. The gold was never seen again.
"

"
I had forgotten about that,
"
said
Ted
.
"
That was an absolute scandal.
"

"
So maybe they wanted to avoid the attention of flying the diamond. It is much more discreet to ship the jewel by
land
,
"
said
Sheila.
"
No one would expect it
.
"

The door slid open and in walked Mrs. Bronwyn, carrying little Calvin.
"
Good morning!
"

"
Good morning!
"
I
replied
.
"
Mrs. Bronwyn, this is Rudolpho Dabruzzi. He has joined us for breakfast this morning.
"

"
Hello, Mr. Dabruzzi
.
It
'
s nice to meet you. I
'
m Josephine Bronwyn.
"

"
It is my pleasure to meet you,
"
said Mr. Dabruzzi, rising out of his chair to greet her.

"
I
'
m so sorry we did not save you a seat,
"
said Ted.
"
We weren
'
t quite sure what time you would be able to join us.
"

"
Oh, that
'
s quite al
l
right,
"
she
said with a pleasant tone.
"
I
'
m not offended in the least. I tend to sleep late, so you were right to offer a seat to this gentleman. Look, there
’
s a table right beside you that
’
s empty. I
'
ll just seat myself there.
"

With that, she sat down and rested Calvin on the floor near her handbag.
"
There, you see
?
It
'
s practically the same table.
"

Willy came out carrying a large tray with the first four orders. He presented
us the
three orders of French toast and one order of bacon and eggs,
sunny
-
side
-
up.

"
Ah!
"
I
said, mostly under
my
breath.
"
That
'
s what it means.
"
I
was surprised
, and frankly a little disappointed,
to see that
sunny
-
side
-
up meant just plain old regular egg, the way that it always
look
ed
in pictures. Lots of white with the yellow yolk in the middle. So simple!
And boring.

Mrs. Bronwyn, upon seeing the orders of French toast,
said that she
knew in a minute she had to have that.
"
Oh, and please hurry
.
The smell of their orders is going to drive me insane with hunger!
"

"
This is the best French toast I think I
’
ve ever had,
"
said Sheila.
"
It tastes so fresh and wonderful.
"

"
I think I have to agree with you there,
"
said Mr. Dabruzzi.
"
It is quite savoury.
"

As they marvelled at how magn
ificent their
meal
was,
Calvin
'
s little head kept poking up at the table
, and he
sniff
ed
anxiously at the plates of food that he was forbidden to taste.

"
Oh, Calvin,
"
said Mrs. Bronwyn.
"
That is not for you. Now get down, and stop being so greedy. I just fed you.
"

"
It
'
s amazing,
"
said Mr. Dabruzzi.
"
Dogs and cats seem to always behave like they have never eaten before. Always hungry, always looking for more, more
,
more!
"

We
laughed at Mr. Dabruzzi
'
s observation
until we were interrupted by the
slamming of the
d
ining
car door.
Everyone
immediately grew silent as Mr. Sloane burst
in
and exclaim
ed
,
"
There
'
s been a robbery! Someone has stolen the Diamond of Madagascar!
"

"
What?
"
we
shouted
in unison.

"
What did you say, Mr. Sloane?
"
asked Willy.

"
My diamond.
The
diamond. It
'
s been stolen!
"
Mr. Sloane said, obviously shaken.
"
I can
'
t believe this
!
How could this have happened?
"

"
Why don
'
t you sit down, sir
?
"
said Mr. Dabruzzi.
"
You
'
re obviously distressed. Have some water.
"

Mr. Sloane nodded and
sank
down at Mrs. Bronwyn
'
s table.
"
I don
'
t know what I am going to do
.
This is the absolute worst thing that could have happened. I can
'
t believe this.
"

"
When did it happen?
"
I
asked
.