Cam Jansen and the Millionaire Mystery (4 page)

“Is that everyone?” Officer Kaplan asked Mrs. Scott.

Mrs. Scott looked at Cam.

“There were ten of us on the elevator,” Cam said, “and we’re all here.”

“What are you looking for?” Jane Levy asked. She was Mrs. Scott’s friend. “Maybe we saw it.”

“We’re looking for a valuable pearl necklace,” Officer Kaplan said. “Mrs. Scott was wearing it when she got on the elevator. When she got off, it was gone.”

Officer Phillips sat in one of the big library chairs. She looked at the many people in the room.

“Can I go now?” the woman in the green dress asked. “I’m not a thief. You know I don’t have the necklace. By now my husband must be looking for me.”

“Yes,” the old man with the cane said. “I’m also not a thief. I’m an accountant, and I came with my daughter.”

“That’s it!” Officer Phillips said.

She got out of her chair. She looked at the woman in the green dress and said, “You came with your husband.” She looked at the old man. “You came with your daughter. Each of you came with someone. One of you
took the necklace, but you no longer have it. You must have given it to your partner.”

Mrs. Scott said, “The doorman has a list of everyone at the brunch. The names are in groups. They’re listed the way they made the reservations.”

“We were listed with the Sheltons,” Mrs. Jansen said.

“Please empty your pockets,” Officer Phillips told the Sheltons.

Mrs. Shelton and Eric emptied their pockets. Of course, they didn’t have the necklace.

“This is not right,” the man wearing the blue jacket said. “I came to help support the new firehouse and now I’m being treated like a common criminal.”

“Please be patient, sir. I’ll bring in the people listed with all of you,” Officer Phillips said. “I’m sure we’ll find the necklace, and then you can all go.”

Officer Phillips left the library.

Officer Kaplan stood by the door.

Eric whispered to Cam, “Do you think they’ll find the thief?”

“Yes,” Cam whispered. “The thief had to be someone on the elevator. No one here
has the necklace. That means he or she must have given it to someone.”

Mrs. Shelton and a few of the other people in the room looked at the many books in the library.

“May I take a book out?” Mrs. Shelton asked.

“Oh, yes,” Mrs. Scott said. “You may even borrow some, just not the ones in the bookcase with the glass doors. Those are valuable first editions.”

Eric whispered to Cam, “Everything in this apartment is valuable. I bet that’s why the thief came here. The thief didn’t come to help the firehouse. He or she came to steal something.”

Officer Phillips opened the door of the library. A tall man in a dark brown suit came in. He hurried to the woman in the green dress.

“What’s this all about?” he asked.

“Something was stolen.”

“Please empty your pockets,” Officer Kaplan said.

“But I didn’t take anything.”

“Just do it,” his wife told him.

The man took out a wallet, a cell phone, keys, coins, a pen, and business cards.

Officer Phillips opened the door again. A young woman, the daughter of the old man with the cane, came in. She emptied her pockets and handbag. She didn’t have the necklace.

“That’s everyone,” Officer Phillips said. “The others came alone.”

“What will you do now?” Mrs. Scott asked. “How will you find my necklace?”

“I don’t know,” Officer Phillips said, shaking her head. “I don’t know.”

“What are you thinking?” Eric whispered to Cam.

“I’m thinking the thief is one of the people in this room and is very clever. Somehow the thief either hid the necklace or got it out of the apartment.”

“Can I go now?” the woman in the green dress asked.

“I’m not asking. I’m just going,” the man in the blue jacket said.

He started toward the door.

Officer Kaplan opened his notepad. He read his notes. Then he looked at the many people in the library.

“We really can’t keep them any longer,” Officer Kaplan told his partner.

Officer Phillips opened the door and told the people in the library, “Thank you for your cooperation. You may go now.”

“Is that it?” Eric asked Cam. “They’re just going to let the thief keep the necklace?”

Cam watched as people left the library.

“We know the thief doesn’t have the necklace right now,” Cam whispered. “But whoever stole the necklace must know where it is. When the thief thinks no one is looking, he or she will go get it.”

Cam, Eric, Mrs. Jansen, and Mrs. Shelton left the library.

“I’m going downstairs for some more salad,” Eric’s mother said.

“I’ll go with you,” Mrs. Jansen said.

“We’ll be right back,” they told Cam and Eric.

Cam and Eric waited in the hall by the library. They watched their mothers walk to the spiral staircase.

“I wonder what the people from the elevator are doing now,” Cam said.

“There’s that woman in the flowered dress,” Eric said. “She’s getting another piece of cake.”

Cam looked at her. Then she looked at all the people standing by the large windows.

Cam pointed to Jane and Joe Levy. They were talking with Ellen and Aaron Scott. She pointed to the old man with the cane. He was sitting on a chair by one of the large windows. His daughter was with him. The old man’s cane was leaning against the arm of the chair.

“Some canes are hollow,” Eric said. “I saw a spy movie, and a secret map was hidden in a cane.”

Cam looked at the old man.

“I watched him when he left the library,” Eric said. “He walks fine. I don’t even think he needs a cane.”

“You think the necklace is inside his cane?”

Eric nodded.

“Then why is he still here?” Cam asked. “Why doesn’t he leave with his cane before the police find out what he did?”

Mrs. Jansen and Mrs. Shelton came up the stairs. Mrs. Shelton had two plates of salad.

“Look what I brought for you,” Mrs. Shelton said. She gave Eric a plate and a fork. “It’s spinach salad. It’s delicious.”

Eric tasted the salad.

“It’s not delicious,” he told his mother.

“It’s good for you,” Mrs. Shelton said. “Spinach has lots of vitamins and calcium. It has iron and copper.”

“Iron and copper!” Eric said. “Those are metals. I’m not eating metal.”

“They’re also names of nutrients. They’re good for you.”

Eric nibbled his salad.

The old man held onto the arms of his chair and got up. He started toward the elevator. His daughter went with him.

“Look,” Eric whispered. “He forgot his cane.”

Eric gave his mother his salad. He went and took the cane from the chair. Cam went with him. As Eric walked toward the elevator he tried to twist off the top of the cane. He couldn’t. He shook the cane.

“There’s nothing inside,” he whispered to Cam.

The elevator doors started to close. Cam pushed the button by the side of the elevator. The doors opened. Eric gave the old man his cane.

“Thank you,” he said. “I keep forgetting that.”

Cam and Eric returned to their mothers. Eric’s mother gave him his salad. Eric nibbled on a spinach leaf.

“Hey,” Cam said. “Look over there.”

She pointed to the man in the dark blue jacket.

“He’s standing by the windows but he’s looking this way. He’s looking toward the doors to the library.”

Eric nibbled on another piece of spinach.

“Why isn’t he looking at the view?” Cam asked.

Cam looked at the man. Then she closed her eyes and said, “
Click
!”

“That’s it!” Cam said, opening her eyes. “Some people in the elevator were carrying things.”

“The old man had a cane,” Eric said. “And some of the women had handbags.”

“But they still had those things when they were in the library,” Cam said. “The police checked them. But that man had something
in the elevator that he didn’t have in the library.”

“He did?”

“He had a coffee cup.”

“It was a paper cup,” Eric said. “He probably finished his coffee and threw the cup away.”

“Did he?” Cam asked. “Or did he hide the necklace in the cup and then hide the cup? Is he looking this way to see if anyone is watching? Is he just waiting to get the necklace and leave the party?”