Mystery of the Star Ruby (7 page)

“I couldn’t afford to buy a star ruby of that size,” Jonathan said. “I’m surprised Cecil can. It must be worth thousands!”

Henry blinked. “Thousands? Boy, we’ll be able to buy a lot of books for that library.”

“Good luck at the contest,” Jonathan said, finishing his drink.

“What do you mean?” said Violet. “Isn’t Jessie’s ruby the biggest?”

Jonathan rocked back in his chair once more. “You never know,” he said mysteriously. “You just never know.”

The kids left to find Sybil and Donald.

“Did you see how Jonathan acted when Jessie mentioned we were selling the ruby?” Violet said. “He was surprised.”

“Maybe he was surprised because we’re selling it to Mr. Knight,” Jessie said.

“Or maybe he was surprised because we
had
the ruby,” said Henry.

At that moment, Cecil Knight came down the path. He grinned when he saw the kids.

“I hope you’ll consider selling that beautiful stone to me,” he said. “I’d be proud to have it in my museum.”

“Well …” Jessie hesitated.

But Mr. Knight was distracted by one of his employees. “Be sure to lock the creek shed. You forgot the other night,” he told the man.

“I’m sorry, kids,” he said, turning back to the Aldens. “I need to go set up for the contest.”

When he was gone again, Violet said, “We might have another suspect. Cecil Knight.”

“Cecil?” said Benny. “Why him?”

“He wants the ruby for his museum,” said Violet. “And he was the one who called everyone out to see the Brown Mountain Lights. Maybe he sent someone into our cabin to take the ruby.”

Henry nodded. “Good point. We’ll watch him, too.”

They met Sybil on the path, coming from her cabin.

“Almost contest time!” she sang. “Are you excited?”

“We were just going to get the ruby from our cabin,” Violet said.

Sybil was shocked. “You shouldn’t leave that valuable stone in your cabin! The locks on those doors aren’t very secure.”

“It seems pretty safe here,” Jessie said innocently. “Well, we’d better get ready for dinner. See you later!”

The Aldens walked down the path until Sybil was out of sight.

“She was surprised, too,” Benny observed.

“Sybil sounded like she was worried about us leaving the stone in our cabin,” said Violet. “But she could have been acting.”

“I’m not leaving the ruby in our cabin again unless we’re there,” said Jessie, patting her backpack.

“So far all of our suspects are still suspects,” Henry said. “But we have one more to track down—Donald Hodge.”

Donald wasn’t on the porch, or in the lobby, or at the gem museum. They didn’t find him down by the stream, or around the picnic area.

“Maybe he’s in his cabin,” said Benny. It was almost suppertime and he was getting hungry.

“We don’t know if he’s staying in a cabin or in the main building like Grandfather,” said Violet. “There’s one place we haven’t checked—the Laundromat.”

No one was in there.

A load of freshly dried laundry was folded in a basket by the washing machine. Another load of clothes was piled sloppily on the dryer.

Benny went over to the basket on the floor. He recognized the white shirt lying on top.

“This looks like the shirt that fell out of Sybil’s basket yesterday,” he said. “She sure does a lot of laundry.”

Jessie lifted a towel from the wrinkled pile on top of the dryer. “The clothes in that basket are hers, but I doubt these are. Sybil’s too neat to leave such a mess.”

“We might as well go—” Henry began.

As Jessie turned to leave, she accidentally brushed the pile of laundry onto the floor. “Oh, no,” she said, hastily picking up the clothes. “I’m getting somebody’s stuff dirty.” She paused. “Hey, look at this!”

The others hurried over.

Jessie held out a stained, white button-down shirt. The pocket was ripped in a rectangular shape.

“I wonder if the scrap we found will fit.” She pulled the material from her pack.

This time the scrap fit perfectly.

“Now we know the person who ripped this shirt was down by the creek the other day,” said Henry. “And this is a men’s shirt!”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Violet said. “Sybil wears men’s shirts sometimes.”

Benny noticed something on the floor in the crack between the washer and dryer. He reached his small arm into the space and pulled out a tiny black velvet sack closed with a drawstring cord.

“Look what I found,” he said.

Henry took the little sack and pulled the drawstring. An enormous ruby rolled into his palm.

He whistled. “This is Donald’s Papa Bear ruby! Remember? He showed it to us at lunch the first day.”

“I bet it fell out of his pocket when he leaned over to take his clothes out of the dryer,” Violet figured. “It’s kind of dark in here. Donald might not have seen a black bag on the floor.”

Henry was studying the gemstone intently “He wouldn’t let Jonathan touch this, remember? It was almost as if he didn’t want anyone to see it closely.” He looked at Jessie. “Let me have our star ruby.”

Jessie gave him the plastic container. “What is it?”

“I want to try something,” said Henry.

He held the star ruby in his right hand and Donald Hodge’s ruby in his left. Then he scratched the star ruby across Donald’s stone.

Violet gasped. “How did—?”

At that moment the door slammed shut.

“I told you to go home!” growled a voice outside. “This is my final warning!”

Footsteps moved away from the door and down the path.

Benny ran over and tugged on the handle. “It won’t open!” he cried.

Jessie twisted the handle. “It’s locked or blocked or something!”

Henry glanced at his watch. “The contest closes in fifteen minutes! If we don’t enter our star ruby, we’ll lose!”

“We have to get out!” said Violet.

Henry stared at the small window. “There’s a bench on the other side of that window. But only Benny will fit.”

“It’s the only way out,” said Benny. “I’ll go.”

Henry linked his fingers together. “Step in my hands. I’ll boost you on the count of three. One, two,
three
!”

Once he was level with the sill, Benny unlatched and opened the window. Then he crawled out.

Jessie let out her breath when she heard her brother drop safely onto the bench on the other side.

The door burst open and Benny ran inside.

“It wasn’t even locked,” he exclaimed, waving a stick. “This was jammed through the handle.”

“We have to hurry!” Violet urged.

The children raced up the path to the main building. The dining room was packed with people.

“You enter the ruby,” Henry told Jessie. “We’ll find Grandfather.”

Jessie spotted one of the resort’s employees at the judging table. She ran up front, pulling the ruby case from her pack.

“I’m not too late, am I?” she gasped.

The man glanced at the clock over the stone fireplace. “Two minutes to spare, young lady.”

After writing Jessie’s name on his clipboard, he weighed the ruby and recorded it. Then he set the star ruby on a velvet pad next to a large ruby. Though there were many other rubies on the pad, the Aldens’ was by far the largest. And it was the only star ruby.

Cecil Knight came over and consulted with his employee, then he stood on a chair and clapped loudly.

“Folks, may I have your attention?” he called. “I’m pleased to announce the winner of this year’s Ruby Hollow gemstone contest. Without a doubt, the star ruby found by Jessie Alden takes the prize. Let’s give her a hand.”

Amid the applause, Jessie saw Donald Hodge get up and head for the doors.

Henry and Grandfather blocked his path.

“Let me through,” Donald demanded.

“I’m sorry,” said Grandfather. “But the children told me something about being locked in the Laundromat—”

“What’s that got to do with me?” Donald said. “They were probably playing a game. You know how kids are.”

“It wasn’t a game,” Violet insisted. “You put a stick through the handle so we couldn’t get out.”

“How do you know it was me?” asked Donald.

By now everyone in the dining room was listening. Jonathan and Sybil had joined the group by the door.

Cecil Knight left the judging table. “Is there a problem?” he asked.

“Yes,” Henry answered. “Donald Hodge tried to keep us from entering our ruby in the contest.”

Mr. Knight looked at him. “Let’s go into my office.”

“Jonathan and Sybil should come, too,” said Jessie. Both of them agreed to go inside Mr. Knight’s office and talk. Once everyone was inside, Mr. Knight closed the door and said, “Now, what is this all about?”

“Somebody took the ruby from my backpack,” Jessie said.

“And we think the culprit is in this room,” Violet added.

“Since when do children accuse adults of stealing?” Donald asked. “And how do we know the ruby was stolen if they have it back? She entered it in the contest!”

“I think we should listen to the kids,” said Mr. Knight.

“We have evidence,” said Jessie. She pulled the gem list from her pack.

Jonathan looked surprised. “That’s mine.”

“We found it on the ground in the picnic area,” said Benny. “You crossed off everything but ‘star ruby.’”

“You looked upset that day,” Violet said.

Jonathan nodded sadly. “I had just gotten a letter from Carrie. She said I had been rock-hunting too long instead of visiting her. I was trying to write her a letter when you kids came along.”

Sybil patted his shoulder. “I hope you called her.”

“I did,” Jonathan said. Then he looked alarmed. “You don’t think I stole the star ruby? I’d never do that!”

Mr. Knight waved his hands. “Wait a minute. Tell us about the star ruby being stolen. And how you got it back.”

“I kept it in my backpack,” said Jessie. “The night we all went out to look at the Brown Mountain Lights, somebody went into our cabin and took the ruby.”

Violet turned toward Jonathan. “You’d seen those lights before. You let it slip when you were talking to Sybil.”

Jonathan blushed. “I’d heard about the lights, but I thought it was some story. I was walking in the woods when they appeared the night you Aldens arrived. I didn’t say anything at breakfast the next morning because I was afraid I’d look silly.”

“What do the lights have to do with stealing the ruby?” Donald persisted.

“Only that anyone had the chance that night to go in our cabin and take the ruby,” Violet said. “We even thought someone who worked here could have taken it because Mr. Knight called everyone out to see the lights.”

“These kids have wild imaginations,” Donald said to Cecil Knight.

“Twice we heard someone digging in the dump pile at the flume line after dark,” Henry went on. “The person was wearing white. Once we chased the person, but whoever it was ran.”

Now it was Sybil’s turn to act sheepishly. “I’m afraid I’m the guilty party.”

Mr. Knight stared at her. “What were you doing?”

“Donald threw away a lot of dirt. I thought there might be some good stones in his dump pile,” Sybil answered. “But I was too embarrassed to let anyone see me, so I went out after dark. But I was only there once—and I didn’t run away!”

“Who
did
run away?” Cecil Knight pursued.

“The person who stole the ruby,” said Jessie. “We found the ruby buried in the dump pile.”

Grandfather looked confused. “A valuable stone buried in a pile of dirt? That doesn’t make sense.”

“It’s the perfect place,” said Henry. “Who would think of looking in the dump pile? But the thief got nervous and checked on it one night. When we went down there, the thief ran away.”

Cecil Knight sat down at his desk. “Why would anyone be so dishonest?”

“Some people here are very interested in getting a star ruby for their collection,” Grandfather put in, looking at Sybil.

“You don’t think it was me?” Sybil asked, shocked. “Yes, I’d love a star ruby. But I wouldn’t steal one! I felt bad enough kicking over the children’s bucket the other day.”

“So that
wasn’t
on purpose,” said Violet. “We thought you took Jessie’s backpack at first, too,” she added. “We found a scrap of white shirt material at the creek the day it was taken. And the day I found my Mama Bear ruby, you left the gem line in a hurry. At lunch later, you seemed very interested in my pack, which looks just like Jessie’s.”

“I can explain,” said Sybil. “I had forgotten to take my medication and I remembered while I was in line. I went back to my cabin to take it. But I don’t understand about your pack. I thought Jessie’s pack was taken.”

“It was,” Jessie explained. “Mine looks just like Violet’s.”

“All this talk of rubies and backpacks!” Donald said scornfully. “What does this have to do with the robbery?”

“Because,” said Henry, “the thief was interested in winning the contest.”

“And who was it?” Cecil Knight demanded. “Who
is
the thief?”

Jessie produced the warning note. “The same person who wrote this. Donald Hodge.”

Everyone sat stunned.

Then Donald’s face turned a deep red. “How dare you accuse me! Anyone could have written that. What
real
proof do you have?”