The Catnapping Mystery (3 page)

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Authors: David A. Adler

BOOK: The Catnapping Mystery
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Mr. and Mrs. Jansen looked at the folders. Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly watched what was happening at the bellhop’s desk.
There was a telephone on the desk. Whenever it rang, the bell captain picked it up. He listened and then told one of the bellhops where to go to help someone in the hotel. Bellhops who were done carrying luggage came back to the desk and waited for something else to do.
Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly saw Esther Wright shake her head each time another bellhop came to the desk. None of them was the one who had taken her things.
“Let’s go to the museum,” Mr. Jansen said. “I’m sure we’ll have fun there. And maybe we’ll learn something.”
Ring! Ring!
The telephone on the bell captain’s desk rang. The bell captain picked it up. He spoke into it. He listened and then gave the telephone to Mrs. Wright.
She listened. Then she dropped the telephone and cried out loud, “My baby! My Little Tiger! My Little Tiger!”
Chapter Five
C
am ran to her. “What happened? What happened to your cat?” Cam asked.
Greg and the bell captain leaned forward to listen. Eric, Mr. and Mrs. Jansen, and Aunt Molly had followed Cam. They were listening, too.
“That was the bellhop on the telephone,” Esther Wright said. She wiped a tear from her eye and sobbed. “No. It was the thief.”
“Don’t say that,” the bell captain told Mrs. Wright. “The people who work for me are not thieves.”
“He said he has my luggage. He went through it. He said my clothing is old. The jewelry is fake.”
Esther Wright wiped away another tear. Then she went on. “And he said, ‘And then there’s the cat. The only person I could sell this stuff to is you. So go to your room and wait there. Wait there alone. I’ll call and tell you what to do.”’
“Oh, my,” Aunt Molly said. “This is terrible.”
“You must call the police,” Mr. Jansen said. “This is a kidnapping.” He thought for a moment and then said, “No. It’s a catnapping.”
Greg took the telephone and called the police.
Mrs. Jansen brought a chair. Esther Wright sat and rested her head in her hands.
“The thief must be a bellhop from another shift,” the bell captain said. He looked through his desk. “I have a picture here of most of them, from a party we had.”
“A picture!” Cam said. “Of course! I have lots of pictures.”
Cam closed her eyes and said,
“Click.”
“What should I do?” Esther Wright asked.
Greg gave her the telephone. “It’s the police sergeant,” Greg said. “He wants to speak with you.”
The bell captain gave Esther Wright a photograph and said, “Look at this. See if you can find the thief.”
“This is too much for me,” Mrs. Wright said. “I can’t do everything.”
Mrs. Jansen took the telephone. She spoke to the police sergeant. Esther Wright looked at the photograph.
Cam opened her eyes. She looked at Greg and the bell captain. Then she closed her eyes again and said,
“Click.”
Esther Wright gave the photograph back to the bell captain and said, “None of these is the thief.”
Mrs. Jansen hung up the telephone. “Two police officers will be here soon,” she told Esther Wright. “They’ll wait with you for the next call from the thief.”
Esther Wright rested her head in her hands again and said, “My poor Little Tiger.”
Someone pulled two large suitcases on wheels to the desk. He told Greg his room number. Greg put the bags on a cart and pushed it toward the elevator.
A few people had gathered in the center of the lobby. The woman in the long black dress was still playing the piano. People were singing.
Two tall police officers came through the front door. One was a woman with short black hair. The other was a man with a droopy mustache. They walked over to the bell captain’s desk.
“I’m Officer Johnson and this is my partner, Officer Goldberg,” the woman said. “Now whose luggage was stolen?”
Esther Wright looked up and said, “Mine. And my pet cat, Little Tiger, too!”
Cam opened her eyes.
“Don’t worry,” Officer Johnson said. “We’ll catch the thief.”
“And we’ll save your cat,” the other officer said.
“And I can help,” Cam told them. “I can help.”
Chapter Six
“L
et’s go,” Officer Johnson said. “We’ll wait in your room for the thief to call.”
Esther Wright told the officers, “But he said I should wait there alone.”
“When he calls,” Officer Goldberg said, “we’ll be very quiet. He won’t even know we’re there.”
The two police officers and Esther Wright went toward the elevator. Cam followed them.
“I can help,” Cam said again when they reached the elevators.
Officer Johnson pressed the elevator button and the door opened. She, Officer Goldberg, and Esther Wright got into the elevator. Then Officer Johnson turned and told Cam, “We’re busy now.”
Cam stepped into the elevator just as its door was closing.
Esther Wright pressed the button for the sixth floor.
“I told you we’re busy now,” Officer Johnson said sharply to Cam. “As soon as we get to the sixth floor, you’ll have to go right down again.”
“But I can help!” Cam said again.
Cam closed her eyes and said,
“Click.”
Then she asked Esther Wright, “Was the bellhop who took your luggage about as tall as Officer Goldberg?”
Esther Wright looked at Officer Goldberg.
“Yes,” Esther Wright told Cam.
“Did he have long brown hair? Were there three gold earrings in his left ear?” Cam asked.
“Yes,” Esther Wright said again.
“How do you know so much about the thief?” Officer Johnson asked.
The door of the elevator opened.
“Come with us,” Officer Johnson told Cam.
They all followed Mrs. Wright to room 613. She took out her key and opened the door. Esther Wright and the two police officers sat on the bed, right by the telephone.
“Well,” Officer Johnson asked Cam. “How do you know so much about the thief?”
“When we were coming here,” Cam explained, “my mom saw a bellhop. He was putting luggage in a green van. That’s how we knew we were near the Royal Hotel. But he was not one of the hotel’s bellhops. We should have known that as soon as we came in here. I should have known then that something strange was going on.”
“Why?” Officer Goldberg asked.
Cam said, “Because his jacket and little cap were blue. The bellhops and the doorman here all wear
red
uniforms. Even the front canopy is red.”
“That’s right,” Esther Wright said. “Everything here is red. The bellhop who took my things was wearing a blue uniform.”
Knock! Knock!
Someone was at the door. Officer Johnson opened it.
Mr. and Mrs. Jansen, Aunt Molly, and Eric came into the room “There you are,” Mrs. Jansen said when she saw Cam. “You must not run off like that.”
Ring! Ring!
The telephone was ringing. Esther Wright reached for it.
Officer Johnson held up her hand. “Quiet, please,” she said. “This might be the thief.”
Ring! Ring!
Esther Wright picked up the telephone and said, “Hello.”
Chapter Seven
E
sther Wright listened. Then she said, “Yes, I understand. I’ll do whatever you tell me to do. I just want my Little Tiger back.”
She hung up the telephone.
“Well, what did he say?” Officer Johnson asked.
“He wants five thousand dollars wrapped in an old newspaper. In exactly two hours, I have to leave it behind the third column to the right of the front entrance to the Kurt Daub Museum. Once he gets the money, he’ll call here and tell me where to find Little Tiger and my things.”
“Why don’t you try to trace his next call?” Mrs. Jansen asked.
“No,” Officer Goldberg told her. “He doesn’t stay on the telephone long enough for that.”
Esther Wright looked at her watch as she got up from the bed. “I’ll pay the money.
That’s what I’ll do. I’ll pay the money and get Little Tiger back.”
“Maybe I can help you find the thief,” Cam told Officer Johnson. “I saw him and his van.”
Esther Wright was at the door. “I have to hurry. I have just two hours to deliver the money,” she said as she left the room.
Eric told the police officers, “Cam has solved lots of mysteries and caught lots of thieves.”
“Well,” Officer Johnson asked Cam, “how can you help us find the thief?”
Cam closed her eyes and said,
“Click!”
“What’s she doing?” Officer Goldberg asked.
“That helps her remember,” Mrs. Jansen whispered.
“The thief loaded the luggage into a green van,” Cam said. “There was a lot of mud on the van.”
“Did you see the license plate?” Officer Johnson asked.
“No,” Cam answered. “But I did see something else. Our car has only two decals on the front windshield. But I saw three on the van.”
“One is the registration sticker,” Officer Goldberg said. “One is the inspection sticker. Now, tell us about the third one.”

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