The X'ed-Out X-Ray (5 page)

“Or
her
turn,” Dink reminded Ruth Rose.

“Or her,” Ruth Rose agreed. She bent
over and picked up a small plastic container. “I think this held film for a camera,” she said. “I wonder if it’s a clue.”

Dink picked up a pair of smashed sunglasses. “Come help us search,” Dink yelled up at Josh.

“For what?” Josh asked, sitting on the edge of the stage.

“Clues,” Ruth Rose said. She held up a dollar bill. “Look what I just found!”

Josh was on the ground in a flash. After searching for five minutes, they had a small pile: the broken sunglasses, the empty film container, a pencil, one dollar, one penny, ten ticket stubs, seven flattened penguin masks, and about a hundred candy wrappers.

They threw the masks, stubs, and wrappers into a trash bin. Ruth Rose put the other stuff in her pocket as they walked toward the hotel.

The trailer was gone.

“What if Penelope isn’t even here?” Dink asked. “If she canceled her concerts, maybe she went home. Wherever that is.”

“I never thought of that,” Ruth Rose said. “We’ll know in a minute.”

The kids walked into the hotel lobby and up to a long reception counter. Two clerks were standing behind the counter. One was talking on the telephone, so Ruth Rose approached the other one.

“Excuse me, is Penelope Gwinn still staying here?” she asked.

The woman looked at Ruth Rose. “And you are …?”

“I’m Ruth Rose Hathaway,” she said. “Penelope Gwinn sent me this signed picture.” Then she turned it over so the woman could read the back.

“We were there when it happened,” Ruth Rose said. “I think Miss Gwinn would like to hear what we have to say.”

The clerk picked up a telephone and dialed a number. “Hello. There are some children in the lobby asking to see Miss Gwinn. They say they have information about the theft of her diamond. Yes, thank you.”

The clerk hung up the telephone. “Room 1200, on the twelfth floor,” she said. “Elevators are to your right.”

The kids found the elevators and got on one. Josh pushed the button for twelve, and they were whisked upward.

When the elevator doors opened, a man was waiting for them. It was the same man Dink had seen escort Miss Gwinn to the stage. He did not look happy to see them.

“I’m Miss Gwinn’s manager,” the man said. He glared down at the kids with fierce eagle eyes. “What do you have?” His arms were crossed over his broad chest.

“We, um—” Ruth Rose started to say.

“We saw two people who acted weird,” Dink said. “We think one of them might be the thief.”

Penelope Gwinn walked up behind the man. “Thanks, Hans,” she said.

Up close, Penelope Gwinn didn’t look like a famous rock singer. She was wearing sweats and her hair was in a ponytail.

“Come inside,” Penelope said. She walked into the suite and the kids followed, with Hans right behind them. They were in a large room with a view of Bushnell Park.

“Have a seat, please,” Penelope said. The kids sat together on a white sofa.

Hans disappeared through a door.

“Now, tell me more about these two ‘weird’ people,” Penelope said. She sat in a white chair opposite the kids.

Dink described Frank, the man who sold them hot dogs. “He had an autograph book,” Dink said. “He told us
he had to get you to sign it for his daughter.”

“I don’t remember him,” Penelope said.

“He had really hairy knuckles,” Josh added.

“And he left with his cart during intermission,” Dink said. “Not long after your necklace got stolen.”

Penelope shook her head. “Strange. He’d sell a lot of hot dogs during intermission. Still, I don’t recall anyone like that asking for an autograph. And the other one?”

“It was a tall woman with yellow crinkly hair,” Dink said. “She had an autograph book, too. As soon as you stopped for intermission, she headed right for the stage. Later, I saw her arguing with the police officers.”

Penelope walked over to a small table and pulled open its drawer. “Did either of the autograph books look like this one?” she asked.

She held the autograph book so the kids could see it. “The thief was in such a hurry to get away that he left me holding this,” she said.

Penelope Gwinn handed the book to Ruth Rose. It was square, and the word
AUTOGRAPHS
had been stamped in gold on the dark red cover.

“I don’t remember the other two autograph books very well,” Dink said. “They were fat like this one, with dark covers, I think.”

Ruth Rose studied the book in her hand. “I wonder if the police could get
the thief’s fingerprints from this,” she said.

“I asked about that, but he was wearing gloves,” Penelope said.

“That guy at the hot-dog cart wore gloves when he served us!” Josh said.

Penelope shrugged. “Anyone could slip on a pair of gloves,” she said.

“Could the thief be a woman?” Ruth Rose asked. “She could have worn gloves to disguise her hands.”

“I suppose it’s possible,” Penelope said. “Everyone was wearing penguin masks, so I didn’t really look at faces.”

Penelope sighed as she sat down. “Anyone could have grabbed my pendant. As soon as I realized what had happened, I started screaming,” she said. “But by then the thief had disappeared in the crowd. Later, I stood by the gate with the officers, but I wasn’t able to recognize him or her.”

Ruth Rose flipped through the pages.

There were a lot of signatures in the book. The last name wasn’t complete.

“I was signing that page when he grabbed my necklace,” Penelope said.

Ruth Rose started to hand the book back.

“No, I really don’t want the thing,” Penelope said. “Do me a favor and drop it in the first trash can you come to!”

Penelope stood up. “I appreciate your coming to see me,” she said. She noticed the picture Ruth Rose had brought with her.

“You boys want one of those?” she asked, smiling for the first time.

“Sure!” Josh gushed. “I’m a huge fan!”

Penelope signed two more pictures and gave them to Dink and Josh.

The kids thanked her and left. There was a trash can outside the hotel.

“Are you gonna throw the book away?” Dink asked Ruth Rose.

“No way!” she said.

They sat on a bench and waited for the next bus to Green Lawn. Ruth Rose was reading signatures when Dink poked her and Josh. “Look who’s coming this way!”

Penelope Gwinn’s manager, Hans, was barreling toward them, wearing wrap-around sunglasses. As he marched down the sidewalk, he kept turning his head, checking both sides of the street.

“Is he after us?” Josh whispered.

“I don’t think he sees us,” Ruth Rose said.

Suddenly Hans stopped in front of a store window. He peered through the glass, then opened the door and disappeared inside.

A sign on the window said:
YE OLDE JEWELRY SHOPPE. WE BUY AND SELL UNUSUAL ITEMS.

“Oh my gosh!” Ruth Rose said. “Maybe Penelope’s manager is the thief. He could be in there selling the penguin right now!”

“He’d have to be pretty dumb to sell the thing on the same street where he just stole it,” Dink said.

“Or maybe he’s pretty smart,” Josh said. “He could be selling it here because no one would expect him to do that! I wondered why Hans didn’t stop the thief. Wasn’t he standing at the bottom of the stage steps?”

“That’s a good question,” Ruth Rose
said. “Should we follow him into the shop?”

“I don’t think so,” Dink said. “If he went in there to sell the pendant, he’ll stop when he sees us walk in. Plus, then he’ll know we suspect him.”

“So what should we do?” asked Josh.

“I don’t know,” Dink said. “We can’t accuse Hans just because he walked into a jewelry store. And we can’t accuse that woman I saw, or Frank the hot-dog man. The thief was wearing a mask and didn’t leave any clues behind!”

“Just this,” Ruth Rose said as their bus came along. She held up the red autograph book.

A half hour later, the kids were back in Dink’s room. While Dink fed Loretta, Ruth Rose read the rest of the pages in the autograph book.

Josh was prowling in Dink’s things, looking for candy. “Hey, what’s this?” he
asked, holding up Dink’s souvenir X-ray.

“That’s one of the X-rays the doctor took yesterday” Dink said.

“Why does it have this big
X
over it?” asked Josh.

Dink explained that the X-ray was blurred because of the bandage. “He took a second X-ray with the bandage off.”

“Guys, look at this!” Ruth Rose suddenly exclaimed. She had the autograph book opened to the inside back cover. “Listen—
To Georgie from Aunt Alva Horst, Christmas, 1980.”

“The thief’s name is Georgie?” Josh asked. He was holding Dink’s X-ray up to the window.

“Well, now we know it wasn’t the hot-dog man,” Dink said. “His name is Frank.”

“How do you know that?” asked Josh.

“Because
Frank
was stitched over the
pocket of his jacket, Josh,” Dink replied.

“But Georgie could have been wearing Frank’s jacket while he stole the necklace!” Josh exclaimed.

“Josh is right,” Ruth Rose said. “Or this book could belong to that woman, Dink. Georgie could be a woman’s name.”

“Yuck, it comes off,” Josh said.

Dink looked up to see Josh rubbing something red on the X-ray.

“Josh, what are you doing?” Dink asked. “Don’t ruin that X-ray.”

“I’m not ruining it,” Josh said. “This red marker stuff is coming off on my fingers.”

Josh used his T-shirt to wipe away the rest of the red
X.
“Look at this,” he said.

Where the two lines of the
X
had crossed each other, Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose could now see a funny shape. It looked like a fuzzy egg, or a pear.

“What is it?” Ruth Rose asked.

“I don’t know,” Dink said. “But whatever it is, that doctor covered it up with that big
X.”