Cam Jansen and the Valentine Baby Mystery (4 page)

“You’re right,” Cam said. “Let’s look for an empty room or a stairway.”

“We didn’t pass any empty rooms,” Mrs. Shelton said, “but there’s a door marked
Stairs
just across from the elevator.”

Cam, Eric, and Mrs. Shelton hurried to the stairs. They opened the door, and on the floor were a white jacket and an open green purse.

“Oh,” Mrs. Shelton said as she took her purse. “I’m so glad we found it.”

Eric smiled and said, “I knew Cam would solve this mystery.”

“Nothing is solved,” Cam told Eric. “We have to see what was stolen from your mom’s purse. Then we have to help security catch the thief.”

Mrs. Shelton opened her purse. She took out her wallet and found all her credit cards and driver’s license. Then she opened her billfold and said, “My money is gone.”

“Please, keep looking,” Cam told her. “Maybe he took something else.”

Mrs. Shelton took a tube of lipstick, hand cream, and toothpaste from her purse. She gave them to Eric to hold. Then she took out a can opener, two pens, a shoehorn, a box of raisins, an envelope filled with coupons, and a pack of chewing gum.

“It’s all here,” Mrs. Shelton said. “He
took my money, but nothing else.”

“What about your keys?” Cam asked.

Mrs. Shelton looked in her purse again.

“They’re gone,” she said. “He took my money
and
my keys!”

Ring! Ring!

Mrs. Shelton took her cell phone from the holder on her waist.

“Hello.”

She listened.

“Yes,” Mrs. Shelton said. “We’ll be right there.”

Mrs. Shelton quickly left the stairwell. Then she turned and called to Cam and Eric, “Let’s go! Let’s go! Cam’s mom is having the baby!”

“What did she say?” Cam asked as they hurried down the hall.

“Your mom was taken to the delivery room. The nurse said we should go to the waiting room and wait there. Someone will come in and tell us as soon as your sister is born.”

Mrs. Shelton pushed open the door to the waiting room. The man was still asleep on the large chair in the corner. The two old women were still reading magazines.

“How long do we have to wait?” Cam asked.

Mrs. Shelton smiled. “The only one who might know that is your sister, and she’s not talking.”

“She probably won’t be talking for a long time,” Eric said. “She’ll just cry and wake you up at night.”

“I’m going to teach her to talk,” Cam said. “I’ll hold her, talk to her, and read her my favorite books.”

Eric said, “You can teach her to say
‘Click!’”

Cam smiled. “First I’ll teach her to say ‘Mama’ and ‘Papa’ and ‘Cam-Cam.’”

Just then the door opened. Dr. Berger came in and told Mrs. Shelton, “I have good news. It’s a strong, healthy boy.”

“Are you sure it’s a boy?” Mrs. Shelton asked.

“I’m a doctor. I know the difference between a boy and a girl.”

“But I’m having a sister,” Cam said.

“Are you the Normans?”

“No,” Cam said. “I’m Jennifer Jansen.”

“Oh, where are the Normans?”

“We’re right here,” the blonde woman said.

The two women put down their magazines and went to Dr. Berger.

“I’m Mildred Norman,” the blonde woman said. “I’m the baby’s grandmother.”

“And I’m Betty Walters,” the other woman told Dr. Berger. “I’m his grandmother, too.”

“He is beautiful. In a few minutes you can see him. He’ll be in the nursery.”

“How is my daughter?” Mrs. Walters asked.

“She’s fine, just a little tired.”

The two women left the waiting room. Dr. Berger was about to follow them when Mrs. Shelton stopped her and asked, “How is Jane Jansen?”

“She’s in the delivery room,” Dr. Berger said on her way out, “but I don’t know when she’ll have her babies.”

Just then Mildred Norman hurried back into the room.

“I forgot my camera,” she said, and grabbed a bag she had left on her seat. “I brought it here to take pictures of the baby, and I forgot it.”

“Yes!” Cam said. “People take things for a reason.”

“Of course we do,” Mildred Norman said. “He’s just so beautiful. I plan to take lots of pictures of him. That’s why I brought my camera.”

Mildred Norman left the waiting room.

Cam went to the window and looked out. “I hope it’s not too late,” she said, “but I think I know how to catch the thief. We have to call the security guards.”

Mrs. Shelton picked up the telephone handset. She started to press the buttons. Then she stopped.

“What do I tell them?” she asked.

“People take things for a reason,” Cam explained. “The thief took your money because he wants to spend it. He took your car keys because he wants to use them.”

“But he doesn’t know where to find my car.”

“Yes he does. It’s where all the people here park their cars. It’s in the hospital parking garage.”

Mrs. Shelton smiled. “He can’t steal my car,” she said. “He won’t know which one it is.”

“He doesn’t have to know,” Cam said. “He’ll just push the clicker and see which car’s lights blink.”

“Oh, you’re right. What do we do?”

“We call the guards.”

Mrs. Shelton picked up the telephone handset again and called the security guards. “I’m calling about my stolen purse.”

She listened for a moment and then said, “Yes, I’ll wait.”

“We can’t wait,” Cam said. “The thief is getting away!”

Cam rushed out of the room. Mrs. Shelton put down the telephone. Then she and Eric followed Cam.

“Where are we going?” Eric asked.

“Downstairs,” Cam said. “We’ll tell the guards to go to the parking garage and look for the thief.”

Cam pressed the button for the elevator.

“The police are here,” Mrs. Shelton said. “That’s why the guard told me to wait.”

“Good,” Cam said as the elevator door opened. “We’ll talk to the police. Maybe they can catch the thief.”

Cam pressed the button for the main floor. She waited. When the doors didn’t close, she pressed the button again. She was in a hurry.

The doors closed. The elevator was on its way down.

“You can describe the thief,” Eric said.

“And I’ll describe my car,” Mrs. Shelton added.

The elevator stopped on the second floor. Cam, Eric, and Mrs. Shelton moved to the back of the elevator as a young man pushed on a woman in a wheelchair.

Cam tapped her foot.

“Hello,” the man said, and pressed the button for the main floor. “I’m Bob and this is Gail.”

Cam squeezed past the wheelchair and pressed the button a few times.

“We’re in a hurry,” Cam explained as the doors closed.

“You should never hurry,” Bob said.

“That’s right,” Gail added. “I hurried and crashed into a telephone pole.”

“Her car was ruined,” the man said, “but Gail is fine now.”

The elevator doors opened. Bob slowly wheeled Gail out. Cam, Eric, and Mrs. Shelton followed them.

“There they are,” Cam said. She pointed to a security guard and two police officers who were by the hospital entrance. Cam ran to them.

“Don’t run!” Bob called out. “Don’t run!”

Eric and his mother slowly followed Cam.

“The thief,” Cam told the police officers and security guard, “the one who stole the purse, may be in the parking garage.”

“I think she’s right,” Mrs. Shelton said. She told them about the keys and the clicker. Then she described her car. “The car is on the fifth level, so it will take him time to find it.”

“But once he does,” the officer said, “he
just drives to the exit, takes the ticket off the dashboard, pays the parking fee, and drives off.”

“Oh, no,” Eric said. “I have the ticket.”

Eric took the ticket from his pocket and showed it to the police officers and the guard.

“That’s great! He’ll have to fill out a lost ticket form,” the security guard said, “and that will take a while.”

The two police officers quickly left the hospital and walked toward the parking garage. The guard took the walkie-talkie off her
belt and called the garage attendant. She told him about Mrs. Shelton’s car.

“He just left!” the guard said. Then she quickly returned her walkie-talkie to her belt clip and ran out of the hospital.