Christmas Treasure (10 page)

“Hmmm,” he muttered when he found it. “Captain Barnard didn’t secure this lock completely last night. That’s not what I call running a tight ship.”

He pulled the lock and chain aside, then pushed the door open. Inside, the warehouse was dark and cold. “Now, where is that light switch?” he said as Carole followed close behind him.

“I think it’s over to the right,” she said.

“Okay.” He felt along the wall for a moment, then found it. A loud click echoed as he turned the switch on. Carole blinked, expecting the bright colors of a thousand piled-up toys to explode before her eyes, but instead, there was nothing. All she saw was space. The warehouse was empty!

“What happened?” she gasped as she looked at the vacant grayness. “Where are all the toys? Did somebody move them?”

“Nobody in my command did,” said Colonel Hanson, his voice tight. Slowly he turned around, as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. There wasn’t a single toy left in the building.

“Quick, honey!” He put his arm around Carole. “Let’s get out of here!”

They hurried back to their car. Colonel Hanson locked the doors and punched in 911 on his car phone.

“This is Colonel Mitch Hanson, United States Marine Corps,” he said when the police dispatcher answered. “I’m calling to report a robbery at eighty-seven Wharf Avenue. It’s the Marine Corps toy drive warehouse. We’ve been cleaned out.”

Colonel Hanson answered a few more questions, then put the phone down.

“Are the police coming?” Carole asked, her heart thudding in her chest. She’d never been involved in a crime before.

“They’re on their way. The dispatcher said if we weren’t in any danger to remain on the scene. They’d like to get a statement from us.”

“Dad?” asked Carole in a small voice. “Are we in any danger?”

“I don’t think so, honey.” Her dad shook his head. “I think whoever stole these toys is long gone.”

They stayed in their car, thinking about all the toys that were gone. In a few minutes two police cars came roaring up, their lights flashing and sirens yowling. Colonel Hanson got out of the car and led the officers to the building. A few moments later a red station wagon pulled into the parking lot. Carole caught her breath in
astonishment as Deborah, Max’s wife, got out of the front seat, a pencil and pad in her hand.

“Deborah!” Carole rolled down her window. “What are you doing here?”

Deborah blinked with surprise when she saw Carole. “I’m covering the police beat for another reporter who’s having a baby. We heard about this on our scanner. What are you doing here?”

“My dad’s in charge of the toy drive this year,” explained Carole. “We had just come down here to work when we found everything gone.”

“Well, of course. I should have remembered your dad was a Marine.” Deborah gave Carole a quick smile, then turned toward the warehouse. “Right now, though, I need to go find out what’s going on!”

A photographer got out of the station wagon and followed Deborah. Colonel Hanson and the police were just going inside the building. “Wait for me,” Carole said as she scrambled out of her car and hurried to join everyone else.

Inside, the police officers had begun to investigate the warehouse. One was examining the lock, which Colonel Hanson had removed from the chain; two others were shining flashlights along the floor, looking for footprints; the fourth was talking to Carole’s dad. Deborah was making notes on her pad while the photographer shot pictures of the police examining the huge
empty space. Carole walked over and stood close beside her father.

“You say everything was in order here last night?” the police officer asked.

“Yes, Sergeant Lewandowski. Everything was fine last night when Captain Barnard finished his detail here and locked up.”

“And what time was that?” Sergeant Lewandowski scribbled on a pad much like Deborah’s.

“I believe he left here last night about eleven.”

“Okay.” The sergeant looked at what he had written. “Let me go check and see what the others have come up with.”

Carole watched as the officers huddled in the center of the empty warehouse. Deborah stepped forward and spoke to her father.

“Hi, Mitch,” Deborah said.

“Hi, Deborah. What are you doing here?” Carole’s father said, smiling a little.

“I’m covering this story tonight for a friend. Can you tell me a little more about what happened?”

Colonel Hanson began to tell Deborah about how hard the Marines had worked all year, and how they had hoped that this year every needy child in Willow Creek and the rest of the county would get a toy. Deborah scribbled on her pad as he spoke and had just begun to ask him another question when Sergeant Lewandowski interrupted.

“I hate to have to tell you this, Colonel, but it looks
like there’s not going to be a lot we can do. Whoever did this has done it before. There’s nothing we can get a clue off of—all the fingerprints have been wiped clean, there are no footprints, and there aren’t any marks on the lock to indicate that a special tool was used to open it. There might be tire tracks, but the ground is frozen, so we won’t find much there.”

Sergeant Lewandowski pushed his police cap back on his head. “I’m awfully sorry. I wish I could guarantee that we could go out and catch these thieves, but it looks like a lot of little kids are going to be disappointed this Christmas.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing you can do?” Colonel Hanson asked with a frown.

“We’ll do everything we can, sir,” Sergeant Lewandowski replied. “We’ll enter it in the crime computer and keep you posted should we get any leads. Unfortunately, a lot of expert thieves run loose at Christmastime.”

“Well, thank you for coming.” The two men shook hands while the other three police officers walked back to the patrol cars. Colonel Hanson looked around the empty warehouse and gave a big sigh.

“All that work,” he said, smiling at Carole sadly.

“What are the Marines going to do now, Mitch?” Deborah asked. “Forget about this Christmas and concentrate on next year?”

Colonel Hanson looked at Deborah for a moment, then straightened his shoulders. “No, we’re not going to
forget about this year. The United States Marine Corps will deliver toys as planned. We’re just going to have to work harder and faster to do it. From here on out, we’ll be playing catch-up ball.”

“May I quote you on that?” Deborah asked as she wrote frantically in her notebook.

“Yes, you may. The Marines will accomplish this mission, whatever it takes.”

A twinkle suddenly came into Deborah’s eyes. “Well, Mitch, maybe the paper can help you out some. Hey, John,” she called to her photographer. “Come get a shot of Colonel Hanson and Carole. I bet the city editor will put this on the front page for human interest.”

“Really?” said Carole. She couldn’t imagine having her picture on the front page of the paper.

“I bet he will,” said Deborah with a grin. “And I know somebody else who might be able to help you out, too. Just a minute.”

She stepped to one side while the photographer was taking their picture and punched in a number on her cell phone. She spoke softly into the phone for a moment, then snapped it shut.

“Okay,” she said, returning to Carole and her dad. “Do you guys know who Tress Montgomery is?”

“Sure,” replied Carole, thinking of the glamorous TV reporter who was on the news every night. “Everybody knows who Tress Montgomery is.”

“Well, she’s on her way over here right now. I told her
what a jam you guys were in and she wants to do a report for the eleven o’clock news. They were just wrapping up a story from the mayor’s office, so they should be here in about five minutes.”

Carole’s jaw dropped. Not only were they going to be in the paper, they were going to be on TV as well! This was the most unbelievable night she’d ever spent. First a robbery, then a newspaper reporter, now a TV crew!

“That’s awfully nice of you, Deborah.” Colonel Hanson smiled. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

“I figure helping you out with a little publicity is the least I can do.” Deborah smiled at Carole. “I’d hate to think of some little child not getting anything for Christmas. Even little Maxi gets excited when she sees packages wrapped up, and she’s just a baby.”

A few minutes later they heard a loud knock on the warehouse door.

“Hello?” a familiar voice called. “Anybody here?”

“Hi, Tress,” Deborah answered. “Come on in. Everybody’s in here.”

Carole couldn’t believe her eyes. Into the empty warehouse walked Tress Montgomery with a video cameraman behind her. She looked just as glamorous as she did on television—beautiful clothes, curly black hair, big brown eyes, and a gorgeous smile. “Hi, Deborah,” she said in her famous husky voice. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, Tress,” Deborah replied. “But we’ve got a
Marine colonel and his daughter here who could use a little assistance.”

Tress Montgomery walked over to them. “Tress, this is Colonel Mitch Hanson and his daughter, Carole,” Deborah said.

“Hi.” Tress smiled warmly at both Carole and her dad. “Deborah tells me you’ve had some trouble here.”

“We have,” Colonel Hanson began. He told Tress the whole story. She, like Deborah, took notes on a pad. Then she turned to her cameraman.

“Scooter, get some exterior footage on the building, then come inside and I’ll interview Colonel Hanson and Carole.”

The cameraman lifted the heavy camera to his shoulder and walked outside to shoot the building. “Okay,” said Tress. “When he comes back inside, I’ll ask you two some questions. You just look in the camera as you answer, and everything will be fine. Okay?”

Colonel Hanson nodded. Carole began to get butterflies in her stomach. What would she say if Tress Montgomery asked her any questions? A few minutes later the cameraman came back. He had attached a special light bar to his camera that lit up a small area of the warehouse as bright as day. Carole blinked as Tress Montgomery stood in front of the camera and began to speak.

“I’m standing here in a warehouse that just yesterday held thousands of toys, all ready to be delivered to the needy children of this county.…,” she said into a
microphone. She reported on the theft of the toys, then turned to Carole and her dad.

“Here with me now is Colonel Mitch Hanson, the Marine Corps officer in charge of this year’s annual Christmas toy drive. Colonel Hanson, I know you and your daughter, Carole, have volunteered many long hours on this project. How does it feel to come in here and find all your work gone?”

“I’m disgusted and amazed that anybody would stoop to stealing toys from poor children,” Colonel Hanson said, his voice stern.

“And Carole? How does this make you feel?” Tress Montgomery pointed the microphone at Carole.

“I’m sad that it happened.” Carole’s mouth felt dry and full of cotton. She hoped her voice wasn’t coming out all quivery. “A lot of little kids are going to be disappointed.”

Tress Montgomery returned to her father. “What’s the plan now, Colonel Hanson? With Christmas just days away, is the Corps going to scrub this operation and concentrate on next Christmas?”

“No, ma’am,” Colonel Hanson said emphatically. “The United States Marine Corps will deliver toys to needy children this Christmas, as scheduled. I’m not quite sure how we’re going to do it, but we’ll work twice as hard and twice as fast to make sure it gets done.”

Tress smiled and pushed the microphone back into Carole’s face. “And how about you, Carole? Are you willing to work twice as hard and twice as fast as before?”

“Oh, yes,” said Carole. “I’ll help my dad do whatever needs to be done. I know my friends will help, too.”

Tress turned back to the camera. “So that’s the story from eighty-seven Wharf Avenue, folks. Though all the toys have been stolen, Colonel Mitch Hanson and his daughter, Carole, vow that they’ll do whatever it takes to make sure no needy child goes without Christmas this year. This is Tress Montgomery reporting for Channel Four News.”

Tress stopped talking and looked expectantly at the cameraman. He checked his camera and nodded. “Got it,” he said as he switched off the bright lights. “It’s a wrap!”

Tress Montgomery turned back to Carole and her dad. “Thank you so much. This will go on the air tonight at eleven, and maybe tomorrow evening as well. I hope that will help get the Marines’ toy campaign going again.”

“Thanks, Ms. Montgomery.” Colonel Hanson extended his hand, and she clasped it. “We appreciate any and all publicity.”

Tress Montgomery looked at the empty space and shook her head. “Personally, I think it’s going to be tough to fill this warehouse again so close to Christmas, but if anybody can do it, the Marines can.” She smiled at Carole and her dad as she turned to go. “Good luck,” she said. “I hope this report helps.”

“Thanks again.” Colonel Hanson and Carole watched
as Tress Montgomery and her photographer walked back to their van. Then they were alone.

“Gosh, Dad, do you think we can really replace all these toys?” Carole asked softly.

“I don’t know, honey,” Colonel Hanson replied. “It’s going to take an enormous amount of work, but we’re sure going to give it our best shot.”

“Well, The Saddle Club will do everything we can to help,” Carole said, volunteering Lisa and Stevie. She knew they would help regardless of whatever else was on their busy schedules. After all, helping each other was what The Saddle Club was all about. “We’ll start tomorrow, right after school.”

“That’s my girl.” Colonel Hanson smiled at her proudly and held out his hand for a high five.
“Semper Fi!”