The Mystery of Stolen Diamonds (2 page)

“What?” Eric wasn't really listening. Howie was still crying, and Eric was trying to calm him.

Just then a young couple came out of the jewelry store.

“Look,” Cam said. “They were inside when the alarm went off.”

A small crowd had gathered. Cam was still standing on the bench. From there she had a good view of the entrance to Parker's.

The couple walked toward the nearest exit. The man was wearing a dark suit. He was tall, and so was the woman with him. She was holding what looked like a baby, wrapped in a pink blanket.

“There, there, baby,” the woman was saying. “Don't cry. It's all over now. Don't cry.”

The man was holding a very large pink-and-blue baby rattle. He was urging the woman to walk faster. Cam looked straight at them as they walked past, and said,
“Click.”

Then Eric saw two old women coming out of the store.

“Look,” he said, pointing. “They were in there, too, when the alarm went off.”

The women were upset. One was clutching her heart. The other was leaning forward and holding a cane with both hands. She walked as if the cane were the only thing keeping her up.

The women sat down on the bench nearest Cam and Eric. “Oh, my,” the woman holding her heart said. “I never thought I'd live through that.”

The other woman just sighed.

Cam watched the entrance to Parker's a while longer. No one else left the store. Then she saw someone inside shut the door and hang a sign in the window. The sign said, “Sorry, We're Closed.”

“I wonder what happened,” Cam said as she got down from the bench.

Eric rocked Howie in his arms. “I don't know, but I wish they'd shut off that alarm. It's scaring Howie. I'll have to feed him if he doesn't stop crying.”

Eric held Howie against his shoulder. Howie stopped crying, but just for a minute. A loud police car siren sounded. It startled Howie, and he began to cry again.

“Quick, Cam, get me his bottle. It's in the insulated bag.”

Cam opened the bag and looked inside. “Boy, he sure needs a lot of stuff.”

She gave the bottle to Eric. “Are you sure you know how to feed him?”

“It's easy. Watch.”

Eric cradled Howie in one arm. With his free hand he fed him the bottle. Howie was quiet.

“It works,” Cam said. “I guess he can't cry and drink at the same time.”

The siren got louder and louder.

“They must have called the police,” Cam said. She watched as the police car turned into the mall parking lot and slowed down. It stopped in front of Parker's Jewelry Store.

Both front doors of the car opened. Two policemen got out and went inside Parker's. A moment later the alarm over the store stopped ringing.

“They better hurry,” Cam said, “or they won't catch the man who ran out.”

The police did hurry. In a very short time they came out of Parker's. They went over to the people standing just outside the store.

“Please, we need your cooperation,” one of the policemen said. “Did any of you see a man run from here?”

Everyone started yelling at once.

“Yes, we saw him.”

“He was tall.”

“Heavy.”

“‘No. No. He was short. Short and thin.”

“He had a mustache.”

“He was wearing an ugly green tie.”

“Ugly! I liked that tie. I have the same one at home.”

The policeman held up his hands for quiet. “Did any of you see which way he went?”

“I did,” one woman called out. “He almost knocked me down.” She put her hands on her hips and waited to make sure everyone was listening. “He went that way.” She pointed toward the center of the mall.

One policeman ran to the center of the mall. The other reached into the car. He pulled out a police phone and spoke into it.

“Robbery reported at Parker's Jewelry Store, Hamilton Shopping Mall. Suspect, wearing dark suit and green tie, was last seen running toward Stage Street exit. Please send car to Stage and Fulton to help apprehend. Ten-four, central.”

He reached into the car and replaced the phone. Then he ran toward the center of the mall.

Cam sat down on the bench. She ran her fingers through her hair. Cam had what people called bright red hair even though it was more orange than red. Eric's hair was dark brown.

“Do you think they'll catch him?” Eric asked.

“It shouldn't be too hard,” Cam said. “Almost everyone between here and the other end of the mall saw which way he went.”

Eric was still feeding Howie. “Are you almost finished?” Cam asked.

“Almost.”

“Good. Then we can go ask those two old women what happened inside the jewelry store.”

Eric took the bottle out of Howie's mouth and set it down on the bench. He held Howie against his shoulder and patted his back. Howie burped.

“Okay,” Eric announced. “We're ready.”

Eric carried Howie, and Cam pushed the carriage. They went over to the next bench.

“My, what a cute baby,” the woman with the cane said. “Is it a boy or a girl?”

“Boy.”

The woman looked straight at Howie and asked, “Where's your mother, little boy?”

“He doesn't talk yet,” Eric told her.

“Oh.”

“I'm his brother. My mother took the twins shopping for clothes. I'm watching him until they're done.”

“Clothes. Well, they're lucky they're not shopping for jewelry.”

“Why?” Cam asked. “What happened inside the jewelry store?”

The woman put her hand to her cheek. She shook her head slowly. “Oh, it was horrible. We were there when a man came in and pointed a gun right at Mr. Parker. ‘Diamonds,' he said. ‘Every loose one you got.'

“Mr. Parker gave him a whole pile of small diamonds. You know, the kind he uses to make earrings. The man took them all. Then he made Mr. Parker lie face down on the floor.

“Isn't that right, Esther?”

“Yes,” the other woman said, nodding her head. “He was terribly impolite.”

“Then,” the first woman went on, “he pointed his gun straight at us. He didn't dare talk to us the way he talked to Mr. Parker. He didn't rob us either. He just said, ‘Ladies, turn around and face the wall and you won't get hurt.'

“There was a nice young couple in the store too. They had their baby with them, a cute little girl. I heard the man with the gun tell them to face the wall, too.

“It was horrible. We stayed that way, with our faces to the wall, until Mr. Parker told us it was safe to leave.”

The woman stopped talking. Someone was shouting. They all turned to see where the noise was coming from.

The policemen were coming back. There were four of them now. Handcuffed to one policeman was a tall man in a dark suit.

“I didn't do it!” the man yelled. “You've got the wrong man!”

“We'll let Mr. Parker decide that,” the policeman said.

Cam was all excited. “That's him! They got him! That's the man who ran out of Parker's. I remember that mustache, that dark suit, and that ugly green tie.”

“Well, he may be the man who ran out of the store,” the woman with the cane declared, “but he's not the man who robbed Mr. Parker. Is he, Esther?”

“No. That's not him. I'm sure of it.”

Cam and Eric went back to their bench and sat down. Eric put Howie in the carriage and rocked him to sleep.

“Do you think those women are right?” Eric asked. “Do you think the police caught the wrong man?”

“The whole thing doesn't make sense,” Cam said. “Whoever robbed the store pointed his gun straight at those women. They should know what he looks like. But if they're right and the man isn't the thief, why did he run like that?”

“Maybe you were wrong. Maybe he's not the man we saw running.”

“Oh, he's the man all right,” Cam said. “The man who ran past us had a mustache that curled up at the ends and an ugly green tie with red and yellow flowers. I'm sure that's the man the police caught.”

The small crowd was gone. The only evidence that something had happened was the police car and the “Sorry, We're Closed” sign in the window of the jewelry store. The four policemen and the man they caught were all inside Parker's.