The Nancy Drew Sleuth Book (11 page)

“I HAVE a great mystery for us to solve!” said Honey Rushmore as the Detective Club members met at Nancy Drew’s home. “There’s only one problem. The mystery is a year old.”

“A year is a long time,” Nancy said with a chuckle. “But tell us, what is it all about?”

“My mother took a trip last July. She was wearing a valuable cameo that was very old and had once belonged to a queen.”

“A queen’s possession?” Peg asked in awe. “How did your mother get it?”

“I really don’t know,” Honey replied. “But I remember as a child I was never allowed to touch the cameo because it was so valuable.”

“What’s the mystery?” Karen interrupted impatiently.

“Sometime after Mother boarded the sleeper train back to River Heights,” Honey went on, “she lost the pin. She has no idea whether it came off her dress in the station, on the train, or in the street. When she arrived home, she discovered it was gone.”

Sue wanted to know whether Mrs. Rushmore had been in touch with the police.

“Oh, yes,” Honey answered. “They made a search of the station and the train, but they didn’t find the cameo. Then Mother contacted her insurance company, and they searched, too. But still the pin did not turn up. Finally the insurance company paid her what they considered it was worth. But Mother’s convinced that its value was at least ten times that much. She feels very bad about the loss because the brooch had been in her family a long time.”

Cathy sighed. “If the police and the insurance people couldn’t find the cameo, it seems to me there isn’t much chance we can.”

Nancy smiled. “Don’t forget that the members of this Detective Club never give up. I classify this case under Lost and Found. I’ll give you some hints on how to go about the sleuthing. First of all, did the police and insurance company go to all the pawnshops and fences in this area?”

“What are fences?” Sue asked.

Nancy explained that these were little-known places where people take stolen property to be sold illegally. “Such stores differ from legitimate pawnshops, where a person can leave an item in exchange for cash. The pawnbroker will not sell it for a certain length of time and will return it to the owner when he or she pays back the money with interest.”

Honey assured the girls that pawnshops had been investigated. “I don’t know about fences, and I don’t believe my mother would. But I’m sure the police and the insurance company must.”

“Why does your mother want to look for the cameo now?” Peg inquired.

“She saw a similar pin in a jewelry shop downtown,” Honey explained. “It was priced much higher than what Mother had received from the insurance company. Now, suddenly, she wants to try finding it again and has given us the job.”

“That’s very flattering,” Nancy remarked. “We’ll certainly do our best.”

“But where do we start?” Martie asked.

Nancy said she would like to hear more about Mrs. Rushmore’s train trip. “Honey, what car was your mother in? How often did she go to the dining car? Did she leave her own car for any other reason than to eat?”

“I have no idea,” Honey said.

“Do you think we could talk to your mother, if she’s at home?”

“Oh, she’s home,” Honey replied. “She was hoping you would take the case and said she would wait to find out.”

Nancy brought out her car, and the club members piled in. They reached the Rushmore house a few minutes later.

Honey’s mother greeted the girls with a smile. “I just knew you’d agree to look for my brooch,” she said.

“Yes,” Nancy replied. “We’d like to try.”

After the girls were seated in the living room, she said, “Mrs. Rushmore, we want to ask you a few questions. First of all, what was the name of your sleeping car?”

“Mount Rushmore. It was such an amazing coincidence. That’s probably why I can still remember it.”

Honey’s mother went on to say that she had gone to the dining car once during her journey, but other than that had not left the sleeper.

Nancy asked whether anyone in the dining car had remarked about her cameo.

Mrs. Rushmore smiled. “Yes, now that you ask me, I remember. I sat across the table from a charming woman. She admired the pin and thought it was quite unique. She had never seen one like it.”

“Then,” Nancy concluded, “we can rule out the possibility that you lost your cameo getting on the train.”

Mrs. Rushmore nodded.

Sue spoke up. “Did you talk to anyone else during your trip?”

Mrs. Rushmore thought a moment, then replied, “No. I read most of the time. There weren’t many passengers on the train, and no one sat near me.”

“Were you jostled at any time, including when you got on and off the sleeper?” Nancy inquired.

“No. Not that I remember.”

“After arriving in River Heights,” Cathy said, “how did you go home?”

“Our car was parked at the station. And it was carefully inspected, of course. The pin was not in it.”

“From what you’ve told me,” Nancy said, “I think the cameo was lost rather than stolen.”

“Why?” Honey wanted to know.

“If a thief had taken the pin, he was probably exclusively a jewel thief. I think only a knowledgeable jewel thief would have recognized the cameo’s value. And the police had plenty of time to track him down in the past year. They have a record of known jewel thieves and their fences. Also, the fact that few people were on the train and you don’t remember being jostled suggest that you probably lost the brooch.”

“But then why wasn’t it found?” Mrs. Rushmore asked.

“I don’t know,” Nancy said. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment, I’d like to call my dad. There’s something I want to do, and he can help us.”

Honey directed her to the hall telephone, and Nancy dialed her father’s number. When Mr. Drew answered, she said, “Dad, I’m working on a case that has to do with sleeping cars. Don’t I recall that several of them are in the railroad yard of River Heights? We’re looking for one called Mount Rushmore. Could you find out if it’s there and, if so, arrange for the Detective Club to investigate it?”

Mr. Drew chuckled. “I’ll be glad to, Nancy. Are you working on an interesting mystery?”

“We are,” Nancy replied, and told her father about it. Then she gave him the Rushmores’ phone number and hung up.

She returned to the living room and told the others about her hunch. Since Nancy was known to have good hunches about solving mysteries, the girls were not surprised. For the next ten minutes they discussed the case, then the phone rang.

Nancy hurried to answer it and was delighted to hear her father’s voice. “Any news?” she asked.

He said he had good news. The Mount Rushmore sleeper was indeed in the railroad yard. “It’s in the back where the old cars are kept that are only used in emergencies. I got permission for you to inspect it. Go to the office and see Mr. Vasey. He’ll be glad to open the car for you and let you look around.”

“Thanks, Dad,” said Nancy. “We’ll go right now.”

Two automobiles were used this time, since Honey’s mother wanted to come along. Nancy led the way to the railroad yard. She and Mrs. Rushmore parked, then the detectives walked to the freight station. Mr. Vasey, a pleasant, gray-haired man, greeted them in his office.

“You’re Nancy Drew’s group?” he asked.

Nancy nodded. “My father made arrangements with you to let us search the Mount Rushmore sleeper.”

“Correct. I’ll take you there myself.” He turned to Mrs. Rushmore. “I understand you rode in that particular car a year ago and lost a valuable cameo.”

“That’s right.”

Mr. Vasey said he was sorry and hoped they would find the pin, although he knew the car had been thoroughly searched at that time.

He spoke to his assistant, then said to the visitors, “Follow me.”

Mrs. Rushmore and the girls trailed after him through the railroad yard, around cars, and along several aisles. Honey remarked that she had never seen so many tracks in her life. Finally they reached the car they were looking for. Mr. Vasey unlocked the door for them.

“When you finish your work, just pull the door shut,” he said. “It will lock itself.”

He walked off, and the Detective Club entered the sleeper with Mrs. Rushmore. The girls hurried along the aisle with facing seats on each side and hidden beds under bulging partitions above them. They took in every detail of the interior.

“This car is really old,” Peg remarked. “The wood is beautiful, and look at all those decorations! You don’t see any of that in modern railroad cars.”

Nancy asked Mrs. Rushmore whether she had slept in an upper or lower berth.

“A lower,” Honey’s mother replied. “As I told you, there weren’t many people on the train, and as far as I remember, only a few of the upper berths were used.”

Nancy said, “Then that eliminates our having to look in the upper area.”

Honey asked her mother which of the seats she had occupied.

“I’m not sure,” Mrs. Rushmore replied, “but I know it was on the right side, behind the engine, and about halfway down.”

Nancy suggested that the club members divide up for a search. Some of them should look on the floor under the seats; others could inspect the seats themselves.

Eagerly the group set to work. Several of them chose seats near the middle of the right side and tugged and pulled until they got the cushions up. The girls were doing exactly what the porters do, making them into beds.

“Anybody want to take a nap?” Karen quipped.

Peg answered, “I never sleep without sheets and a pillow, and I don’t see any.”

“They’re probably kept in the upper berths, which are closed in the daytime,” Nancy said.

“Where did the passenger occupying the upper berth sit?” Martie asked.

“In the seat facing the one Mrs. Rushmore had,” Sue replied.

The search went on for some time, but nothing was found. Apparently, the car had been thoroughly swept and vacuumed.

Honey was disappointed. “I was hoping so much that we’d find Mother’s cameo,” she said.

Nancy urged her not to be discouraged. “We’ve only started!” she pointed out.

Just then an elderly African American man walked into the car. He had a round, pleasant face and curly gray hair.

When Mrs. Rushmore saw him, she exclaimed, “Oh, you’re Kalef. You were my porter while I was on a trip last year.”

The man shook hands with her. “Indeed, I was,” he said. “And I remember you. You’re Mrs. Rushmore—one of the nicest ladies I’ve ever helped.”

“Thank you,” Mrs. Rushmore said, and introduced the girls. “Are you on another train now, Kalef?” she asked.

“No. As a matter of fact, the trip with you was the last one I made. I’ve been working in the office ever since.”

Kalef went on to say that he had asked to serve this particular car because he had been born near Mount Rushmore. “That’s why I remember your name,” he told Honey’s mother. “Every time I get a chance to see this old car, I walk up and down the aisle. It reminds me of my boyhood and my days as a porter.”

“Did you know I lost my valuable cameo on that trip?” Mrs. Rushmore asked.

“Yes. I’m sorry about that. The police interrogated everyone who had been in the Mount Rushmore sleeper, and so did the insurance people. But we didn’t find your pin.”

“Is there anyone else who might know something about it?” Nancy asked. “Anyone who was in the car after you arrived in River Heights, but before the police came?”

Kalef scratched his head. “River Heights was the last stop. But now that you mention it, someone did come in for a moment.”

“Someone you knew?”

“Yes. I know him well. He’s one of the switch-men out in the freight yard.” Kalef paused, then added, “But if you’re thinking that he’s a thief, I’m sure you’re wrong.”

“But he might give us a clue,” Nancy said. “Would you mind taking us to him?”

“I’ll be glad to,” Kalef said.

They left the car, pulling the door shut to lock it.

“Now, you be careful,” the man warned. “This is a dangerous place. Be sure to look in all directions.”

The girls promised to and set off with him.

Suddenly Kalef stopped short. “I just had an idea. Once a year they have an auction over in the warehouse. It’s for unclaimed articles lost on trains or in the station. Today they’re having one. Maybe your cameo is there, Mrs. Rushmore, and you could claim it!”

“The police and the insurance company asked the Lost and Found department last July,” Mrs. Rushmore replied. “It had not been turned in.”

Kalef shrugged and went on at a fast pace. He was ahead of the group when he disappeared behind another car. As the detectives hurried to catch up to him Peg suddenly screamed. “Look out!”

A trainman’s work car was coming toward them at high-speed. To the girls’ dismay, it was switched onto the very tracks they were walking on!

“Oh!” Martie cried out. She seemed frozen to the spot.

Nancy grabbed her hand and yanked the girl along with her. “Jump!” she yelled.

The others leaped across the track. They were none too soon. The conductor of the work car had seen them, but too late to brake to a stop. If the girls had not moved quickly, they would have been run over!

“Oh, dear!” Mrs. Rushmore exclaimed. “I had no idea there would be such danger!”

“It’s my fault,” Nancy told her. “I promised we’d all be careful.”

By this time Kalef had run back. He looked in horror when he realized what might have happened and was about to argue with the conductor of the work train, but Nancy cut him short.

“Never mind. Take us to see the switchman, please.”

Again the group followed Kalef, but now they looked in all directions before proceeding. A few minutes later, he led them to the switchmen’s tower. A tall, blond fellow was just coming down the iron steps.

“Hi, Rogers!” Kalef called out. “Some folks here want to see you.”