Cam Jansen and the Millionaire Mystery Read online

  The walls of the room were lined with bookcases. One bookcase had glass doors. There were several large chairs in the room.

  “Please come in here,” one of the officers told Cam and Mrs. Jansen.

  Cam and her mother went into the library. Eric and Mrs. Shelton went in, too.

  “I’m Officer Jack Kaplan. I need you to empty your pockets.”

  Mrs. Jansen whispered to Cam, “We’re suspects. He thinks we might have taken the necklace.”

  Cam took a pen and a small notepad from her pockets.

  “That’s all I have,” Cam said.

  She pulled out the inside of her pockets and showed Officer Kaplan that they were empty.

  Mrs. Jansen emptied her pockets. She took paperclips, cough drops, coins, keys, coupons, a shopping list, and small bits of thread from her pockets. She opened her handbag and Officer Kaplan looked through it.

  The other officer was standing by the door to the library. “Come with me,” she told Mrs. Scott. “We have to find the other people who were on the elevator.”

  “Let’s take Cam with us,” Mrs. Scott told the officer. “I don’t remember everyone who was with us, but she does.”

  “Let’s go,” the officer told Cam.

  They walked toward the many large windows overlooking the city.

  “I’m Officer Sally Phillips. Whoever took the necklace must have it in his or her pocket or handbag, so we’ll have to check them all.”

  The party guests had gathered by the windows.

  “That’s where I work,” a woman said as she looked out over the city.

  Cam pointed to a woman in a tight flowered dress. “She was on the elevator,” Cam whispered. “She was holding a plate of cake.”

  “She’s eating more of that cake now,” Mrs. Scott whispered. “She must really like it.”

  Officer Phillips spoke with the woman. Then they walked together to the library.

  “There are Jane and Joe Levy,” Cam said.

  Mrs. Scott spoke to her friends. She told them to go to the library.

  Officer Phillips was back. “We still have a few more people to find,” she said to Cam and Mrs. Scott.

  “Four more,” Cam said.

  Cam walked slowly past the many people standing by the windows.

  “I can see my house,” someone said, and pointed.

  “I can see my store,” someone else said.

  “Officer Phillips,” Cam whispered. “That woman in the green dress was on the elevator. She got on right after we did. And that man with the cane was with us.”

  Officer Phillips spoke to both of them. She walked with them to the library.

  “Wasn’t that man in the uniform also on the elevator?” Mrs. Scott asked.

  Cam looked at the man. She closed her eyes and said, “Click!”

  “Yes,” Cam said.

  Mrs. Scott asked the man to follow her to the library.

  One more, Cam thought. There was one more person on the elevator.

  Cam said, “Click!” again. She looked at the pictures she had in her head of the people on the elevator.

  Officer Phillips and Mrs. Scott had returned from the library.

  “Is that it?” Officer Phillips asked.

  Cam opened her eyes.

  “There’s one more,” Cam said. “He was wearing a dark blue jacket and tie. I looked at everyone standing by the windows and I didn’t find him.”

  “Are there any other rooms up here?”

  “There are two bedrooms,” Mrs. Scott told Officer Phillips, “but the doors to those rooms are closed.”

  “Let’s check.”

  Mrs. Scott led them to two doors, one on either side of a wide hallway. Officer Sally Phillips checked both doors. They were locked.

  “Maybe he went downstairs,” Mrs. Scott said. “Maybe he wanted more fish and salad, and that’s served only downstairs.”

  Cam, Mrs. Scott, and Officer Phillips walked toward the elevator. Just then a door in the hall was opened. It was the door to the bathroom. A man wearing a dark blue jacket walked out.

  “That’s him,” Cam told Officer Phillips. “He was on the elevator with us.”

  Chapter Five

  “Please come with me,” Officer Phillips told the man in the blue jacket.

  “What did I do?”

  “I didn’t say you did anything. I just asked you to come along.”

  They all went to the library.

  Officer Kaplan was there with the six other people who were on the elevator with Cam, her mother, and Mrs. Scott. Eric and Mrs. Shelton were there, too.

  Officer Kaplan wrote the man’s name next to the description he had in his notepad. Then he asked the man to empty his pockets.

  “But I didn’t do anything.”

  The man took a wallet from his back pants pocket. He took a few coins from one of his front pockets. Then he pulled the inside of each pocket out so the officers could see they were empty.

  “Is that everyone?” Officer Kaplan asked Mrs. Scott.

  Mrs. Scott looked at Cam.

  “There were ten of us on the elevator,” Cam said, “and we’re all here.”

  “What are you looking for?” Jane Levy asked. She was Mrs. Scott’s friend. “Maybe we saw it.”

  “We’re looking for a valuable pearl necklace,” Officer Kaplan said. “Mrs. Scott was wearing it when she got on the elevator. When she got off, it was gone.”

  Officer Phillips sat in one of the big library chairs. She looked at the many people in the room.

  “Can I go now?” the woman in the green dress asked. “I’m not a thief. You know I don’t have the necklace. By now my husband must be looking for me.”

  “Yes,” the old man with the cane said. “I’m also not a thief. I’m an accountant, and I came with my daughter.”

  “That’s it!” Officer Phillips said.

  She got out of her chair. She looked at the woman in the green dress and said, “You came with your husband.” She looked at the old man. “You came with your daughter. Each of you came with someone. One of you took the necklace, but you no longer have it. You must have given it to your partner.”

  Mrs. Scott said, “The doorman has a list of everyone at the brunch. The names are in groups. They’re listed the way they made the reservations.”

  “We were listed with the Sheltons,” Mrs. Jansen said.

  “Please empty your pockets,” Officer Phillips told the Sheltons.

  Mrs. Shelton and Eric emptied their pockets. Of course, they didn’t have the necklace.

  “This is not right,” the man wearing the blue jacket said. “I came to help support the new firehouse and now I’m being treated like a common criminal.”

  “Please be patient, sir. I’ll bring in the people listed with all of you,” Officer Phillips said. “I’m sure we’ll find the necklace, and then you can all go.”

  Officer Phillips left the library.

  Officer Kaplan stood by the door.

  Eric whispered to Cam, “Do you think they’ll find the thief?”

  “Yes,” Cam whispered. “The thief had to be someone on the elevator. No one here has the necklace. That means he or she must have given it to someone.”

  Mrs. Shelton and a few of the other people in the room looked at the many books in the library.

  “May I take a book out?” Mrs. Shelton asked.

  “Oh, yes,” Mrs. Scott said. “You may even borrow some, just not the ones in the bookcase with the glass doors. Those are valuable first editions.”

  Eric whispered to Cam, “Everything in this apartment is valuable. I bet that’s why the thief came here. The thief didn’t come to help the firehouse. He or she came to steal something.”

  Officer Phillips opened the door of the library. A tall man in a dark brown suit came in. He hurried to the woman in the green dress.

  “What’s this all about?” he asked.

  “Something was stolen.”

  “Please empty your pockets,”
Officer Kaplan said.

  “But I didn’t take anything.”

  “Just do it,” his wife told him.

  The man took out a wallet, a cell phone, keys, coins, a pen, and business cards.

  Officer Phillips opened the door again. A young woman, the daughter of the old man with the cane, came in. She emptied her pockets and handbag. She didn’t have the necklace.

  “That’s everyone,” Officer Phillips said. “The others came alone.”

  “What will you do now?” Mrs. Scott asked. “How will you find my necklace?”

  “I don’t know,” Officer Phillips said, shaking her head. “I don’t know.”

  “What are you thinking?” Eric whispered to Cam.

  “I’m thinking the thief is one of the people in this room and is very clever. Somehow the thief either hid the necklace or got it out of the apartment.”

  Chapter Six

  “Can I go now?” the woman in the green dress asked.

  “I’m not asking. I’m just going,” the man in the blue jacket said.

  He started toward the door.

  Officer Kaplan opened his notepad. He read his notes. Then he looked at the many people in the library.

  “We really can’t keep them any longer,” Officer Kaplan told his partner.

  Officer Phillips opened the door and told the people in the library, “Thank you for your cooperation. You may go now.”

  “Is that it?” Eric asked Cam. “They’re just going to let the thief keep the necklace?”

  Cam watched as people left the library.

  “We know the thief doesn’t have the necklace right now,” Cam whispered. “But whoever stole the necklace must know where it is. When the thief thinks no one is looking, he or she will go get it.”

  Cam, Eric, Mrs. Jansen, and Mrs. Shelton left the library.

  “I’m going downstairs for some more salad,” Eric’s mother said.

  “I’ll go with you,” Mrs. Jansen said.

  “We’ll be right back,” they told Cam and Eric.

  Cam and Eric waited in the hall by the library. They watched their mothers walk to the spiral staircase.

  “I wonder what the people from the elevator are doing now,” Cam said.

  “There’s that woman in the flowered dress,” Eric said. “She’s getting another piece of cake.”

  Cam looked at her. Then she looked at all the people standing by the large windows.

  Cam pointed to Jane and Joe Levy. They were talking with Ellen and Aaron Scott. She pointed to the old man with the cane. He was sitting on a chair by one of the large windows. His daughter was with him. The old man’s cane was leaning against the arm of the chair.

  “Some canes are hollow,” Eric said. “I saw a spy movie, and a secret map was hidden in a cane.”

  Cam looked at the old man.

  “I watched him when he left the library,” Eric said. “He walks fine. I don’t even think he needs a cane.”

  “You think the necklace is inside his cane?”

  Eric nodded.

  “Then why is he still here?” Cam asked. “Why doesn’t he leave with his cane before the police find out what he did?”

  Mrs. Jansen and Mrs. Shelton came up the stairs. Mrs. Shelton had two plates of salad.

  “Look what I brought for you,” Mrs. Shelton said. She gave Eric a plate and a fork. “It’s spinach salad. It’s delicious.”

  Eric tasted the salad.

  “It’s not delicious,” he told his mother.

  “It’s good for you,” Mrs. Shelton said. “Spinach has lots of vitamins and calcium. It has iron and copper.”

  “Iron and copper!” Eric said. “Those are metals. I’m not eating metal.”

  “They’re also names of nutrients. They’re good for you.”

  Eric nibbled his salad.

  The old man held onto the arms of his chair and got up. He started toward the elevator. His daughter went with him.

  “Look,” Eric whispered. “He forgot his cane.”

  Eric gave his mother his salad. He went and took the cane from the chair. Cam went with him. As Eric walked toward the elevator he tried to twist off the top of the cane. He couldn’t. He shook the cane.

  “There’s nothing inside,” he whispered to Cam.

  The elevator doors started to close. Cam pushed the button by the side of the elevator. The doors opened. Eric gave the old man his cane.

  “Thank you,” he said. “I keep forgetting that.”

  Cam and Eric returned to their mothers. Eric’s mother gave him his salad. Eric nibbled on a spinach leaf.

  “Hey,” Cam said. “Look over there.”

  She pointed to the man in the dark blue jacket.

  “He’s standing by the windows but he’s looking this way. He’s looking toward the doors to the library.”

  Eric nibbled on another piece of spinach.

  “Why isn’t he looking at the view?” Cam asked.

  Cam looked at the man. Then she closed her eyes and said, “Click!”

  “That’s it!” Cam said, opening her eyes. “Some people in the elevator were carrying things.”

  “The old man had a cane,” Eric said. “And some of the women had handbags.”

  “But they still had those things when they were in the library,” Cam said. “The police checked them. But that man had something in the elevator that he didn’t have in the library.”

  “He did?”

  “He had a coffee cup.”

  “It was a paper cup,” Eric said. “He probably finished his coffee and threw the cup away.”

  “Did he?” Cam asked. “Or did he hide the necklace in the cup and then hide the cup? Is he looking this way to see if anyone is watching? Is he just waiting to get the necklace and leave the party?”

  Chapter Seven

  “Follow his eyes,” Eric whispered. “I think he’s looking at the small table near the elevator. Do you see those two paper cups on the table? I bet one of them is his.”

  Cam looked at the cups.

  “The necklace must be in one of the cups,” Eric said. “He got off the elevator and quickly got rid of the cup. He put it on that table. Now he’s just watching to make sure no one takes it. Then, when no one is looking, he’ll take the cup and necklace and leave the party.”

  “Let’s find out,” Cam whispered. “Let’s each take one of those cups and see what he does.”

  Cam and Eric walked to the table by the elevator. They each took a cup.

  “I’m afraid to look,” Eric said. “What’s he doing?”

  “He’s just watching us.”

  Cam and Eric returned to the hall by the library.

  “What are you doing with those dirty cups?” Mrs. Shelton asked. “They’re covered with germs.”

  “Mine is empty,” Cam said.

  “Mine has a napkin in it,” Eric said. “I bet Mrs. Scott’s necklace is under it.”

  Eric lifted the napkin. He didn’t find the necklace.

  There was another small table by the doors to the library. Cam and Eric put the empty cups on that table.

  “There are empty cups everywhere,” Cam said. “The necklace could be in any one of them.”

  Eric nibbled on another spinach leaf. It was the last one on his plate. He finished it and was about to put his plate on the table.

  “I’ll take that,” a waiter said.

  The waiter took Eric’s plate and the two cups from the table. Cam and Eric watched as he collected empty plates and cups from the many small tables in the apartment.

  “I was wrong,” Cam said, and shook her head. “A paper cup wouldn’t be a good place to hide a necklace. The waiters collect them and throw them out.”

  “The police are here,” Mrs. Jansen said. “They’ll find the necklace. Let’s go to those big windows and look at the view. Maybe we can see the harbor and the bridge and your school from here.”

  As they walked toward the windows, Cam said, “If that man left the necklace in his
coffee cup, it’s gone. By now a waiter has taken his cup and thrown it and the necklace away.”

  Mrs. Jansen and Mrs. Shelton stood by the windows and looked out.

  “I thought I knew what happened with the necklace,” Cam told Eric. “But I was wrong.”

  “Look at the woman in the flowered dress,” Eric whispered. “She’s eating another piece of gooey cake.”

  “That cake must be really good,” Eric said. “I’m getting some.”

  “Me too,” Cam said. “I can’t solve this mystery, but I can eat cake.”

  Cam and Eric each took a piece of cake, a fork, and a napkin.

  “Mm,” Eric said as he tasted the cake. “This is good.”

  “I can see the harbor from here,” Mrs. Jansen said. “The boats look like toys.”

  “There’s your school,” Mrs. Shelton said, pointing.

  Cam and Eric had finished their cake. There was a trash can in the corner by the windows. Cam and Eric dropped their plates, forks, and napkins in the can.

  Mrs. Shelton leaned forward. With her hands she made a pretend pair of binoculars and looked out.

  “Eric,” she said. “I can see your classroom from here. Your desk is a mess. And you left your science book at school.”

  “What?”

  Eric looked out.

  “Hey, you can’t see my desk from here.”

  Mrs. Shelton laughed.

  “I was joking,” she said. “But I’m sure your desk is a mess, just like at home.”

  A waiter walked by. He took the cups and plates from the small tables. But he didn’t empty the trash can.

  “Did you see that?” Cam asked. “The waiters are collecting dirty plates and paper cups but they aren’t emptying the trash cans. And I think I know one that surely won’t be emptied until after the party. I might know where to find Mrs. Scott’s necklace after all.”

  Chapter Eight

  “I still think the man in the blue jacket took the necklace,” Cam said. “He’s the only one who took something off the elevator that he didn’t have in the library.”

  Eric turned and looked at the man.