by Ron Roy
“I’m Dr. Jeremy Pitts,” the man said. “I believe Mr. Duncan is expecting me.”
“Indeed I am, Dr. Pitts!” Dink’s uncle said. He shook the man’s hand. “Come in and dry off. Care for some tea?”
“No, thank you, I had breakfast at my hotel,” Dr. Pitts said. He glanced around the office, then walked over to the large crate. “I see the treasures have arrived.”
“Yes, the box came yesterday,” Dink’s uncle said. “Hang up your wet things and we’ll get to work.”
Once more, Uncle Warren pried off the crate’s lid. He lifted each piece from the crate and handed it to Dr. Pitts, who carefully removed the wrappings. Using a special magnifying glass, he examined each item, then checked it off a list.
The kids helped by re-wrapping the treasures. There were several more gold cups, a few carved animals, some pottery, and colorful masks made of jade and feathers.
“This all looks in fine condition,” Dr. Pitts said. He glanced at his list. “But where is the jaguar, Mr. Duncan?”
Dink’s uncle reached down into the crate. “Donny can you give me a hand?” he asked.
Dink hurried over, and together they lifted the long, heavy package out of the crate.
“Place it here, please,” Dr. Pitts said. He stood near the right side of Uncle Warren’s desk.
“Watch the fish tank, Donny,” Dink’s uncle said as they set the heavy package down on the desk.
They all gathered around as Dr. Pitts stripped away the brown paper. Josh let out a gasp as the plastic bubble wrap was removed.
The jaguar was solid gold. It was lying down, staring out of ruby eyes. Between its front paws was an emerald the size of a golf ball. The green jewel blazed under the office lights.
“Isn’t it spectacular, kids?” Uncle Warren asked. “What workmanship!”
Dr. Pitts wiped his hands on a handkerchief. Then he stroked the golden cat, feeling each curve and muscle.
“What’s this?” he said suddenly, bending over the jewel.
“Something wrong?” Dink’s uncle said.
Dr. Pitts peered through his magnifying glass at the jewel.
A minute later, he raised his head and looked at Dink’s uncle. “Sir, this stone is a fake!”
“What do you mean?” Dink’s uncle asked. “I don’t see how it could be fake.”
Dr. Pitts rested a finger on the jewel. “This is not the original emerald,” he explained. “In fact, it is not an emerald at all.”
“But how could that be?” Dink’s uncle cried.
“Look. I will show you,” Dr. Pitts said. He took a small flashlight from his pocket.
“Will you please pull the shades and turn off the lights?” he asked.
Dink was closest to the windows, so he pulled the shades down and clicked off the light over the fish tank. Josh hurried over to the switches on the wall.
When the room was dark, Dr. Pitts turned on his flashlight and shone the beam on the jewel.
Suddenly, the flashlight went out. Dink heard something hit the desktop, then roll off and make a soft thud on the carpet.
“Sorry,” Dr. Pitts muttered. “I seem to have dropped my flashlight. Can someone please…”
“I’ll get it!” Josh said in the dark. He knelt down and fumbled around under the desk. “Found it,” he said a moment later. He stood, switched it on, and aimed the light at the desk.
“Thank you, young man,” Dr. Pitts said. He took the flashlight and pointed it at the jewel once more.
“You see, if this were a real emerald, the light would penetrate,” he explained. “The light beam would go to the heart of the jewel.”
He tapped a finger against the jewel. “But this is just glass. Notice how the light bounces off the surface. The light does not enter the stone.”
He shone the light on his own face.
“Of course, that is just my opinion. You are welcome to get another, Mr. Duncan.”
“I certainly will!” Dink’s uncle said.
He walked over to the wall and switched on the lights.
Dink blinked at the sudden brightness. His uncle looked very upset.
“But I simply can’t understand how the real emerald could have been switched for a fake one!” Dink’s uncle continued. “Are you absolutely sure?”
Dr. Pitts nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. I am sure.”
“Then the swap must have taken place before the crate arrived,” Uncle Warren declared. “Perhaps it happened in South America, when the jaguar was wrapped.”
Dr. Pitts shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I was there for the packing. I assure you, when the jaguar was put into this crate, the emerald was real.”
Dink’s uncle stared at the jaguar. “I just don’t see how it was possible!” he repeated.
Dr. Pitts shrugged. “Of course, I will have to report this to the police,” he said. “If you want that second opinion…”
Dink’s uncle hurried across the room and opened the door to James Pride’s office. “James, please call Empire Jewelry on Broadway. Ask Regina Wu to come immediately. Tell her it’s urgent!”
While they waited, Dr. Pitts examined the lock on the office door, then wrote something on a small pad.
Uncle Warren slumped in his chair and stared at the statue.
The kids sat on the rug and waited. Dink wanted to say something to his uncle, but he looked too upset.
Long minutes passed, then a knock sounded at the door. Uncle Warren jumped up. He let in a tall woman wearing a black raincoat. “Warren, I came as fast as I could,” she said. “The streets are a mess!”
They shook hands, and Dink’s uncle explained about the jaguar’s jewel. “Dr. Pitts claims it’s a fake!”
“May I?” Using a jeweler’s magnifying glass, Ms. Wu examined the stone for a few minutes.
Then she removed a small bottle from her pocket and squeezed a drop of liquid onto the jewel. When the liquid dried, she wiped the stone with a cloth.
She shook her head. “He’s right,” she said. “This is a glass replica.”
Uncle Warren fell back into his chair. “I am simply dumbfounded! Where did the switch take place? How? Who could possibly…”
“Pardon me,” Dr. Pitts said. “The lock on the door does not appear to have been forced. Who besides you has a key to this office?”
“Mr. James Pride, my assistant, for one,” Dink’s uncle said. “And my friend Jean-Paul. He owns the restaurant next door to the museum. He let the delivery-men into my office yesterday.”
“So this Jean-Paul has a key?” Dr. Pitts asked.
Uncle Warren shook his head. “Not to keep. I lent him my key, since the crate was due while James and I were away from the museum.”
“So two people besides yourself had access to the jaguar, is that right?” Dr. Pitts asked. “Your assistant and your friend?”
“That is correct, but I assure you, neither of them has touched that statue. The idea is absurd!”
“Um, excuse me, Uncle Warren?” Dink said.
Everyone turned to look at Dink.
“Wouldn’t there be fingerprints? I mean, if someone did take the real jewel, they’d leave prints on the fake one, right?”
No one spoke for a minute. Then Dr. Pitts smiled at Dink. “That’s an excellent idea,” he said. “And I think we should ask the police to look for fingerprints. They will, of course, find mine. But unless I miss my guess, no others.”
“Why do you say that?” Ruth Rose asked.
“Because, young lady,” Dr. Pitts said, “this thief was very clever. And clever thieves wear gloves.”
Uncle Warren nodded at the phone. “Please call the police,” he told Dr. Pitts. “They will prove that Jean-Paul and James are innocent!”
Dr. Pitts looked at Dink’s uncle. “Excuse me, sir, but there is another suspect.”
“And who would that be?” Uncle Warren asked.
“Yourself,” Dr. Pitts said quietly.
Dink heard thumping footsteps on
the stairs just before two police officers entered the office. They listened to the story, then “invited” Dink’s uncle down to the police station to answer more questions.
“Mr. Duncan, will you ask Mr. Pride and Jean-Paul to come with us?” one of the officers asked.
“I will,” Dink’s uncle said. “But believe me, this is a horrible mistake!”
The officer nodded, pointing to the statue. “We’ll have to take this, too. We’ll check it for prints at the station.”
“What about us?” Regina Wu asked. “Are Dr. Pitts and I free to go?”
“I have your addresses,” the officer said. “We know where to find you.”
“Of course,” Dr. Pitts said. He and Regina Wu left.
Uncle Warren walked over to Dink. “Don’t worry, nephew, this shouldn’t take long,” he said. “Stay with Yvonne until I get back.”
When he bent down to hug Dink, he whispered, “Donny, remember your cookie!”
James Pride locked the office, and they all walked down the stairs. The two officers carried the re-wrapped jaguar.
Jean-Paul hugged Yvonne, then joined Uncle Warren and James Pride in one of the police cruisers.
Dink, Josh, Ruth Rose, and Yvonne watched them drive away in the rain.
“Come inside,” Yvonne said. “I will make something warm to drink. The men will be back in a jiffy, yes?”
She fixed the kids big mugs of hot chocolate. They sat at the window and watched the rain fall.
“Try not to worry,” Yvonne said. “When the men return, then we solve the mystery, yes?”
She left the kids and passed through a blue curtain into the restaurant’s kitchen.
“This is so weird!” Josh said.
“It stinks,” Dink said. “I know my uncle wouldn’t steal some dumb jewel!”
“But what happened to it?” Ruth Rose said. “Someone stole the real one!”
The kids sipped their hot chocolate and looked through the rain-streaked glass.
Dink stood up. “I wonder where the bathroom is?”
“Ask Yvonne,” Ruth Rose said. “I think she’s in the kitchen.”
Josh slurped up the last of his drink. “And see if she has any more hot chocolate!” he said.
Dink walked toward the back of the restaurant. He passed through the blue curtain into the kitchen.
A pile of chopped broccoli sat on the counter next to a bowl of peeled raw onions. He looked around, but Yvonne wasn’t there.
He saw another blue curtain, so he peeked through it, looking for the bathroom.
Just then, he heard a noise. Dink turned around and saw Yvonne slip through a narrow door. When the door closed behind her, it disappeared!
Dink blinked his eyes. The door was gone! There was no frame, no knob, and no hinges. He shook his head. Was he seeing things?
Dink found the bathroom, used it, then hurried back to Josh and Ruth Rose.
“Guys, listen to this!” Dink told them about Yvonne and the vanishing door. “After she shut the door, it disappeared, honest!”
“Disappearing doors?” Josh scoffed.
“Maybe it’s her private bathroom or something,” Ruth Rose said.
Suddenly, Dink remembered what his uncle had said to him. “When my uncle hugged me upstairs, he whispered, ’Remember your cookie’ in my ear.”
Josh grinned. “Maybe he was hungry,” he said.
“Or maybe he was telling you to remember the fortune in your cookie!” Ruth Rose said.
“I saved it!” Dink said. He reached into his jacket pocket.
“What…?” Dink pulled out his uncle’s brass key ring. “Where’d this come from?”
“That looks like the key to your uncle’s office,” Josh said.
“You’re right!” Dink said. “He must have dropped it into my pocket when he hugged me!”
Dink reached back into his pocket and pulled out the slip of paper from his fortune cookie.
’“Your eyes will play tricks on you,” he read.
“Your fortune is already coming true!” Ruth Rose said. “I wonder if mine will. I’m supposed to find a treasure.”
“Look!” said Josh suddenly. He pointed out the window. “There’s that jewelry lady!”
Regina Wu hurried past the restaurant. The kids watched her slip inside the green door that led up to Uncle Warren’s office.
“Why is she going back up there?” Dink asked.
Just then, Yvonne came through the blue curtain. She was carrying a pitcher and a plate of cookies.
“More hot chocolate?” she asked. “And some of my special cranberry cookies!”
While Josh and Ruth Rose reached for the cookies, Dink stared out the window at the green door.
Suddenly, the door opened, and Regina Wu stepped back outside. She closed the door behind her, then hurried away from the building.
Dink watched her dash up the street, raising her umbrella.
He stared after Regina Wu. What’s going on? he wondered. Why would she go up to the office when she knows my uncle isn’t there?
Suddenly, another thought struck him. Unless she went up to the office because he isn’t there!
Dink waited until Yvonne went back to the kitchen, then told the others what he’d just seen.
“But the office is locked,” Josh said.
“Maybe she has a key,” said Dink.
“Where would she get a key?” Josh asked. “You have one, and James Pride has the other.”
“The question is,” Ruth Rose said, “why did she go up there now, when nobody’s around?”
Dink stood up. “We need to find out,” he said. “Maybe she left a clue! Let’s go before Yvonne gets back.”
The kids hurried out into the rain. They scooted next door and slipped through the green door.
“Look,” Dink said, pointing at the carpet. “Wet footprints!”
They hurried up the stairs. At the top, they saw more wet spots.
Dink’s hand was shaking so badly he could barely unlock the door. The office was dark except for the light over the fish tank. The only sound was the tank’s bubbling filter.
“This place is creepy,” Josh whispered.
Dink checked the floor. “No wet footprints in here,” he said quietly.
“Maybe Regina Wu wiped her feet before she came in,” Ruth Rose whispered back.
“Maybe,” Josh said. “But why are we whispering?” He flipped up the wall switches, and the lights, ceiling fan, and music all came on.
Dink squinted in the sudden brightness. “Okay,” he said, “let’s look around.”
“For what?” Josh asked.
“I’m not sure,” Dink answered. “But Regina Wu came up here for some reason. Either she took something or she left something behind.”
“I’ll go through the stuff in the crate,” Ruth Rose said. “Dink, why don’t you check out James’s office? Josh, you take the trash can.”
“Why do I have to go poking through the trash?” Josh asked.
“Because you’re a good detective, and good detectives always check the trash,” Ruth Rose said.
“Cool!” Josh said. He headed for the trash can next to the desk.
Dink walked into Mr. Pride’s office. There was a small desk with locked drawers. A framed picture of three people stood on the desk. Dink recognized James Pride. The woman and child must be his wife and daughter, he thought.
Dink checked a gray file cabinet in one corner. It was locked. Then he ran his fingers across the bookshelves. He checked inside some of the books, not knowing what he was looking for. He even peeked under the rug. He couldn’t tell if anything was missing, and he found no clues.
As he started to leave, Dink suddenly noticed that one wall seemed different from the others. He stared at it, trying to figure out what looked odd about it.
Then he realized what it was: this wall had no bookshelves, no file cabinets, no pictures, no anything! It was completely bare.
Dink stepped closer
and ran his fingers over the striped wallpaper. Just above his head, he felt a thin crack. He followed the crack with his fingers until he felt another crack, this one running down toward the floor. Two feet in the opposite direction, a third crack ran to the floor. The cracks were almost hidden in the wallpaper.
Dink jumped back as if his hand had been burned. “Guys!” he shouted.
Josh and Ruth Rose came running into James’s office.
Dink showed them his discovery. “I think it’s a secret door!” he said.
He tried to force his fingers into the cracks, but the door wouldn’t budge.
“If there were stairs behind this wall,” Ruth Rose said, “they would lead right to the secret door in Yvonne’s kitchen!”
Josh’s eyes opened wide. “That would mean she could get in here without a key!”
“Do you think she was coming here when I saw her downstairs?” Dink asked.
“Maybe she met Regina Wu!” Ruth Rose said. “Yvonne could have let her in.”
“Maybe,” Dink said, walking back to his uncle’s office. “But why? We gotta keep looking. Did you find anything in the trash, Josh?”
“Zilch,” Josh said.
On the floor where Ruth Rose had been sitting was a pile of packing peanuts. She had unwrapped each artifact, then put it aside.
“All I found was the same treasures we looked at yesterday,” she said. “I don’t think anything is missing.”
The kids continued to search. Behind curtains. Under the Oriental rug. They pulled out everything from every desk drawer. They even dug in the dirt in the potted plants next to the windows.
“Nothing but a secret door that doesn’t open,” Josh muttered.
“And we can’t check out the door downstairs with Yvonne in the kitchen,” Ruth Rose said.
“So now what?” Josh asked.
“I don’t know,” Dink said. He looked at Josh and Ruth Rose. “But my uncle is counting on us to find something up here, and I’m not gonna stop till I find it!”
“But we’ve already looked at everything,” Josh said, flopping down on the rug.
Ruth Rose walked over to the fish tank and picked up the container of food.