by Ron Roy
Three brown-and-white dogs came running toward the kids. They were wet and muddy. Behind them marched a woman carrying a walking stick. She was wearing a rain hat, a matching coat, and muddy boots.
“Come away, dogs!” the woman commanded.
“Oh my gosh,” whispered Ruth Rose. “It’s the queen!”
As they got closer, Dink recognized the face they had seen at the wax museum. The Queen of England had pink cheeks, white hair, and a friendly smile.
“Lovely day, isn’t it?” she asked the kids.
To Dink, the queen looked like a normal person. She reminded him of the woman who worked in the post office back in Green Lawn.
“Happy birthday, Your Majesty!” Josh blurted out. “Sorry your jewels got stolen!”
The queen gave him a sharp look. Then she sighed. “Thank you, young man,” she said. “I hope the Scotland Yard people do their job well.” She stared off into the rain.
“Um, we saw you in the Madame Tussauds wax museum,” Dink said. “You look a lot better alive. I mean, in person!”
The queen laughed. “Well, thank you,” she said. “But they did make me look younger, didn’t they?”
Dink thought about the gardener they’d just spoken with. Was it possible that she had stolen the queen’s jewels? Dink wanted to ask the queen about the tall gardener, but he didn’t get a chance.
“Did the robbers really look like your grandsons?” Ruth Rose suddenly asked the queen.
“Yes, the men who robbed me were tall, like William and Harry,” she said. “The uniforms they were wearing looked exactly like William and Harry’s—even their caps and white gloves. But something about their faces wasn’t quite right. I think it was the way they were smiling.”
“We read in the paper that they were wearing rubber masks,” Josh said.
“Masks?” the queen said, looking confused. “I never told the detectives at Scotland Yard anything about masks.” She closed her eyes for a second. “But I suppose they could have been wearing masks. That would explain why their mouths didn’t seem to move. Yes, masks would make sense.”
Something the queen had just said, or maybe something Josh said, made Dink shut his own eyes. He was trying to form a thought, but it disappeared as swiftly as the wet deer they’d seen.
Suddenly the rain began to come down harder.
Ruth Rose popped open her umbrella and held it over her head.
The dogs bolted up to the queen. They put muddy paws all over her legs.
“Oh dear,” said the queen. “You doggies are a right mess. It’s back home for us now!” She put her hand out to the kids. “It was lovely chatting with you!”
“You too,” Dink said, shaking the queen’s warm hand. “I hope you get your jewels back.”
She nodded. “Yes. But for now, I’ll have to get used to wearing my fake tiara and necklace. They are identical to the ones I lost. Of course, the ones on my wax figure are also fakes.”
“How do you tell the real jewels from the fakes?” Ruth Rose asked. “The ones we saw on your wax figure look so real!”
“The fakes were made by a master craftsman,” the queen said. “But only my own jewels have my initials engraved on the silver—a tiny E.A.M., for Elizabeth Alexandra Mary.”
She turned and marched toward the castle. “Home now, doggies! Mummy will give you a treat!”
The kids watched her stride toward the castle.
“That was so cool!” Josh said. “We just talked to the Queen of England!”
“We should go home, too,” Ruth Rose said. “It’s no fun hiking around in the rain.” She checked her watch. “The next tour is in over two hours!”
They crowded under her umbrella and headed for the gate. The bus was not waiting, so they stood under a tree.
Dink looked at the road and the fence. “I wonder where the robbery took place,” he said. “I mean, where did she stop her car?”
Ruth Rose walked down the wet road toward the fence. She stopped about ten feet in front of the gate. “Right about here,” she said. “A few meters from the gate.”
“So where was the getaway car?” Josh asked. He looked at the damp ground under their feet.
“Not too far if the queen could read letters on a bumper sticker,” Dink said.
He crossed the road and walked slowly along the grass toward the fence. He was hunched over, searching with his eyes.
Ruth Rose and Josh did the same thing on the opposite side.
“Um, what’re we looking for?” Josh asked.
“Tire tracks,” Ruth Rose said. “If a getaway car parked here, there might be marks in the mud.”
“Marks like these?” Josh asked. He pointed to four ruts in the muddy grass.
“Exactly like those!” Ruth Rose cried.
Dink ran over, and the kids examined the marks together.
“Good eye, Josh,” Dink said.
Josh tapped the side of his head and grinned. A raindrop slid off his nose. “On television, the police always pour white gooey stuff into tire marks to make molds,” he said. “Then they compare the molds with the tires on the suspects’ cars.”
“The gooey stuff is plaster,” Dink said. “And we don’t have any.”
He bent over and picked something shiny out of the grass.
“What is it?” Josh asked.
“Just a little diamond,” Dink said.
“WHAT? YOU FOUND A DIAMOND?” Josh yelled. He reached for Dink’s hand.
Dink laughed. “Joking, Josh,” he said. “It’s a rolled-up piece of foil.” He showed Josh and Ruth Rose a tiny silver ball.
Dink flattened the foil. When he flipped it over, they saw the words SUMMER GREEN GUM.
“It’s a gum wrapper,” Dink said. He held it under his nose. “It smells kind of spicy.”
“It’s a clue!” Ruth Rose said. “Maybe one of the robbers dropped it here!”
Josh grinned. “So now we have to find a tall guy who chews Summer Green gum,” he joked. “Somewhere in England!”
Ruth Rose nodded. “And he has a tall friend,” she said. “One of them drives a black car with U-A-S-S and E-M-A-D on a bumper sticker.”
“And one of them might have a dog bite on his hand,” Dink added.
Just then, the bus showed up. The driver stopped in front of the kids, and the door whooshed open.
“Heck, we’ll never get that reward,” Josh said as the kids climbed aboard.
Forty minutes later, the kids piled into the Welcome House lobby. Damon Fox was standing behind the counter, doing paperwork.
Dink noticed a new stack of newspapers. On the front page was a large picture of the queen and her grandsons Prince William and Prince Harry.
A bold caption under the picture said:
The Royal Family is sad. Scotland Yard is still stumped over the stolen jewels.
“Hey, how was your trip?” Damon said when he saw the kids.
“We met the queen!” Josh blurted out. “She is so cool!”
“You did not!” Damon said. “You’re joshing me, right?”
Dink laughed. “Josh never joshes,” he said.
“The queen was walking her dogs,” said Ruth Rose. “She talked with us and shook our hands!”
“Have you ever seen her?” Josh asked.
Damon ran his fingers through his red hair. “Only once,” he said.
Dink dropped his eyes to the photo of Prince Harry. Then he glanced back up at Damon. The two men had the same red hair, the same pink cheeks, and the same blue eyes.
“Can we take a paper?” Dink asked, feeling himself blush at what he was thinking.
“Sure, they’re here for our guests,” Damon said.
Dink took a paper. “Have you seen my dad?” he asked.
Damon pointed toward the ceiling. “He’s up in his room,” he said. “With a large pizza!”
The kids raced up the stairs to Mr. Duncan’s room. Dink knocked on the door.
“Who’s there?” came his father�
��s voice.
“Jack,” Dink answered in a deep voice.
“Jack the Ripper?” asked his father. “Come in and have a slice of pizza, Jack!”
The kids walked into the room. Dink’s father was sitting on the sofa with a book on his lap. A slice of pizza and a napkin sat on a small table near his elbow.
“Hey, kids, how was your morning?” Mr. Duncan asked.
They took turns telling him how they met the queen.
“No fair!” Dink’s father said. “I’ve been to London three times, and I’ve never seen her once!”
Dink showed the front page of the newspaper to his father. “They still haven’t found the queen’s jewels,” he said.
“And they probably never will,” his father said. “I’ll bet some fence has them by now.”
“Fence? What’s that, Mr. Duncan?” Ruth Rose asked.
“Fence is a slang name for a person who buys stolen goods from robbers,” Dink’s father explained. “The crooks might have given the tiara and necklace to a fence. That person would sell them, then split the money with the robbers.”
“We’re going to find the jewels and get the reward!” Josh said. “It’s fifteen thousand dollars!”
“Well, good luck,” Mr. Duncan said. “Are you hungry?”
“Starved!” said Josh.
“Good. Take the rest of the pizza across the hall,” Mr. Duncan said. He pointed to the pizza box on the coffee table. “I’m going to read for a while, then go back to my conference.”
“What’s the book, Dad?” Dink asked.
Mr. Duncan held it up. “Some stories by a writer named Edgar Allan Poe,” he said. “I’m reading one called ‘The Purloined Letter.’ The story takes place in Paris, France.”
“What’s purloined?” Josh asked.
“Purloined means stolen,” Mr. Duncan said. “In the story, the bad guy steals an important letter. He knows the police will come to his apartment to search. So the thief hides the letter in a clever place: in plain sight, next to some cards from visitors.”
“The crook hid the letter right out in the open?” Josh said.
“That’s right, Josh,” Dink’s father said. “He figured the police might search in obvious hiding places but not just look around the room. Pretty clever, eh?”
“Do the police find the letter?” Ruth Rose asked.
Dink’s father smiled. “I’ll let you read the story when I’m finished,” he said.
The kids took the pizza, some napkins, and the newspaper to Dink and Josh’s room. They flopped on the floor and started eating.
Dink pointed to the picture of Prince Harry on the front page of the newspaper. “Damon really does look a lot like Prince Harry,” he said.
Josh and Ruth Rose studied the picture.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Ruth Rose asked Dink.
Dink nodded. “Yep,” he said. “Damon and Harry are both tall, so if Damon was wearing Prince Harry’s uniform, the queen might think Damon was her grandson!”
Josh stared at Dink for a long minute. “Damon Fox stole the queen’s jewels!” he whispered. “And he’s right downstairs!”
Dink shrugged. “Maybe,” he said.
Ruth Rose stared at the picture of Prince Harry. “I’m getting goose bumps!” she said.
Outside their window, lightning flashed. A loud clap of thunder shook the window. Raindrops made loud splatting sounds against the glass.
Ruth Rose looked at Dink and Josh. “But if you were Damon and you planned to rob the queen’s jewels, wouldn’t you still wear a mask?” she asked. “It wouldn’t matter if you looked like Prince Harry—you wouldn’t want the queen to see your face.”
“Right,” Dink said. “And the other robber wouldn’t want the queen to see his face, either. So I’ll bet they both did wear masks.”
“The queen told us there was something weird about the robbers’ mouths,” Josh said. “Maybe it was because their mouths were rubber!”
The kids were quiet for a minute, thinking.
“I wonder where the robbers got masks that looked like the queen’s two grandsons,” Ruth Rose said.
Once again, Dink tried to capture a thought that was buzzing around inside his head. It was the same thought he’d had earlier. Why couldn’t he remember?
“We have to find out if Damon chews Summer Green gum,” Josh said.
“And what color his car is,” Ruth Rose added. “The queen saw a black car drive away!”
“But remember, there were two robbers,” Dink said. “So maybe the second robber owned the car. Maybe the second robber was chewing Summer Green gum.”
“Okay, so we also have to find out if Damon Fox has a tall friend,” Ruth Rose said.
Dink helped himself to another slice of pizza. “I say we go back to the wax museum,” he said.
“Why?” Josh asked. “We should spy on Damon!”
Dink took a bite, chewed, and swallowed. “Remember the story Dad was reading?” he asked. “The crook hid a letter where no one would think to look—in plain sight, with some other papers.” Dink grinned at Josh and Ruth Rose. “So what if our crooks did the same thing?”
“You lost me,” Josh said. “The crooks who stole the queen’s jewels also stole a letter?”
“No, Dink means maybe the robbers hid the queen’s jewels with some other jewels!” Ruth Rose said. “Right out in the open!”
“In a jewelry store!” Josh said.
“No, at the wax museum, right, Dink?” Ruth Rose asked.
Dink nodded. “Think about it,” he said. “A million Scotland Yard detectives will be searching London for the queen’s jewels. So if you were the crooks, maybe you’d hide them in the wax museum, where there’s a lot of other jewelry. And Damon probably knows it’s there.”
“But how would Damon or the other robber get the stolen jewels into the museum?” Josh asked. “They couldn’t just walk into the wardrobe room without Ian or Mandy or that seamstress lady stopping them.”
“Maybe Damon could,” Dink said. “He told us Ian is his cousin. And maybe he knows Mandy, too. Damon could have snuck into that room when they were busy. And the seamstress must leave the wardrobe room once in a while.”
“Dink’s right,” Ruth Rose said. “It would take only a few seconds to put the real jewels on the shelf with the fake ones.”
Dink nodded. “That’s why I want to go back to the museum,” he said, glancing out the window. “If this rain ever stops.”
“I’ll check the weather forecast,” Ruth Rose said. She grabbed the remote and switched on the TV.
A woman with a bright smile told everyone the rain would continue until at least midnight.
Then a man took over. He said there was no news from Scotland Yard on the theft of the queen’s tiara and necklace. The search for the stolen jewels and the robbers was ongoing.
He also said hospitals and clinics had been alerted to watch for a tall man who came in with a dog bite.
“The queen reported that her dog Willow bit one of the robbers on his left hand,” the newsman said. “Now back to our regular show.”
Dink could feel his heartbeat speed up. “Guys, Damon has a round Band-Aid on the back of his left hand,” he said.
“I didn’t notice,” Ruth Rose said. “But just because he has a Band-Aid doesn’t mean he got bitten by the queen’s dog.”
“Maybe Damon got a paper cut,” Josh suggested.
“How do you get a paper cut on the back of your hand?” Dink asked.
The storm soaked London all night. But by Tuesday morning, the sun was peeking from behind dark clouds. The weatherwoman promised a few more showers.
Dink’s father left for his conference. The kids were still eating in the small dining room off the hotel lobby.
Ruth Rose had a clear view of Damon in the lobby.
“You were right about Damon,” she whispered. “I can see the Band-Aid on the back of his left hand.”
“I wonder if it’s
covering teeth marks,” Dink said.
Josh sipped his apple juice. “If we find the jewels but not the robbers, do we still get the reward?” he asked.
“I think so,” Dink said. “Ready to take off?”
The kids walked past Damon, who was on the telephone. They waved, and he waved back.
Dink felt a little guilty. Damon had been really nice to them, and here they were, suspecting him of robbing the Queen of England! It wasn’t Damon’s fault that he just happened to look like the queen’s grandson!
But what was under that round Band-Aid?
Outside the hotel, Ruth Rose snapped a picture of a cabdriver washing his cab. It was dark blue but looked black when he turned the hose on it. The cabdriver smiled and waved his wet sponge at the kids.
They hiked up Baker Street and crossed Marylebone Road. Up ahead, Dink could see a group of people waiting to get into Madame Tussauds. They were in front of door number two. A sign over the yellow door said GROUP ENTRANCE.
Just then, a dark green jeep passed the kids and pulled up in front of the wax museum.
They were close enough to see Mandy in the driver’s seat. She and her passenger both stepped out. He was a tall man with sandy-colored hair. Mandy handed him the jeep keys.
Dink recognized him. He was the guy in the picture with Mandy that was pinned to her bulletin board.
“Hey, kids!” Mandy said when she saw them.
“We decided to come back,” Ruth Rose said. “There’s so much to see!”
“Cool,” Mandy said. Then she turned to the man. “This is my big brother, Simon Clyde.”
Simon and Mandy looked almost like twins. They were both tall, with blue eyes and wide smiles.
“Can I get a picture?” Ruth Rose asked. “I’m going to make a London scrapbook when I get home!”
Mandy and Simon leaned against the jeep’s rear bumper, and Ruth Rose snapped the picture.
“How about one of you four together?” Simon said. “Mandy, go stand with the kids.” He reached for Ruth Rose’s camera.
Ruth Rose handed the camera to Simon. “Just push that little silver button,” she said.
Mandy and the kids bunched together.