Read Cora Flash and the Diamond of Madagascar (A Cora Flash Children's Mystery, Book 1) for Free Online Page B

food and something to drink? This might take a while. "
    " Sure thing, Inspector . I ' ll rustle up something for you right away. "
    He retreated to the corner of the d ining car to set about preparing the officer’ s lunch.
    " Well , I insist on going first, " said nervous Mr. MacEvoy. " I want to get this nonsense out of the way. "
    Dabruzzi nodded. " That is fine, sir, if no one else objects . "
    No one in the room spoke up .
    " Very well then . Please follow me. "

CHAPTER NINE
     
    Inspector Dabruzzi walked to the other end of the d ining car and through the sliding door to the l ounge .
    T his was my opportunity. I ran over to Willy, who was busy preparing food for the officer .
    "Willy," I said anxiously , " y ou have to do me a favour."
    "Are you hungry , too?"
    "No, not that. Something else . "
    A few minutes later, the door to the l ounge compartment opened and Willy entered, pushing a cart covered in a white tablecloth. The cart had a small silver tray on top and a bottle of sparkling water with one drinking glass. I spotted a small hole in the tablecloth, almost too small to notice, but the perfect size for an eleven-year-old girl to peek through!
    Neither the i nspector nor Mr. MacEvoy thought it odd for Willy to use a whole food cart to transport one sandwich and a bottle of water, but what they did not know was that it was part of my plan. Willy had agreed to let me be part of his delivery. My idea was to sneak into the room on the bottom shelf of the cart, concealed beneath the tablecloth. Willy agreed, hoping I would share what I learned with him after I came out of the room.
    "Thank you , Willy," said Dabruzzi .
    Willy parked the cart in the corner of the room and smiled as he returned to where the others waited .
    " I do not have my tape recorder with me, " began the i nspector , " s o I will take notes as best I can. To begin, can you tell me your full name? "
    " Charles MacEvoy, " he said, with more than a little bit of annoyance.
    " Mr. MacEvoy, what is the reason you are traveling to Topaz Mountain ? "
    " I don ' t think that is relevant to the investigation. "
    " Oh . " Inspector Dabruzzi laughed . " Of course it is! This is an investigation. Everything is relevant! "
    " Fine. I am going to find a Spotted Pilkington . "
    " Pardon? A what? "
    " A Spotted Pilkington . " The tone in Mr. MacEvoy ' s voice suggested he was surprised the i nspector did not know what a Spotted Pilkington was. " You ’ re obviously not well versed in the science of ornithology. "
    " Ornithology, " the officer repeated slowly. " Ah, birds. Yes, of course. "
    " Yes. Of course. "
    " And you will see a Spotted Pilkington in Topaz Mountain ? "
    " Oh, my goodness . " Mr. MacEvoy laughed. " I could only hope so! No one has seen a Spotted Pilkington in over twelve years! And then, just two weeks ago, my good friend , Wilma DeVries, spotted one while she was cycling along the waterfront. She could barely get the words out of her mouth when she called to tell me. Oh, this is something people have been waiting years, if not decades, for. It has been the lead story on Fancy Feathers for weeks now! "
    " Fancy Feathers ? "
    " My blog . I write a blog called Fancy Feathers . It has one of the highest visits of any bird blog on the W eb . I ' m very proud of it. "
    " I ' m sure you are . So , you are taking the train to find the bird? " Inspector Dabruzzi couldn ' t bring himself to say the name of the animal again. With his accent, it was far too difficult to keep repeating.
    " Yes, I refuse to fly. Only birds should fly . "
    " Can you re trace your steps for me? Can you tell me all of your movements from the time you woke up to the time Mr. Sloane reported his diamond missing? "
    " Of course I can, which is more than I can say for the others in the next car. I ' m sure they ' re all formulating their lies right now! "
    " Leave that part to me. I will sort out the truth from the lies. "
    " Yes, well. I woke up early. Very early. I think it