Gertrude Warner - Mystery in New York

Once again, Grandfather patiently introduced himself and the children. “And you must be the evening doorman,” he said. He looked at the name tag the doorman wore. “Mr. Saunders?”

“Right,” said Mr. Saunders. “Two P.M. to ten P.M. shift, weekdays.”

He walked briskly back to his desk and sat down.

“’Bye, Mr. Saunders,” said Benny as they got onto the elevator.

“Good evening,” said Mr. Saunders.

When they reached Mrs. Teague’s apartment, they discovered that Mr. Evans had just finished plastering the last hole in the wall. The chandelier sparkled above the table. Mr. Evans folded up his ladder and propped it in a corner, while Mrs. Teague hurried around the dining room, pulling sheets off chairs.

“Thank you, Mr. Evans,” said Mrs. Teague.

“I’m not finished in here,” he cautioned. “I still have to paint over the patches.”

“I know,” she answered. “But it’s finished enough for us to have dinner.”

Mr. Evans shrugged. “See you tomorrow,” he said, and left.

The Aldens went to work helping Mrs. Teague. They dusted tables and chairs, swept the floor, vacuumed the rug, and even wiped the mirror over the sideboard.

Then, while Violet and Henry helped Mrs. Teague set the table, Benny and Jessie went up to Mr. Pound’s penthouse.

He opened the door almost as soon as they knocked. “Hello,” he said.

“It’s time for dinner,” Benny said.

Mr. Pound looked at his watch and smiled. “It’s six-thirty. You sound as if you are hungry.”

“I am,” said Benny.

“Too hungry to want to see the Elizabeth Star?” asked Mr. Pound.

“Right now?” Jessie said.

“Why not?” said Mr. Pound. “Come in and I’ll show it to you before we go down to dinner.”

So Jessie and Benny followed Mr. Pound into his penthouse — the biggest apartment in the building, on the very top floor. He led them across a large living room. One whole wall was windows, bright with the lights of the city far below.

Mr. Pound led them down a long hall hung with paintings. He paused in front of one painting and stared at it. Jessie and Benny stopped next to him. The painting was of a beautiful woman with a kindly expression and a touch of gray in her hair. She wore a velvety blue dress that matched the color of her eyes. Mr. Pound shook his head gently as though to clear his thoughts and then walked on. Jessie and Benny exchanged glances and followed Mr. Pound down the hall.

At the end of the hall, Mr. Pound opened a door to reveal a deep closet. He pushed the coats aside and then, to the astonishment of Jessie and Benny, stepped inside!

“Come on,” said Mr. Pound, and he switched on an overhead closet light.

They followed Mr. Pound and saw a keypad glowing on the wall behind the coats. It was numbered and looked like the front of a touch-tone telephone. The numbers glowed in the darkness and a small red light blinked on one side of the rows of numbers.

“What’s that?” Jessie asked.

“An alarm system,” Mr. Pound explained. “If anybody opens the door without punching the secret code number in, an alarm goes off here and at the alarm company. They call and if I don’t answer the phone to tell them it is a false alarm, they send the police.”

“A burglar alarm,” said Jessie.

“What door?” asked Benny.

“You’ll see,” said Mr. Pound. He punched some buttons and a green light came on. “Now the alarm is off,” he said. He reached up and pressed one corner of the seemingly solid wood wall.

With a quiet click, a door slid open. Mr. Pound stepped inside, turned on another light, and motioned for Benny and Jessie to follow.

The room was small, not much bigger than the closet. The walls were bare and there were no windows. In the center of the room in a glass case, a large pear-shaped diamond on a gold chain rested on a mound of blue velvet. A single overhead spotlight shone on the diamond.

“How beautiful,” breathed Jessie. “It’s as beautiful as any of the gems we saw in the museum today.”

“It’s so big ,” said Benny.

Mr. Pound nodded. “Yes,” he said thoughtfully. They stared at it for a moment longer. Then Mr. Pound said, “We’d better hurry or we’ll be late for dinner.”

When they left, he closed the door behind them. He punched the code into the burglar alarm and the red light began to blink. Then Mr. Pound, Benny, and Jessie went down to Mrs. Teague’s.

In the dining room, on the big table under the beautiful chandelier, there was a chicken dinner waiting for them. Everyone sat down. Mr. Pound was in a good mood. He laughed often and complimented Mrs. Teague on the delicious food. He asked lots of questions about the Aldens, and soon they were telling him about living in the boxcar.

“You lived in a boxcar?” Mr. Pound said. He looked amazed.

“Until Grandfather found us,” Jessie said. Taking turns, the four Alden children told Mr. Pound how, when they had first become orphans, they didn’t know they had a grandfather who wanted them. So they went to live in an old abandoned boxcar in the woods. They’d had to take care of themselves.

“And then we took care of Watch, too,” said Violet. “We found him, with a thorn in his paw.”

“And then Grandfather found us,” Henry said. “And we went to live with him in Greenfield.”

“And Grandfather put the boxcar behind our house and we can visit it whenever we want,” concluded Benny.

“That’s some story,” said Mr. Pound. He put his coffee cup in his saucer and said to Mrs. Teague, “And that was a fine meal.”

“Thank you,” said Mrs. Teague.

“Now, before we have dessert,” said Mr. Pound, “why don’t we take a break and go up to see the Elizabeth Star. Violet and Henry haven’t seen it yet.”

“May we bring Watch this time?” asked Benny. “He’d like to see the diamond. Wouldn’t you, Watch?”

Watch, who’d been sitting politely on his dog pillow just inside the entrance to the kitchen, stood up and barked once as if to say, Yes .

“Of course Watch can come,” said Mr. Pound.

“Wait till you see it,” Benny said in a hushed voice as they stepped off the elevator. He and Jessie had naturally told the others about getting to see the diamond before dinner.

As they crossed the penthouse living room, a clock began to chime. “Eight o’clock,” said Mr. Pound. He led the way to the closet. He glanced at the painting of the lady in blue, but he didn’t stop. Once again, he punched numbers into the burglar alarm as Benny and Jessie explained how the alarm worked.

“A secret door,” Henry said in surprise.

“It’s warm in here,” said Mr. Pound, wiping his forehead. “Now, the Elizabeth Star is priceless,” he continued as he slid the door to the windowless room open. “You can’t be too careful when …”

He stepped into the tiny room, but he never finished the sentence. The alarm began to clang so loudly that Violet clapped her hands over her ears.

Watch barked and tugged so hard on his leash, he almost pulled Benny over.

Mr. Pound turned, his handkerchief raised to his pale forehead. “It’s gone!” he shouted. “The Elizabeth Star has been stolen!”

At that moment, the phone began to ring. Mr. Pound spun around and pushed his way out of the closet. He stumbled over Watch’s leash somehow. Watch broke loose.

“Watch!” cried Benny.

Mr. Pound raced to the phone and snatched up the receiver. “Call the police,” he shouted into the phone. “I’ve been robbed.”