The Nancy Drew Sleuth Book - Clues to Good Sleuthing by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene [Keene, Carolyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.
Published: 2010-12-19T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER VII

THE QUEEN’S CAMEO

Lost and Found

“I HAVE a great mystery for us to solve!” said Honey Rushmore as the Detective Club members met at Nancy Drew’s home. “There’s only one problem. The mystery is a year old.”

“A year is a long time,” Nancy said with a chuckle. “But tell us, what is it all about?”

“My mother took a trip last July. She was wearing a valuable cameo that was very old and had once belonged to a queen.”

“A queen’s possession?” Peg asked in awe. “How did your mother get it?”

“I really don’t know,” Honey replied. “But I remember as a child I was never allowed to touch the cameo because it was so valuable.”

“What’s the mystery?” Karen interrupted impatiently.

“Sometime after Mother boarded the sleeper train back to River Heights,” Honey went on, “she lost the pin. She has no idea whether it came off her dress in the station, on the train, or in the street. When she arrived home, she discovered it was gone.”

Sue wanted to know whether Mrs. Rushmore had been in touch with the police.

“Oh, yes,” Honey answered. “They made a search of the station and the train, but they didn’t find the cameo. Then Mother contacted her insurance company, and they searched, too. But still the pin did not turn up. Finally the insurance company paid her what they considered it was worth. But Mother’s convinced that its value was at least ten times that much. She feels very bad about the loss because the brooch had been in her family a long time.”

Cathy sighed. “If the police and the insurance people couldn’t find the cameo, it seems to me there isn’t much chance we can.”

Nancy smiled. “Don’t forget that the members of this Detective Club never give up. I classify this case under Lost and Found. I’ll give you some hints on how to go about the sleuthing. First of all, did the police and insurance company go to all the pawnshops and fences in this area?”

“What are fences?” Sue asked.

Nancy explained that these were little-known places where people take stolen property to be sold illegally. “Such stores differ from legitimate pawnshops, where a person can leave an item in exchange for cash. The pawnbroker will not sell it for a certain length of time and will return it to the owner when he or she pays back the money with interest.”

Honey assured the girls that pawnshops had been investigated. “I don’t know about fences, and I don’t believe my mother would. But I’m sure the police and the insurance company must.”

“Why does your mother want to look for the cameo now?” Peg inquired.

“She saw a similar pin in a jewelry shop downtown,” Honey explained. “It was priced much higher than what Mother had received from the insurance company. Now, suddenly, she wants to try finding it again and has given us the job.”

“That’s very flattering,” Nancy remarked. “We’ll certainly do our best.”

“But where do we start?” Martie asked.

Nancy said she would like to hear more about Mrs.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.