Cam Jansen and the Barking Treasure Mystery (3 page)

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Authors: David A. Adler

BOOK: Cam Jansen and the Barking Treasure Mystery
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Mabel Trent walked quickly to the woman, reached out, and grabbed her hand. She shook it and asked, “How are you? How are you?”
The woman looked at Mabel Trent and said slowly, “I’m fine.”
“Well, you look terrific,” Mabel Trent told her. “You look happy and healthy. You look just great!”
“Do you think so? Do you really think so?” the woman asked.
Mabel Trent nodded.
The woman said, “Thank you.” She was smiling now.
“And now,” Nancy announced, “look to the port side for a great view of the city’s skyline. Those of you with cameras might want to take a picture of it.”
“That’s me,” Mabel Trent said. “I have a camera. Bye-bye,” she said to the woman with the straw hat, and went off.
“Does Mabel Trent know that woman?” Eric asked his mother.
Mrs. Shelton said, “Probably not. But that woman is still smiling. That’s what Mabel does. She makes people happy.”
Mrs. Shelton told Cam and Eric, “Now stay together and don’t lean over the rail.” Then she hurried to join her friend.
“That Mabel Trent is fun,” Eric said. Then he turned to Cam.
Her eyes were closed.
Eric said, “Now we have to find Little Treasure.”
Cam said, “
Click.
”
“I’m looking at everyone who was near the woman in the red dress when she was watching the fireboat,” Cam told Eric.
Cam said, “
Click
,” again.
“There was a thin man with a bushy beard,” Cam said with her eyes still closed, “that woman with the straw hat, a woman with long blond hair and long earrings, a short, bald man, and a man wearing an orange baseball cap.”
Cam opened her eyes.
“One of those people took Little Treasure,” Cam told Eric.
“Well,” Eric told Cam, “we just saw the woman with the straw hat, and she didn’t have Little Treasure.”
“So,” Cam said, looking around, “that leaves us with four people who may have taken the dog.”
“Look,” Eric said. “There’s a woman with blond hair standing by the snack bar.”
Cam and Eric hurried into the covered area of the boat. A woman with long blond hair was buying a cup of soda.
The woman paid for the drink. She said, “Thank you,” and turned around.
“That’s not her,” Cam whispered. “The woman I saw was wearing earrings.”
Cam and Eric went outside. They walked slowly along the deck of the boat.
“Here I am, Little Treasure. It’s me, Lila,” the woman in the red dress said. She smiled at Cam and Eric. Then she walked on and said again, “Here I am, Little Treasure. It’s me, Lila.”
Two boys laughed as she walked past.
“They think she’s talking to herself,” Eric whispered. “They think she’s crazy.”
Cam told Eric, “And
I
think we better hurry and find her dog. We have to find Little Treasure before the ride ends and people start leaving the boat.”
Cam and Eric walked slowly along the starboard side. They looked at all the people sitting on the benches along the rail.
Eric grabbed Cam’s arm. “Look at him,” he whispered, “the man with the orange baseball cap. His jacket is all puffed out. He could be hiding something in there. He could be hiding Little Treasure!”
Chapter Five
 
 
 
“
H
e was there,” Cam whispered. “He was near the woman in the red dress when she was looking at the fireboat.”
The man was wearing a short blue jacket. His legs were crossed and he was sitting next to a young woman. They were holding hands and talking.
“Little Treasure is a small dog,” Eric whispered. “There’s lots of room for her under that jacket.”
Cam and Eric watched the man. He said something to the young woman and she laughed.
“He looks like someone in love,” Eric whispered, “not someone who just stole a dog.”
“In about ten minutes,” Nancy announced, “we will be passing the
Evil Skull,
a pirate ship that is 200 years old. It will be on the port side.”
People hurried to get to the port side of the boat. A thin man with a bushy beard walked by. He was carrying a cloth book bag.
“And look at him,” Cam said. “He was near the woman in the red dress, too.”
Cam turned and watched the man with the bushy beard. Eric watched the man with the orange baseball cap.
“The
Evil Skull
is being restored,” Nancy announced. “When that’s done, you’ll be able to go on board.”
The man in the baseball cap said something to the young woman. He uncrossed his legs. Then they both got up to join the people at the port side. When the man stood, his jacket was no longer puffed out. There was no room under it for Little Treasure.
“He didn’t take the dog,” Eric whispered to Cam. “And I still don’t think the dog was stolen. I think she just ran off.”
“Look,” Cam said, and pointed to the man with the bushy beard. “I’m going to get close to him. Maybe Little Treasure is in that book bag.”
“If you look ahead,” Nancy announced, “you can see the
Evil Skull.
Our captain, Captain Kramer, will go past it very slowly, so you can get a good look at a real pirate ship and take lots of pictures.”
Cam and Eric walked toward the man.
“Over here! Over here!” Mabel Trent shouted. She wanted Cam and Eric to stand near her and Mrs. Shelton.
“Pretend you don’t hear her,” Cam whispered. “We have to get close to that man.”
By now, there were lots of people crowded around the man. It was hard to get near him.
“Over here!” Mabel Trent yelled again. “I saved you a spot.”
Cam and Eric pretended not to hear her.
The woman in the red dress walked past. She was still saying, “Here I am, Little Treasure. It’s me, Lila.”
Cam and Eric squeezed between two women who were trying to get close to the rail. They were close to the man with the bushy beard.
Then someone screamed, “Help! Help!”
Chapter Six
 
 
 
T
he scream came from the covered area of the boat. Cam, Eric, and a few other people ran there.
“It’s dark in there and I heard a growl,” a tall man yelled, as he ran from the bathroom.
The door was open. The man ran right into Cam.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he told Cam. “But there’s some big animal in there.”
Then a small poodle, Little Treasure, walked out of the bathroom.
People laughed.
“That’s some
big
animal,” someone joked.
“Oh, I feel so embarrassed,” the man said.
“That’s Little Treasure,” Eric said, “and I was right. She wasn’t stolen. She was just lost.”
Eric held out his hands and said, “Come here, Little Treasure. I’ll take you to Lila.”
Little Treasure ran to Eric. He picked her up.
Cam looked at Eric and Little Treasure. She closed her eyes and said,
“Click.”
Eric told Cam, “You don’t have to
click
anymore. We have the dog. The mystery is solved. Now we can look at the
Evil Skull.”
“There you are, my Little Treasure,” the woman in the red dress said. She hurried to Eric and took the dog in her arms.
“Oh, how can I thank you?” she asked Eric. “You should thank me,” the tall man said. “I found your dog.”
Cam opened her eyes. She looked at Little Treasure. Then she closed her eyes again and said,
“Click.”
“I love you. Yes, I do,” the woman in the red dress said, and kissed Little Treasure’s nose.
“There it is,” Nancy announced. “The
Evil Skull.”
“Oh, I have to see this,” the tall man said. He started toward the port side rail.
“Me too,” Eric said.
“Wait!” Cam told them.
She opened her eyes and said, “There’s still a mystery here. We have to solve it soon, before the boat docks.”
“There’s no mystery,” the woman in the red dress said. “I have my Little Treasure.”
She kissed the dog’s nose again and said, “And I’m not putting you in my bag. You’ll stay out with me and enjoy the ride like everyone else.”
“You have Little Treasure back,” Cam said. “But her collar is gone. That’s why someone took her into the bathroom, to steal her collar.”
“Pirates!” Nancy announced. “Just imagine! There were once pirates on that boat.”
“Pirates! Thieves!” Lila said. “There’s one on
this
boat. There are diamonds and emeralds in the collar.”
Chapter Seven
 
 
 
“
I
t’s a small collar,” Lila said. “Someone could put it in a pocket and walk off the boat with it.”
Cam looked back at the bathroom door. There was a Men’s sign on it.
“Little Treasure was taken into a men’s bathroom,” Cam said, “so we know it was a man who stole the collar.”
“And I know where he is,” Eric said. “He’s over there, looking at the
Evil Skull
. Every one is.”
Cam closed her eyes and said,
“Click.”

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