Chapter 29
The next fifteen minutes passed in a heartbeat. RANA VENENOSA was the Emerald Poison Frog. LEPIDOTHRIX IRIS was a bird called the Opal-Crowned Manakin. CERCOPITHECUS KANDTI was the Golden Monkey. TANGARA-NIGROVIRIDIS was the Beryl-spangles Tanager. CHRYSOLOPUS SPECTABILIS was the Sapphire Weevil. CHRYSOCHROA FULGISISSIMA was the Jewel Beetle. SUCCINEOIDEA was the Amber Snail. There were more than a dozen others. All of them were animals named for gems or jewels.
“This has to be it,” said Quinn, “It has to be. He’s hidden them right there in the mammal hall.”
“Most of those aren’t mammals,” observed Ellie.
“Who cares!” said Cable. “Jack, get Max on the phone. Is he up there?”
Jack dialed Max’s number. When Max answered, Jack wasted no time, “Max, go to the mammal hall. I need you to check something…. Right now!... call me when you get there.”
While they waited for Max to call back, Cable said, “let’s just go. We’re going to want to be there anyway.”
Jack agreed immediately. “Can we take your car?” he asked Emily.
She nodded. “Go go go!”
“Can I come?” asked Ellie.
“Absolutely,” said Cable, “Come on!”
They headed onto the highway going as fast as they dared. Max called back.
“I’m here,” he said, “what do you need?” he was out of breath.
Jack switched him onto speaker. “Look for birds, snakes, beetles.”
“In the mammal hall?” said Max.
“Just do it,” Jack almost screamed.
“OK,” said Max, “I’m walking around. There’s nothing like that. Wait, did you say snakes?”
“Yes.”
“There’s a snake, I think. Does a dead snake count? There’s a dead snake over by the mongoose. You know what I mean; they’re all dead, but this one is made to look dead.”
“What kind of snake is it?” asked Jack.
“How should I know?” asked Max. “Brown.”
“Look on the signs or something,” said Jack.
“Jack, are you OK? You sound like you’re about to lose it.”
“Max!” Jack did shout this time.
“OK, OK” said Max. “I’m looking. Mongoose. Tapir. Oryx. There’s no snake listed on here.”
“But you’re looking at a snake?” asked Jack.
“Yes, definitely.”
“What about any birds?”
“Hang on.”
“Dum-te-dum,” hummed Max as he walked around the exhibit.
“There’s a little blue bird in the mouth of a bobcat type thing,” said Max.
“OK, Max,” said Jack, “stay where you are. Do not leave the Mammal Hall. Do you understand?”
“Yes, but why?” asked Max.
“No wait, go to the information desk and get whatever brochures they have about the mammals. There’s got to be a list of what’s on display there. Get that. Wait for us there.”
“Which one?” asked Max, “Go get a brochure or stay here?”
Jack didn’t answer. He’d already hung up the phone. He pulled the business card that Detective Deffenbaugh had given him out of his wallet and dialed the number.
“Hello?”
“We figured out where the jewels are,” said Jack, “can you meet us at the Smithsonian?”
“You did what?” said Deffenbaugh, sounding surprised for the first time since they’d met him.
“We know where the jewels are,” repeated Jack.
“They’re here at the museum?” asked Deffenbaugh.
“Are you there now?” asked Jack.
“Yeah.”
“We’re on our way up now, but we’re probably an hour away. “
“Where are they?” asked the detective.
“Just meet us by the elephant,” said Jack, “and make sure we’re not going to get arrested when we get there.”
They raced up Route 95 in record time. When the museum came into sight, they turned right into the delivery entrance and parked the element in the spots set aside for the construction company, right near the door. The four of them piled out and dashed inside.
The detective was waiting by the elephant, with Meyers. The latter was visibly distraught. His suit was neatly pressed, but his hair was messy and he looked like he hadn’t shaved since the boys had last seen him.
“I hope you’re right about this,” he said, by way of greeting.
The detective eyed them and seeing their enthusiasm, simply held his palms up and said, “it’s your show.”
The boys led them all into the Mammal Hall. Max saw them at once and hurried over.
“What’s this all about?” he asked.
“Did you get the list?” asked Jack.
Max handed him the brochure. “None of the things you asked me about are listed anywhere,” he said. “Not even in the species guides. In fact, I’m pretty sure the mongoose and that rattlesnake don’t even live on the same continent.”
“It’s a rattlesnake?” confirmed Quinn.
“It looks like it,” said Max.
Jack stepped off the path and started towards the stuffed snake.
“Hold it!” said Meyers. “you can’t just do that.
Jack looked at Deffenbaugh for permission. Deffenbaugh shook his head. “Do you want to explain what you’re doing. Or maybe we should go get some tarps?”
“There’s the ruby-throated hummingbird,” said Ellie, pointing up to where a domesticated cat had it pinned to the ground.
Jack returned to the path.
“Souvlakis left those riddles, remember,” said Cable, “we’ve figured them out. There were animal names that matched the names of gems. And they’re here! They’re in the displays. That’s a diamond backed rattlesnake! Get it? A diamond backed rattlesnake. A Ruby throated hummingbird?”
“And what? You think the gems are inside them?” asked Meyers.
“There’s only one way to find out,” said Jack.
Meyers looked concerned. He looked at all the people passing through the exhibit. Some were already looking at them, since Jack was standing with one foot in a tableau featuring a mule deer. He began to shake his head.
“The snake isn’t even supposed to be here,” said Max. “It’s not a mammal and it’s not in the brochure.”
“What’s it doing here, then?” asked Meyers.
“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” said Jack.
“Look!” said Cable, “there are snails – snail shells anyway – in the shrew nest.”
Before Meyers could say anything, Cable reached over and picked up a yellow snail shell from the nest of twigs. He cracked it open like a nut. A yellow gemstone the size of a blueberry fell out in his hand. Meyer’s eyes went wide, as Cable held it up for him to see.
“Convinced?” asked Cable.
“I am,” said Deffenbaugh. He raised his arms and his voice and said, “Excuse me people, We’re going to be shutting down this exhibit for a few hours. If you’ll all just make your way to the exits. Thank you.” Deffenbaugh escorted the crowds out into the mail hall. It took no time at all.
A couple Smithsonian security guards came over, but when they saw Meyers and Deffenbaugh, they nodded and went back to their posts.
“May I?” asked Jack.
He ducked under the mule deer and made his way to the snake. He picked it up and turned it over. A pattern of triangles repeated down its back. He looked at its face and in its mouth. Then he saw that there was a bump in its throat that looked like it had just eaten a mouse or an egg. He squeezed it. The snakeskin was solid.
“Can I break it?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Deffenbaugh, just as Meyers said, “I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Jack snapped the head off the snake. The lump in the throat was a pink diamond.
“We’re looking for frogs and bugs and birds,” said Quinn, “anything that’s not a mammal is suspect, right?”
“And a golden monkey,” said Jack.
“Everybody spread out,” said Deffenbaugh, “but don’t crack anything open. Let me take pictures, at least.” He looked up at the security camera nearest where they were standing, “J.J. are you recording all this?” he said to the camera.
Meyers had pulled out his cell phone and was talking to Mr. Newman’s secretary. Jack and Cable and Quinn and Ellie and Max scoured the exhibit. They found dozens and dozens of little critters that were not on the placards. As Cable tried to pry the little blue bird from the mouth of the bobcat, he said, “there was no missing word, Jack.”
“What?” asked Jack.
“In that first riddle,” said Cable. “There was no missing word. The last two lines. It didn’t say ‘Keep an Eye on the Blank, Pray my friend this had a happy end.’ It said ‘Keep and eye on the prey, my friend. This has a happy end.’ Prey with an ‘e’ not pray with an ‘a.’”
“The other one said something about pray also,” said Quinn. “What was it? The rest is safe though tucked away, In vulnerable but in visible prey.”
“Otis was right,” said Jack, “Souvlakis didn’t even take them out of the building.”
“Where is he?” said Quinn, “we should get him up here.”
A few minutes later, Otis joined them in the Mammal Hall. He was overjoyed to discover what was happening. “I told you so,” he said, “I told you so. Atta’boy Tony.” He clapped his hands in delight. “I can’t wait to tell my wife.”
The director of the Smithsonian arrived shortly thereafter. Though he’d been told on the phone what was happening, he still had to hold onto a wall for support when he saw the seven of them skipping around the brand new exhibit snapping off pieces of small stuffed animals as they went.
An assistant brought Meyers a list of the missing gems. Cable and the detective piled up everything they’d found on a bench and began crossing the off one by one, as Meyers looked on. With each missing gem crossed off the list, Meyers face relaxed perceptibly. After an hour of searching, the only thing still missing was the Hope Diamond itself, the famous and infamous 45 carat blue diamond necklace in a platinum setting, surrounded by 16 smaller diamonds
They searched high and low. In the middle of the afternoon, Quinn got a call from Chad.
“I’m the hero!” said Chad. “Emily told me I solved the final puzzle! Forget Robert Downey Jr, I want Johnny Depp, baby!”
The search went on and on. They cross referenced every animal in the exhibit with the brochures and the original schematics. Everything was accounted for, and still no Hope Diamond. Finally they concluded that it simply wasn’t there.
“Do you think he kept this one for himself?” asked Quinn.
“It’s impossible to sell,” said the director of the museum, “it’s one of a kind. No jeweler would touch it. In that sense it has no value at all.”
“Don’t be so sure, said Deffenbaugh, “I can think of a dozen jewelers who would take it, right here in D.C.”
“It’s true,” said Meyers, “what we know of as the Hope Diamond was once called the Tavernier Blue. It was more than twice the size it is now. It’s been cut before.”
Cable shook his head, “It’s got to be here somewhere.”
But no amount of searching could turn it up. Not that afternoon and not in the following weeks when every animal in the mammal hall was scanned with powerful x-rays. It was simply nowhere to be found.
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