The Baby-Sitter Burglaries Read online

  George watched Mr. Gardner get in his car, then turned to Nancy. “If he’s no longer a suspect, and Mrs. Mendenhall is eliminated—because she was just storing those things for a friend—then the only suspects left are David and Juanita,” she said.

  “Not Juanita!” Bess exclaimed. “It must be David—right, Nancy?”

  Nancy frowned. “David seems the obvious choice because of his connection to Secure,” she said. “He has a crowbar and a rope ladder. Don’t forget, too, that Juanita knew the Larsens’ code. The fact that they disappeared together makes them both look guilty.”

  She looked up and down the sidewalk. “Carlos!” she said. “Where did he disappear to? He ran away with an interesting piece of evidence. He’s got Mr. Gardner’s security code.”

  “How did Carlos get Mr. Gardner’s security code?” George asked.

  “I don’t know,” Nancy admitted. “That’s why I was chasing him, to see if he’d tell me.”

  Bess patted her shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll crack this case soon,” she said firmly. “Do you want a ride back to Juanita’s?”

  “Thanks, Bess,” she said. “But no thanks on the ride. I’ll walk Buster back to Mrs. Mendenhall’s. I’ll meet you guys over there. And see if you can find Carlos. He’s on his bike.”

  Nancy whistled to Buster, who surprised her again by trotting up to her side. She walked down the sidewalk toward the Puentes house. Nancy looked into each yard she passed, but she didn’t see Carlos anywhere. Other children in their yards smiled and shouted, “Hi, Buster!” as she and the Doberman walked by.

  “Looks like you’ve been running around making friends, Buster. Better not tell your mistress. She thinks you’re a vicious guard dog.”

  A man who was trimming his hedge stared at her. “Now I’m talking to dogs,” she said, sighing.

  “It could be worse. You could be talking to an unemployed magician.” The voice startled Nancy, and she jumped. Max Karn had appeared beside her.

  “Where did you come from?”

  “My car ran out of gas,” he said. “I was on my way to see Diego. He said on the phone that with David gone, he may not open the store for a while and was going to cancel the magic show at the next birthday party. I’m afraid I might be unemployed if I can’t persuade him to change his mind.”

  Nancy gave him a sympathetic look. “Good luck. By the way, did you see David and Juanita leave the skating rink last night?” she asked him.

  Max shook his head. “I left before David.”

  Buster gave a bark, ran down the sidewalk, and jumped over the fence around his yard. Max whistled through his teeth and said, “That Doberman is really something. I bet he can get into any yard he wants to.”

  Nancy laughed. “And he’s been in a lot of them, believe me,” she said. “Oh—I almost forgot. Ian MacDonald is looking for you.”

  Max pulled his collar away from his neck. “Oh yeah? Did he say what he wanted?”

  “He wants you to return something, I think,” Nancy replied, wondering why Max had grown so tense.

  As they walked up the front steps of the Puentes house, Max said, “I’ll drive out to see him soon.” He rang the doorbell.

  Diego answered the door, looking pale and shaken. He held out a piece of paper to Nancy. She took it from Diego’s trembling fingers. Letters that looked as if they’d been cut from a magazine were pasted on the paper.

  She read the words: DELIVER BAG OF MAGIC GOLD COINS TO DOCK #5 BY MIDNIGHT. JUANITA DIES IF YOU CALL POLICE.”

  13

  Kidnapped!

  Nancy’s hands began to shake as she read the paper again. Juanita had been kidnapped! Carlos had been right.

  Max leaned over her shoulder, took the paper gently from her hands, and read it. He handed it back to Diego, and said solemnly, “Diego, I’m so sorry. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do.” He patted Nancy’s shoulder. “I’ll see you later, Nancy,” he said.

  Nancy looked at Diego’s pale face, then took his arm. “Let’s go in and sit down,” she suggested. She led him to the living room where Bess and George were already sitting.

  “Carlos came home on his own,” George told Nancy.

  “Glad to hear it,” Nancy said. She turned to Diego. “Can you think of any reason why Juanita’s kidnapper would want those coins?” she asked.

  Diego shook his head. “They’re just base metal coins with no value,” he said.

  Nancy sat on the edge of her chair. “These are the coins you give out at the birthday parties, right?” she asked. Diego nodded, and Nancy went on. “I’ve spoken with the families whose houses had been robbed. Three of the four families had birthday parties with your magic show as the entertainment a few days before the burglaries. Do you remember how many coins you gave away at the Mowrers’, the Larsens’, and the Kileys’?”

  Diego pulled on his mustache. “Yes, that’s easy to remember,” he said, “since I let only the birthday child keep a coin. I gave away one to Melissa Larsen, one to Stephanie Mowrer, and one each to the Kiley triplets. Oh, and one to Amy Baird. Six in all.”

  “Wait,” George said. “The Bairds didn’t have a birthday party.”

  “That’s right,” Diego said. “But Stephanie Mowrer and Amy Baird have the same birthday, so they had a party for both of them at the Mowrer house. Oh—and I gave one to Jimmy Gardner at the party his father gave for him. That makes seven.”

  Nancy stood up. “Each of the burgled families mentioned that some of the kids’ things were missing—” Nancy began.

  “Right!” Bess exclaimed. “Mrs. Mowrer told me her daughter had a coin stolen from her room.”

  “I have a hunch,” Nancy said, “that the birthday parties and the coins Diego gave away could be the clues to solving this case.”

  Diego looked bewildered. “But they’re just worthless coins! Why would someone rob a house or kidnap Juanita for them?”

  “That’s what we need to find out,” Nancy said.

  Diego stood up. “I’ll go get the bag.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Nancy said. “I need to talk to Carlos.”

  Diego nodded, and Nancy, George, and Bess followed him up the stairs. Carlos was in his bedroom. He hung his head and stuck out his bottom lip when he saw them.

  “Carlos,” Nancy said, “I need to see that paper in your pocket, and I want you to tell me exactly where you found it—okay? It might help me find Juanita.”

  Carlos scuffed his foot against the floor. “Me and Jimmy got it from his father’s basement,” he said. “It was on the wire things—taped and taped all around.” Carlos dug his hand into his pocket and handed Nancy the paper.

  “That looks like the paper I was trying to get at the Gordon house. Remember? It was wrapped around the security wires,” George said.

  Nancy nodded, staring at the paper. Bess and George looked over her shoulder.

  “Wow,” George said. “It’s got the security code and Mr. Gardner’s address.”

  “If Carlos got this from the Gardners’ security wires,” Bess said, “and you saw a paper on Mr. Gordon’s wires, and they both have Secure systems—then is the paper supposed to be there?”

  “I tried to find out, but I couldn’t,” Nancy said. “But if a burglar knew the paper was there, he could get the code just as Carlos did—and come back and break into the house! Maybe Carlos did see a man in the Kileys’ basement. Someone at the birthday party could have sneaked down into the basement and taken the paper.”

  Diego looked confused. “But I’ve already spoken to Carlos about this man he saw. It was probably Max,” he said. “He usually hides the dove cages in the basement before the magic act. Then he retrieves them while the kids are distracted by the rainbow and the coin tricks.”

  Nancy scratched her head. She remembered seeing Max in the Kileys’ kitchen, putting doves in his pockets. Did Max take the paper? Was he the burglar? No time to think about this now, she thought. We need to find out more about the papers. “I�
�m going to call Secure Monitoring Company again,” Nancy said.

  Downstairs, Nancy called Secure Monitoring Company. This time, she asked for the district manager. She explained who she was, and the manager listened to her with respect when she said, “I have reason to believe that a paper listing a security code was left on the wires of one of your systems and was then used by a burglar to break into the house. Do your installers leave these papers with every system you install?”

  The manager explained, “The papers are supposed to be hidden high on the wires. Only a maintenance person should be aware of them. They contain information that would aid in repairing the system, and yes, they list the security codes. Are you sure the burglar used our paper?”

  “It looks that way,” Nancy said. “One more question. Why was David Andrews fired from your company a few months ago?”

  “Well, Mr. Andrews was late to many of his installation appointments. He was spending too much time working at another job, at a magic shop, I believe,” the manager said, then he sighed. “Unfortunately, the man we hired to replace him had to be fired, too, after botching some installations. His name was Max Karn.”

  “Max Karn—young, dark hair, tall—that Max Karn?” she asked.

  “Yes, that sounds like him,” he said.

  “Thank you, you’ve been very helpful,” Nancy said, and hung up the receiver. She turned to Diego. “Mr. Puentes? Could I have Max’s address please—he just became a suspect.”

  Diego’s eyes widened, then he left the room to find Max’s address. Nancy told Bess and George what the Secure manager had said on the phone.

  “We need to check out Max’s apartment,” Nancy went on. “He could be hiding stolen goods.” Diego came back into the room and handed Nancy Max’s address. “He lives on Lake Drive,” Diego said.

  “Let me get this straight,” Bess said. “David and Max are suspects because they both knew that Secure Monitoring Company put papers on the wires with the codes. But how do the coins fit into all this?”

  “Like this,” she said. “We have a kidnapper who’s demanded a bag of fake gold coins as ransom for Juanita. Diego gave out some of these coins during his magic shows at birthday parties. The houses where the birthday parties were held were burgled soon after the magic shows by someone who knew the security codes. So someone at the parties knew about the papers on the wires. He or she took the papers from the basements, and later came back and broke into the houses—without setting off the alarms.”

  George jumped in. “Nancy, that’s it! If each of the burgled families are missing the coins Diego gave their kids and missing the papers on the wires in their basements, then the houses were robbed to get the coins back! The burglar took some TVs and things, but whoever it was was most interested in the coins, because valuable things were usually left behind.”

  “Let’s confirm this with phone calls,” Nancy said. She called the Larsens first. Mrs. Larsen confirmed that Melissa had complained that her coin was missing. The story was the same at the Mowrers’ and the Bairds’—each child’s coin was missing. They were all puzzled by her request to check the wires in their basements, but all had the same answer—no papers.

  “So, the Mowrers, the Bairds, and the Larsens are all missing coins and the Secure papers,” Nancy reported. “There was no paper on the wires in the Kileys’ basement, so it must have been removed during the magic show—before I went down to investigate. And Robbie and Corey Kiley told me their coins were missing when I talked to Mrs. Kiley after the burglary.”

  “But one of the Kiley kids still has his coin, Nancy—remember?” Bess pointed out.

  Nancy bit her lip, thinking. “That’s right,” she said. “It said magic coin on it. But Robbie and Corey said their lady coins were missing.” She turned to Diego. “Some of the coins Carlos had today were different from the others. Do you remember giving out any coins with ladies on them?”

  Diego shook his head. “I just grab a handful of coins and put them in my pocket for the coin tricks,” he said. “The ones I bought from Ian MacDonald said Magic Coin. Here—I have the bag.” He picked up the bag from a low shelf.

  Nancy dumped the coins onto the table. She sifted through them and found five that had a woman in a long gown. The rest of the coins said magic coin on them. She studied one of the coins with the woman, then looked up in wonder. “This coin says U.S. twenty dollars, and has a date—1933.”

  The others gathered around the table and looked at the coins. Nancy took a piece of paper and a pencil from her purse. She put the paper over the coin, then rubbed the side of the pencil over the paper. “There,” she said, “now I’ve got a rubbing of the coin.”

  Nancy scooped the coins into the bag and handed it to Diego. “Keep these safe until we can arrange the ransom drop,” she said. “We’ll go to Mr. Baird’s now and show him this rubbing. He’s a coin collector—he’ll know if the coin has any value. The kidnapper might want the bag of coins because of the coins with the woman.”

  Diego gave Nancy a worried look. “Will this help you find Juanita?” he asked.

  “If we find the thief, we’ll also find the kidnapper,” Nancy said softly. “Let me check out a few things, then I’ll call Officer Brody and we can arrange the ransom drop-off.”

  “The note said not to call the police,” he said.

  “We need the police, Diego. Otherwise, the kidnapper could pick up the ransom and never return Juanita,” Nancy said gently. “Officer Brody is good at his job—he’ll make sure his people are well-hidden at the ransom pickup site.”

  Diego nodded, but the lines across his forehead deepened. He got up and took some sandwiches in plastic wrap from the refrigerator. “You girls should eat lunch—take these with you,” he said. He handed the sandwiches to Bess. “I’ll wait here with Carlos. Maybe Juanita will call, or David. Maybe it’s all a mistake or a bad joke.”

  Nancy stood up. “We’ll see you soon,” Nancy said, knowing in her heart that most ransom notes were not mistakes.

  • • •

  Mr. Baird led Nancy and her friends into his study. Nancy showed him the rubbing of the coin, and he peered closely at it. “This looks like a twenty-dollar Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle gold coin! The woman pictured is Lady Liberty. Remember I told you I was getting ready to buy one of these before my coin collection was stolen. But the coin I wanted was a 1911 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle. If I’m reading the date correctly—1933—then this Double-Eagle coin is illegal!” he told Nancy.

  He slapped the rubbing onto the desk and picked up a book. He flipped the pages and pointed to a photograph of a coin. “This is it,” he said. “Over 445,000 twenty-dollar Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle gold coins were minted in 1933. But that year President Roosevelt was trying to lift the nation out of the Great Depression, so he made it illegal to own gold coins. The 1933 coins were never released to the public. All the gold coins stored in the Treasury and bank vaults were rounded up and melted down.”

  Nancy studied the photograph. “Melted down? Then how could Diego have one?”

  “Or five?” asked Bess.

  Mr. Baird tossed the book on the desk. “Coin collectors have often speculated that an employee at the U.S. Mint might have taken some of the Double Eagles before the meltdown began,” Mr. Baird said.

  As soon as he said, “Mint,” Nancy remembered the conversation she’d overheard between Ian MacDonald and his customer, Mr. Denisen. Could Mr. MacDonald know something about these particular coins? Diego had bought the bag of magic coins from him.

  “Nancy,” Mr. Baird said, “if you know the whereabouts of any of these illegal coins, you should contact a U.S. Treasury agent.”

  Nancy smiled. “I think you might have had one of the illegal coins in your house,” she said. “The coin your daughter complained was stolen could have been a Double Eagle.”

  Mr. Baird stared at Nancy. “What!” he exclaimed. “Amy had a 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle—in my house? I can’t believe it!”

&nb
sp; “If my hunch is right,” Nancy said, “it may have been why your house was burgled. And I think I know who might be involved. May I use your phone?”

  Mr. Baird pointed to the one on the desk. Nancy called Officer Brody and told him that Juanita had been kidnapped and why the kidnapper asked for the bag of coins as ransom. Then she asked him for the name and number of a Treasury agent in Chicago.

  “I’ve been in touch with an agent named Edward Simmons,” Officer Brody said. He gave her Simmons’s number and said the River Heights Police Department would do their utmost to get Juanita back safely.

  Nancy called Mr. Simmons, who confirmed that the 1933 coin was illegal. “It would be priceless to an unethical collector,” he said.

  “Can you meet with me in River Heights?” Nancy asked. “I need your help.”

  “Agent O’Hare and I can meet you in a couple of hours,” Mr. Simmons said. “We’ve been tracking a suspect in the River Heights area. We think his business is a front for selling stolen rare coins. Maybe you know him. His name is Ian MacDonald.”

  14

  A Golden Lady

  Nancy’s mind raced. She remembered the day Ian MacDonald had come to the Magic Shop. He’d told Diego he’d confused two of his orders and wanted to see the bag of coins he’d sold him. The pieces of the puzzle clicked into place one by one. Mr. MacDonald must have put the Double Eagles into the bag with the magic coins for safekeeping—and then accidentally sold them to Diego.

  That was it! Diego told Ian MacDonald he’d already given away some of the coins at birthday parties, and he couldn’t find the bag, though he thought Carlos might have had it. Mr. MacDonald could have tried to get his rare Double Eagles back by breaking into the houses, and when he only found a few, he tried to get the rest from Diego directly. And when that didn’t work—he kidnapped Juanita!

  “I’ve met Mr. MacDonald,” Nancy told the Treasury agent on the phone, “and I think you’re right about the stolen rare coins.” She told him what she’d reasoned out.