“I can’t believe we’re flying home tonight,” said Kat, bouncing on the extravagantly comfy mattress of the Royal Manhattan’s junior suite.
Following the discovery of the diamond necklace, the hotel manager had insisted on giving them a free night in the hotel’s finest accommodation. Dr. Wolfe and Theo Lamb each had suites fit for a king and queen, and the girls were sharing.
Harper was standing at their thirty-third-story window, looking down at the kaleidoscope of neon theater signs and rainbow crowds on Broadway. “For me, it’s flying home but also leaving home. I love Bluebell Bay, but my heart belongs to the U.S. of A.”
Kat knew what she meant. They say that once you’ve breathed the High Peaks’ air and felt the ruby rain on your skin, you’ll be changed forever, the woman in the Inquiring Minds bookshop had said. It was true. The moment the red maple leaves had brushed Kat’s upturned cheeks on that first day in the forest, something inside her had done a seismic shift.
A little piece of her heart would always belong to the Adirondacks.
All the same, she was counting the hours until she was on her not quite so extravagantly comfy futon in her attic room in Bluebell Bay, with Tiny taking up a leopard’s share of the bed.
The doorbell rang. Their breakfast tray and morning newspaper were delivered on a silver platter.
Wrapped in fluffy white robes, they laid out the New York Times on the coffee table. They read it between bites of croissant.
WISH LIST GANGSTERS WERE WISHFUL THINKING, SAYS ATTORNEY
Detectives have been accused of having overactive imaginations after two girls—one British, one American—solved the case of the heiress’s missing diamond necklace using sleuthing skills learned from mystery novels.
For close to two years, Americans have been gripped by the daring exploits of the Wish List gang. A 1964 Bob Dylan guitar, a fifth-century bronze, a priceless eighteenth-century Sofia Rossi masterpiece, and more, all snaffled with apparent ease while hapless cops ran around in circles.
Incredibly, it now appears that those heists may also have been the stuff of fantasy.
NYPD detectives claimed that the gang’s run of luck ended when alleged leader Gerry Meeks, 91, snatched heiress Cynthia Hollinghurst’s $50 million necklace at the Royal Manhattan’s grand east wing opening on September 27.
Yesterday, in a twist worthy of a thriller, schoolgirls Kat Wolfe, 12, and Harper Lamb, 13, sensationally revealed the diamonds to an enthralled audience of afternoon tea guests at the Royal Manhattan. The jewels had been in a stainless-steel ice storage unit all along.
How did the girls know where to look?
“It seemed obvious,” said Harper Lamb, the daughter of eminent Yale paleontologist Theo Lamb.
Both girls are based in Bluebell Bay, an idyllic cove on England’s Jurassic Coast. They became firm friends through a shared love of mysteries and animals.
Wolfe elaborated. “After we watched a news report where Mr. Meeks was charged with stealing the diamond necklace and other crimes, we felt sorry for him. People seemed to be judging him before he was proven guilty. When Storm Mindy came along, and we were trapped in a snowy cabin in the Adirondacks with nothing to do, we decided to put our heads together and consider other options.”
“We got lucky,” Lamb added modestly.
It was the latest in a series of rapid developments in the case. Earlier this week, an anonymous tip-off led police to recover all eight stolen items on the Wish List. They were undamaged and have been reunited with their owners. Did pranksters take them, or were the real thieves now suffering pangs of conscience? We may never know.
There have been winners and losers galore in this intriguing case.
The biggest loser is Clancy Hollinghurst, who has been charged with insurance fraud amid allegations that he claimed millions for the theft of an almost identical diamond necklace 30 years ago.
In a further twist, it has emerged that Mr. Meeks was the lead insurance investigator on the case.
Walking free from prison, Mr. Meeks had only one comment: “We’re all human. Every one of us makes mistakes. The real test is what we do about it.”
Of the many unanswered questions in the case, one stands out. How did Mr. Meeks’s DNA end up on the wish list found in his pocket on the night the diamonds were stolen?
His attorney, Rachel Scott, had this to say: “This case has only ever been about the wishful thinking of detectives. As I explained from the very beginning, Mr. Meeks has allergies. Soon after discovering the wish list, he sneezed on it. If everybody got locked up for hay fever, we’d be in trouble.”
To celebrate his freedom, Meeks plans to move to the Adirondacks to live with friends. He will not be returning to Shady Oaks Nursing Home.
Harper folded the newspaper and tossed it on top of her suitcase.
“Do you think we did the right thing? With the money?”
“Yes, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” said Kat. “Why, are you having second thoughts?”
“No, and I never will. Far as I’m concerned, the million-dollar reward wasn’t ours to take. If anyone deserved it, it was Gerry. He was fighting to right lots of wrongs. We only helped with one.”
Kat’s phone rang as she brushed her teeth. She smiled as she wiped her mouth on a towel. “Hi, Grandfather.”
“Katarina, according to my diary, a mere nine days have passed since you messaged me to say that you had ‘sort of an emergency.’ In hindsight, it may have been a mistake to escort you and your friends to the airport in my helicopter so that you didn’t miss your flight.”
“It wasn’t a mistake, Grandfather. You were a miracle worker. I’m not sure what we’d have done without you.”
“Kat, why do most people go on holiday?”
“To rest and relax.”
“Did you rest and relax?”
“I, uh … not exactly, but that was Storm Mindy’s fault. She buried us under so much snow and ice that Mum got stuck in Lake Placid and Professor Lamb was delayed in London. Harper and I were fine, but we had a couple of scrapes coping on our own in the wilderness.”
“By ‘scrapes,’ I assume you’re referring to the part you played in the rescue of Riley Matthews, star witness to one of the most high-profile diamond heists in the United States? A little bird tells me that Riley credits you with helping to save her life in a snowstorm after an attempted kidnapping.”
“That wasn’t me,” said Kat. “It was Tiny.”
“Who’s Tiny?”
“You know—my Savannah cat in Bluebell Bay. Riley and I crossed paths in a forest. I ended up giving her a photo of Tiny because I got the feeling she needed a friend. His spirit kept her going when she was lost in a blizzard.”
“Your cat in Bluebell Bay kept her going?”
“It’s a long story,” said Kat.
“I’ll bet it is. In the fullness of time, I’d be most interested to hear the details. And I suppose it’s pure coincidence that you and Harper outsmarted some of America’s finest detectives and just happened to know where to lay your hands on the missing necklace that caused all the trouble in the first place?”
“It was a lucky guess.”
“So lucky that when you were offered a million-dollar reward, you promptly turned it down.”
Kat didn’t bother asking how her grandfather was so informed on matters that were known only to the people directly involved and would never see the light of day in any newspaper. Lord Hamilton-Crosse was always informed and always would be.
“We didn’t turn down the reward. We asked for it to be donated—”
“To the new cancer wing of the St. Francis of Assisi Children’s Hospital. Yes, I heard. I also heard that Gerry Meeks lost his young granddaughter to the cruel disease. I can do the maths. But weren’t you and Harper tempted by the thought of a college trust fund, or a million-dollar nest egg you could have spent on cars, clothes, or property once you came of age?”
“It wasn’t our money to take,” said Kat.
There was a long silence.
“Kat, I’m not sure where the truth in any of this lies,” said her grandfather, “but what is beyond doubt is that, faced with a winter storm and a series of life-threatening challenges, you and Harper met all that they could throw at you with a courage and selflessness more rare, and infinitely more precious, than any diamonds owned by any heiress ever.”
He seemed to have a frog in his throat and apologized for putting the call on hold while he blew his nose. “I hope you won’t mind, Katarina,” he said when he came back on the line, “but I’ve taken the liberty of donating an extra million dollars to the hospital fund on behalf of you and Harper.”
Kat nearly dropped the phone. “You’ve what … I—I—”
She’d put the call on speakerphone. Harper had brought over a box of Kleenex because she was crying and laughing too.
“I don’t know how to thank you, Grandfather.”
“You can thank me by flying home safely tonight. When you arrive at Heathrow tomorrow morning, my Spy Craft will be waiting to whisk you all home to Bluebell Bay. That way, you won’t have to wait a moment longer than necessary to be reunited with Tiny. Sounds like he’s a hero too—even if he doesn’t know it.”