SARAH TOPS

I came out the Museum of Natural History and was crossing the street on my way to the subway. Suddenly, I saw the crowd and the police cars. I could hear the siren of an ambulance.

At first, I wanted to stop and find out what was going on. But then I walked on. The crowd just get in the way of policemen trying to do their job. My dad is a detective and he complains about the crowds all the time. I didn’t want to add to the problem myself. I just kept my mind on the paper I had to write for my seventh-grade class.

After dinner I asked Dad about the incident at the museum. Dad knew all about it. A man had been murdered had been murdered outside the museum!

“I was working on my paper. I was there all morning”, I said.

Mom looked worried. “Was there a shooting in the museum?” she asked. “Well, no, there wasn’t”, Dad said. “This man tried to hide in the museum, but he didn’t succeed”.

“Oh, it would be easy to hide in there”, I said. “I know the museum, every inch.” Dad looked at me. “Boasting again, Larry?” he said. Then he continued:”The men who were after him didn’t let him get away. They caught up with him outside. Then they knifed him and got away.” “How terrible!” Mom said. “We’ll catch them though”, Dad said.

“We know who they are. They’re part of the gang that broke into the jewelry store tow weeks ago. We got the jewels back, but we didn’t catch all the men. And not all the jewels either. One is still missing. A big one-worth 30,000$.”

“Maybe that’s what the killers were after”, I said. Dad nodded. “Yes, the dead man probably tried to cheat the other two. I think he wanted to keep that diamond for himself. They turned out his pockets and ripped his clothes after they knifed him.”

“Did they get the dimond?” I asked. “We don’t know. The women who found him heard him say three words, very slowly: ‘Try…Sarah…Tops.” Then he died.

“Is there a Sarah Tops in the phone book?” I asked.

Dad said, “Do you think we didn’t look? No, there isn’t a Sarah Tops. There’s nothing in aor files. There’s nothing in the F.B.I files, either.” Mom said, “Maybe it’s not a person. Maybe it’s a company.” Could be”, said Dad. Suddenly I had an idea. “Listen, maybe it’s a thing. Maybe the woman didn’t hear ‘Sarah Tops’, but Sarah’s top. If the dead man had a daughter named Sarah, maybe, he made a hole in her toy top and hid the diamond inside…” Dad smiled. “Very good, Larry”, he said.

“A nice idea. But he doesn’t have a daughter named Sarah or any relative by that name, as far as we know. And why did he say ‘Try’?” Suddenly it hit me. Dad, can we get into the museum at this time of the evening?” “On police business? Sure.” Dad, I’ve got a silly idea. I…I…” Dad likes me to have my own ideas. He said, “All right. Let’s go.”

He called the museum. We took a taxi and got there a few minutes later. A guard let us in. I’ve never been in the museum when it was dark. It looked like a big cave. The guard’s flashlight made things even darker an more mysterious.

We took the elevator up to the fourth floor. The guard put on the light. Suddenly I felt at home. I knew them all. Some were in glass cases. But the big ones were in the middle of the large room. Bones and teeth and skeletons of dinosaurs that existed hundreds of millions of years ago. “I want to take a close look at that one”, I said. I looked at the skeleton. It was fantastic. “What’s this?” I said. I picked up something sticky.

“Chewing gum”, said the guard. “I don’t understand.”

“I can explain”, I said. “The guy tried to get away. He had an idea. He wanted to keep the diamond away from the gang…”

Before I could finish my sentence, Dad took the gum from me. Something inside caught the light and flashed.

Dad put it in an envelope. “How did you Know?” he asked me.

“Well, look at the name of the dinosaur”, I said.

Dad looked. On the nameplate it was written: “TRICERATOPS.”