“Wow!” George exclaimed. “That is one tall building.”
“It’s the tallest freestanding structure in the world,” Mr. Drew said.
As they headed inside the building Craig said, “There are four lookouts near the top of the tower, but if I were going to meet someone to exchange stolen merchandise, I think I’d choose 360. That’s the revolving restaurant near the top of the tower.”
Craig’s Interpol identification card got them to the head of the line for one of the express elevators. They whizzed up over 1,000 feet within seconds.
When the elevator doors opened, Nancy immediately spotted Laura and Amber. They were at one of the tables across the room. A man was sitting opposite them.
“That’s Piet Van Rooyen, a South African diamond dealer,” Craig said. “He’s at the top of Interpol’s most-wanted list.”
The five of them stepped out of the elevator and stood to one side, where they would be out of Laura and Amber’s line of vision.
“Nancy,” Craig said, “how did you know they’d be here?”
“Laura picked up several boxes of candy in Lake Erie Beach when the ship stopped there,” Nancy explained. “When we got to Amber’s room—we fell for her accident onshore, and helped her back to her suite—Laura was waiting for us there with the candy and a gun. Amber mentioned that the candy was for Uncle CN, and Laura said that even though he was a tower of strength, he still needed his candy. I just picked up on the key words.”
“But that doesn’t explain where the diamonds are,” Craig said.
“Oh, yes it does,” Nancy said. “Ever try chocolate-covered diamonds?”
“Oh, my gosh!” Bess exclaimed. “You’re kidding.”
“No, I’m not,” Nancy said.
“What a perfect hiding place,” George said.
“Well, I can’t be positive that that’s where the diamonds are, but it certainly makes sense,” Nancy said. “What look like chocolate-covered clusters of nuts could easily be millions and millions of dollars’ worth of chocolate-dipped diamonds!”
“Amazing!” Craig said, looking at Nancy. He took out his cell phone and made a quick call. “The Toronto authorities have been waiting to hear from me,” he said. “They’ll be the ones making the arrests. We’ll stay here, though, until they arrive.”
Five minutes later all of the elevators to the 360 Restaurant opened up, and swarms of Toronto police officers burst into the room. Craig led the officer in charge of the operation over to Laura and Amber’s table.
“I think this would be an appropriate time to show ourselves,” Nancy whispered to Bess and George.
They moved away from the bank of elevators and into the middle of the room. Amber saw them immediately. She whispered something to her mother, and Laura looked in their direction.
Nancy could only imagine what was going through their minds. They were probably wishing now that Nancy had fallen into Lake Erie instead of onto the deck chairs.
Nancy watched as Laura, Amber, and Mr. Van Rooyen slowly stood up to be handcuffed by the Toronto police.
Craig picked up the boxes of chocolate and came back to where Nancy, her friends, and Carson Drew were standing.
“One of the boxes was open,” Craig said, showing them the container. “Look. You can see a small sparkle in the chocolate! I guess Mr. Van Rooyen wanted to make sure that this chocolate wasn’t full of nuts.”
“With those two, you can’t be too careful,” George said. “I kind of don’t blame him!”
“I have to go with the police,” Craig said. “Thanks for all your help, Nancy. You’ll be hearing from me soon.” He turned to Bess and George. “I also appreciate what you two did.”
“I’m glad everything worked out all right, Craig,” Nancy said. “I feel better knowing that you really did have this investigation under control.”
Craig grinned at her. “Well, for the most part,” he said. “But I now know to be less of a stickler about profiling when I’m on certain cases!”
Craig followed a couple of the Toronto police officers onto one of the elevators, and the doors closed behind them.
“Well!” Carson Drew said. “That was quite an ending to your Great Lakes cruise, hmm?”
Nancy and her friends laughed.
“How about we eat?” Mr. Drew said.
“Definitely!” Bess said.
As they followed the maître d’ to their table Nancy finally felt herself relaxing. Maybe now she could start to enjoy their vacation.
“This is the best view in the restaurant,” the maître d’ said, pulling out Nancy’s seat.
“Great,” Nancy said. “Thanks!”
“Oh no, Nancy! Look!” Bess gasped. “I thought I’d never have to see that again!”
Nancy and George moved closer to the window to see what Bess was pointing at. Below them, like a toy ship floating in a puddle of water, was the SS Great Lakes.
“Is there a problem?” the maître d’ asked. “I can seat you somewhere else.”
“Oh, no, I’ll just change places with her,” Nancy said.
“All right,” the maître d’ said. “Your waiter will be with you momentarily.”
