The Mummy (5 page)

“Sorry, I'm working the afternoon shift. And sometime tomorrow I have a term paper to write. No need to panic, though. It's not due until Tuesday.”

Josh laughed. “How could I be crazy about someone who thinks more of dusty old mummies than she does me?”

“I don't know. You're just lucky, I guess.”

“I suppose I'd better take you home. Seti is probably waiting up for you.”

“He'd better be.”

Just for meanness, Lana waved good-bye at Rod and Darrah. Darrah frowned and didn't respond, but Rod waved back.

“Did I ever tell you that the ancient Egyptians worshiped cats?” Lana asked as Josh helped her into his old Mazda.

Josh got in the driver's seat and started the car before he answered. “Do you know the statistics about how much cat food Americans buy a year? I'd say we have a little cat worship going on ourselves. We are a strange bunch. Darrah has that right.”

Lana looked, but couldn't see her bedroom window when they pulled in the drive. The idea of Seti waiting up for her had caught her imagination.

When Josh kissed Lana good night, she heard Seti meow immediately. The black cat blended in perfectly with the shadows on the front porch of the Richardson home. Seti perched on a wicker chair cushion and stared at them both. After he had spoken his piece, he jumped down and scratched on the front door, wanting to go inside.

“If I didn't know better, Lana, I'd say he was jealous.” Josh pushed Lana toward the door. “You'd better go inside with him before I get scratched.”

If Lana didn't know better, she'd think Josh was right. She opened the front door for Seti. He bounced inside, then turned to see if she was following … waiting.

Chapter 6

The next day after lunch, Lana made sure Seti was sound asleep on her bed before she left for the museum.

Twice, walking toward the museum, she looked back to be sure he hadn't woken up and followed her. She saw no sneaky black shadow darting from tree to tree, bush to bush. “Silly, silly, silly,” she told herself, then turned her mind to today's job.

She would work from two until six, since the museum closed early on Sunday. Maybe, just maybe, she could finish her term paper tonight. Her mother had agreed to her taking on the extra work only if Lana's grades stayed decent. She had never insisted that Lana make straight A's, but Lana knew college was going to depend on scholarships, so no one had to remind her that the top students got the money to go on with their education.

She had to go to college in order to become an archaeologist. There was no question about that. And she
had
to become an archaeologist. She had never wanted to do anything else. She knew jobs were hard to get, that it was a risky career, but she also knew that if you wanted to be happy in life, you had to follow your dreams.

She pushed through the heavy doors at the museum, glancing up at the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton hanging suspended from the ceiling. There were long lines at the museum box office, and lines in front of the exhibit. A lot of people disagreed with Josh about seeing old stuff. A lot of people would wait an hour or more to see the Egyptian relics.

Rod wasn't working. Neither was Marge. The only person she knew who was there today was Antef. He was talking to a group of people when she slipped into her vest and took her assigned place — the case with the wedding collar. She hoped she could move around, since she took free moments to study the cases herself. She certainly had this one memorized.

The strange, magnetic pull from the mummy was there again. She felt silly — and a little frightened — but Nefra made her feel so special. He made her want to be with him. She stopped at his coffin on her way across the second room. One hand was crossed over his chest. Breathing a sigh of relief, she took time to stare at the mummy for a few minutes and to look at the beautiful face on the coffin lid. She could barely take her eyes off it.

A cloud of warm air surrounded her, bringing a strong feeling of love and well-being. It was the same feeling she'd had after her dream the other night, but this was more overpowering. She walked to the necklace case feeling an intense but painful joy. She finally realized she had a smile on her face when everyone who came along smiled back.

“They should let
you
wear that necklace, young lady,” an elderly man suggested. “It would suit you well.”

She felt her cheeks heat. “Thank you, sir, but I'm afraid it's much too valuable for that. It is lovely though, isn't it?”

He agreed and stayed for several minutes looking at the jewels. Then he waved with two fingers and moved on.

Late in the afternoon, people came into the show carrying umbrellas, so Lana knew it was raining outside. Inside, the lights had come on early. She was going to get wet going home, since it had never occurred to her that the fall sunshine wasn't going to last.

Despite a snack on her break, Lana was hungry. Without looking at her watch she knew that it was almost six o'clock. She did check. A quarter to. There were only a young couple and two elderly men still in her room. The other volunteer had left, but Lana felt that she should wait until all the people were gone.

She turned to check the area behind her when the lights went out. Remembering what had happened the last time, she froze. Her knees started to tremble, her heart beat faster, and her pulse throbbed. She waited for the whispering to begin. She wished she had something to hold onto.

Suddenly someone bumped into her. “Hey — ” she called out. Then a hand shoved her and she stumbled, falling onto the floor before she could catch herself.

Immediately she was on her feet and shoving back. She moved with good instinct and took hold of whoever this was. He or she pushed Lana again but Lana was ready this time. She struggled to grasp something on the person, hold on until she could catch her breath and yell for help.

“Help — he — ” Someone's hand closed over her mouth before she could call loudly. “Let me go,” she muttered into the sweaty palm, but it came out like a muffled stutter.

Her arms flapped and slapped but she couldn't get a grip on the person or his clothing. She grabbed again before he hit her shoulder and shoved her harder. This time she skidded to the floor, dazed.

A crash exploded the case near her, sending splinters of glass in all directions. Instinctively, she spun around, her back to the noise, but one sliver shot into her arm with a piercing pain. She heard footsteps crunching on the glass, then running away.

As she sat up, the lights flickered and came back on. She blinked to focus and glanced all around her. No one. She was alone in the room.

Her arm was bleeding slightly, but when she pulled out the sliver of glass, a stream of blood flowed and dripped onto the floor. She slipped the object in her hand into the pocket of her vest. Then quickly she reached into the waistband of her slacks and pulled out a tissue she had tucked there. She pressed it over the wound with the thumb and finger of her left hand and held it tightly.

A regular museum guard, a man assigned to the exhibit, and Antef reached her at the same time.

“Lana, what happened? You are hurt. Let me see.” Antef knelt beside her.

“I'm fine, Antef. A small puncture is all. See what — ”

Antef helped her to her feet. She could see for herself what had broken. The case with the wedding collar. The necklace with the beautiful, large emerald that symbolized the eye of Osiris, god of the underworld.

“The necklace, Antef,” she whispered, moving closer, kicking aside the broken glass. “
The wedding necklace is gone!
”

Chapter 7

Biting her lip and holding back the tears, Lana stared at the shattered case. Whoever had hit the glass had done so carefully. Only the side where the necklace rested was broken. She took a quick inventory of the rest of the contents.

“Nothing else is missing. There's the carnelian cat statue, the bowl of hammered copper, and the faience glass-paste beads.” She moved around a little, glass crunching under her shoes. “The fish amulets are there, the gold earrings.” She pointed as she itemized the collection she had been in charge of, the one she had memorized by standing there for two work sessions.

“I would have to say that the thief was certainly bold, breaking into the case while people were here, thinking he could escape with the necklace,” commented the one remaining man who was looking at the exhibit.

“He must still be in the museum,” Lana said, realizing that they should close all the exits. “Has anyone called the police?”

“Of course.” Antef looked at Lana's arm. “You need a doctor.”

“No, I don't. Look, my arm has already stopped bleeding.” Lana pulled away the tissue. There was only the small red spot where the glass had pierced her skin in a shallow wound. “There are first-aid supplies in the office. I'll get some antiseptic and a Band-Aid in a minute.”

Antef hurried away to get those things for her. The museum security guard came back, followed by Dr. Walters.

“Lana, fortunately I was still here. What happened?”

“It was all so fast,” Lana explained. “The lights went out and I struggled with someone.”

“Do you know who it was?” Dr. Walters frowned.

“No, it was dark. I couldn't even tell if it was a man or a woman, but the person was strong. He, or she, shoved me down and then broke the case. It took only seconds to grab the necklace and run.”

“Was it insured?” The stranger watched beside them, not exactly acting like an innocent bystander.

“Yes, of course, but that doesn't matter. The piece is not replaceable. We can't even really put a value on it.”

All of a sudden Lana found herself surrounded by people. Blair Vaughn was the first to speak. “You let someone steal the wedding necklace, Lana?”

“Well, I — ”

“Lana didn't
let
someone steal the necklace, Blair.” Dr. Walters spoke in a stern tone of voice. “This is not her fault.”

If anyone wanted to make Lana feel guilty, it wouldn't be hard. She kept thinking she should have been able to stop the theft. She
had
had hold of the thief.

“Did you call for security immediately?” Blair asked, continuing to question Lana in an accusing voice.

“I don't know. It all happened so fast. I tried to yell. I tried to stop him, but I couldn't. And the lights were off. I didn't know what was happening. That he planned to steal something.”

“Why else would he turn off the lights and push you aside?” Blair stared at Lana, unwilling to let her have any excuses, eager to blame Lana for this terrible loss.

Lana's head throbbed, and she ached all over. But there wasn't time to think that maybe something was hurt more than her pride. She was probably bruised, but her heart ached at the idea of this happening when she was on duty, supposed to be protecting things.

A policeman made her tell her story again. She closed her eyes and related it, trying to live every moment over. Officer Callahan asked things she couldn't remember, though, and soon she felt really confused.

“What kind of clothing was he wearing? How tall was he? Was he fat or thin? Did he have any odor about him?”

Lana kept shaking her head. How was she supposed to take in all that information in a matter of seconds? There was something. She did know
something
else, but it wouldn't come to her.

Finally Officer Callahan said the worst thing of all. “How do we know this happened, Miss Richardson? Maybe you're making all this up.”

“You think
I
took the necklace?” Lana stared at him, some of her exhaustion falling away, being replaced by anger. “You think I broke the case and took the collar? What would I do with it? Where is it now?”

“You could have hidden it. Look at all these cupboards. You could plan to take it out of the museum later.” Callahan seemed convinced he'd found the answer.

“Wait a minute, officer.” Dr. Walters proceeded to set Callahan straight. “Miss Richardson is one of our best volunteers. She's a member of the Egyptian Study Society, a student of Egyptology. You are certainly wrong about thinking she took the necklace.”

“She'd know it was the most valuable piece here.” Callahan wasn't convinced.

“She's a high school senior, Officer Callahan. Not a thief.” Even Blair Vaughn softened toward Lana with Callahan attacking. She had been upset when she first came in and had pointed her finger at the first person she saw. Common sense would have told her later that it wasn't Lana's fault that this had happened. “Come on, Lana, I'll take you home.”

“No, I'm fine, Blair. Thanks. You can be helpful to Dr. Walters and the police. They'll want to be sure the necklace is the only thing missing. And you can help them decide how the thief could dispose of the piece. He can't just go out and sell it.”

“Are you sure you don't want some company?” Blair took hold of Lana's arm and walked partway to the room for employees and volunteers. “It would help you to talk this out some more. We might think of something you forgot to tell the police.”

The museum had been sealed. A few tourists were trapped inside. They were being questioned by the police before they could go home.

“I'm sure. I live very close. I don't want to talk any more. And I'm not hurt. I was fortunate.”

“Yes, you were. You could have been badly cut by the glass or knocked out by the thief. He took a big chance to pull this off during hours the museum is open.”

Lana watched Blair turn and walk down a back hall toward the museum offices. She mumbled to herself and seemed to be thinking about how this could have happened.

Grabbing her jacket, Lana pulled it on over her vest. She felt cold, so terribly cold. Antef met her as she reached the front door.

“I have not given you this bandage, Lana. Someone stopped me to ask what happened.” He held out a paper-wrapped strip.