The following morning Vance and I were back at the station. This time I was standing with Captain Nelson on the other side of the one-way glass and watched as Vance entered the interrogation room and sat down on the same damn chair he had sat in when he had interrogated me. I know. I saw the familiar rips in the chair.
“How certain are you that the pendant is a fake?” I quietly asked the captain.
“A hundred percent.”
“I don’t get it. If Victor stole the fake pendant then what happened to the real one?”
Captain Nelson turned to regard me.
“I thought you said you were a writer? Haven’t you been able to figure this one out?”
“Why does everyone assume I’m a damn mystery writer?” I grumbled.
“Then what type of writer are you?” the captain asked.
“Can you just tell me what happened?”
“Victor Preston was double-crossed.”
“By who?” I wanted to know.
Captain Nelson pointed at Ammar.
“Who else? Him.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“I’ve been doing my job for more years than I care to count,” Captain Nelson told me. “I pride myself for being able to read body language. I can tell almost immediately when someone is lying to me.”
I had to order myself not to make a peep. He could pride himself? Please. I seem to recall the good captain here maintained I was guilty as hell when he thought I was the culprit behind the murders here a few months ago. It wasn’t until that news reporter made a full confession did he officially believe I was innocent.
However, at the moment he was acting cordial to me, so I really shouldn’t push the issue.
“So what is Ammar’s body language telling you now?”
“That he’s hiding something.”
“You think he knows that the pendant Victor absconded with is fake?”
“Of course. Look at his face. The guy is all but smirking. He thinks he’s so smart. The fact is, the guy is as dumb as a bag of rocks.”
I scratched the back of my head, “Come again?”
“Why else would he still be in town?” the captain asked me as he glanced my way. “He’s stashed the pendant here in town. He thinks only he will be able to find it.”
“Why isn’t he worried?” I asked, bewildered. “He’s going to be sent away. He’s not going to get a chance to recover the pendant. Why is he so smug?”
“Because he probably knows that his home country’s penalties aren’t nearly as severe as what they’d be here. Either he figures he can make it back here before it’s found or else he’s going to send someone back here to claim it. Either way, that damn pendant needs to be found or else that smug sumbitch wins.” The captain looked over at me and his face became grim. “Do you want that to happen? I sure don’t. We need to find that pendant.”
“He could have stashed it anywhere,” I pointed out. “How in the world do you think we’re going to be able to find it?”
We heard a commotion in the interrogation room. Vance was standing up and pushing his chair away from the table. He glanced once at us through the mirror and nodded his head towards the hallway. He wanted to talk to us out there.
I followed the captain out into the hallway and saw that they were huddled close together. Vance motioned me over.
“The captain says you two already figured out what I just gleaned from our uncooperative friend.”
“The pendant is still in town,” I guessed.
Vance nodded, “Right. We need to find it.”
“How?” I asked.
Vance and the captain were both staring at me. The clouds parted and a few rays of comprehension finally hit me. They were asking if Sherlock would take the case.
“Seriously? You think Sherlock can find it?”
“He found the tiger,” Vance reminded me. “Let’s see if he can find this pendant. Look, Zack. At this point it can’t hurt to try. What do you say?”
“We can try. Just don’t get your hopes up. Any idea where we should look?”
Vance shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe the school?”
I returned home to collect the dogs. Sherlock and Watson were absolutely thrilled with the prospect of going for another ride. I pushed open my front door and led both dogs out. I’m sure from the way they were both pulling that it must looked like I was training the dogs to compete in the Iditarod. The only thing I needed in order to complete the picture was a sled.
Fifteen minutes later we were pulling up to the high school. Unfortunately, class was in session. But, I did get permission from Principal Reezen to wander the halls. He did make me promise that if the dogs found anything that I’d let him know personally. He also warned me I had about 30 minutes before the next bell sounded.
For half an hour we searched. The bell went off, turning the hallways into a maddening free-for-all as kids rushed to get to their next class. I had quite a few of the students tell me how cute they thought the dogs were.
Ten minutes later, blissful silence. Lockers were slammed shut, classroom doors were closed, and my sanity returned. We explored the school grounds for close to an hour before we gave up. Sherlock simply had no interest in anything we looked at. Watson, on the other hand, was content to walk by my side as she watched her packmate sniff at various items.
I called Vance and broke the bad news. I told him that the only thing I could do was possibly drive around town and see if Sherlock perked up at anything. He agreed. He told me that the Egyptian Embassy was sending two men to retrieve Ammar and should be there the following morning.
“I so want to rub this in his face,” Vance told me. “Tell Sherlock that if he finds that pendant before Ammar is sent away then I’ll personally wear tights to our first dance lesson.”
I laughed and hung up.
An hour later we broke for lunch. I placed a carryout order at Casa de Joe’s, the town’s only Mexican food restaurant, and surprised Jillian at work. Together we had lunch in her office.
“Have you guys had any luck yet?” Jillian asked after we had disposed of the Styrofoam containers our lunch had come in.
“Nothing yet. I honestly don’t know where to look. Ammar was MIA for close to two days. That’s more than enough time to stash that pendant somewhere in town. Or out of town. Who knows?”
“So what are you going to do?” Jillian asked.
“I’ve got to keep looking. We need to find this pendant, Jillian.”
Jillian laid a reassuring hand on mine.
“It’s sweet of you to dedicate so much of your time to help Vance, but you have to consider that maybe we’ll never find it. I know that would be a tremendous loss to the archaeological world, but it’s just the way things happened.”
I gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
“You don’t understand. I have to find this thing.”
“Why?” Jillian asked, puzzled.
“Because Vance said that he’d wear tights on his first dancing lesson if Sherlock finds the pendant.”
Jillian’s eyebrows shot straight up. A smile formed on her face. She pulled out her cell and sent off a text. Less than ten seconds later her phone chimed, signaling a message had been received. She read the message and burst out laughing.
“What?” I asked. I already figured she had texted Tori.
Jillian held her phone out to me. Yes, she had alerted Tori to what Vance had told me. Tori’s response?
If Sherlock finds that pendant then I’ll make Vance wear the rest of that costume. Peter Pan. Keep this between us!
I snorted with laughter.
“We’re heading back out. We’ve got ourselves a missing pendant to locate.”
Jillian was trying to hold back a case of the giggles.
“If you find it, please let me know, okay?”
I assured her she’d be the first to know if we did.
After two more hours of fruitless searching I was forced to make another stop. Sherlock had started his performance of what I affectionately term his ‘potty dance’, which meant he had grown super fidgety and wouldn’t stand still. We were nearing Gary’s Grocery, which I knew had the large parking lot, and decided to stop there. Once Sherlock had completed his business I was ready to head west, back into town, when I heard a woof.
I brought the Jeep to an immediate stop. I turned to look at Sherlock. He, in turn, was staring out the window, straight at… the Square L. He woofed again. Curious, I turned right instead of left and drove towards the darkened store. Sherlock’s barks became more persistent.
My hopes soared. Could Ammar have hidden the real pendant right under Victor Preston’s nose? I parked, let the dogs out, and walked towards the store. Watson was uninterested with the store but Sherlock continued to bark. He led me straight to the back door and pawed at it with one of his stumpy legs.
I pulled out my cell and called Vance.
“Zack? What’s up? Do you need… wait. Wait! Did you find it??”
“We’re back at the Square L,” I told Vance. “I’ve driven all over this damn town and Sherlock hasn’t given me even the softest of growls. However, I drove by the store and he started to lose his mind. He took me straight back to the back door.”
“The same one from last night?”
“Yep. Unless you’ve got the keys to this place then I’m not gonna be able to do much here.”
“Stay right there. I’m on my way.”
Fifteen minutes later Vance was there. He pulled out a silver key ring with three different keys on it. He unlocked the door on the second attempt.
“How’d you get keys to this place?” I asked.
“Preston’s night manager turned in her set, right after she officially resigned. I didn’t know what else to do with them so I kept them locked in my desk.”
Vance pushed open the door and switched on the lights. Sherlock pushed his way past the detective and took the lead. I tapped Vance on the shoulder to get his attention.
“Should I drop the leash? There’s nothing in this store that can hurt him, is there?”
Vance shook his head, “No. It’s perfectly safe. Go ahead.”
I dropped the leash. Sherlock turned to look up at me with a look of amazement on his canine features. I nodded.
“You wanted to check this place out, pal. Well, here we are. Let’s see if our friend here is gonna have to wear tights to his first dance class.”
“Oh, shit. I forgot about that.”
“Rest assured that I haven’t, buddy.”
“If he finds it you’d better not hold me to it,” Vance warned.
“If he finds it then you’d better pick out a pair of tap shoes,” I returned.
“Whatever. There’s no way Tori would let me out of the house in that getup.”
I had to bite my tongue. If you only knew, dude. That was going to be the Kodak moment of the century.
Sherlock turned to head into the main part of the store. He wove his way through the aisles of snacks, jerky, and candy bars and stopped at the chips section. The little corgi promptly sat, turned to look up at me, and gave one of his low howls.
“Awwoooo!”
I looked over at Vance. My detective friend looked worried. I would be, too, if I had been dumb enough to agree to put on tights. In public.
“What do you have?” I asked as I joined Vance at the rack of potato chips and corn chips. “See anything?”
Vance started pulling bags off the shelf. Nothing. Nothing was hiding behind the products nor did it look like any of the bags had been tampered with.
“Are you sure he wants us to look over here?” Vance asked, turning to look down at Sherlock.
“He hasn’t moved,” I pointed out. “Whatever he wants us to find has gotta be right here.”
Vance and I began emptying shelf after shelf of bags of snacks. Several dozen bags of potato chips, pork rinds, and corn chips fell unceremoniously to the floor. It wasn’t until we made it to the bottom shelf, where the tubes of snacks were, that Sherlock started to bounce up and down on his front legs, as though I was bouncing a ball and he was eager for me to throw it.
“I think we’re getting closer,” I mused, sweeping tubes of Pringles onto the ground.
“Please don’t be here, please don’t be here, please don’t be here,” Vance softly chanted.
I laughed and continued to search. I had just swept the last of the tubes onto the ground when I paused. I had heard a metallic clunk. Granted, these types of snacks weren’t the best for you, and they were probably going to end up resembling a lump in your gut, but they still shouldn’t sound like that when knocked to the floor.
I began picking up the last batch of tubes I had knocked over. One of the tubes, a red original-flavored tube of Pringles, felt heavier than the rest. And it jingled when I gently shook the tube.
“What do you have there?” Vance asked, alarmed.
I looked up and grinned. I do believe the good detective was looking a wee bit pale. I popped open the top of the tube and saw that the safety seal was still in place but it had been peeled almost off. I peeled back the seal and looked inside the tube. There were no chips inside. I tipped the tube over and felt something heavy plop into my hand.
It was the infamous, priceless, Nekhbet Pendant, once worn by King Tut himself. I turned to Vance and held up the ugly piece of vulture-shaped jewelry to my friend and grinned at him. Vance groaned.
“First pair is on me. Do you prefer control top or would you like fishnet?”