CHAPTER 10

Gone for Good?

“Pictures of the Goings?” Dr. Wim said as she stood up from behind her desk. “Clementine Wim, I specifically told you not to go back to the special exhibit.”

Clementine kept her eyes on her shoes. She was having a terrible day. Luckily, she had Amal with her.

“We didn’t go in, Dr. Wim,” Amal said quickly. “We were very careful to stay outside.”

“But I had my digital telescope,” Wilson said, holding it up. “I used that to take some detailed photos of the painting.”

“Really?” Dr. Wim said, crossing her arms. “Let me see.”

“I can’t show you on this,” Wilson said, “but I can bring them up on your computer display.”

Dr. Wim looked at Clementine. “You’re serious about this?” she said. “You really think something’s not right?”

“I can’t tell,” Clementine said. “But I know I saw two people carrying Tiled Lunch Counter yesterday on the Big Lawn.”

Dr. Wim took a deep, calming breath. “Fine,” she said. “Wilson, can you bring up the images on the large displays in the conference room?”

“I don’t see why not,” Wilson said.

Dr. Wim nodded. “Then all of you, follow me. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

The museum’s main conference room had been recently renovated. What had once been a dreary, musty room with little more than a long table and a dozen chairs had been transformed into a state-of-the-art multimedia showpiece that the entire Capitol City Museums collection could be proud of.

In a few minutes, Wilson had hooked up his telescope. The four friends took a seat at the conference table, and Dr. Wim stood in front of the huge display at the front of the room. Wilson clicked through the images as Dr. Wim hummed thoughtfully.

“Let me see the first one again,” Dr. Wim said. “Hmm … and the last one.”

Finally, after looking at the images over and over, Dr. Wim sat at the head of the table. Her face was pale as she ran her hands through her hair, as red as her daughter’s.

“What do you think?” Clementine asked anxiously, leaning forward in her chair.

Dr. Wim sighed. She gave Clementine a long, distant look. Finally she said, “It’s not real. The brushstrokes are off, ever so slightly.”

Clementine jumped to her feet. “You mean I was right?” she exclaimed.

“It appears so,” Dr. Wim said. “But now what? We have to call the police, but the two people you saw yesterday morning are probably miles from here by now. Oh, this is so bad.”

Clementine dropped back into her chair. “Oh, no,” she said. “Then the real painting might be gone for good.”

Dr. Wim knelt in front of her daughter’s chair. “We should have listened to you yesterday,” she said. “I should have listened to you. I’m sorry, Clementine.”

“It was probably already too late when I finally told you about it anyway,” Clementine said.

“Wait a minute,” Amal said. “We’re not just giving up, are we?”

“What can we even do?” Wilson asked. “Like Dr. Wim said, the crooks are probably long gone by now. And even if they were still in town, we have no way of finding them.”

“Clementine saw them,” Raining said.

Everyone looked at Clementine hopefully.

“So?” Clementine said. “What am I supposed to do, wander the city hunting for them?”

“What did they look like?” Amal asked.

Clementine thought about it for a moment and then said, “The man had a beard — big, bushy black beard. And he was so mean.”

“And the other one?” Wilson said. “The woman?”

“She was nice,” Clementine said. She let out a small laugh. “I actually gave her my phone number so she could call me if she saw you guys.” She smacked herself in the forehead. “Of course my phone was in a lump of clay, so even if she —”

Suddenly Clementine sat up straight, her mouth and eyes wide. “I have to go home,” she said.

“What?” Dr. Wim said, leaning back. “Right now?”

“Yes,” said Clementine, standing up. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She headed for the door.

“I can drive you!” her mom called after her.

“It’s faster to bike,” Clementine called back over her shoulder. “I won’t be long!”