The Aldens arrived early at the museum the next morning. But this time, the door to the prep room was locked.
“That’s good,” said Henry. “Now no one can go in and make a mess or steal something.”
While the children waited for Sam or Pete to arrive, they finished painting the last wall of the exhibit hall.
They were just cleaning their brushes when Sam appeared in the doorway.
“Hello!” she called, heading into the prep room. The Aldens quickly put away all the painting supplies and followed Sam.
“Sam, we were wondering ...” Jessie began. “Are these all the pieces for the Egypt exhibit?”
“Yes,” Sam said, continuing to unload her bag.
“Are you sure everything’s here?” Jessie asked.
Sam looked quickly at Jessie. “What do you mean?”
“Well, the first day we were here, Pete showed us some of the artifacts. And there was a little baboon ...” Jessie said.
“Yes?” Sam said.
“Where’s the baboon now?” Jessie asked.
Sam’s eyebrows furrowed. “The baboon? It’s ...” She went over to the tables holding the artifacts and walked slowly from one table to the next. “How odd,” she mumbled to herself. She walked around the tables again before walking quickly to the corner where the boxes were stacked. The Aldens watched as Sam picked up one box after another, making sure they were all empty.
At last, Sam turned around and looked back at the Aldens. “I don’t know where it is,” she said. She looked quickly around the room, but there was nowhere else that the baboon statue could have been.
“So you saw the baboon two days ago?” Sam asked.
“Yes,” said Henry. “It was right on the table with the other pieces you’d unpacked.”
“I remember because it was my favorite piece,” said Benny sadly.
“When did you notice it was missing?” Sam asked.
“Yesterday,” Jessie said. “And remember, someone had come in and messed everything up... .”
“Oh, my goodness,” Sam said, sinking into her chair. “So we have a thief.”
Everyone was silent for a moment.
Then Sam spoke. “We mustn’t jump to conclusions. The statue may just have been misplaced.”
“There may be other things missing, too,” Jessie pointed out. “I just happened to notice that piece because it was Benny’s favorite. Should I go through the list you have and see what else is missing?”
“No,” Sam said. “You kids have done enough work already. Take a break for lunch.”
“Shouldn’t we tell Pete and Dr. Snood?” Henry asked.
“Yes, definitely” said Sam. “But not until we’re really sure it’s missing. I don’t want to worry them if I don’t have to.”
When the Aldens came back from the café a short while later, they were pleased to see how bright and clean the exhibit hall looked with its fresh coat of paint.
“Now all we need to do is wash this filthy floor,” said Jessie.
“And dust the display cases,” Henry added.
Henry and Jessie each took a mop and a bucket from the supply closet and found a bottle of floor soap. Violet and Benny found rags and some glass cleaner.
They were returning to the exhibit hall when Sam appeared in the doorway. “Jessie, I’ve decided I could use your help. I’ve got too many other things to take care of.” She handed a set of papers to Jessie. “That’s the printout of all the items we’re supposed to have in the exhibit. You’ll see I made a little x next to the baboon. Would you make sure there’s nothing else missing?”
“Sure,” said Jessie. She followed Sam into the prep room.
Sam sat back down at her desk. Jessie walked slowly around the tables, checking off each item on the list when she’d spotted it. She noted the cups and pots, the doll, the beautiful gold cat statues.
As she flipped through the list, Jessie noted happily that every item had a checkmark next to it except for the baboon, which had an x. She was pleased to see that no other items were missing.
Or were they?
Jessie looked back at the table. There had been a wooden flute, hadn’t there?
She looked all around the tables, but there was no flute to be seen.
Then she looked at the paper she was holding. Had she somehow missed the listing for the flute? She quickly scanned down the list. The flute was not listed.
“Sam, this is really weird,” she said.
“What is it?” Sam asked, looking up from her work. “Is there something missing?”
“No, everything on the list is here,” Jessie said.
“Great,” Sam said with relief.
“But I remember something that isn’t here,” Jessie said.
“What?” Sam asked, standing up.
“A wooden flute,” Jessie said.
“Yes, of course,” Sam said, going to look for herself. “I was planning to put that on display next to the harp. It isn’t here?”
“No,” Jessie said. “And what’s even stranger, it’s not on the list, either.” She handed the list to Sam.
Sam flipped slowly through the list, looking carefully at each page. “You’re right, the flute isn’t listed.” Then she looked at the tables. “And I don’t see it anywhere.” Sam made a note at the bottom of the list. “Another missing piece.”
“Why isn’t it on the list?” Jessie asked.
“I’m not sure,” said Sam. “This is the list I got from the Egyptian Museum. Maybe they added the flute later and forgot to put it on the list.” Sam smiled at Jessie. “Lucky for me you have such a good memory.”
“Are you going to tell Pete about it?” Jessie asked.
“Yes, I’ll go right now.” Sam walked to the door. Then she turned around and looked back at Jessie. “Don’t say anything about this to him, though. I don’t think he’d want everyone to know that pieces of the exhibit were missing. You understand, don’t you? Bad publicity for the museum.”
“Yes, I understand,” Jessie said.
After Sam had left, Jessie went into the exhibit hall. She told the others about the missing flute and that it had never even been on the list.
“I can’t believe someone has been stealing things from the exhibit,” Benny said.
“What’s Sam going to do about it?” Henry asked.
“She went to talk to Pete, but she said we shouldn’t say anything about it,” Jessie said.
“Why not?” Benny asked.
“It would be bad publicity for the museum if people found out,” Jessie explained. “Sam figured Pete wouldn’t want everyone to know.”
“That makes sense,” Henry agreed.
“I can’t believe there’s a list of items that isn’t even accurate,” said Violet. “What good is that?”
“I have an idea,” Jessie said. “Let’s make our own list. Then we’ll be sure of everything that’s there—and we’ll know if anything else disappears.”
“Great idea,” said Violet. “I’ll help you.”
“Benny and I will finish cleaning the display cases,” said Henry.
Going to her backpack, which she’d left by Sam’s desk, Jessie pulled out a small, blue notebook and a pen. She had written her name on the inside cover, but other than that, the notebook was blank. Jessie flipped open to the first page and wrote at the top: Enter the Mummy’s Tomb. “You look at the table and tell me the items, and I’ll write them down,” Jessie said.
“Okay,” said Violet. “Two gold cat statues ...” she began. Slowly the girls worked their way around the tables, with Violet telling Jessie what was on each table, and Jessie writing the items in her notebook. She wrote down the name of the object and a short description so she’d remember what it was. It took a long time, but at last, they had an accurate list of everything that was there.
Sam returned as they were finishing the list.
“What did Pete say?” Jessie asked.
“He wasn’t in his office,” Sam said. “I’ll have to catch him later.” She looked at Jessie’s notebook, which Jessie was just closing up.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Since that list wasn’t accurate, Violet and I decided to make our own,” Jessie said. She handed the notebook over for Sam to see.
“What smart kids you are,” Sam said.
Just then they heard a deep voice in the next room. When they looked in, Pete was there talking with Henry and Benny.
“Hi, Pete,” Violet said as she and Jessie joined the others.
“I was just telling the boys how great it looks in here.” He walked around the room admiring the children’s hard work. “Our regular cleaning and painting crews couldn’t have done a better job.”
The children smiled proudly.
“They’ve done a fine job, haven’t they?” Sam said. “Pete, can I talk to you in here for a moment?”
“Sure,” Pete said. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he told the Aldens.
The kids knew that Sam was going to talk to Pete about the missing items. They wanted to stay and hear what he planned to do. But it was nearly dinnertime.
“See you tomorrow,” Henry called over his shoulder. |