The Mummy's Curse (12 page)

Cody sighed and looked at the others. “We … we wanted to make sure it was a fake first. But then it was locked up again, and we had no way to prove anything.” She turned to Dr. Jordan. “We thought maybe you switched them, because we saw you working on the Eye in the lab earlier. You said you'd been cleaning it, but when we went back to the lab, we found the gloves you'd been using in the trash. The fingertips were brown, like you'd been staining the Eye.”

Dr. Jordan looked down at his fingers.

“We have proof.” Cody pulled out the gloves from her hoodie pocket and held them up. “See the stains? You were wearing them when you were working on the Eye. But you weren't wearing them when you replaced the Eye in the case with a fake.”

“Let me see those,” Dr. Jordan said. Cody hesitated to pass over their proof, but Ms. Stad nodded. Dr. Jordan examined them closely. “These aren't mine.”

“But you were wearing gloves earlier,” Quinn protested. “And you're an expert in making forgeries. You could easily have made a fake Eye and switched it with the real one.”

“Wow,” Dr. Jordan finally said. “You kids are something. Well, at least I know you were listening to my lecture. Unfortunately, you've let your imaginations run away with you. I really
was
cleaning that Eye of Horus. I would never use a stain on an authentic artifact. In fact, I thought you kids bought a replica and tried to make it look real by staining it, then switched them. I only checked the case because I saw you kids hovering around it. When I unlocked it, I found the fake.”

“Do other staff members at the museum have keys for the displays?” Ms. Stad asked.

Cody looked at her teacher appreciatively. Was she beginning to believe their story?

“A few people …,” Dr. Jordan replied, drifting off in thought.

“Is it possible someone else made the switch and accidentally left the case unlocked?” Cody asked.

“I suppose,” Dr. Jordan confirmed, “but even so, that doesn't mean the real Eye was replaced with a replica. And the real question is, where is the real Eye now?”

Cody looked at her friends. As if reading her mind, they nodded.

“We have something to show you,” Cody said. She glanced at her teacher, who nodded her permission. “Come on!”

Ms. Stad asked Mr. Pike to watch the rest of the students while she accompanied the Code Busters and Dr. Jordan back into the museum. Cody led the way back to the Kings and Pharaohs room, where they'd found the thirteenth Eye draped around the neck of the cat statue. When they reached the display case, Cody peered in.

She gasped.

The Eye was gone!

“But … but it was right here!” she stammered.

“What was?” Dr. Jordan asked, looking closely at the display.

“The thirteenth Eye of Horus!” she exclaimed. “It was mixed in with all that jewelry around the cat's neck.” She turned to Ms. Stad. “Remember we found thirteen Eyes—one more than you thought?”

Ms. Stad frowned at Cody. “Hmm. Maybe you miscounted after all? I never got a chance to verify your numbers.”

“No,” Cody said. “We all saw it! It was identical to the other one in the open display case. It was right here!” Suddenly, she wished she'd taken a picture of the cat. That would have been proof.

Dr. Jordan raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Obviously, he thought she was either lying or crazy.

Or maybe there was another reason Dr. Jordan wasn't speaking up.

“What's going on here?” Ms. Cassatt said, approaching the group. The woman seemed to appear out of nowhere. She brushed up against Cody, bumping her slightly, then patted her on the
back as if apologizing. “I thought you students were on your way back to school.”

Dr. Jordan turned to Ms. Cassatt. “Someone's stolen an Eye of Horus from the Daily Life room. I thought maybe one of the kids—”

“Stolen!” Ms. Cassatt said loudly. “What do you mean?”

Dr. Jordan opened his hand. “I found this Eye in the case. It's a fake. We need to call the police.”

“Are you sure it's a fake?” Ms. Cassatt said. “We haven't had a theft here since you started, Malik.”

“Of course I'm sure,” Dr. Jordan said. “I can run tests on it if you need proof.”

“How do you test it?” Cody asked.

He turned to her. “It's very simple, really. When we test an amulet like this, we use a microscope to check for something called natron, which is a mixture of sodium products used in the embalming process. Since most amulets were buried with their owners, who were mummified, we find traces of these minerals on them.”

“Give me that!” Ms. Cassatt commanded,
snatching the amulet from Dr. Jordan's palm. She studied it closely. Then she looked up at Dr. Jordan. “I can already tell it's a fake. But if we call the police, word will get out and the museum could lose a great deal of funding. We have to deal with this ourselves. After all, that's why I hired you, Malik.”

Cody looked at her friends, sensing something was up with Ms. Cassatt. Protecting the museum's reputation was more important than calling the police and finding the thief? Suddenly, she saw what was right in front of her. She whispered to the Code Busters in phonetic alphabet code: “Charlie, Alpha, Sierra, Sierra, Alpha, Tango, Tango!”

Code Buster's Key and Solution found on
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W
hat do you mean, don't call the police?”

Dr. Jordan asked. “A valuable artifact has been stolen from the museum! We can't just do nothing!”

Ms. Cassatt didn't respond. Instead, she turned to Cody, who was still standing next to her.

“I think you took it!” Ms. Cassatt announced.

Cody couldn't believe her ears. “What?”

“Uh-uh!” M.E. said, eyes wide.

“No way!” said Quinn.

“Are you kidding?” Luke said in disbelief.

Cody was too stunned to speak. She stared at Ms. Cassatt, her mouth open. Finally, she blurted, “None of us took it.
We're
the ones who told
you
about the fake!”

“Really?” Ms. Cassatt said, tapping her foot. “The security guard told me you kids were hanging around that case. Empty your pockets.”

“I'm telling you,” Cody said, protesting, “I didn't take it!”

Ms. Cassatt reached for Cody's hoodie.

Cody moved back. “No way are you touching me!” She turned to Ms. Stad for protection. Her teacher stepped in and blocked Ms. Cassatt.

“Show me what's in your pocket, young lady,” Ms. Cassatt commanded.

“This is stupid!” Cody protested, but she reached into her right pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper and a scarab the size of a walnut. She handed everything to Ms. Cassatt. The woman examined the amulet, and then the small paper, which turned out to be the receipt for the scarab. “I bought that in
the gift shop! There's the receipt to prove it.”

Ms. Cassatt continued to frown as she returned the items to Cody. “Now the other one.”

Cody rolled her eyes, but to prove her innocence once and for all, she dug into the left pocket of her hoodie. Withdrawing her hand, she held up her cell phone. “See!”

“Is that all?”

“Yes!” Cody said, raising her hands.

Ms. Cassatt suddenly reached into both of Cody's pockets.

“What are you doing?” Cody squealed.

Ms. Cassatt's frown melted into an evil smile as she withdrew her hands. She opened one palm to reveal the Eye of Horus.

Cody froze. She felt her face flush hot.
This can't be happening
, she thought, glancing at the other Code Busters in panic.

“Well?” Ms. Cassatt said. “I'll bet you don't have a receipt for this! So what do you have to say for yourself, young lady?”

Cody felt her entire body get warm. Her eyes
burned with oncoming tears.
This is a nightmare come true,
she thought.
How did that Eye of Horus get into my pocket?

M.E. reached for Cody's hand. She began squeezing it off and on. Cody realized M.E. was sending her a message in Morse code. Cody quickly deciphered the short and long squeezes.

Code Buster's Key and Solution found on
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“I'm sure that there's a logical explanation, Ms. Cassatt,” Ms. Stad said, wrapping a protective arm around Cody. “These are good kids. They would never steal anything.”

“Then how do you explain the fact that this precious artifact was in her pocket?” Ms. Cassatt asked.

“Give the girl a chance to explain,” Dr. Jordan said. “Maybe she found it and was planning to return it. And we're not even sure it's authentic. I'd have to run some tests to make sure. May I see it?”

“It's real, all right,” Ms. Cassatt said, tightening her grip around the amulet. “I've been working here long enough to know my artifacts.” Taking a step back, Ms. Cassatt held up the Eye. “See how the iris is green, just like the one from the Life Studies room? That's very rare. Most Eyes of Horus are blue. This is definitely the one stolen from the case.”

Cody blinked at something Ms. Cassatt said. “Green?”

“Correct,” Ms. Cassatt said, clutching the artifact tightly again. “Like I said, most of the Eyes of Horus were blue.”

“Green,” Cody repeated, as if in a trance.

M.E. squeezed Cody's hand again.

Code Buster's Key and Solution found on
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Leave it to M.E. to notice the woman's jewelry! Cody looked up at her accuser. The Eye of Horus pendant was missing from around Ms. Cassatt's neck.

“Where's the necklace you were wearing this
morning when we got to the museum?”

Ms. Cassatt placed her hand on her chest. She blinked several times, then stammered, “I … I took it off.…”

Dr. Jordan turned to her. “Mirabel? You never take off that amulet. You call it your good-luck charm. I've never seen you without it.”

“Of course I take it off sometimes,” Ms. Cassatt replied. “Don't be ridiculous. We're getting off track here. Do I have to remind you, Malik, that if you'd been doing your job and watching these little thieves, we wouldn't be having this conversation? Luckily, I caught this one red-handed.” Ms. Cassatt grabbed Cody's arm and pushed her over to Ms. Stad. “Take these brats out of here before I
do
call the police. You're lucky I don't press charges!”

Dr. Jordan turned to Ms. Cassatt. “Wait a minute, Mirabel. Let me see that Eye.”

“What?” Ms. Cassatt said, clutching the amulet tightly in her hand.

“I said, let me see that,” Dr. Jordan repeated.

“Why?” Ms. Cassatt said.

“I just want to make sure it's authentic.”

Ms. Cassatt looked like a frightened cat trapped by a threatening dog. Her green eyes widened to the size of quarters. Slowly she opened her hand, revealing the artifact.