“Where? You didn’t order any food yet,” Pop replied.
“It’s fine. I’ll grab something in a bit.” I moved around the table to lean down and give him a hug. “I’ll see you soon. Love you!” I called while moving away.
“Bye, kiddo.”
I all but ran out the door and hailed the nearest taxi.
Off to the Met.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ANOTHER MUSEUM.
I don’t know why this psycho was ruining locations that I deeply adored, but I was not happy about the prospect of finding another body in an exhibit. And this clue was pretty obvious.
Come on—Thebes?
The Met’s Egyptian exhibits.
Now the real question was, where would I find the grisly evidence I had been readying myself for the entire taxi ride there? The Egyptian wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art was enormous. I’d spent entire days in the past never migrating to the other half of the museum, simply because there was so much to see and read about in the Egyptian section.
It was Saturday morning, and despite the doors just opening, the museum was already proving it would be a busy day. At least it would be bustling with tourists and not kids on school field trips. Trying to navigate around a group of thirty twelve-year-olds who had no desire to be there and had never been told to be quiet in a museum was one of my short fuses.
I bought my ticket and pushed by some of the other people entering the Egyptian wing, ignoring their protests. Sorry, people, amateur sleuth on a case. I didn’t have time to be courteous.
The first exhibit in Gallery 100 was the Mastaba Tomb of Perneb. Small and cramped, sure, but you could actually get inside the building so someone could have shoved a body in there.
Nothing on the left—shit—nothing in the right corner either. I hurried back out and turned to stare up at the structure. To the right was the start of ancient Egypt; to the left was the history of the kingdom once the Romans came. I shut my eyes and thought about both halls and what sort of areas could conceal a body.
And not an ancient one wrapped in bandages.
I decided to start at the beginning and ran to the right hall. A security guard called me sir and ordered that I walk.
I played with fire by walking briskly.
It was hard not to stop and examine the artifacts, statues, and structures as I made my way down the twisting galleries, but I had to find this clue before the museum filled up with people and an unfortunate out-of-towner found a dead guy before I did.
I pulled out my phone as I made my way past displays of jewelry and textiles. “Calvin,” I said when he picked up. “I’m making a preemptive call.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing yet. Do you always think I’m up to something?”
“I’d say no if I didn’t know better.”
“I feel no love.”
“Seb.”
“I’m at the Met.”
He cursed under his breath.
“Look, I didn’t even remember until this morning. Last night threw me for a spin, you know? But the mermaid—there was another note. It had this address and mentioned some garbage about Thebes, so I’m making my way through the Egyptian wing.”
“Sebastian, stop right now and turn back. It’s too—”
“Dangerous?” I supplied before he could. “There’s a security guard in every room. I haven’t found anything yet, but I think you should come now. If this is anything like the other day, give me ten more minutes and I’ll trip over a corpse.”
