“I should have arrested you back in December when I had the chance.”
“I love you too.”
“I’ll be there soon.”
I hung up and stuffed my cell back into my pocket, stopping in a side room full of coffins and more linens. My knowledge of ancient Egypt was limited at best, but Thebes was where the Valley of the Kings was—the final resting ground for nobles and pharaohs. So maybe the clue was kind of like the whale, and I should be looking more at death artifacts?
But a tour through this room, checking inside the empty coffins on display, proved futile. At least with the natural history museum, the body had been tucked into the one area not carefully concealed to keep the public out. A body inside a coffin or sarcophagus would make sense, but there was no way to get around the glass walls protecting them.
It was practically empty this deep into the exhibit. People meandered through the dozens of rooms with no reason to rush. I stepped into the next room—the Sackler Wing. The north wall was glass, the morning light shining through. The ceiling soared overhead, and in the middle on display was the Temple of Dendur, surrounded by a reflection pool. The room was actually quite lovely, the water meant to reflect the Nile River and the sloping wall an interpretation of the cliffs of the original location in Egypt.
One security guard was walking lazily down the hall ahead of me, and one visitor was studying some statues on my immediate right. I had gone through the entire Egyptian exhibit—albeit in a rush—but not found any reasonable location for hiding a body. Except… what about the temple? It was certainly big enough….
I walked along the side of the reflection pool toward the steps that led up to the structure. Even though it wasn’t a particularly sunny day, the glare on the surface of the water was already making my eyes hurt. I had to look away and study the far wall ahead, so I nearly walked right by the body floating in the water.
Nearly.
I jumped backward in fright, even though I had been fully prepared to come upon a dead person. I stared at it from several feet away. It just floated lazily on its stomach, facedown in the still water. I know the museum just opened, but had no one seriously noticed this yet? I mean, it wasright there. In the open. I figured I’d at least find the poor bastard crammed into some nook.
I took a few steps forward.
Most likely a man, with short, dark hair and a cheap, dark-colored suit. Something was stuck to his back, and when I got closer and leaned over the water, it appeared to be a scrap of paper inside a plastic sleeve.
Fuck. Just like the mermaid advertisement at the other museum.
I reached out, shaking hand peeling the clue off the dead man’s back.
“Stop right there!”
I startled and stumbled a few steps back, dropping the plastic sleeve. I let out a breath as several uniformed officers were heading my way. “You guys scared the piss out of me.”
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to move back and put your hands on the wall,” one officer said, hand resting on his weapon.
“Whoa, whoa, wait. Where’s Detective Winter? I called him.”
“Sir, against the wall right now,” the officer said again.
I took a few steps back as instructed but didn’t turn in surrender. “I didn’t kill that guy,” I protested, pointing at the floater. “I literally just found him.”
Another officer was approaching me. His face looked like he’d gotten into plenty of scraps in his lifetime and he knew how to play dirty if it came to that. He ordered me to put my hands up in a deep, booming voice.
The first policeman pulled his pistol.
I put my goddamn hands up. “This is a mistake,” I said as brute number two began to frisk me for weapons. He pulled my cell from my pocket, my magnifying glass, and the note about Thebes. “There. See? Not even a toothpick.”
“Stand down, officers!” ordered a third voice.
I turned in the direction I had come from, Calvin and Quinn slowly coming into focus. I waved awkwardly. “Hi.”
“Mr. Snow is not a suspect,” Calvin said firmly. “Hand over his possessions.”
I took my things back from Broken Nose. “So,” I said, nodding my head at the body. “Found it.”
“This is becoming absurd,” Calvin said under his breath.
“How long is this going to keep up?” Quinn asked, crossing her arms.
I shrugged. “For as long as this killer has P.T. Barnum artifacts to dish out as grand prizes?” I gave Calvin yesterday’s message. “I’m sorry I came here in a rush without talking to you first, but the note said 10:00 a.m. I thought if I waited, other patrons would stumble upon—er—him first.”
