The Missing Mummy (5 page)

The woman walked over to the table with the dirty dishes and began cleaning up. Dink heard her grunt as she lugged the loaded dish container into the kitchen.

“What's the matter?” Ruth Rose asked Dink, who was staring after the departing woman.

Josh waved a French fry in front of Dink's face. “Why the big eyes, Dink?”

“That woman,” he said. “The way she was lugging that pile of dishes … she reminded me of one of the robbers last night.”

“Hot diggety,” Josh said. “At last someone agrees with me!”

Ruth Rose turned and looked toward the kitchen. “You know, she has short dark hair just like the woman who came out of the rest room before I found the mummy.”

The three kids stared at the kitchen door.

“And she smells like French fries!” Josh said.

Aunt Freda walked over to their booth. “My, you did a good job on those fries,” she said. “Anything else?”

“No, thank—” Dink started to say.

“Yes!” Ruth Rose interrupted. “Could you show us how you make your fabulous fries? Donald here is really interested in cooking.”

I am?
thought Dink.

Aunt Freda beamed at Dink. “Of course, dearie. Come on back to the kitchen,” she said.

Ruth Rose nudged Dink, and they all followed Aunt Freda.

On the other side of the swinging door, the smell of frying potatoes hung heavy in the air.

A row of wall shelves held pots and pans, cooking spices, cookbooks, and a bunch of bottles and jars. Against one wall stood a pile of crates bulging with raw potatoes.

The woman with short dark hair was standing at a counter, slicing potatoes. She was wearing earphones and didn't seem to notice the kids.

Dink stared at the woman. As she stooped over a pile of potatoes, Dink imagined her stooped over a case of Egyptian gold.

Aunt Freda interrupted his thoughts. “Come over here,” she said, leading the kids to a deep-fry machine.

She lowered her voice. “Here's my
secret. I put a little garlic and vinegar right in the olive oil,” she said, then winked. “Promise you won't tell?”

Dink nodded. “Promise,” he said. “Boy, cooking potatoes is
really
interesting!”

From the corner of his eye, Dink saw Josh scoop something off the kitchen floor and shove it in his pocket.

Then Ruth Rose poked Dink. She pointed her chin at a coatrack by the back door. A black jacket hung from one of the pegs. On the floor sat a black gym bag.

“Anything else you want to know?” Aunt Freda asked.

“No, thanks,” Ruth Rose said, smiling. “We've seen everything we need.”

The kids left the kitchen, with Aunt Freda following them. They paid for their food and started for the door.

Suddenly, Aunt Freda put her hand on Dink's arm. “Wait!” she said, digging into the pocket of her apron. “Put out your hands!”

The kids obeyed, and she dropped a candy into each palm. “Have a nice day,” Aunt Freda said, then opened the door for them.

The kids popped the candies into their mouths as they hurried back to their bus stop.

“Did you see that jacket?” Ruth Rose said. “If that woman put it on over her apron, the white edge would show. Is
that
what you saw last night, Dink?”

“It could be,” Dink said. “And that gym bag looked like the ones the robbers were carrying.”

Josh shook his head. “You guys are such amateurs,” he said. “The jacket could belong to anyone, and there are a million black gym bags in Hartford.”

He reached into his pocket. “But I found a
real
clue!”

He held out a smooth pebble the size of an M&M.

“What's that?” Dink asked.

“Come on, I'll show you.” Josh headed for the museum steps.

Dink and Ruth Rose followed Josh through the lobby. In front of the tomb, they found a sign announcing that the mummy exhibit was closed. Behind the sign, the sliding door was shut.

Josh walked over to the wall and pressed the stone. With a rumble, the wall slid open.

Josh leaned inside and scooped a handful of the gravel off the floor. Then he closed the door again.

“See, they're the same,” Josh said, holding up the gravel and the pebble he'd found at Aunt Freda's.

“I don't get it,” Dink said.

“I found this pebble on the floor in Aunt Freda's kitchen,” Josh explained. “It matches the pebbles in the tomb. The only way it could have gotten from the tomb floor to Aunt Freda's floor was on the bottom of one of the crook's shoes!”

“Okay,” Ruth Rose said. “But that still doesn't tell us where the gold is.”

“Or who the second crook is,” Dink added.

“Maybe not,” Josh said, “but
something
in that restaurant smells!”

That night, a thunderstorm blew through Green Lawn. While Dink slept, lightning flashed and thunder boomed outside his bedroom window.

Dink had a nightmare. He was trapped in the tomb again. This time he was alone.

One by one, the two mummies leaning against the wall opened their eyes. One by one, they stepped out of their coffins and shuffled toward him.

They passed the child's coffin. Its lid stayed shut, the child's mask staring up at the ceiling.

Because the mummy's not in there
, Dink thought.
But then why—

Just then Dink felt a cold hand on his shoulder. He tried to run, but his legs wouldn't budge. The mummies' cloth wrappings had come loose and were encircling his body, like tentacles.

Dink bolted awake with a yell, tangled in his sheet. When he realized that he was in his bed and not the tomb, he lay back down.

He tried to go back to sleep, but something kept him awake. It was something in his nightmare, in the tomb. What was it?

He lay there trying to picture the tomb again. Before the bomb went off, all three sarcophagus lids had been open. The small sarcophagus was
empty because the mummy was still in Dr. Tweed's office.

But after the blast, the smallest coffin—the one for the child—was closed.

Then Dink remembered the robbers dragging those two heavy bags of gold. He smiled, closed his eyes, and went back to sleep.

After breakfast, Dink called Josh. He came over, and they walked next door to Ruth Rose's house. She was sitting on her front steps with a plate of toast on her knees.

Dink sat on the bottom step. “I figured it out last night,” he told them. “I know where the crooks hid the gold.”

Josh reached for a piece of Ruth Rose's toast, but she slapped his hand.

“Don't you know it's nice to share?” he asked.

“Don't you know it's nice to ask first?” Ruth Rose said. But she passed Josh a section of her toast. “Tell us, Dink.”

“I had an awful dream last night,” Dink said. “I was trapped in the tomb. The two big coffins were open, and the mummies were chasing me. But the little coffin, the one for the kid, was closed.”

He looked at Josh and Ruth Rose. “After I woke up, I remembered something. When we were in the tomb just before we got locked in, the little coffin was open. Remember? But when we went back into the tomb after the bomb went off, the coffin lid was closed!”

“I don't get it,” Josh said, licking jam from his fingers.

“You will in a minute,” Dink said. “I couldn't get back to sleep last night, so
I started wondering: Who closed that little coffin? Then it hit me. If the robbers didn't have a car waiting, and if the gold was too heavy to carry far, maybe they hid it
there
!”

“Then the crook has to be someone who can get back into the tomb later and get the gold,” Josh said.

“DR. TWEED!” Ruth Rose yelled.

“That's what I think, too,” Dink said. “Aunt Freda said Dr. Tweed was a good customer. I figure he and the woman with the short dark hair planned it together.”

“She had that gym bag,” Ruth Rose said. “And all she had to do was walk across the street.”

“And she smelled like a walking French fry!” Josh added.

“But which one hid the bomb?” Ruth Rose asked.

“Dr. Tweed, I think,” Dink said.
“Remember how he stayed in the tomb for a few minutes after we all left?”

“But why did the woman grab the mummy?” asked Josh.

“To get us out of there,” Dink said. “Dr. Tweed had to be alone in the tomb so he could plant the bomb.”

Dink grinned at Josh and Ruth Rose. “And that left the sarcophagus empty for the gold!” he said.

“OH MY GOSH!” Ruth Rose yelled. “Dr. Tweed told us he wouldn't be at Wet Wednesday today. I'll bet he's gonna take the gold and leave!”

She jumped up and ran into the house. Dink and Josh were right behind her.

Ruth Rose called the police station and asked for Officer Fallon.

Officer Fallon drove Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose to Hartford.

He had called Officers Peters and Washington. The two cruisers met down the street from the museum.

“Officer Washington will nab the young woman in the restaurant,” Officer Peters told Officer Fallon. “You and I will take the museum. Kids, you come with us.”

Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose—flanked
by the two officers—crossed Main Street and entered the quiet museum. They followed the hallway until they came to Dr. Tweed's office door.

With the kids standing behind him, Officer Peters knocked. When there was no answer, he turned the knob and opened the door. “Not here,” he said.

Officer Fallon and the kids peered into the office. They saw the little mummy lying on a table.

Officer Peters looked at Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. “Let's check that tomb,” he said.

The kids and the two officers walked back through the lobby. They stopped in front of the closed tomb door.

“How do we get in?” Officer Fallon asked.

“I know!” said Josh. He pressed the secret stone, and the door slid open. Dr. Tweed was standing in front of the small sarcophagus.