Secret of the Ankhs: A Maggie Edwards Adventure (Maggie Edwards Adventures Book 2)

by Nellie H. Steele

  “Hmm. Doesn’t add up,” Henry contemplated aloud as the door to the storeroom popped open.

  Charlie pushed open the door, peeking inside. “Was it him?” he inquired.

  “Yes,” Maggie and Henry answered together.

  Charlie slipped inside and closed the door behind her. “According to Maggie, he’s definitely still here,” Henry confirmed. “But why?”

  Charlie shrugged. “No idea, must be some reason though.”

  “It doesn’t matter why he’s here. This gives us a chance to find him!” Maggie exclaimed in a hushed tone.

  “Don’t get too excited, princess. We realize he’s here, but it doesn’t help us find him.”

  “Well,” Maggie countered, her brow furrowed in thought, “I’ve seen his car, so we could check the local hotels for it.” Maggie raised her eyebrows. “Oh! We could check city CCTV! Charlie, can you hack into the town’s system?”

  A sly grin crossed Charlie’s face. “Chicky,” he responded, “is the sky blue?”

  “Good, get on that,” Maggie ordered. She glanced at the storeroom door. “What’d you tell Piper about coming back here?”

  “Told her I wanted to interrupt any romantic liaisons that might be occurring. She was fully supportive of the move.”

  “I’ll bet,” Maggie groaned. “We better get back out there.”

  “All right,” Henry agreed. “Get on that search for this character as soon as we get back to my place.”

  “Will do, boss man,” Charlie answered as he pulled the door open to the shop. “I found them!” he called to Piper. “Hanky-panky plans have been subverted!”

  Maggie rolled her eyes, following him into the shop.

  “Hey, Piper! I’m heading out!” Maggie called across the shop.

  “Is it five already?” Piper questioned, glancing at her phone.

  “Just after! I’m actually running late,” Maggie informed her.

  “So, what else is new?” Piper murmured.

  Maggie shot her a look with narrowed eyes and pursed lips. “If you need anything, just call or text. Hey, don’t forget to re-shelve those books on the cart. Have a good night!”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m all over it, boss lady.”

  Maggie grinned at her as she slung her purse over her shoulder and darted out the front door. The warm evening air greeted her. She glanced up at the clear, dusky sky. Despite running late, Maggie savored her walk to her apartment building, enjoying the evening.

  When she reached her building, she headed for her car instead of the building’s front door. Maggie tossed her purse into the passenger’s seat as she slid in behind the wheel. She fired the engine and sent a quick text to Ollie before pulling from her spot: Running late, sorry! Be there soon!

  Maggie eased out of her parking space and onto the road. She aimed her car for the neighboring town of Aberdeen. She navigated to the outskirts of town, finding her uncle’s Craftsman style home with its perfect lawn. She pulled into the driveway, hopped from the car and hurried up the walk.

  Ollie waited for her on his porch. “Sorry!” Maggie called, “I lost track of the time.”

  “No problem, Maggie,” Ollie answered as he stood from his porch swing. “I started dinner fifteen minutes late to accommodate for the inevitable.”

  “I’m not ALWAYS late,” Maggie countered as she approached him. Ollie shot her a questioning glance. “What? There has been a time or two when I’ve been on time!”

  Ollie chuckled as he held the door open for her. Once they were settled on the back patio, Ollie poured two glasses of wine and handed one to Maggie. She sipped it as he tossed the salad with dressing. “So, any luck on the search for the other two ankhs?”

  “Possibly, yes,” Ollie answered.

  “That sounds intriguing,” Maggie responded.

  Ollie shook his head as he flipped the steaks on the grill. “It’s not much of a lead, but at least I’ve made some progress. Though I have no idea if it will pan out.” He sighed. “Too much is uncertain.”

  “Run it by me. We’ll poke it full of holes and learn from it,” Maggie said, using a quote she’d heard from Ollie on multiple occasions throughout her life.

  Ollie smiled over the grill at Maggie. “You learn well, grasshopper,” he said with a chuckle.

  “I had the best teacher,” Maggie quipped.

  Ollie plated the steaks and grilled vegetables and delivered them to the patio table. “I’m starting to wonder about that,” Ollie said.

  “Come on, Uncle Ollie! What kind of attitude is that?”

  “An honest one. This one’s got me beat! There’s so little information.”

  “There wasn’t much information on the Golden Scarab of Cleopatra either, but you found that!”

  “After a lifetime of searching, Maggie,” Ollie reminded her.

  “Well, now you have my help. So, let’s hear it. Where are these two other ankhs?”

  Ollie shrugged as he cut into his steak. “Well, we have Cleopatra’s accounted for, which means the other two belonged to Julius Caesar and Marc Antony.”

  “Right,” Maggie interjected.

  “It’s widely believed Marc Antony was buried with Cleopatra. The two did commit suicide, you recall,” Ollie mentioned, raising his eyebrows at Maggie.

  “Yes, I did my research. He stabbed himself with a sword, believing Cleopatra was already dead. Though she wasn’t. It was too late. His friends took him to Cleopatra, and he died in her arms. She poisoned herself days later,” Maggie noted.

  “Correct,” Ollie said with a smile.

  “It’s kind of a romantic story,” Maggie admitted.

  Ollie rolled her eyes at Maggie. “Oh, please. It’s no Romeo and Juliet.”

  “I know, I know. There was a lot more going on,” Maggie said, waving her hand at him. “Anyway, continue.”

  “Okay, so Antony is buried with Cleopatra. Meaning there should have been TWO ankhs in that tomb.”

  “But you found no evidence of Antony in the tomb. No belongings, no sarcophagus, nothing.”

  Ollie nodded. “Right, the ankh should be there. So should Antony’s remains, but… nada! The first dead end.” Maggie chuckled. “What?”

  “Dead end… it’s just funny.”

  Ollie pursed his lips at her. “No pun intended.”

  “Okay, okay, so Antony’s ankh is probably buried with him. And we believe he was buried with Cleopatra, but we didn’t find anything. So, we missed something at the tomb, perhaps?”

  Ollie considered it. “It’s the best place to begin searching. We have no other information about the whereabouts. We’ve got to go over that tomb with a fine-tooth comb. We must have missed something! Perhaps in my excitement to catalog the tomb’s contents, I overlooked a clue.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Now what about the other ankh? Caesar’s?”

  “That’s where things go from bad to worse, I’m afraid,” Ollie lamented. “Julius Caesar’s burial site is well known. Of course, it’s no longer intact, but there is no secret or mystery about his final resting place.”

  “Great! How is this bad news?” Maggie questioned.

  “I’ve scoured every resource I could find. None mention the ankh amongst his belongings.”

  “It’s not listed anywhere?”

  “Not that I could find,” Ollie admitted with a frustrated sigh.

  Maggie narrowed her eyes at him. “You said you had a lead. Small, but a lead. So, let’s hear it.”

  “I can never slip anything by you, Maggie,” Ollie said with a wag of his finger. Maggie grinned at him. “All right. I tracked down every resource about any displays of Caesar’s belongings.”

  “And?”

  “I found an obscure reference to a stone cross, currently being housed in storage at the Natural History Museum in London.” Ollie produced a folded piece of paper from his journal on the table. He pointed to a specific line on an item list from the museum.

  “Stone Cross—Tan,” Maggie read al
oud. “That does sound promising!”

  “I wish I shared your enthusiasm,” Ollie replied. “Even if that obscure reference is to the ankh, not a stone cross, we’d need a plan to gain access to it.”

  “Can’t you just ask nicely? You are the world-renowned Dr. Oliver Keene,” Maggie said with a giggle.

  “Also, the infamous Dr. Oliver Keene, associated with disappearing artifacts,” Ollie joked.

  “Good point. We don’t have the best track record, do we?”

  “That’s putting it mildly,” Ollie retorted with a chuckle.

  “Well, at least we’ve got a start. Oh! I was so interested in your news, I didn’t tell you ours!”

  “You found Cleopatra’s ankh?” Ollie asked, a hopeful tone in his voice.

  “Well, close!” Maggie answered. “Charlie ran a search on the ‘woman’ from the ladies’ room against all the VIP guests at the party.”

  “Yeah, I heard. No matches.”

  Maggie gave him a wry glance. “No matches when compared to the ladies at the party.” She raised an eyebrow.

  Ollie’s eyes shot from side-to-side. “Okay?”

  “Remember I mentioned how terribly the lady was dressed?”

  “I do. Her taste in clothing seemed inconsequential, though I wasn’t surprised you mentioned it. You always were quite the fashionista.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. Her fashion choices were NOT inconsequential. I don’t know why I didn’t consider it before. But no respectable woman would have dressed in that get-up. Then it hit me in the middle of the night. That was no woman!

  “I had Charlie re-run his software. This time matching the ‘woman’s’ face to men at the VIP party.”

  “And?” Ollie asked, his voice filling with hope.

  “And we got a match!”

  “Any info available on the guy?”

  “Doesn’t seem to be. Guest list identified him as James Michael Dean. Who basically doesn’t exist.”

  “Aw, shucks,” Ollie lamented.

  “But there’s more!” Maggie exclaimed. Ollie raised his eyebrows, prompting her to continue. “I ran into this guy today. The jerk spilled a few iced teas all over me. So, he’s still in town! We can still find him!”

  Ollie screwed up his face. “Strange he’s still in town.”

  “Henry said the same. You two are stick in the muds. I consider it a lucky break!”

  Maggie checked her phone as she slid under the covers. No messages awaited her. She sent a text to Henry as she pulled the comforter higher around her: Anything yet?

  Henry answered within seconds: Nothing yet, princess. Heading to bed?

  Maggie responded: Yep. Tell Charlie to hurry up with his magic. I expect results in the morning!

  Maggie’s phone chirped, indicating Henry’s response: He promises you will not be disappointed

  Maggie smiled at the screen as she read the message before powering off her display. She set the phone on her night table and switched off the light.

  Maggie grabbed the book Piper retrieved from the storeroom. “Here’s the book you were looking for,” Maggie said to her customer.

  “Ah!” the woman responded. “Yes, that’s it! Thank you so much! My daughter will be so pleased I found a copy!”

  “If that’s everything, Piper can ring you out right over there.” Maggie pointed at the cash register.

  “Yes, that’s all, thank you!”

  “You’re very welcome and thanks for stopping into Maggie’s Books and Baubles!”

  Maggie stalked a few steps away, pulling her phone from the waistband of her skirt. She checked her messages for the umpteenth time. Her display showed no new information. Maggie sighed, her shoulders sagging with disappointment.

  She had eagerly awaited a message this morning from Henry, some news about locating the man they sought. So far, no luck. After Maggie checked in with Henry, she learned they had found nothing thus far. No clues led them to his location.

  A steady stream of customers kept her from checking her messages for most of the morning. As the lunch hour approached, she expected to have something waiting. Instead, no messages met her when she checked.

  This coupled with Ollie’s lack of leads put Maggie in a sour mood. She slogged through her shop, tidying books. She shoved them back on each shelf, taking her frustration out with each book she slammed into place.

  The front door’s bell chimed as the latest customer departed from the shop.

  “Whew!” Piper called. “What a morning!”

  “Yeah,” Maggie shouted.

  “You got all those books taken care of, or do I need to head back?”

  “Got ‘em!” Maggie hollered.

  “Cool. Ugh,” Piper exclaimed as Maggie heard her plop onto the stool behind the counter. “Whatever you’re doing to drive traffic to the store, please stop. I enjoyed this place when it was quieter.”

  “It’s probably the museum story in the papers. Curiosity seekers,” Maggie yelled.

  “Yeah, speaking of, why are the cops so interested in you with that?”

  “No particular reason,” Maggie called, retreating further into the bookshelves. “I think Gio just likes a pretty face.”

  “Wow, humble, aren’t we?” Piper shot back. “And Gio? On a first name basis with the cop, huh?”

  Maggie rolled her eyes. “Hey, I saw that,” Piper said, appearing at the end of the aisle and grabbing a stack of books from Maggie.

  “You put way too much time into dissecting my personal life,” Maggie commented. “You should spend more time analyzing your own. You might find a witty Brit at the heart of it then.”

  “Will you quit with that already? There’s absolutely nothing going on between me and Charlie.”

  “Oh, isn’t there? Miss ‘I had to walk him to the shop that’s just down the street?’”

  “He’s British, I was afraid he’d get lost. Walk on the wrong side of the street or something.”

  “Uh-huh, right. Come on, admit it. You think he’s cute.”

  Piper attempted to side-step around Maggie and avoid the question. Maggie blocked her, staring her right in the eyes. She raised an eyebrow at her, her lips curling into a smile at the corners. Piper stared at her a moment.

  The front door’s bell rang. “Gotta go!” Piper sang, spinning and dashing toward the front.

  “Saved by the bell,” Maggie noted as she finished the shelving. Maggie heard a man’s voice conversing with Piper. She started toward the front of the shop when her phone rang. She checked the display. It showed Henry’s name. Maggie swiped to answer it.

  “Well?” she demanded.

  “Hello to you, too, princess,” Henry answered. “And how is your day going?”

  Maggie chuckled. “Hi. It’s going just fine. It would be going better if you told me we had a lead. So, are you going to make my day or what?”

  “It’s a good thing I specialize in making your dreams come true.” A smile crossed Maggie’s face. She heard a shout in the background. “Was that Charlie? What’s he saying?”

  “Yep. He’s telling me HE made your dreams come true, not me.”

  “I’ll consider it a joint effort. So, what do you have?”

  “Charlie’s sleuthing caught our man in the area of North Street. A quick perusal of a map shows about five hotels scattered around the area. We’re heading there now to take a peek. If we’re lucky, we’ll find that ostentatious sports car parked outside one of them.”

  “That sounds promising. Tell Charlie I owe him a big kiss.”

  “Hey!” Henry objected.

  Maggie chuckled. “Just kidding. But tell him great work! Good luck with the search. Keep me informed! I’d come with you, but Piper and I are slammed at the shop.”

  “No problem, princess. I’ve got it covered. I’ll keep you updated.”

  They said their goodbyes and Maggie ended the call. The smile remained on her face as she stalked toward the shopfront. She no longer heard voices. Piper must
have handled the customer.

  Maggie rounded the corner of one of the shelves, stepping into the open area near the shop’s front. Piper stood in the middle of the space. Worry creased her face, and she wrung her hands.

  “What’s wrong?” Maggie inquired, finding Piper’s reaction odd. Piper didn’t respond. “Piper, what is it?”

  Piper’s eyes shifted, focusing just over Maggie’s shoulder. Maggie began to swivel her head when her blood went cold. She swallowed hard as she felt the barrel of a pistol push against her spine. Instinctively, she raised her hands in the air. Her heart pounded in her chest and her pulse quickened.

  “That’s right, nice and slow. And I’ll take that phone,” a man’s voice informed her as he tugged the cell phone from her hand.

  “Money’s in the register,” Maggie choked out. “And let my assistant go, she doesn’t need to be involved.”

  “I’m not here for the money, Ms. Edwards,” the voice answered.

  Maggie’s brow furrowed. The man shoved her roughly toward the cashier’s counter. “I want to know what you know about the location of the other two ankhs.”

  “What?” Maggie questioned as she stumbled to the counter. She spun to face him, grasping the counter behind her. She recognized James Michael Dean. Before he could speak again, she grasped Piper’s arm, pulling her back and shoving Piper behind her.

  “The ankhs, Ms. Edwards. I want the locations of the other two.”

  “I don’t… I don’t have the locations!” Maggie cried.

  The man shoved his hand forward, leveling the gun at Maggie. “I don’t buy that story,” he growled.

  “I don’t!” Maggie insisted.

  The man cocked the gun. “I’m going to ask you one more time.”

  Maggie breathed raggedly as her mind raced for a solution. She swallowed hard again, holding her hand out in front of her. “Okay, okay, wait,” she breathed. “I don’t know the locations of the ankhs, but I may have a lead for you. My uncle may have learned something about their location. M-Maybe he can help.”

  “The renowned Dr. Keene? Yes, Ms. Edwards, I expect he can. In fact, I expect he already did!”

  “All right,” Maggie stalled. “So, let’s call him and…”