A waitress brought them blueberry muffins and juice. “So,” Joanne said, sipping her juice, “you ask questions and I secretly take photographs. Then what?”
Nancy shrugged. “I guess we get the photographs developed and hope we got lucky.”
At three minutes to ten Nancy and Joanne entered the Fe T’sui Gallery. “Omigosh,” Joanne whispered, gazing at the jade collection. “I wonder if Keith’s been here. If he hasn’t, he’ll flip when he sees it.”
This time Nancy didn’t have to be announced. At exactly ten o’clock Mr. Mai emerged from the back room. “Ms. Drew,” he said with a curt nod. He stopped short as his gaze fell on Joanne. “You brought a companion?”
“This is Joanne Koslow, my cousin,” Nancy said. “Joanne is the one who originally got me interested in Asian studies.”
Joanne took her lead smoothly. “I stopped by Nancy’s house this morning to return a book, and when she told me where she was going, I begged her to take me along. I hope you won’t mind my showing up unannounced like this.”
“You’re also in Asian studies?” Mr. Mai asked.
Joanne flashed him a dazzling smile. “Actually, I’m specializing in antique silk kimonos.”
Nancy winced inwardly, but Mr. Mai didn’t seem put off. “Very well,” he said. “Ms. Drew, you said you had a few more questions.”
“Yes,” Nancy said, taking out her notebook and moving toward a case filled with small statues. “How exactly were figures like this used? Would you find them in houses or only in temples?”
Half an hour later Nancy had run out of questions. Unfortunately, Mr. Mai wasn’t nearly as talkative this morning as he’d been during their first interview. Nancy wondered if it was because she’d brought along a second person. She deliberately hadn’t let herself look at Joanne. She didn’t want to draw attention to what her friend was doing.
For her part Joanne had followed along, occasionally asking a question. To Nancy’s surprise, Joanne sounded like someone who’d actually studied Asian art. She quoted dates and dynasties as easily as the gallery owner. Even Mr. Mai seemed to be impressed.
When they had reached the last of the display cases, there was a long, awkward silence. Nancy felt sure Mr. Mai was going to end the interview. How will I get a look at the back room? she wondered.
“Do you have any more questions, Ms. Drew?” asked Mr. Mai.
“Actually, yes,” Nancy said, sounding nervous. “The other day when I, uh, chased your nephew through the back room, I lost a turquoise earring. Would it be possible for me to take a quick look and see if it’s in there?”
“We found no earring,” Mr. Mai replied.
“It’s a very small earring,” Nancy said. “It’s hard to see if you don’t know you’re supposed to be looking for it. Would you mind if I had a quick look?”
Mr. Mai checked his gold watch. “I have a client coming in five minutes. You understand that I’ll have to ask you to leave when she arrives.”
“I’ll help you look,” Joanne volunteered cheerfully. “After all, I gave you those earrings.”
Mr. Mai led the way into the back room and stood watching as Nancy and Joanne began to search. The room was a combination office and shop. Shipping crates and cartons were stacked neatly along the back wall. Four broad worktables held jade figurines and the pedestals used to display them. One corner of the room was taken up by a desk and several tall file cabinets.
Nancy scanned the room, looking for anything that might provide a clue. Her eye was drawn to a pale green statue sitting on a display pedestal in the corner. The carving, made of a perfectly translucent piece of jade, was of a tiger. The tiger looked as if it were stalking. Nancy stared at the statue, unable to believe so much life had been captured in a piece of rock. She wouldn’t have been at all surprised if the little jade tiger had roared and jumped off the pedestal. “What an incredible carving,” she said in a hushed tone. “Why isn’t it out front on display?”
“It just came in,” Mr. Mai responded in a clipped tone. “Besides, it’s not for sale. A private collector has already bid on it. Your earring, Ms. Drew?”
“Oh, right,” Nancy said. She felt her face flush slightly. Nancy cast her eyes down to the floor, searching for the earring that she knew was safe in Terry’s house. And then she saw them. On the floor beneath the stand that displayed the jade tiger were two brass latches shaped like dragons.
Nancy blinked and looked again. They had to be the latches from Nick Finney’s trunk.
10
Unsettling Questions
Nancy’s eyes met Joanne’s. Please photograph the tiger and the brass latches beneath the workbench, she pleaded silently. But she had no way of knowing whether or not Joanne would understand. She didn’t even know if Joanne had used all the film in her camera.
Behind Nancy, Mr. Mai coughed impatiently. “Ms. Drew,” he began, “I’m sorry, but I really must ask you to leave now.”
Nancy pretended to be disappointed. “I don’t see my earring anywhere. What about you, Joanne?”
Joanne shook her head, looking similarly disappointed. Then she and Nancy thanked Mr. Mai for his time and left the gallery.
Nancy waited until they were safely in her car before she spoke. “Did you see them?” she asked. “In the back room, on the floor beneath the tiger statue—the latches from Nick Finney’s trunk.”
“Seen and photographed,” Joanne said. “Now all we have to do is develop the photos and bring them to the police. Then they’ll know Mr. Mai had the trunk.”
“Let’s hope so,” Nancy said. “Terry called the police station early this morning to see what information their lab had gotten on the pieces of the trunk I found behind the gallery. They said the only prints on it were Terry’s, Amy’s, and mine. They also told him that finding pieces of the trunk behind the gallery wasn’t enough to question Mr. Mai, who’s a very well-respected art dealer.”
Joanne patted her tiny camera. “Well, I took shots of everything I could.”
“Thank goodness Mr. Mai didn’t notice he had a photographer walking around his gallery,” Nancy said. “Of course, you made a very convincing student. Where did you learn all those facts you were rattling off?”
“Hang around Keith long enough and you just absorb them. I always thought it was neat stuff but never thought I’d actually use it.” Joanne grinned. “I guess I’m sort of an honorary Asian art student.”
Nancy smiled at her friend. “You know something? For an honorary Asian art student, you make a pretty good detective.”
Nancy dropped Joanne at her car, and the two girls split up. Nancy had arranged to go back to Terry’s house to pick up Bess and George. Then the three friends would drive to Joanne’s for the last of the wedding projects: baking the cake.
George was on one of the outside decks when Nancy reached Terry’s house. Wearing faded red sweats and a headband, she arched backward with her palms flat on the deck, fingertips nearly touching her feet.
“Why are you stretching out?” Nancy asked.
