When the doors opened, Nancy was surprised to see Su-Lin in a crowd of students down the hall. “Su-Lin!” she called, stepping off the elevator.
Su-Lin waved as she made her way through the crowd. “Nancy,” she said, flashing a smile. “What a nice surprise.”
“I just came by with a friend,” Nancy explained breezily. “I thought I’d stop and have a chat with Professor Herbert. I did get to meet him at the dog show, after all.”
Su-Lin glanced at the wall clock. “He’s lecturing right now, I think,” she said, adjusting her book bag over her shoulder. “But he should be back in his office soon. Why don’t you have a soda with me in the student lounge while you’re waiting?”
“Sounds great,” Nancy said. Su-Lin led her down the hall to a large, sunny room furnished with leather chairs and couches. The girls got sodas from the vending machine, then found comfortable seats in the corner. Their conversation soon turned to Nelson Stone. Nancy wanted to know more about his relationship with Herbert.
“I think Mr. Stone has great respect for the professor professionally,” Su-Lin said. “He did ask him to appraise the Golden Horse, you know. But I wouldn’t call them friends, exactly.”
“Who are Stone’s friends?” Nancy asked. “Do you have any idea?”
Su-Lin shrugged. “He’s been too busy stepping on toes to make friends, I guess,” she said.
Nancy nodded. “I gathered that he wasn’t winning any popularity contests.” Then, lowering her voice, she said, “Listen, Su-Lin. Stone kicked me off his case. But I may be onto something else—something that might lead to the Golden Horse. It’s a real long shot, so I can’t go into details. But right now I need your help more than ever. I’d like you to keep your eyes and ears open at the museum for anything that seems at all unusual.”
“I sure will,” Su-Lin promised. “I do hope you’ll be able to find the Golden Horse.”
Nancy said goodbye to Su-Lin and sent regards to her father. Then she walked down the hall to Professor Herbert’s office.
The secretary looked up from her typing as Nancy entered. “May I help you?” she asked.
“Is Professor Herbert in?” Nancy asked.
“He’s on the phone right now,” the secretary said. She nodded toward the professor’s inner office, where the door had been left ajar. “Have a seat while you wait.”
Nancy sat down in an oak chair as the secretary continued typing. A few moments later the woman stopped abruptly, muttering something as she changed the typewriter cassette ribbon. Then the phone rang.
“Hello, Dr.—I mean Professor Herbert’s office,” the secretary answered. “He’s on another line. Would you like to hold?” She pressed a button on the console, hung up, and turned to Nancy. “This is my first day on the job,” she confided.
Suddenly the intercom buzzer sounded and the secretary picked up the phone again. “Oh, Professor Herbert, there’s a Mr. Sharp on line two.” Then she turned back to Nancy. “I’m sure he’ll be free in just a few minutes.”
As the secretary returned to her typing, Nancy got up and wandered over to the window. She could hear Professor Herbert’s voice drifting through the partly opened door. Nancy strained her ears against the clatter of the typewriter to pick out the words of his conversation.
“Of course we agree on the price,” she heard him say. “I’ll have my secretary type up all the details for your client. I’m sure he’ll be pleased. As you know, it’s a very rare piece.”
Nancy’s pulse quickened. Was Professor Herbert trying to sell Todd’s copy of the Golden Horse? She tried to hear more, but the shrill sound of the ringing telephone drowned out Herbert’s voice.
Nancy returned to her chair just as Herbert appeared at the door. He was holding a stack of papers, which he gave to the secretary. Then he noticed Nancy and smiled broadly. “Well, well,” he said, extending his hand. “What a surprise to see you again.”
Nancy stood up and shook his hand. “I was on campus, and I thought I’d just drop in.”
“Glad you did,” the professor said, ushering her into his office. It was a large, wood-paneled room filled with the scent of pipe tobacco. A colorful, hand-woven rug covered most of the floor, and the walls were completely lined with books.
Nancy took a seat as the professor lowered himself into a swivel chair behind his desk.
“Excuse all this clutter,” he said, waving a hand in front of him. “My last secretary used to keep things neater. Anyway, tell me—how is River Heights’ famous teenage detective doing?” he asked with a chuckle.
Nancy sensed that Professor Herbert didn’t take her very seriously. She decided to use that to her advantage. “Not very well,” she said. “I haven’t had any new cases lately. In fact, I was thinking of signing up for some anthropology courses here at Westmoor.”
Herbert leaned back in his chair and stroked his goatee thoughtfully. “I can’t think of a more interesting field,” he said finally. “I’ve been fascinated by it for the last thirty years.” Then, leaning forward, his eyes fixed on the Tibetan necklace around Nancy’s neck. “I must say, that’s a remarkable piece,” he said. “You know, it’s a Tibetan tradition for a groom to give such a necklace as a wedding gift. Often amulets are kept inside—or in some cases, precious stones, like rubies or diamonds.”
Nancy put her hand to the silver locket. “That’s very interesting,” she said.
“I’ve often wondered what was inside Su-Lin’s locket,” Herbert said. “She’s always been so secretive about it that I sense it must be something of great value. If you don’t mind my asking—have you ever taken a peek?”
“No,” Nancy replied flatly, hoping to put an end to his questions. “Su-Lin asked me not to.” Too late, she realized that her words only added to his curiosity.
Just then there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” Professor Herbert called. His secretary entered and handed him some typed pages.
“Here are those papers on the Golden Horse,” she said.
Herbert flashed the secretary an annoyed look, and Nancy’s suspicions began to mount. Maybe the professor was trying to sell a copy of the Golden Horse to this Mr. Sharp. “Well, I guess I’d better be off,” Nancy said, standing up. “My friend is waiting for me downstairs.”
“Always a pleasure,” Herbert said, rising to shake her hand. “Let me know if you decide to take those classes. Maybe I can be of help.”
Nancy thanked him, then left the room, closing the door behind her. Passing the secretary’s desk, she glanced at the typewriter, wondering what was in the documents the woman had just typed. Was Professor Herbert trying to pass off his copy of the Golden Horse as the real thing?
Keeping one eye on Herbert’s office door, Nancy leaned over the desk and flipped up the lid of the typewriter. Then she snapped out the cassette ribbon and tucked it into her bag.
Quickly Nancy moved around the desk, opened the top drawer, and looked for a new cassette to replace the one she’d taken. Suddenly she heard footsteps as the doorknob turned. Nancy slammed the drawer shut, hurried out of the office, and flew down the steps of the stairwell.
She found George soaking up the sunshine on the front steps of Harris Hall. “Hurry!” Nancy urged. “We’ve got to get out of here right away.”
“What else is new?” George quipped. “Don’t tell me you pulled down some more shelves.”
“This isn’t a time to joke,” Nancy said, running with George across the campus to the parking lot. “I had to steal some evidence, and I didn’t have time to cover my tracks.”
