“What is all this about?” Stone demanded.
Lieutenant Higgins took a pair of handcuffs from his belt and snapped them on Stone’s wrists. “I’m arresting you for conspiracy with Margaret Parker in the theft of the Golden Horse and attempted insurance fraud.” He began to read the curator his rights.
“Margaret Parker’s a dirty liar,” Stone protested.
“We’ll let the judge decide that,” Lieutenant Higgins said, leading Stone toward the police car. Then, turning to Nancy, the lieutenant added, “Good work, Nancy. We have a full confession from Margaret Parker.”
Officer Jenkins came out of the house with Margaret and put her in the backseat of the police car, next to Stone.
As the police car roared away, George said, “Well, I guess that wraps things up.”
“I wish it did,” Nancy replied. “But I’m afraid we have our work cut out for us.”
A short while later the girls returned to Nancy’s house. As soon as they reached her room, Nancy pulled the typewriter cassette from her bag. “I’m hoping this will tell us what Professor Herbert is up to,” she told George.
For the next ten minutes Nancy stretched the cassette ribbon under a light, trying to decipher the words, while George jotted them down on a notepad.
“A lot of this is too blurred to make out,” Nancy said, disappointed.
A few minutes later, however, the sentences started to string together. “This is it!” George cried. She looked down at her notepad and whistled softly. “It looks as if the professor is claiming he has the genuine article,” she said. “He’s trying to sell the statue to that Sharp guy you told me about.”
“I wish there was a way to intercept the deal,” Nancy said, half to herself. Sharp’s address on the tape was completely unreadable.
“I guess all you can do now,” George said, “is take the cassette to the police.”
Nancy shook her head. “No way. They’d never believe it. I’d need a copy of that letter. I want to search Herbert’s office tonight.”
“What’s this I stuff all about?” George blurted. “You’re not going without me, are you?”
Nancy hesitated and looked at her friend. “This might be risky, George . . .”
“Give me a break,” George replied. “When did a little danger ever scare me off? You and I have been in plenty of tight spots together.”
Nancy grinned. “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Nancy searched in her desk drawer and found her lock-picking kit. Then she went to her closet and pulled out some dark clothes. Both girls changed into black tops and jeans. Nancy tied her hair into a tight ponytail and pulled on a navy ski cap. Thin, black leather gloves completed her outfit.
“We look like a couple of cat burglars,” George quipped.
Nancy inspected herself in the mirror, and her eyes fixed on Su-Lin’s jade necklace. She put her hand to the silver locket and tucked it under her sweatshirt. If I ever needed luck, she told herself, it’s tonight.
• • •
By ten o’clock Nancy and George were on the Westmoor University campus, which was quiet and mostly deserted, except for a few students entering the campus coffeehouse. Walking quickly toward Harris Hall, the girls found a side service door open. They crept softly up the stairwell to the anthropology department on the third floor. Nancy stopped and turned to George. “You stay here and keep a look out, okay? Don’t forget to keep one eye on the elevator down the hall.”
Nancy hurried down the dimly lit corridor until she reached the door to Herbert’s office. For a moment she stood still, listening. The heavy silence and sweet smell of waxed woodwork gave her a heady feeling.
She took a deep breath and forced down the nervous fluttering in her stomach. Then she expertly inserted one of her lock-picks into the lock and turned it carefully.
Suddenly George came running down the corridor. “Quick!” she said. “The elevator’s coming up!”
Silently the girls slipped inside the outer office, then waited breathlessly as the elevator passed the third floor and rumbled up the shaft.
Closing the door behind them, Nancy moved past the secretary’s desk and into Herbert’s office. She switched on the shaded desk light, then turned to George. “Let’s start with the file cabinets,” she whispered. “Look under S for Sharp.”
It wasn’t long before the two of them had exhausted all possibilities in the file cabinets. Nancy moved over to the professor’s desk and tried the top drawer. It was locked. Suddenly they heard a scraping sound in the outside office.
Both girls froze. “Hurry!” Nancy called to George. “Behind the couch!”
But before Nancy had a chance to hide, a large, heavyset woman entered the office, carrying a vacuum cleaner.
Nancy pulled off her cap, so that she wouldn’t look like a burglar, and stuffed it into her back pocket. Then she slipped off her gloves and dropped them behind a chair.
At that moment the woman reached over and flicked on the light switch, illuminating the room.
Nancy forced a smile. “Hello,” she said casually. She pretended to be reading through a file on Herbert’s desk.
The woman lumbered forward. “You’re going to ruin your eyes in that light,” she scolded. “So the professor’s got you working overtime, eh? That’s why his last secretary quit. What’s your name, dear?”
“Name?” Nancy stalled, trying to compose herself. “Oh—Bess,” she finally blurted, hoping George wouldn’t let out a giggle from behind the couch.
“I’m Mrs. Hopper,” the woman said. She leaned toward Nancy conspiratorially. “And if you don’t mind my giving you a little advice—don’t let that Professor Herbert bully you into working such late hours.”
Nancy lowered her eyes. “Actually, I just came by to photocopy some important papers that have to be sent out,” she said. “I forgot to do it this afternoon. But now I can’t find them.” She pulled on the drawer, then shrugged. “I guess the professor locked them up.”
The woman winked. “Maybe I can help,” she said. The next minute Mrs. Hopper was on her knees, groping under the desk. “Here it is,” she said, handing over a small brass key. “I knew I’d seen a spare taped under here.”
“Thanks,” Nancy said, peeling away the cellophane tape. She inserted the key into the lock and quickly pulled open the desk drawer. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Mrs. Hopper cross the room and head toward the couch, dragging the vacuum cleaner behind her. A few more feet and she was bound to spot George.
