Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris-Theo 2 by R. L. Lafevers, Yoko Tanaka

was lying.
    "He's quite correct, you know," I said. "The constable wanted to ask him some questions, so he'd best stay until they dismiss him."
    Weems turned his beastly glare on me. I suddenly found myself wanting to tug my frock into place and make sure every button was done up correctly. Instead, I reached up and scratched my armpit, the most vulgar thing I could think of in the heat of the moment.
    His lip curled in distaste. "I'd assumed yesterday was some sort of holiday. Surely you don't come here every day?"
    Have I mentioned that Vicary Weems has a very nasally penetrating voice?
    The inspector left the constable by the door and stalked toward us. He looked like a determined bulldog, which was not promising. "And who might you be?" he asked Weems.
    Weems drew himself up to his full height, which was still
considerably less than Inspector Turnbull's. "I am Vicary Weems, First Assistant Curator, in charge of the museum's exhibits, and, I might add, a close personal friend of Lord Chudleigh, who is on the board of directors of this museum."
    Turnbull studied him a moment longer. "So you're in charge, then, eh?"
    "Yes sir," Weems said, puffing up.
    "Well then, you can tell me exactly what's going on and how these stolen mummies got here."
    It was as if he'd stuck a straight pin directly into Weems. The First Assistant Curator unpuffed rather quickly. "It's only my second day on the job, sir," he rushed to add, clearly wanting to distance himself from any wrongdoing on the museum's part. "Let me go get the Head Curator." And before Turnbull could say another word, he headed over to Father and Mother.
    The inspector followed closely on his heels. As unobtrusively as possible, I trailed after them. When they reached my parents, Turnbull pulled a small notebook from his jacket pocket along with a little pencil stub. He thumbed through the notebook pages and scowled. "Just came from the British Museum. A Lord Snowthorpe gave me a list of the missing mummies. Seems they were out forty-seven of them."
    "Showoffs," Father muttered.
    Turnbull gave Father a steely look. "How many mummies do you normally display in your foyer?"
    "None! The foyer's no place for a display."
    "Then it looks to me like those are the missing ones. How d'you explain that, Mr. Throckmorton?"
    And of course, Father couldn't. None of us could. However, if they would only give me a chance, I could prove that Father wasn't a thief. I opened my mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by a second commotion at the door. "I say, let me in, you nitwit!" Lord Chudleigh's impatient voice rang through the foyer. "I'm on the museum's board, for gad's sake!"
    Properly quelled, the constable let him through.
    "I've come to check on our mummies, Throckmorton! How did we fare—I say, what are all these doing
here?
" He peered more closely at the bandaged forms against the wall. "What's
my
mummy doing here?"
    "That's what we're trying to find out, sir," Inspector Turnbull said reassuringly.
    I studied Chudleigh briefly, trying to determine if his bluster and outrage were an act. If so, it was a very good one. He would bear watching.
    Thinking this had gone on long enough, I stepped forward, drawing everyone's attention. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. Some of those are
our
mummies. We don't
keep them in the foyer. If you search the museum, I imagine you'll find that all the ones from our exhibits have been moved down here with the others. Clearly, if Father was to steal mummies, he wouldn't steal his own! I think you'll find that someone was going to steal all of them and was just keeping them in one place till he got back with a lorry or something, and then he was going to haul them all off."
    A hushed silence fell over the room as everyone turned to count the mummies. "She's right," Father said. (I do wish he wouldn't sound so surprised.) "There's the forty-seven from the British Museum, Lord Chudleigh's, and the eighteen others that have gone missing from