Page 49 of Ancient Obsession

“Or,” Dave said, “Amenmose the mummy got up and is walking around. Which explains how the body disappeared from the coffin with no clues. Do you know if those doors open from the inside even if they’re locked?”

“I don’t. I could see if the rooms are available again and check it out.”

“Only if you think you won’t get in trouble.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”

“Didn’t think I would. So, what’s your plan today?”

“I plan to read through this notebook and see what Samira may have learned from that scroll. When I get to campus, I’m going to try and track down Vera to ask her if she’s made any progress on figuring out what go all over all of us. I may see if Dylan or Dr. Brennan will talk with me, though not sure if that’s a smart way to go.”

“That’s a lot of investigating along with attending class.”

Oliver groaned and put his head in his hands. “Oh, crap. I might have a paper due in each class in the next few days.” He released a long, slow breath. “Why did I decide to go back to school?”

Dave smiled. “To make yourself more marketable.” He sipped his coffee. “It’s working. The Glenmont police can’t stay away from you.”

Oliver shot him a glare. “Ha ha. Very funny.”

Samira had made good progress with the scroll, but the translation was far from complete. From her notes, Oliver learned the scroll appeared to be an overview of Amenmose’s life, most likely written by the scribe himself. He and Isry had known one another from childhood. When she had wed Rameses the second, she had brought him along as her scribe. Samira’s translations indicated Amenmose had possibly been in love with the scribe of another of Rameses’s wives, a man named Mery.

He sat back, wondering if Amenmose’s affections had been returned. Glancing at the time, he tucked the notebook into his bag and hurried down the hall to get ready.

Arriving earlier than usual to campus, he parked in his usual lot. It was another beautiful spring day, the sun warm when it managed to get out from behind big puffy white clouds. Despite having poor sleep and being the focus of murder investigations, his mood bumped up a bit as he crossed the quad toward the student union. When he got in line for coffee, he was surprised to see Robin sitting at their usual table by the windows. They wore headphones and stared intently at the screen of their laptop.

When Robin saw him approaching, they smiled and pushed the headphones down around their neck.

“Hi. Good to see they let you go.”

“Yeah, about that.” Oliver provided a short update, ending with finding the notebook outside the library but no sign of Samira herself. Since taking it could already be seen as tampering with evidence, he kept to himself the discovery of what he suspected was a piece of fabric from Amenmose’s body.

“Oh, shit,” Robin said.

“Exactly.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Not sure. I would like to track down Vera and talk with her. I’m hoping Samira is somewhere safe so eventually I can give her back the notebook.”

“I can text Beryl and see if she’s heard from them.”

“That would be great, thanks.” Oliver watched Robin’s fingers move in a blur as they typed. Once the message had been sent, he nodded to Robin’s laptop. “What are you working on?”

“That paper for our journalism class. It’s due the beginning of next week.”

Oliver grimaced. “I knew something was coming up. I’ll have to work on that over the weekend. The last couple of days have put me behind.”

“At least.” Robin’s phone buzzed. “Beryl hasn’t heard from Samira since yesterday morning.”

“That’s not good.”

“But she says Vera should be in the room with the coffin.”

“Oh?” Oliver sat back and took a drink of coffee. “Are you at a stopping point in that paper?”

Robin shut their laptop. “Yep. Let’s go.”

On the walk to the Earth Sciences building, they talked about the journalism assignment. Oliver had no idea what he was going to write about, but the last couple of days had certainly given him a lot of material.