Curse of the Mummy's Hand by London Lovett

Author:London Lovett [Lovett, London]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wild Fox Press

Chapter Eighteen

The city woke to an impending heat wave. The fan we used to cool the office seemed to be sputtering and coughing. It was having to work too hard, and an hour after we arrived, it spun its last spin. The blades gave a final squeak, slowed down and eventually came to a dead stop.

Jasper smacked the back of the fan to see if it could be revived but no luck.

"Yeah, thanks for a whole lot of nothing, Mr. Westinghouse," Jasper muttered.

I wasn't happy about the fan, but my head was too deep into the case to notice or voice complaints to Westinghouse. I had laid out my notes. "Jasper, never mind the fan."

"Never mind the fan?" Jasper asked incredulously. "It's going to be hotter than a frying pan today. How's a guy supposed to survive when the sidewalks can cook an egg? And don't even get me started on how hot it's going to be inside the car. Actually, do get me started. Don't tell me we're going to go on some long drive again cuz I've got to say, I don't think Charlie or Charlie's driver are up to it."

"There might be a drive, but it's in the city." I rearranged some of the notes so that Dr. Morris's page was first in line. "I keep coming back to the doctor. All three of the men who died were under Dr. Morris's care."

"And don't forget Morris likes to collect Egyptian artifacts," Jasper added.

"You're right. How could I have forgotten something so important?" I jotted it down on the page of notes about Dr. Morris. I'd written painstaking notes about his character, his seemingly clandestine trip to the diner, his lack of skills as a doctor, but I'd forgotten the one thing that really pushed him to the top of the list. "See, Jasper, the heat hasn't turned your mind into scrambled eggs yet."

With the whole case laid out in front of me on sheets of paper, I felt somewhat disgruntled by the lack of progress. Silas Whitman was low on the list. There were two other team members to visit, but before we tracked them down, I decided it was time to do a little more research on the expedition itself. Silas mentioned there were a number of wealthy donors. Even a movie studio had invested in the trip. Had it turned out to be a bad investment? Did they lose all their money? It seemed Silas had gotten severely short-changed, and he'd been on the team. If the money was mismanaged, were investors also short-changed? Henrietta Portman hadn't mentioned any of her father's financial involvement with the expedition. Since Frank Portman was no longer a source of information, we needed to dig deeper into the investor list.

"We're driving to the west side of town to see Minerva Plimpton," I announced.

Jasper was still fussing with the fan hoping it might be brought back to life. He jiggled it hard. "Who is Minerva Plimpton? Was she part of the team?" He smacked the back of the fan.

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