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  “I actually wouldn’t be surprised. She doesn’t like to make mistakes,” I said, feeling a little bad for her. She was such a perfectionist it even made me anxious thinking about how much time and effort she must put into everything she did.

  “I suppose that’s true,” Verny said, sensing my discomfort. I was softer than both my friends in some ways, tougher in others. Their constant ribbing of one another and others was more than I could take sometimes. As old friends though they knew when to back off and I knew when to let it go.

  After an hour of bringing food in and getting it set up on the warmers so they matched Verny’s high standards, the gym was finally ready for the dance. We’d had it in the event hall in the past, but apparently bingo night for single and ready to mingle seniors was too important to reschedule, so the dance was in the gym. It filled up with people quickly, most of whom I recognized. Small towns were like that. Cici was dancing away with her boyfriend, who I suspected she just might marry one day. It was too early to speculate like that, and I would never tell Verny what I thought, but I had a feeling they were among the lucky ones that met their match at a young age.

  “It’s thirteenth century,” Lightning said in the distance. He was standing near his dagger, regaling anyone who got close enough to him with the story. “Genuine emeralds and real silver,” He bragged. I chuckled at the thought of there being security there at all. Lightning wasn’t likely to leave the dagger’s side.

  “Do you want to dance?” Abel asked Cookie, who blushed and gave me a sideways glance. He practically yelled it at her due to nerves. I felt like I was watching an awkward teenage romantic comedy, it was almost painful.

  “I’d like that,” Cookie said, her ears and cheeks were the same deep flush of burgundy. Abel smiled with relief, but then looked instantly nervous again as they walked to the dance floor. I suspected he hadn’t thought of the fact that he was actually going to have to dance once she said yes. My suspicions were confirmed as he began to bop awkwardly off beat.

  “They’re cute,” I said, even though I knew Verny wouldn’t approve.

  “Humph,” she said crossing her arms. “We know nothing about him...he’s an out-of-towner.”

  “He’s been here over a year now,” I argued. “He’s helped us out more than once,” I added. She didn’t say anything, but continued staring them down. I didn’t have time to think of something else to say because Gideon asked me to dance. After my dad was killed in the line of duty, he took on the role, and brought me to more than one father daughter dance in this very gym.

  “Luke, Mark and Kyle!” I heard the principal bark behind me. His voice brought me back to high school and I felt like I was the one getting in trouble. Being nosy, I spun Gideon around to see who Mr. Pearson was yelling at. I was a good student and I had been yelled at by him more than once in my time there. Frankly, it was shocking that he still had a voice. “What do you three think you are doing?” He asked.

  The three boys he was yelling at were the same three that had been in the deli before. Not surprising considering that the dance was practically compulsory for students. Also not surprising that they were being yelled at...Lightning had gotten a taste of their attitude at the deli. Mr. Pearson didn’t tolerate any kind of attitude, that I knew for sure. What the boys had done wasn’t really clear, as his voice was being drowned out by the music. It looked like he was escorting them out of the building though. If I were a betting woman, I’d guess they tried to spike the punch or something like that.

  “How are you doing kid?” Gideon asked breaking my attention away from the boys and Mr. Pearson. We were bopping just as awkwardly to the music as Abel was. Cookie flowed with the music gracefully as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

  “I’m hanging in there,” I said, never really having a better response than that. “Just hoping my food is going over well.”

  “If you have any leftovers, I’ll be shocked.” He thought for a moment. “But, if you do, I want them.” I laughed. I appreciated the vote of confidence and trusted him to tell me the truth. I don’t think the man had ever lied to me, or anyone else for that matter. Honesty was key with Gideon. More than one small-time crook or bad kid had gotten kinder judgment or a slap on the wrist because they were honest with him about what happened and why it happened.

  “I’ll be sure to send them all your way,” I said with a grin. I would give them all to him too. I didn’t even like corned beef that much.

  “It’s gone!” Lightning boomed from the middle of the room. “The dagger is gone!” He practically wailed.

  Everything stopped abruptly after Lightning shouted. He continued to yell and even curse while jumping around and pointing at the empty pillow where his dagger should have been. Verny was able to get the music to stop almost instantly.

  “Calm down,” Gideon ordered. “What do you mean it’s gone?” He asked.

  “I mean it’s not there!” Lightning shouted, not getting any calmer.

  “Could it have fallen?” I suggested. “We can look under and around the table.” Before I even finished speaking Lightning was on his hands and knees looking for the dagger. No easy feat considering that he used his cane and wasn’t exactly a spring chicken. I ran to help him out and most everyone else was looking around too.

  “It’s not here,” He said defeated.

  “It might be,” I said reassuringly. “Can we end early and look for it?” I asked Gideon quietly.

  “I don’t think we want to end the party,” He said looking around, flustered. A decent number of people had already left, at the first sign of trouble. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the dance wasn’t going to go on for much longer after Lightning started yelling. Gideon didn’t want to upset the people who were still there, and he wasn’t exactly sure that he had the authority just because something had gone missing.

  “It’s encrusted with real emeralds,” Lightning hissed at him, aware of how many people were listening. “The dagger is worth more than a year of your salary, that much I can assure you. If you don’t think that’s worth shutting this down so we can find it, then I don’t know what would be up to your standards.”

  “Alright, alright,” he said regretfully. “We need to look for the dagger, everyone and we need you all to exit in order to do that,” he announced. Groans and protests were the main response, only a few people respected his authority enough to just leave. Either that or they had wanted to leave regardless. A little more convincing, some flashing of badges, and the yells of Mr. Pearson were enough to get everyone else out. Verny was devastated that her decorations wouldn’t be appreciated longer, and I myself was a little upset that there were quite a few leftovers from my food, but we understood how much the dagger meant to Lightning.

  “How did you miss this?” Lightning berated the security guard. He couldn’t have been older than twenty-five and looked so tired I wouldn’t be surprised if this was his third or fourth job.

  “You were standing with the dagger,” the guard said. “I wasn’t really paying attention,” He admitted. “I thought you were paying enough for the both of us. I hadn’t noticed when you left.”

  “How did you not notice? Are you not being paid to notice?” Lightning grilled him. “Or did you notice and waited until I left before you took it,” he accused. I had a feeling that the poor kid wouldn’t be the first person Lightning accused, likely falsely, tonight.

  “I fell asleep,” The guard mumbled, a blush forming on his dark cheeks. Lightning sputtered and looked like he might just haul off and hit the poor kid. For once he was at a loss for words.

  “Leave the kid alone,” Gideon said definitively. They searched the entire room more than once. Cookie, Gideon, Abel, Verny, myself and a few others, including Mr. Pearson helped. We all hoped in vain that we would find it. It didn’t make sense that it would fall or get misplaced. The point of the holder was that it kept it in place, and no one would have just picked it up and put it down somewhere
. No one should have touched it in the first place. After an hour of combing the place, it seemed that the dagger was likely stolen.

  Chapter Five

  There wasn’t really any denying it once we swept through again, the dagger wasn’t in the gym anymore. Lightning was inconsolable, irate with anger. I half expected him to start crying at any moment, either that or whacking everyone with his cane. The poor security guard would be first on Lightning’s list, that was for sure. Gideon had made it clear that Lightning wasn’t allowed anywhere near the kid. He wasn’t going to let Lightning mess with anyone no matter how angry he was. Instead of actively shouting and cursing at everyone he was now grumbling to himself constantly.

  “Do you know anyone who would take the dagger?” Abel asked Lightning. He seemed to be safe from the ire of the old man, probably because Lightning knew him the least and didn’t know how far he could go before overstepping. For most of the rest of us he was our teacher at one point and had yelled at all of us more than once.

  “Anyone with half a brain,” he replied as if it was obvious. “It’s worth a lot and anyone with eyes can see that. Hence the security and if it was being watched properly none of this would have happened.” He shot a withering glare at the guard who looked far more awake than he had previously.

  “Anyone specific?” Abel reiterated the question, ignoring the rest of Gideon’s comment.

  “I’m not sure,” Lightning crossed his arms like a petulant child.

  “We can’t help you if you aren’t going to help us,” Gideon said. At this point everyone but us had left and the principal. He couldn’t leave having the keys to the building.

  “You might think I’m making it up or foolish,” he said awkwardly.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, curious about the turn of events. It sounded like he might actually know who was responsible for the stealing the dagger.

  “Do you know who took it?” Abel asked.

  “Not really, but I have a few theories,” he said almost shyly, which was odd for him. It reminded me of the time he blamed a murder on the town curse. He had been embarrassed to admit to his theory back then, the same way he was now.

  “What are your theories?” Gideon coaxed the answer from him.

  “I think it might be the mob,” he said expectantly. Everyone stood silent staring at him with incredulity. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but ever since I was given the dagger, museums and archaeologists have been after me to get it into a museum. I’ve refused, but I’ve always felt like they might try to take it from me at some point.”

  “Why does that mean the mob took it?” Gideon asked. I wasn’t able to follow the train of thought either. Judging by everyone’s faces, they didn’t see it either.

  “All museums have ties to the mob,” he said it like it was an obvious fact. “It’s well known in certain circles. They hire the mob to steal artifacts for them. Now that everything has already been found, they have to take it from private collectors like myself.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know that, museums have ties to the mob,” Abel said as if he still didn’t believe it. I didn’t buy it for a second either. To me it sounded like another one of his crazy theories that only he believed or even knew about. His conspiracies were all of his own creation. If you googled them, I’d doubt you’d get any kind of answers.

  “Have you had any direct communication or threats from the museums or archaeologists... or the mob?” Gideon reluctantly added.

  “I got a letter not too long ago,” Lightning said. “It was from the history museum, they’ve sent me letters almost every year since they discovered I had the dagger. They’ve offered me a dedication, even money for it. I’ve never even bothered responding.”

  “How long ago did you get the letter?” Abel asked. He was suddenly in detective mode. It was funny watching it switch on. As soon as things got serious, he was too.

  “Not more than a month ago.”

  “Do you still have it?” He asked. Lightning furrowed his brow, thinking about where it might be. I had seen his desk and I’m not sure the man had ever thrown out a single piece of paper.

  “I think so,” he said nodding. “I didn’t think much of it at the time, since they send me letters all the time, but this one did mention it being their last attempt to contact me. Maybe it was a warning.”

  “Can you bring the letter into the station tomorrow?” Gideon asked.

  “I’ll look for it tonight,” Lightning nodded. He looked downtrodden and I thought he might actually cry. It broke my heart looking at him. The dagger was truly his most prized possession and I’d bet it was the most valuable thing he owned.

  “We’ll do everything we can to find it,” Abel assured him, clearly seeing the same expression on Lightning as I was.

  “And we’ll do everything that we can to help,” I said nodding at him.

  “Definitely,” Cookie agreed. I knew she wanted to help, but the little glance she gave Abel made me think that she might have other motivations for wanting to work closely on the case with him.

  THE NEXT MORNING I felt like I had a hangover despite the fact I hadn’t had a sip of alcohol the night before. It was hard to imagine that I'd been so nervous about the dance and if people would like my food. That felt like a foolish problem to have after Lightning had lost his most valuable belonging last night. Gideon hadn’t followed through on his promise though and I was stuck with more than a few containers of corned beef. I hoped that I could either bring it to work and use it for sandwiches and if not that, then I would bring it to the station and be able to unload it there. I felt even worse once I got to the deli.

  “I didn’t get the chance to tell you last night,” Cookie said biting her bottom lip. As soon as I kicked the door open, I saw the chaos that Cookie had left the deli in last night.

  “What happened?” I asked. There were dishes out everywhere and I thought I saw a broken coffee pot sticking out of the sink. Food was splattered across the counters and even a bit was on the floor. It looked like the deli hadn’t been cleaned for a week.

  “What the hell?” Verny asked behind me.

  “My thoughts exactly,” I said looking at her with horror. Cookie stood in the middle of the deli, a guilty look on her face.

  “I tried my best, but so many people came in and there wasn’t enough time to clean anything. It was weirdly busy, I swear,” she justified the mess. I knew that if Verny or I had been left to deal with it then it wouldn’t be in such a state, but Cookie wasn’t either of us. She was more of an artist and more prone to get overwhelmed.

  “It’s okay,” I assured her. I wasn’t going to be leaving her alone with the deli again, but she didn’t need to feel bad about a little mess.

  “Was there a tornado in here?” Verny asked with a snort. She looked around the room but didn’t say anything else and started by bringing dishes to the sink. I’d heard her say the same thing to Cici about her room more than once.

  With the three of us and some good upbeat music, it didn’t take long to clean everything up. I was sure that the deli wouldn’t be in that state ever again. Buttercup even helped with some of the cleaning by licking the food off the floor and pre-cleaning the dishes for us. One of the coffee pots had broken, and apparently Cookie had put into the sink a bit too enthusiastically and it had shattered. Instead of dealing with it then she left it and was too nervous to put other dishes in the sink with the broken glass, hence the dishes scattered everywhere.

  In the end we opened late regardless of how quickly we worked. When it came to broken glass in a dining room, I wanted to make sure we got every last bit of it. I didn’t want to give anyone an excuse to sue me. Almost as soon as we did open, Lightning strolled in. He hadn’t slept a wink which was evident by the large bags dragging his already droopy eyes down. He walked with stooped shoulders, appearing defeated.

  “Hello,” he said with some formality. “I would like a coffee to go, please.”

  “Sure, coming right up,”
I said brightly, I was trying to lighten his mood in any way I could. “How are you doing?”

  “How do you think?” He shot at me.

  “Not well, I take it,” Verny said with pursed lips.

  “Not really,” he said, rolling his eyes. Lightning could be unpleasant on his best days, but this was far worse than that. He still looked like he was contemplating using his cane as a weapon. “I have to go to the station and give those fools a formal statement, as if what I said yesterday wasn’t enough. I found the letter from those blasted museum mob bosses, not that those two can solve a crime when the answer is staring them right in the face.”

  “Don’t be mean,” I chastised, despite knowing that it would only make him more upset. He didn’t have to be rude, especially when we all just wanted to help him.

  “It’s true,” He said crossing his arms. “How long does a cup of coffee take?”

  “Not much longer, yours is the first of the day,” I said calmly as I could manage.

  “I’m not sure we should even give it to you,” Verny said. “If you’re going to treat us like that.” I shot a look at her, she might be crossing a line. He was very thinly spread as it was.

  “You two have been conspiring against me since you were in high school,” Lightning shot at Verny and Cookie. He lifted his cane using it to point at them each. “How am I supposed to believe that you didn’t have anything to do with the dagger disappearing.”

  “What are you talking about?” Cookie asked, looking shocked at the accusation. Verny looked more annoyed than scandalized.

  “Well, Verny did the decorations for the dance, maybe she only did it to get close to my dagger. You both know how much it’s worth, why shouldn’t I expect that you two would conspire together behind my back?” He accused.

  “Stop it,” I said to him, frustrated. “I’m not going to listen to baseless accusations against your friends and the people who are trying to help you get the dagger back.”