Page 12 of One Last Step

She smiles at me.“Yeah, that would be awful.I’m glad you’re not a thief.”

“As am I.”I narrow my eyes.“Didyoutake it?”

She giggles and shakes her head.“No.If I were going to steal a clock, it would be the big cuckoo clock in the first room.The one with the farmer and all of the animals.”

I have to stifle a grimace as I recall the automata jerking and shivering in the malfunctioning clock as though struck by seizures.“It’s a beautiful clock.”

She nods.“Grandmother says it’s called an automata clock because a cuckoo clock has to have a cuckoo automaton.Otherwise, it’s not a cuckoo clock.But I like to call it a cuckoo clock.”

“I like that too.Besides, people and donkeys can be cuckoo too.”

She giggles again.“That’s true.SometimesI’mcuckoo.”

"Why, what a coincidence.I'm cuckoo sometimes too."

I hear Jacques clearing his throat again and turn to see him and Elena standing in front of my door.Elena faces away from me.Her arms are crossed tightly over her chest, and she stares down at the ground.

I turn back to Sophie and say, “Consider yourself lucky.I’m letting you watch television and play video games a lot more than I ordinarily would.”

She giggles."People should steal pocket watches every day so I can watch as much TV as I want."

“And drive your grandmother into an early grave?Don’t say that, Sophie.”I look back at Jacques, who waits patiently with his hat in his hand.“I have to go talk to them.Stay in your room, all right?”

“All right.Bye, Mary.”

“Goodbye, Sophie.”

Elena should count herself lucky she has such a wonderful granddaughter.Were it not for Sophie, I would be packing my bags and leaving for home right now.

Well, not for home.I still need to figure out where Annie is.Or was.

The smile is gone from my face by the time I reach the two of them.Elena stiffens slightly but keeps her gaze away from mine.Jacques looks like he’d rather be anywhere else than here.I don’t blame him.

“Well?”I ask.“Have you satisfied yourself that I’m not a criminal?”

Jacques clears his throat.I believe it’s a nervous habit for him.“We didn’t find anything, Miss Mary.I’m sorry for the intrusion.”

I nod curtly.“Very well.Is there anything else I can do for you?”

He shakes his head.“No, ma’am.”

“Excellent.”

No one says anything for a long moment.Jacques breaks the silence by clearing his throat yet again, then saying to Elena, “If you can get me security camera footage, I’ll have my officers review it overnight.We’ll get to the bottom of this.I promise.”

Elena nods but says nothing.Jacques clears his throat a final time, then enters the elevator, presumably to leave the museum.

When the door closes behind him, I turn to Elena.She’s clearly discomfited, and I’ve already decided to stay for Sophie’s sake, but I’m very offended, and it’s important to me that she understands I won’t allow myself to be treated this way anymore.

“Do you have a reason to believe I would steal from you, Dr.Rousseau?”

She shakes her head.“No.It’s just shocking that the pocket watch has gone missing.I wasn’t prepared to lose something that valuable.I’m afraid I’m a little out of sorts.”

I sigh.“I don’t blame you.I only wasn’t expecting my privacy to be violated today.”

Her lips thin further, a feat I wouldn’t have thought possible if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes.She looks at me, and I am surprised to see anger and not embarrassment in her eyes.“I apologize for the inconvenience I’ve caused you, Mary.It wasn’t my intention.I take this museum very seriously.I take my family’s reputation very seriously.The thought that our reputation could be tarnished is very concerning, and I’m not at my best right now.

“And I don’t know you.I had a good first impression of you, but that doesn’t mean anything.Youcouldhave been the thief.I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, but I do feel justified in my actions.”

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