The Eye of the Serpent

by Simon Cheshire

  Davina bustled back into the office. For once she wasn’t carrying an armful of anything. Instead, she was applying a fresh coating of lipstick, pulling faces into a little round make-up mirror.

  ‘I’ve got a couple of minutes,’ she gasped. ‘Mr Pettibone’s busy telling the reporters how shattered his nerves are.’ She set about making herself a cup of coffee.

  A-ha! Time for me to question my Suspect No 1!

  ‘Do you mind if I ask you about last night?’ I said.

  ‘No, go ahead,’ she said, fetching milk from the miniature fridge on top of the filing cabinets. ‘Oooo, are those spongy cake things with jam in I see? Yummy.’

  She perched on the chair beside the computer and hooked her hair back behind her ears. Her long fingers danced in mid-air, as if she was trying to remember something or running through a To Do list in her head.

  ‘I see you’re kept pretty busy here,’ I said.

  ‘I certainly am,’ she said, still out of breath. ‘Oh well, better than having nothing to do, eh?’

  ‘True,’ I nodded.

  I wasn’t sure whether I should ask my next question or not. If she was involved in the theft, this question might make her become suspicious of me. However, her reaction to it might tell me something, one way or the other.

  So I went ahead and asked: ‘Do you and Mr Pettibone get on OK? I couldn’t help noticing that he can be a bit, umm . . . demanding?’

  Her eyes stretched and she sipped her coffee. ‘Demanding, yes, yes. Demanding. That would be a diplomatic way to put it, yes. Demanding. He is indeed.’ She shook her head and waved a hand as if swatting unkind thoughts out of her way. ‘Sorry, I don’t mean to sound like I’m complaining. Really, he’s a very nice man and very knowledgeable about art. He’s extremely well connected in the art world, you see. He does lecture tours to universities. Half the art students in the country would love to have my job!’

  ‘But, er, do you love your job?’ I asked.

  ‘I do,’ said Davina, nodding. ‘Really, I do. Mr Pettibone can be a so-and-so, yes. I mean, sometimes I feel like, y’know, poisoning his tea, chopping him up into little bits and dancing on his grave singing a happy tune. But only sometimes. I really am lucky to have got this job. I love being around all this wonderful art. Art Deco’s a real favourite of mine, actually, I’d collect it myself if only I had the money.’

  ‘Really?’ I said, raising an eyebrow.

  ‘Yes, it was such a shock when the Eye of the Serpent disappeared,’ said Davina. ‘That was one of my favourite pieces. And an Enid Bottomby as well!’

  ‘Were you here when the police came last night?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘They were really cheesed off that Mr Pettibone had let all the guests go home. They were tutting and “awww”-ing all over the place. They said the investigation might take months now, instead of days! They said it was even possible that the statuette would never be recovered. I think that’s why they’re keen on today’s press conference, and Mr Pettibone’s idea of a national appeal to find it.’

  I didn’t say anything about my earlier deductions (the ones which indicated that a guest was unlikely to be the culprit, and that the theft was probably done by someone involved with the gallery). If I’d said anything, she’d have realised that she was on my list of suspects. Even so, a further couple of important questions occurred to me . . .

  ‘How many people work in this gallery?’ I said.

  ‘Oh, about fifteen or twenty in all,’ said Davina. ‘But Mr Pettibone and I were the only ones here last night.’

  ‘Nobody else? Not a security guard, someone like that?’

  ‘It didn’t seem necessary,’ said Davina. ‘Not with our state-of-the-art alarm system switched on.’

  ‘Could another employee have sneaked in?’ I said. ‘Mingled with the guests, perhaps? Hidden somewhere, waiting to strike?’

  ‘Hardly,’ piped up James. ‘I was under strict instructions to only let people into that exhibition room if they had an invitation. With their name on it.’

  ‘What about through this office window?’ I said.

  ‘It’s jammed shut,’ said Davina. ‘We’ve got to get someone in to fix it. Honestly, I know everyone who works here and Mr Pettibone hired everyone who works here. We’d have noticed anyone like that straightaway.’

  I thought for a moment or two. It seemed that every line of questions was leading into a dead end! There had to be something I wasn’t seeing here, or something that I wasn’t looking at in the right way.

  ‘I assume the police searched this building,’ I said.

  ‘Oh yes,’ said Davina, ‘top to bottom, inside and out. Every room, every drawer in every desk. They were in here for half an hour going through the filing cabinets. They were going to get flashlights and look in that walk-in cupboard over there, but they opened the door and could see that nobody had been in there for ages.’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ I muttered to myself.

  ‘How did they know?’ asked James. ‘Have they got some sort of looking-back-through-time scanner or something?’

  It was a clear-cut deduction. Think back to what I saw when I opened that door. Have you spotted what James hadn’t?

  ‘There’s an undisturbed layer of dust on that floor,’ I said. ‘If anyone had so much as put a foot in there, it would show. In fact, it would look suspicious if there wasn’t a layer of dust in there. That would imply that someone had been in there and cleaned the floor to eliminate their footprints!’

  ‘Whoever took the Eye of the Serpent took it with them out of the building,’ said Davina. ‘I’ve got a horrible feeling that the police are right, and that it might never be found.’

  I took my notebook out of my pocket and flipped through to the next blank page. ‘OK,’ I said, decisively. ‘I need details. James, you’ve told me what you were doing when the statuette vanished. Davina, I need you to give me an exact break-down of what you did and where you were, starting at a point in time a short while before the theft.’

  Davina took a deep breath and scrunched up her eyes in thought. Her lipsticked lips squashed into a concentrated ‘O’.

  Here is what I wrote down, based on what Davina then told me (plus a few interruptions here and there from James). Pay close attention to this, it’ll become vitally important for the solving of the crime:

  THE ROBBERY – from Davina’s angle

  Time: 7:15 p.m. Mr Pettibone tours exhibition to make sure everything’s perfect; Davina told by Mr Pettibone to adjust the Welcome sign by two centimetres; once done, Davina goes to office and switches alarm system ON.

  (Comment from James: ‘Yes, I saw her do that! I was in the office trying one of the celery nibbles and then spitting it out into the waste-paper basket.’)

  Time 7:25 p.m. Davina chats to James about Enid Bottomby;

  James boggle-eyed – keeps wary eye on Serpent from this point on.

  Time: 7:30 p.m. Guests now arriving; James collecting up invites at the door; Davina applies lippy, then stands around handing out those huge catalogues. (Mr Pettibone does the same.)

  Time: roughly 7:45 p.m. All guests have now arrived – room very busy; Davina tours room with wine; James tours room with celery nibbles; Mr Pettibone still handing out catalogues, now chatting with Mayor about art history; Mayor pulling faces, clearly bored to tears (or possible allergic reaction to celery nibbles).

  Question from me: Was the office door locked, or secured in any way?

  Answer: No.

  (Comment from James: ‘But it did have Staff Only on it!’ Comment from me: ‘Yes, James, that would be sure to stop any hardened criminal dead in their tracks!’ Comment from James: [unrepeatable].)

  Time: can’t be exact, but within next few minutes. Mr Pettibone snaffles Davina’s last glass of wine; Davina returns to office to fetch more; when she gets back, James tells her he’s fed up of people saying, ‘Don’t you look grown-up in your suit and bow tie, young man!’

  Time: 8:00
p.m. Davina sees James go to office, to refill tray of nibbles. (Comment from James: ‘I was as quick as possible. I didn’t want the Eye of the Serpent doing something curse-related without me seeing it!’)

  Time: ‘Must have been roughly 8:05 p.m.’ Davina sees old friend amongst guests – has brief conversation; Mr Pettibone notices guests have been leaving empty wineglasses on windowsill – tells Davina to collect them up; Mr Pettibone goes to office to make short phone call; James flops on to bench.

  Crime coming up NOW!

  Time: 8:07 p.m. (exactly – Davina looks at wristwatch). Mr Pettibone (back from phone call) returns to lecturing Mayor on art history, shows him the Serpent – Mayor’s face-pulling now at worrying level, ambulance may be needed; James watching statuette intently from bench; Davina flagged down by Mr Pettibone – he puts his now-empty wine-glass on her tray, tells her to fetch more wine for guests from office; she heads for office door, but as she reaches it, she slips on someone’s spilled wine – goes woooaaahh flat on her back with a squeal, tray of glasses crashes everywhere; Davina very relieved that Mr Pettibone had agreed to plastic glasses, otherwise could have been a serious accident; as it is, Davina highly embarrassed, plus has nasty smack on bum – notices that not only has the entire room looked in her direction, but James is smirking uncontrollably.

  (Comment from James: ‘Sorry, Davina, but it was very funny.’

  Comment from Davina: [unrepeatable].)

  Time: a couple of seconds later. Mr Pettibone rushes to help Davina; Davina attempts to dry wine-soaked trousers with paper napkin; guests carry on guzzling wine and nibbles; James carries on smirking.

  Time: a couple of seconds later, again. Davina not happy – wine has soaked through to knickers; Mr Pettibone quickly tidying up glasses and soaking up rest of spilled wine with more paper napkins; sudden cry of ‘Look everyone! The Bottomby’s gone!’; Davina turns to see James, standing, pointing at the now-empty alcove.

  Exact sequence of events, from 8:08 p.m.:

  • Guests freeze for a second, not sure what’s happening.

  • Mr Pettibone gawps at empty alcove, cries out in horror; then cries out, ‘Nobody move! The Bottomby! Oh my God!’

  • Guests crane necks and shuffle about to get a look at the empty alcove.

  • Mr Pettibone cries out again, ‘Clear the room! Call the police!’

  • General confusion – Mr Pettibone tells Davina to get people back from the scene of the crime; Davina, with soggy trousers, hobbles in her high-heels across room, shoo-ing guests towards entrance.

  • James is standing there, jaw as slack as a wet paper bag.

  • Guests are grouped by entrance – all wondering what’s happened, talking in low whispers; Mr Pettibone hurries over to empty alcove, stands there staring in horror, mumbling, ‘It’s gone! The Bottomby! Gone!’

  • Davina goes over to Mr Pettibone; Mr Pettibone rooted to the spot, tells Davina to get the guests out of here then call the police immediately.

  • Davina and James herd guests back through gallery to main entrance; Davina calls out calming announcements apologising for cutting the event short and assuring everyone that whatever it is that’s happened, everything will be back to normal soon.

  • At main entrance, James phones his dad to come and pick him up.

  • Davina returns to exhibition; Mr Pettibone still rooted to spot, still mumbling in horror.

  • Davina calls police from office.

  Question from me: Was the alarm system still on?

  Answer: Yes. I’m positive. I deliberately looked to see it was working, and it was.

  Time: 8:35 p.m. Police arrive; Inspector Godalming says rude words when told all the guests have gone; Mr Pettibone’s lower lip wobbles.

  Time: 8:40 p.m. Davina switches off alarm system so police can investigate alcove – they dust for fingerprints; none found.

  End of Davina’s account.

  Follow-up note from James: ‘I overheard my dad calling Mr Pettibone later on. He told him to get Saxby Smart on the case! Dunno what Mr Pettibone said.’

  I flipped back and forth through my scribbed notes.

  James could back up Davina’s account, right up to the point when he went home. So, if these notes provided me with an accurate run-down, then I could now say who’d had the chance to switch the alarm system off during the robbery!

  Look back through Davina’s account. Can you spot who had an opportunity to disable the laser net?

  If I now had a reliable account of events, then Mr Pettibone or Davina or James could have done it. All three of them were alone in the office at some point between the start of the evening and the robbery. Normally, I wouldn’t have expected James to know how to turn the system on and off as the other two would, but he’d told me that he also knew the four-digit combination (look back to page 46!).

  This still left Davina as Suspect No 1 as she was still the most likely person to have carefully positioned those displays (to help conceal the crime, remember). Plus, I found it very hard to believe that James stole the statuette. For loads of reasons.

  Mind you, stranger things have happened . . . Could he be involved? Could he have got me involved as part of some strange double-cross?

  It was all very frustrating. I still had no proof. And I still had no idea whatsoever about how the statuette had been taken, alarm system or no alarm system! Nobody had been close enough to the Eye of the Serpent to take it during those crucial few seconds. Or rather, none of my suspects had been close enough: James was by that bench, and Mr Pettibone and Davina were over by the office door, mopping up wine.

  I was sure that the solution was right in front of me. I was sure that all the pieces of the puzzle were here for me to see. I simply couldn’t work out how they all fitted together!

  ‘I’ve got to get back to the press conference,’ said Davina, hopping to her feet. ‘It’s poor Mr Dubrovnik I feel really sorry for.’

  ‘Who?’ I said.

  ‘Vladimir Dubrovnik,’ said Davina. ‘He’s the collector we borrowed the Eye of the Serpent from. I had to call him this morning and give him the bad news. He was so angry I thought the phone would melt! That man’s dedicated his life to the study and collection of Enid Bottomby’s art. He’s spent decades following every clue, researching every possible lead, in his quest to gather together the surviving examples of Bottomby’s work.’

  ‘That’s amazing,’ I said. ‘How many has he got?’

  ‘Two,’ said Davina. ‘They’re very hard to find.’

  ‘No wonder he’s cross,’ I muttered.

  Davina headed back into the exhibition room. James and I followed, pausing only to scoop up the last of the spongy cake things with jam in.

  The press conference was drawing to a close. Inspector Godalming was sitting with a carefully judged look of concern on his face and Mr Pettibone was facing the cameras, making a heartfelt plea for the statuette’s safe return. Some of the reporters were beginning to compare notes and tap at their PDAs.

  ‘And now,’ said Mr Pettibone, ‘if you’d like to follow me, there will be an opportunity to take pictures of the crime scene, thank you, this way, this way.’

  I watched as photo flashes clustered and zapped around the empty alcove, with Mr Pettibone standing on one side of it and Inspector Godalming on the other.

  Once again, I had a distinct feeling that the solution to this peculiar mystery was staring me in the face. What was it I was missing? What factor had I not taken into account?

  Hearing about this Vladimir Dubrovnik character had reminded me that I needed to get some background info on this case. There was only one thing to do.

  I called Izzy.

  A Page From My Notebook

  Some questions and problems:

  Question: Why is Mr Pettibone so against having my help? James’s dad must have told him I cleared up the incident at the museum with my usual efficiency. You’d think Mr Pettibone would be grateful for any help he could get.
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br />   Question: I’ve been assuming that the view you could get of the Eye of the Serpent from the rest of the room was deliberately limited – but WAS it? COULD that simply be coincidence? Am I misinterpreting a simple oddity of floor layout?

  Problem: Davina is still Suspect No 1 BUT she has an alibi (she was drying her trousers!). In fact, ALL my current suspects have an alibi (none of them were near the statuette when it vanished). AM I LOOKING IN TOTALLY THE WRONG DIRECTION? Have I made a mistake in thinking that none of the guests stole the statuette?

  Problem: There’s a strange mis-match here – the fact that the statuette is no longer in the building means, logically, that it was taken away, which implies, logically, that a GUEST is the thief. BUT! The fact that the alarm system was disabled implies, logically, that an INSIDER is the thief . . . So . . .

  WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! Is THIS the missing bit? Could an insider have been working WITH one of the guests? The insider disables the alarms, the guest nicks the statuette? MUST THINK ABOUT THIS SOME MORE. ARGHHH!! This is driving me nuts! I have SEEN whatever there is to see and I have HEARD whatever there is to hear. But the answers seem as far away as ever. There is a connection I’m not making. There MUST be . . . mustn’t there?

  CHAPTER

  FIVE

  THE NEXT MORNING, I WENT over to Izzy’s house. On the way, I stopped to buy the local newspaper and a couple of the nationals as well. I wanted to see what they had to say about this case.

  All of them had articles about the robbery. None of them really said much that was new to me but there were an interesting couple of paragraphs in The Sunday Trumpet, under the heading Art Treasure Mystery – Police Foxed By ‘Impossible’ Theft From Gallery. It said:

  . . . The team of officers assigned to the investigation is being led by Detective Inspector Lionel Godalming, 55. He remarked, ‘We are sure that a theft of this nature was the work of a large organised criminal organisation. It was without doubt carried out through the use of secretly drugged celery nibbles, by which the guests were rendered temporarily asleep.’