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drowning. Burning lungs. Also like walking on coals and being attacked by voracious fire ants and stinging bees and venomous snakes. Not my favorite thing to do,” he said. “Enough about me. I know about me. Let’s talk about you all for a moment. I can help you, you know—
if
you do some things for me.”
    Tunie swallowed the last of Peter’s cookie. “Help us with what?”
    Horus said, “You’re interested in finding the girl who was kidnapped from my exhibit at the fair, aren’t you?”
    Peter leaned over the table toward Horus.
    “Were you there?” Peter asked.
    The mummy made a face. “Oh, yes. Distasteful situation. I’ll tell you what I know, if you make me a promise.”
    “What’s that?” Tunie said with suspicion.
    Horus blinked his luminous eyes. “Promise me you’ll come back. You’re the only people who have been able to interact with me since a toddler greeted me with a rag doll once, in England. That must have been a hundred years ago. Promise you’ll come back—and bring me something to read, to pass the time.”
    Tunie looked over the mummy. He was stained a bit brown and gray with age, and the bones where they showed through his wraps were disturbing, but for all that—and his former thieving ways—he seemed…polite, at least.
    “I’ll bring you some library books, Horus,” she said.
    Peter looked thoughtful. “My father reads the paper, too. I can bring some of those.”
    “Excellent! Someone left one in here once. It named all kinds of wonders—moving pictures, motorcars, bubble gum!” The mummy clapped his hands. “I want to know more about everything. Oh, and I especially liked the comics!”
    “Great. I’ll bring as many as I can. Now, please,” Peter said fervently, “tell us! What do you know about Dorothy James’s kidnapping?”

Peter tried to sit still, but he felt keyed up, knowing the mummy had been at the scene of the crime. An undead eyewitness! This was something the coppers definitely hadn’t discovered!
    The mummy took a sip of tea and began. “They were unsavory fellows, much like my grave-robber comrades. Not to be trusted, of course, but they knew how to have fun! Well, at least, they did at first….Where was I? Oh, yes. There were two kidnappers. One had a terrifically nasal voice and smelled of hickory woodsmoke. He came quite near my sarcophagus, and though I couldn’t see his face, I distinctly heard him say he had to be back at Franklin Street by midnight.”
    Peter was breathless with elation. “This is great! Inside information! What about the accomplice?”
    Horus appeared pleased by Peter’s exuberance. “The other was also a man, but his voice was low and muffled. I heard the girl shriek from his direction, and then it sounded like he was covering her mouth.” The mummy looked thoughtful for a moment. “There was something else. He made a strange tapping sound when he walked.”
    “That’s keen! I know where Franklin Street is,” Tunie said delightedly. “All we have to do is find the man with the nasal voice!”
    Peter frowned. “Wait a minute. This is
my
investigation. I need that dough.”
    He touched the injured corner of his mouth, remembering what he had to escape. “I’m going to have every bone in my body broken this summer if I can’t get out of town.”
    Tunie blinked. “I need the money, too. My dad is sick and we can’t afford a doctor.”
    Peter stared at Tunie for a moment. He liked her. He knew from experience, though, that most people couldn’t get away from him fast enough once the twins appeared, and his stepbrothers were almost impossible to avoid. What if, during their research into this kidnapping, she decided she didn’t want to be near Peter? What was to keep her from using the information they’d gathered together, going after the reward on her own, and taking all the money?
    “Once I get it, I’ll share some with you, but I have to get that reward myself. It was nice to meet you, Horus,” he