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furtheralong in their quest.
    Dan said, “If there’s somethinghelpful here, I don’t see it. I hope thiswasn’t a huge waste of time. We couldhave been halfway to the West Coast bynow.”
    Atticus said firmly, “My mother wasdying at the time. I doubt she would havetold me   useless   information.”
    Dan paled and said, “Hey, Att, Ididn’t mean it like that. But she could have
    been delirious.”

    “No, she wasn’t,” said Atticus emphatically. “She knew exactly what she was doing. I’m sure of it.”
    Jake added, “And Isabel Kabra is in town, too.”
    Amy said, “But we don’t know that she actually came here. As you said, DC is a big city. We just speculated it was to look at something pertaining to Lewis and Clark.” She added in a hollow voice, “Well,   I   speculated.”
    While they had been talking, a woman had walked over to them.
    “Lot of interest in Lewis and Clark
    today,” said the woman.
    They all stared at her. She was tall, around fifty, with brown hair and large brown eyes. She wore a striking red dress and had kindly features.

    “You mean other people have been here to see the display?” asked Amy.
    “Just a few minutes ago there was someone,” said the woman. “I’m Dr. Nancy Gwinn, by the way. I’m one of the curators here. My specialty is Lewis and Clark, actually.”
    “Then you’re just the person we want to see,” said Amy.
    “Really, why is that?” asked Dr. Gwinn curiously.
    Amy said, “We’re students traveling here from out of town. We’re doing a team research paper for a regional competition on Lewis and Clark. There are many things that are known about them, of course. But we were hoping to find out some things that aren’t so well-known.” She pointed to the display cabinet.

    “We’ve covered all of these items in our paper, but do you have any   other   artifacts from the expedition?”
    Dr. Gwinn nodded. “Yes, we have many that aren’t on display. It’s a question of space and interest.”
    “And there seems to be   interest ,” said Amy. “Like you said, someone else was in here asking about them. Was that person my age by any chance? A girl about my height? Blond hair, shoulder length? You see, it’s a true competition, and there are college scholarships at stake.”
    Dr. Gwinn shook her head. “No, shewas much older. In her forties. Dark hair,attractive. Very intense. In fact, sheseemed familiar to me for some reason.”
    The four looked at each other. That

    was undoubtedly Isabel Kabra.
    “Was she alone?” asked Dan. “That
    sounds a lot like one of the teachers who’s working   with   the   students   we’re competing against.”
    “She   was   alone. But now that you say it, she did seem sort of teacherlike in her demeanor. And she was very articulate.”
    “I’m sure. Did she ask to see
    anything out of the ordinary?” asked Amy.
    Dr. Gwinn thought for a moment. “Well, just one thing, now that you mention it. The Lewis and Clark compass. She was quite taken with it.”
    “Compass,” said Amy. She snapped her fingers. “That’s right. The famous compass.” She looked at the others. “We could use that as one of our centerpiece themes for the research paper.”

    She turned to look at Dr. Gwinn. “Isthere any way we can take a look at it,too?”
    Dr. Gwinn shook her head. “She hadan appointment. It’s the Smithsonian’spolicy not to bring articles from the backof the building without an appointment.”
    Amy looked crushed. “She told uswe didn’t need an appointment when Iasked her last week. She’s also on thecompetition’s organization committee.”
    “Well, that’s hardly fair,” said Dr. Gwinn sternly. “It seems that she wastrying to deliberately mislead you.”
    Amy and Dan said nothing but lookedat her hopefully.
    Dr. Gwinn said, “If she got to see it, Ithink you should, too. That’s only fair. And one of the Smithsonian’s