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thick black thread stitched a crooked smile across its mouth; two dull black buttons formed the eyes.
    With a gloved hand, I gingerly turned the toy to its upright position. The animal appeared to be standing or sitting on its back haunches—the misshapen bulging of the creature’s body made it difficult to tell which.
    The scraping sound inside the vase had been created by a toothpick attached to the outstretched paw of an upper limb. Glued to the free end of the toothpick was a stampsized piece of paper. Isabella and I leaned over the table to examine it.
    “It’s the California state flag,” I mused as I studied the printed image of a brown grizzly bear walking beneath a red five-pointed star. “The Bear Flag,” I added, with an informative nod to Isabella, who murmured in concurrence.
    “I guess that makes you a bear,” I said dubiously to the tattered stuffed animal.
    Isabella appeared unconvinced of this last conclusion. Her pointed ears swiveled sideways as she considered the strange-looking beast.
    “What were you up to, Oscar?” I wondered aloud. My initial disappointment in the discovery of the green vase was now being replaced by the growing realization that I might have stumbled onto something far more valuable than a wad of fried-chicken-infused dollar bills.
    This toy bear might well be a clue to one of Oscar’s hidden treasures, I thought excitedly. I flipped the paper flag over and read the message printed on the opposite side.
    Shiny gold lettering typed out the words: NEVADA CITY, CALIFORNIA.
    Rupert didn’t share his sister’s interest in the inspection of the toy bear; he had ignored the human and feline commentary postulating on its potential significance. From his position on the floor beneath the kitchen table, his eyes remained fixed on the gaping hole in the wallpaper. Of the three of us, he was the only one aware of the kitchen’s fourth occupant that morning.
    Hidden in the shaded recess of the wall’s interior framing, two shiny pinpoints glowed in the darkness, the luminous pupils of a tiny hairless mouse.

Chapter 5
    A SPANDEX-CLAD VISITOR
    I WAS STILL studying the toy bear’s paper flag when I heard three cracking knocks against the front glass of the storefront below.
    Whack . Whack . Whack .
    “We’re not open,” I whispered down to Isabella as I dropped the bear back onto the table.
    Bona fide customers were a rare occurrence in the Green Vase showroom. It had been over a week since the last stranger had stepped in off the street, and she certainly hadn’t made any purchases.
    “Mrs. Dempsey,” I sighed as I remembered our last such visitor. “The tooth lady.”
    Rupert’s head jerked up at me, his gaze temporarily leaving the hole in the wallpaper. The mere mention of Megan Dempsey’s name still filled him with dread. The bustling matriarch of a family of five had made quite an impression.
    I’d been sitting on the stool behind the cashier counter when a big-bosomed woman with bright lipstick and unnaturally white teeth opened the front door and asked for directions to North Beach. Midway through my handwaving attempts to point her toward the corner up the street, she spied the antique leather dentist recliner in the back of the store.
    “Oh, what do you have here?” she asked, stepping into the shop. Three rowdy children and a bedraggled husband followed her inside.
    It turned out Mrs. Dempsey had worked her entire adult life as a dental hygienist. After years of propping open people’s mouths and peering inside, she had developed a deep fascination with all things tooth-related.
    Before I knew what was happening, the entire clan had proceeded to the back of the showroom. The three children were already bouncing on the dentist recliner by the time I caught up to them. Oblivious to her offspring’s antics, Mrs. Dempsey bent over a display of rudimentary tooth removal devices from the Gold Rush–era.
    “It’s horrifying to think what people went through in