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I pulled a pair of sunglasses out of , which I donned in a sonized Weis seeave me hope that he wouldn’t turn around

Weis reached another intersection andto catch up, I stopped short of the edge of the building, leaned against it, and did a quick visual sweep Half a block away, Weis was cliht iron rails adorned with distinctive curlicues He fished a key fro it

Interesting, I thought His parents’ place? Or so would e space

As I approached the building, I reflexively scanned for hiding places and eency escape routes Fro had an unlocked entryhich would suggest the residents lived in apart whether Weis’s destination faced the street or not put e Nonetheless, I was too curious to turn back

Mounting the steps, I entered what turned out to be a s access to the rest of the building A door through which my quarry had disappeared

The wall to ht was lined with mailboxes A phone was mounted on the wall next to the

Great

Chapter Sixteen

The way I saw it, I had two choices: hang around for God kne long waiting for Weis or move on or save him for later For all I knew, Weis could have left already through a back door I went back out and h the alleys in an i Didn’t see anything and didn’t figure on it

Since I was near the art school, takingan artifacts expert see back, I’d power through it

I returned to ht about Melissa Blaine’s situation as I drove toward MICA Finding her would take reed upon This was assu her disappearance wasn’t connected to Kandinsky’s death and/or the artifacts in Weis’ SUV

En route to the school, it hit me Ancient artifacts are not only the purview of art experts I’d probably need to run the photos by a ist And who kne lean from photos snapped on a cell phone?

I turned onto a side street and pulled into the first spot I saw Once again, I tried to reach Two-Bit Terry and got his voiceh “Erica again Please call me”

Time to review my options I pulled outfor previously unseen connections A glance at Google Maps showed a fewa trip to DC where the Mother of all American Museums—the Smithsonian—had its headquarters

The phone trilled My eager gaze locked on the caller ID, only to find that it wasn’t Terry But the nu at it for a moment, I answered