We moved into the next room and checked out the coral reef. The man moved with us. We walked back to the shark room, and he followed.
“He’s definitely tailing us,” I said to Clara. “And he’s really bad at it.”
There was a brief announcement over the public address system of feeding time at the shark tank, and a handful of people moved up to the glass. Two scuba divers carrying mesh bags full of dead fish splashed into the tank from above. One of the divers looked directly at me and nodded.
“Showtime,” Clara said.
I took a deep breath and told myself this was all part of the grand scheme of things and probably necessary in terms of saving the world. I turned, walked up to the guy dressed in black, set my hands onto my hips, and glared at him. “Why are you stalking me?” I yelled in his face.
“Who, me?” he said, panic in his eyes.
“You’ve been stalking me all afternoon.”
“No. I swear. I don’t know what you’re talking about, lady.”
I leaned forward and raised the volume. “What did you call me?”
“Nothing. I swear.”
Clara was beside me. “What did you call my friend?”
“I might have called her ‘lady.’?”
Everyone was staring at us. Some people were hurrying from the room. Some were behind Clara, straining to get a better look at the crazy woman yelling at the crazy man. No one over the age of five was looking at the shark tank.
“Security!” I shouted. “This man is following me and calling me disgusting names.”
An elderly security guard came over to us. “What’s the problem here?”
I cut my eyes to the shark tank to see one of the scuba divers swimming down to the treasure chest and lifting the lid.
“These women are crazy,” the man in black said. “They came up to me and started yelling at me for no reason.”
“Did you or did you not call my friend a ‘lady’?” Clara demanded.
“Yes, but—”
“He admits it!” Clara said.
“Is that so bad?” the security guard asked.
“It’s the way he said it,” I said. “Sneaking up behind me and whispering ‘lady.’?”
“There was no whispering,” the guy said. “Honestly, I didn’t whisper.”
I made a show of getting a shiver. “It was frightening.”
Dear lord, I thought. Isn’t Diesel ever going to get out of the stupid shark tank! How long did I have to keep this thing going?
“And I think he was taking pictures of us,” I said to the guard. “Up our skirts.”
“You’re wearing jeans,” the guard said.
“So we outsmarted him!” I said.
“Check his cellphone,” Clara said. “See if there are pictures of us.”
“No way,” the man said. “I have my rights.”
I reached around him to his back pocket and searched for his phone.
“She’s grabbing my ass!” he said.
“Pervert!” Clara shouted, getting into the mix, shoving her hand into his other back pocket. “Pervert alert!”
There was a lot of yelling and wrestling around, then the guy broke free and took off at a run with the security guard in pursuit.
“Thank goodness he got away,” I said.
“Yeah,” Clara said, bending down, picking a phone up from the floor. “But he dropped his phone in the scuffle.”
I looked over her shoulder and saw Diesel and the other diver swim up and out of sight.
“What a nightmare,” I said to Clara.
The guard came back. He was red-faced, sweating, and out of breath. “Couldn’t catch him,” he said. “Sorry, but I see at least you got his phone. Have you checked for pictures?”
“Not yet,” I said. “I’m sure he’s deleted them.”
The guard took the phone and tapped the camera icon.
“Nope, they aren’t deleted,” he said. “And he was for sure following you ladies…if you’ll pardon the expression.”
He handed the phone to me, and I scanned through the photos. Pictures of me. Pictures of Clara. Pictures of Diesel. Pictures of Clara’s grandfather. Pictures of the treasure chest in the shark tank.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Clara and I met up with Diesel at the car.
“Did you get anything out of the treasure chest?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Diesel said. “Two more pieces of the coin.”
“You don’t seem very excited about it.”
“I’ll be excited when I have all eight and figure out what to do with them.”
“Do the two new pieces look like they fit with the piece we already have?” I asked Diesel.
“At first glance, yes.” Diesel pulled the pieces out of his pocket and handed one to me. “Does this do anything for you?”
“Yep. It’s vibrating.”
“Hold it up to the sun.”
I held it up, and Clara and I squinted at it. A small hole had been punched into the silver.
“Cool,” I said. “Very Indiana Jones.”
“I now have three pieces of the coin, and they each have a hole punched in them,” Diesel said.