“Thomas Carter,” said Harriet. “Is, or perhaps I should say, was a renowned finder of Egyptian antiquities. His recent and most popular find was the legendary golden neckless of the Pharaoh Sneferu.”

Harriet got out of her chair and went to fetch a book from the lower shelf of her bookcase, returning to her chair. The book was full of etchings done by the Scottish artist David Gordon, compiled when he toured the ancient Egyptian temples.  

Harriet soon found the page depicting the Egyptian temple wall art, and then showed it to Agatha. It was a black and white two-dimensional representation of the Pharaoh wearing the neckless.

“Since there was no other recorded account for this neckless in any of the other known Egyptian texts. It was considered by antiquities scholars at the British Museum to be some kind of myth. Some scholars even believed that Sneferu never really existed.”

Harriet continued. “They believed, the story about Sneferu and his golden jewel-encrusted neckless was created by other Pharaoh's to steer away any tomb robbers from other graves, including eventually their own, sending them on a wild-goose chase. It’s also believed that temple builders were even instructed to script the walls with false maps and directions. Like the one in this book.”

“So, what was it that changed Thomas’s mind to think the neckless was real?” Agatha asked.

“A chance finding of a broken hieroglyphic stone tablet in a Cape Town market.” Harriet answered.

“What was Thomas doing in South African?” Agatha...