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"Is this okay for you?" John B asks

"Yeah, have a seat." Shoupe nods as John B plops down on the arm of the chair, "So y'all were just puttering along and you happened to stop by here?"

"He hired us. I told you that."

•••

"Wes Genrette, who could hire anyone, hired you bozos?"

"Well, hard to believe or not, we did find El Dorado, so our track record is..." Pope trails off

•••

"Did I say you did anything?"

"Well, then why are we here locked up like we've done something suspicious?" Sarah asks

"Oh God, you're not locked up. Princess Cameron, stop exaggerating."

•••

"Do you really think we'd stick around here if we did something?" Cleo asks as Sarah walks around behind her

"Maybe you were just trying to be clever. I mean, if I thought y'all were capable of that."

"No, man, we just walked into it."

•••

"You have us talking separately like this is an interrogation." Charlotte points out

"Mm-hmm." Cleo hums from behind her

•••

"Is this a crime scene?"

"Why would you ask me that?"

"Well, you're talking to me, and I'm here." John B says

"Okay, I'll just have to get you a junior detective badge." Shoupe says, "No, not a crime scene, not yet. I'm just getting ahead of it."

•••

"What's that mean?" Pope asks

"You're disaster magnets, all right? That's what that means, and you know it." Shoupe says

"When it comes to trouble, we are a few standard deviations off the mean." Pope points, "If you were to put it on a graph.""

"Pope, stop trying to confuse me."

"Math confuses you?"

"Are you poking fun at me?"

"No, I'm not making fun of you."

•••

"So you go see Genrette. And then what happened?"

"He was talking about some little necklace thing." Kie shrugs

•••

"The old man thought he was cursed." Pope says

"Cursed?"

•••

"I don't know, Shoupe." John B exclaims, "He said he was cursed."

•••

"And you believe it?"

"Do I look crazy to you?" Kie sasses

•••

"I believe he felt like he was." Charlotte says

•••

"If he finds the amulet, it will break the curse." John B says

•••

"Gonna pay us 50,000 to find it." Cleo says

"But, uh, he's dead today." Shoupe says. He looks over as Sarah drops something, "Can you not touch anything on the mantle?"

"Sorry." She mutters

"It's an active area of investigation."

•••

"So, when you got here, what was he like?"

"He was talking about his daughter a lot." Sarah says before turning and pointing to the picture, "Um, her."

"I'm aware. I knew her."

"Oh." Sarah nods

"We all did. You know, a small island."

"Mmm."

•••

"So, uh... The... the trinket, did y'all have any luck finding that?"

"No." John B says shaking his head

•••

"No." Sarah says

•••

"Hell no." Cleo says

•••

"No." Kie scoffs

•••

"No." Charlotte shrugs

•••

"Wish we did." Pope says

"Bet you do."
______________________________________

"That was a close call." Cleo says as they make their way down the steps, "Being around cops makes me nervous."

"Oh shit, he's right behind us." Sarah whispers

"Shh. Quiet. Sorry." Pope says

"Now make sure you don't wander off too far now, you hear?" Shoupe says

"Yes, sir." Sarah says

"You guys gotta admit, that was weird." Charlotte says

"Yeah, the old man said he was gonna get got by the ghost, and he got got, so..." John B says

"Yeah, but is it murder if the killer's dead?" Kie says

"No, we're not entertaining that." Pope says, "There's no way this guy died from what's-her-face ghost, okay? He probably just died from, like, old people stuff."

"Yeah, like carpal tunnel." John B says

"Like eczema." Sarah shrugs

"Or, you know, osteoporosis." Pope says as they walk into a shed leading to the dock

"Oh. Hey." Chandler says

The teens walk over cautiously. Cleo eyes him, "Hey."

"We're sorry to hear about your loss, Mr. Groff." Sarah says

"Thank you, Sarah. I appreciate it." He nods, "It's, um... It's been a shock. I, uh... I know Wes made a deal with you. I intend to honor it. If you come up with anything, let me know. For Wes's sake."

"We'll let you know if we find anything." Pope says

"Please do." Chandler nods before walking out

"I'd like to get out of here." Kie says

"Yeah." Charlotte agrees

"Okay." Sarah says before they rush out to the dock. The teens load on and John B turns the boat on before steering them away.

"Just when you thought it couldn't get any weirder." Cleo says

"Yeah, the old man dies, and Groff still wants the amulet?" Sarah says

"What do you think, John B?" Pope asks

"There's a lot more going on that we don't know about."
______________________________________

The teens sat together on the couch as Pope dipped the amulet into a mixture he learned about in science.

"Woah, it is working." John B says as it bubbles up

"Mad science, Pope." Cleo says

"You are a mad scientist. Where did you learn how to do this?"

"Chemistry." Pope says

"I was in chemistry."

"We didn't take the same chemistry."

"What?" John B says as Sarah and Charlotte chuckle

"I think it's ready." Pope says as he pulls it out

"Oh." John B says, "Oh, the barnacles are gone."

"Oh, wow." Kie says

"Would you look at that?" Cleo says

"That's gold-gold. Look at that right there." John B points

"Don't touch." Pope says

John B pulls away, "What?"

"That's nitric acid."

"It's probably worth something." Kie says as she looks at the amulet. The acid allowing the red jewel in the middle shine through.

"This is so intricate." Pope says

"See the writing on it?" John B says

"Yeah. Whoa. Hold on. This..." Pope says turning it over and opening it

"That's Hebrew. I'm pretty sure."

"No. I think it's Arabic." Cleo says, "The way the squiggles go that way."

"Right."

"We should figure out what it says if so many people are willing to die over it." Pope suggests

"Anybody read Arabic?" Cleo asks

"Hold on, I know a guy." John B says, "Well, I don't know a guy, but my dad knew a guy. This Muslim dude, they used to play pool together. He lives down off Bayline."

"Just be vague about what that is, please." Pope says handing it over to John B

"Yeah." Sarah nods as John B wraps it up

"No hints." Kie says

"We'll go get Estrella and JJ." Pope says

"Okay." Sarah nods

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