The Mystery of the Missing Amulet #3: Brittany’s Secret

 Chapter 3 of my Decide Your Quest story, The Mystery of the Missing Amulet. In the last story, the amulet up for auction was stolen and you, the main character, saw Brittany and an auction house assistant running away from the scene. The readers voted for you to chase after Brittany.

The Mystery of the Missing Amulet, Chapter 3: Brittany’s Secret

You sprint after Brittany’s retreating form. She must be scared, the poor dear. She’s running pretty fast, almost like she’s had training.

She rounds a corner and you see her run straight into a plaster bust of Kim Jong-il that’s sitting in the hallway. Pieces of Dear Leader go flying everywhere.

Maybe she’s not such a great runner after all.

“Are you okay?” you ask, running up. She’s lying there, stunned. “Hey, are you tired? Because you’ve been running through . . . the halls all night.” You abruptly abort your pickup line as she glares at you.

“Just help me up, would you?” she snaps. You pull her out from among the fragments of plaster and notice she is holding one hand behind her back. It must be her purse.

“Do you want me to hold your purse while you get dusted off?” you ask, holding out your hand.

She sighs. “You don’t have to play stupid with me. Alright, I’ll confess. I stole the amulet.”

You stare at her in utter shock. You hadn’t expected that at all. Britanny takes her hand from behind her back.

“Here’s the amulet. Just arrest me if you’re going to.”

“This is the auctioneer’s gavel.”

“Not again!” she cries. “I swear I’m as blind as a bat wearing sunglasses in a mineshaft. I have glasses but I never wear them.”

“Why not?”

“I like danger. I’m addicted to it,” Brittany says. “That’s why I wanted to keep my grandfather’s cursed artifacts, even though my family decided to auction them off. And that’s why I stole the amulet.”

“But you didn’t steal the amulet,” you say. “You stole a gavel.”

“Then someone else must have taken it.”

“Let’s go back to the scene. There might be a Clue there.” You are a great believer in Clues. You put the gavel in your pocket and lead the way back to the auction room.

The room is deserted. You get out your magnifying glass and look around the platform. You find three strands of grizzly bear hair, a pamphlet for Joe Wombat’s Grizzly Bear Emporium, and a name tag for an employee of the emporium named Midnight Gillespie.

“I think,” you say slowly, “that the culprit works at Joe Wombat’s Grizzly Bear Emporium.”

“Don’t you think there’s a bit too much evidence?” Brittany says. “It seems a bit obvious.”

“That’s true, although the culprit probably knows that and so is giving us a lot of clues so we’ll think they’re not real.”

“I don’t have time for this,” Brittany says. She turns brusquely on her heel and walks into a wall.

As you rush to her aid, you ponder what your next move should be.