The Jolene and Isabelle Chronicles

Heist at the Royal Ontario Museum

"A treasure hunt? I'm not five."

"If you find all the gems, I'll let you keep them and I'll give you the sapphire."

"What's the catch?"

She smiles, "I get to use the money I make off the rest of them to take you on a real date."

"A date? After what you--"

The guard comes back before I can finish protesting. She kisses my cheek and hands me my mask back.

"I'll text you the first clue soon."

She leaves before I can say anything else. She's wearing a floor-length black-and-gold dress, but I can't spot her when I leave the exhibit.

I think about the last time I saw her as I put my mask back on.

Three years ago, she left me in the middle of the night when the police busted down my door. We had never had a proper date, but we spent almost every night for six months together. We never talked about work. Turns out we're both thieves. The cops found nothing, so I was never charged with anything, but she never returned to me. And I never got into another relationship after she left.

I walk back to the dinosaurs when I get a one-emoji text from a number I deleted but know by heart. It's Isabelle's number. I must have texted it a thousand times after she disappeared but she never replied. And I must have thought about texting and calling her ten thousand times.

It's the poop emoji.

After three years the first text she sends me is the poop emoji? I want to laugh. I want to cry. I want to yell at her. I want to hold her in my arms again.

I need to stay on task if I want to see any profit from tonight.

Poop. Where can I find poop in the museum? The toilets? No. Too easy for someone else to find it and there are too many bathrooms for me to find it before the night is over.

No... so where else is there poop?

The coprolite.

The first gem is in the coprolite. It's fossilized dinosaur poop.

I walk over to it and, sure enough, hidden in a little crevice under the coprolite, the first gem, a topaz, is waiting for me.

I hold it in my hand until I've moved away from any potential witnesses. When I'm far enough away, I slip it into the subway token pouch I keep in my handbag.

I grab another drink and I wander through the biodiversity exhibit. All is quiet.

My phone buzzes.

Another clue.

"This gem came from the water, but now it waits for you somewhere warm and dry."

Somewhere warm and dry... Somewhere with a desert. I start in the Africa exhibit which is also quiet. The emptiness of the museum is still unnerving to me. I go through every inch of the exhibit, then I move on to Nubia, then finally Egypt.

I pause to glance at the pre-dynastic natural mummy for a moment to pay my respects to her. I whisper the names of each named mummy as I pass them. So far I'm empty-handed, then I walk into the replica tomb. Wedged into a hole between the bricks is a large pearl. I lean on that wall and swipe the gem. When I'm sure I won't get caught, I wrap it in a tissue to keep it from getting scratched, then I put it with the other gem.

I grab some more food.

I get another text when I'm finished eating.

"Waiting in plain sight, a hidden gem awaits. You're warned not to touch me but lax security makes it easy bait. Cut in half and glittering, I'm waiting to be seen. Come find the gem I've hidden here and you will be my queen."

I mull over the poem for a little bit. She always did have a knack for bad poetry.

Waiting in plain sight... So the gem must be the same colour as the place where it's hidden.

You're warned not to touch me...

But lax security makes me easy bait... so unlike the other two hiding places, it's something we're not supposed to touch, but it's easy to get away with it. That rules out a lot of possibilities.

Cut in half and glittering...

I know where it is. And she's sneaky to have hidden it there. I walk back down the stairs and come to the entrance of the Earth's Treasures exhibit. A giant amethyst geode is right there by the entrance with a no touching sign, but no security and no real barrier. I scan it with my eyes.

I don't see the gem.

Could I have been wrong?

Could someone have noticed it before I did?

I look around the back of the geode.

Nothing.

I check for anyone who might be watching, then I put my hands on the geode.

One crystal seems loose. I dislodge it with ease. It blended in with the amethyst, but it's not an amethyst. It's a purple spinel.

I walk to the bathroom and I hide the spinel with the other gems. Then I empty my tokens into my purse so they won't trip any metal detectors if I carry the pouch on my person. I slip the pouch full of gems into a secret zippered pocket of my dress without detection.

I get another text.

"A place of hearing."

The auditorium. There are talks going on all night.

I walk all the way down to the ground floor and I go to the auditorium.

Will she be there waiting for me? Or will she disappear, making it seem that she was never here at all?

I'm more nervous about seeing her than I was about stealing the gems.

I sit down. There's an envelope with my name on it in the empty seat beside me. I'm a fool. Of course she wouldn't be here in person.

I open the envelope and see a brilliant sapphire and a note.

"Jolene, meet me tomorrow night at the best view in the city,

-Isabelle."

The lecture begins as I shove the envelope and its contents into my purse. I'll see Isabelle tomorrow night at the top of the CN Tower.