Agent Cheryl Dwyer was excited. The medallion was almost back in her grasp. On another day she might have stopped to enquire about the police incident outside the hospital but right now she wanted to get to the charity shop and the last known location of the medallion as soon as possible. She hurried the girl Kurt and Agent Dexter back to the rental car.
Kurt directed them to the charity store where she had left the jacket with the medallion in its pocket. Agent Dexter secured the bin while Agent Dwyer went inside to fetch a key. She showed her badge to the elderly woman manning the counter of the shop "FBI. We need to search this store. Particularly the bin outside. Do you have a key?"
"Yes" said the woman uncertainly. In her 70 years she had never been approached by the FBI. She fumbled under the counter for the key.
"Has that bin been emptied today? We are looking for brown male sports jacket"
"We took the contents to be sorted into the back room only 30 minutes ago. My colleague Madge is sorting through the items now" The woman pointed to a curtain.
Cheryl walked as briskly to the curtained off area as she could in her heels and pencil skirt. She called to an even older woman looking over bundles of clothes on a table "FBI Madam. Are these the items that were in the charity bin?" She once more flashed her badge.
The woman appeared to almost have a heart attack "Ah.... Ah.... Who are you?"
"Agent Dwyer FBI. We have reason to believe a powerful artefact was left in your bin early this morning. Are these all the items that were in there?"
"These are what I have sorted". She pointed to the clothes arranged in piles on the table. Then to a bundle of mostly plastic bags on the floor "Those are what I haven't looked at yet"
"Leave everything as it is and move to the shop" She saw the girl Kurt had followed her into the shop. "Can you tell Agent Dexter to secure the front door" then added as an after thought "Then return here I'll need your help" The girl nodded her pretty blonde head then disappeared towards the front of the shop.
Cheryl surveyed the clothes on the table. There was a men's brown sports coat neatly folded. She was tempted to search the pockets but knew better. There was too much chance that she could become a victim of the medallion once more. Cheryl had done a lot of research on the medallion of Zulo and knew that Kurt would be safe as she was still within 12 hours of her change. She would get Kurt to dip her hand into the pockets.
When the girl returned, Cheryl asked her "Is that the jacket?"
"I think so"
"Then I will ask you to search the pockets for the medallion. If you locate it tell me but don't give it to me"
Kurt was puzzled by this request but did as she was bid. She had heard enough to know how important it was to locate this medallion. "Its not here" she eventually replied.
"See if there is another jacket in that pile of clothes or if the medallion is loose" she instructed the girl. She herself returned to the shop front and asked the two shop assistants. "Did either of you find a bronze coloured necklace in the contents of the charity bin. Round, about 2 inches diameter on a chain"
"No" replied the older woman called Madge.
But the other woman said "Actually that sounds like the necklace the man retrieved earlier. He gave us a $100 donation to search for a family heirloom that had been donated by accident"
"What? Someone else was here? Describe him"
"Tall, short blonde hair, good looking with an accent"
"Sounds like the man who visited Kurt at the hospital claiming to be Ruby's father" Agent Dexter said uneccessarily
"It sounds exactly like Ruby's father" Cheryl turned back to the woman. "Did he find what he was looking for?"
"Yes and he seemed very happy"
"What time did this happen?"
"A couple of hours ago"
"Where did he go? Did he leave in a vehicle?"
"Yes a flash new blue Porsche"
Both agents recalled the blue Porsche with the broken window surrounded by police outside the hospital. Agent Dexter fetched Kurt, while Agent Dwyer thanked the women and apologised for the disruption. Within a couple of minutes they were heading back to the hospital.