Riley read it through too, seemingly just as curious as we were. “I’ve heard about the curse before, of course,” she told us. “But I hadn’t heard about the earlier disappearance. Who sent you this article?”

“I have no idea, but I think they want me to figure out whatever is going on here before the museum closes,” I said. “It was just too good of a mystery to resist.”

Eventually Bess said, “It is very interesting. But I wish you’d just been honest with us.”

“I agree,” said George. “Anyway, this makes way more sense than your sudden interest in photography.”

“So,” I said cautiously, “does that mean we can stay and solve this?”

Bess and George looked at each other and seemed to reach a decision without saying anything at all. They turned back to me, and both smiled and nodded.

“As long as you agree to tell us everything from here on out,” said Bess.

“Definitely,” I agreed. “It’s a promise.” I meant it, and I also felt a surge of affection for my two best friends. Not just anyone would stay with me and help solve this mystery, but Bess and George were special.

“So you’re a detective?” asked Riley. She was still holding the newspaper clipping and looking around at the three of us. “Not a fan?”

“Sorry, Riley,” said Nancy. “I’m not a fan. But you are, and I was hoping I could ask you a few questions.”

“Sure,” said Riley, taking a slurping sip of her drink. “What do you want to know?”

I smiled. I had a good feeling about Riley and I knew she would want to help, especially once she knew there were people missing.

“First,” I said, “I want to know what exactly this curse is, and where the idea came from.” I had researched the curse online, and the article I was sent contained some information as well. But nothing seemed to match up, and all my sources had a different story. I knew I needed to talk to someone in person.

“Oh,” said Riley, leaning in closer and lowering her voice. “Well, it’s just a rumor. But did you know Christopher DeSantos used to have a work partner?”

I nodded. I had read a few things about Christopher DeSantos’s career online. “His name was Terry Lawrence,” I said.

“Right,” said Riley. “For about two decades, he and DeSantos traveled together and took photographs of the same landscapes. But in the 1970s they had a falling-out. There was this photograph that became incredibly famous, and they both claimed to have taken it. You see, they were so close they shared a darkroom. The film somehow got mislabeled or mixed up. They were never able to agree on the truth, and it ended their friendship. DeSantos ultimately got the credit for it, but nobody really knows for sure. And personally, I think all the gossip eclipsed how good the photograph actually was.”

“And the curse?” I asked.

“Soon after the two of them stopped working together,” Riley said, “Terry Lawrence did an interview where he claimed to have cursed Christopher DeSantos’s entire collection of work. He said that anyone who attempted to display any of his photographs would have something horrible happen to them. And for a while, that’s just what happened. One museum caught fire. Another lost all its funding and had to shut down. And one more had a member of its staff go missing. They were never found.”