“You were scared.” Terra patted her hand. “I believe you. But do you have any idea who could have taken the knife and then dropped it in the alley?”

She frowned. “No. All I know is that night I heard the back door shut as I was entering the room. The thing is, I put the knife in with the others. I panicked. But I’ve been thinking about the mistake I made, and it’s important.”

Terra shifted, trying to hide her impatience.

“I’m trying to tell you that the knife didn’t belong here to begin with.”

“What do you mean?”

“I catalogue each item. When I had the chance, I went back through the data and that knife is an artifact, yes, but it isn’t ours.”

Terra hid her surprise. “We need to find out who dropped the knife in the alley. It could be someone who never even came into the museum. But the proximity makes me wonder . . .”

“We had a couple of tour groups that day.”

Maybe someone wanted to mislead the investigation, like she suspected. Make them look closely at the museum. Or dropping the knife could have been a mistake. Criminals inadvertently leaving evidence behind was how law enforcement found them. Terra pulled up a picture on her cell of Leif Morrisey at Owen’s and showed it to Valerie. “Have you seen this man before?”

Valerie’s eyes widened. “Yes. In fact, I answered some of his questions on the Native American displays. He asked if we had other artifacts—from the Middle East—but we don’t have those.”

Terra’s cell rang, and she let it go to voice mail.

Could the knife have come from Jim’s collection at the cabin? She could imagine Leif following Jim to the cabin or meeting him there and killing Jim. Leif must have intended to slip the knife into the collection at the museum but dropped it.

“We’ll look at the security videos again.” They had been focusing on the volunteers and employees.

An elderly man with white wisps of hair and spectacles cleared his throat. Terra hadn’t realized he’d entered the room. “The sheriff’s offices . . . well, Detective Tanner has a copy of the security footage. Oh, excuse me, I’m Dr. Bellinger. Curator and manager.” He thrust out his hand.

“USFS Special Agent Terra Connors.” Terra smiled. “Okay, then, I’ll check with the detective. I appreciate the information. Please contact me if you think of something else that could help.”

Terra exited through the back door and found herself in the alley. Sure enough, the back of Bar Wars was conveniently located across from the museum. Star Wars collectors, clandestine meetings between possible artifact traffickers? The murder weapon dropped in the alley between the two?