The Stolen Queen

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

Annie recognizes the young woman depicted in the framed photo at Heba’s shop: She is Mona, a volunteer at the Met. Annie concludes that Mona is Heba’s daughter, meaning that Mona must have been the one to steal Charlotte’s research and the Cerulean Queen statue. They rush back to New York to confront Mona. They tell her that if she returns Charlotte’s research, they won’t tell anyone about her involvement in the theft of the statue. Mona speaks passionately about Ma’at and the value of repatriating Egyptian artifacts. She admits that she became a volunteer to have access to the Met and that she switched the butterflies with moths to create a distraction.

They ask Mona about her past and her relationship with the collar necklace. Mona explains that her father (who also ran an antique gallery) had the necklace hidden and that she found it by accident as a child. When she understood what it was, she stole it from him and subsequently loaned it to the Met using fake documents. Mona doesn’t know where her father got the necklace.