Sarah burst into the museum and almost immediately ran into Sam. He was fuming. Sarah spotted John hanging back a little ways, looking relieved.
"Where the Nether have you been!?" he demanded.
"I slept in, I'm sorry," she said, reciting the excuse she had rehearsed in the car. She tried to brush past him, but he quickly stopped her.
"That doesn't excuse your unprofessional attitude over the phone," Sam said, crossing his arms.
She let out a long-suffering sigh. "I'm sorry, Mr. Howard. I was just in shock from realizing how late it was, and I wasn't thinking clearly. It won't happen again."
"It better not. I already have enough problems with the police scouring this place. Oh, that reminds me." Sam gestured to someone off to the side. "This is Detective Dan Stryker, the lead detective on our case. He's gonna figure out what happened to that coffin."
A man walked up. He wore a police uniform and carried himself with a particular arrogance that really bugged Sarah. His hair was trimmed down to a buzz cut and he had a small scar on his chin. He gave her a firm handshake. "Pleasure to meet you, Dr. Goodman."
"Of course," she replied.
"So he's going to be doing a lot of investigation around here, so you two will most likely run into each other pretty often. Make sure to stay out of each other's ways, okay?" Sam finished with a laugh. He then turned and walked away.
"So, I've heard you're an expert on Ancient Slyvica, am I correct?" Detective Dan asked.
"Er, yes. Yes I am." Sarah did her best to keep her composure. What was wrong with her, why was she acting all anxious? She didn't break the artifact. She was just harboring the ancient man that broke out. Everything was fine. Everything was fine!
Get it together Sarah, she ordered herself. You're looking a detective in the eyes.
"Well, I have some questions about the artifacts, particularly the destroyed box," Dan said.
"Of course," she nodded. "Um, would you like to look at it?"
"Yes."
The two silently walked to the exhibit. She passed by John, who was looking at her like she was a ghost. Right, she needed to talk to him. She'd do that later, when she was done with this detective.
They stepped over the yellow police tape and into the closed-off exhibit. The pieces were still left exactly where they were yesterday. Dan put on a pair of rubber gloves, to avoid contaminating the evidence, then picked up one of the pieces. He carefully examined the piece. "Interesting. Were these marks a part of the original artifact?"
"Yes. They're… enchantment runes," Sarah explained. She briefly wondered if she could be completely honest with him about what really happened. She decided against it, though. He wouldn't believe her, and that would probably land her a spot on the suspect list.
"Interesting." He set the piece down and stepped back to look at the scene. "The witness claimed it was destroyed by a zombie, but the way these pieces are broken and arranged make it look like something exploded from within." He glanced back at Sarah. "Was the box opened after being excavated?"
"I don't know," she said honestly. "I wasn't there for the excavation or transportation. I didn't even see this artifact before the incident."
Dan said nothing. He slowly walked around the room, examining the other artifacts. He stopped at the other coffin across the room. He looked at the mummy behind the glass lid, then back at the broken coffin. "Thank you so much for your cooperation, Dr. Goodman. I'll message you if I need anything else."
Sarah nodded. "Of course." She quickly hustled out of the room without another word.
It didn't take long for her to find John. "There you are!" he exclaimed. "If you vanish again I swear I'm going to die of a heart attack!"
"Calm down, I'm fine," she said with an eye roll.
"I didn't think you were! You didn't show up, then you didn't answer any calls or texts! I thought he had killed you!"
Sarah grabbed his shirt and pulled him aside. "Keep your voice down. Let's talk somewhere a little bit more private."
He nodded, and she led him back to her office. When they turned the corner into the "employees only" hallway, though, they were met with quite the surprise. Herobrine was wandering around, looking at the walls. John's jaw went slack and Sarah let out an undignified squeak.
"Herobrine!" she exclaimed.
He looked up and waved cheerfully at them. "Dja! Freena skeskji?"
Sarah roughly grabbed him by the shirt collar and dragged him into her office along with John. She quickly shut and locked the door. "What on NOTCH'S GREEN EARTH do you think you're doing here!?" she loudly demanded.
"Ti teko saranivaqua ke!" he said with an exasperated gesture.
"Oh, right." John handed him a pen and paper.
"You have to remember I don't understand you two just as much as you don't understand me," Herobrine jotted down.
"We really need to teach him Common," John remarked. "Do you think there's a Duolingo course for him?"
Sarah shot him a withering glare. She aggressively clicked the pen and scribbled down something in Slyvican for Herobrine to read. "What are you doing here?"
He took the paper and wrote, "Well, the flashing box of moving pictures was very fascinating for awhile, but then it just turned to this black screen with white script that I can't read."
Sarah blinked at what he wrote, then it dawned on her. "Oh. The 'are you still watching' screen. He can't operate a remote!" she rubbed her temples.
"Are you okay?" John asked.
"No!" Sarah exploded. Tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm not okay!" she put her hand on her chest and breathed deeply to keep herself from sobbing. "I just need a moment."
Sarah closed her eyes and breathed for a moment. Unexpectedly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and expected to see John, but instead Herobrine was looking at her with concern in his white eyes. She nodded and kept breathing. She was already feeling better with him there.
"I don't know what to do," She said, now much more calmly. "I don't think I can handle the stress of this police investigation on top of having to deal with him."
John thought for a moment before he said, "You're right. Way too much has happened over the last 36 hours," he chuckled. "I can take over the questions the police have, since I'm just as knowledgeable about the artifacts as you are. You take him back to your place and stay with him. Our top priority with him is teaching him Common, so maybe you could get started on that with him."
"…okay. I can do that. But what about afterward? Just because he'll be able to speak our language won't change the fact that he's completely unregistered in the government!"
"Sarah, I'm gonna be honest," John gave her a compassionate smile and put his hand on her shoulder. "You are overthinking. We need to deal with this all one step at a time."
Sarah took a deep breath and nodded. "Thank you. I… really needed that."
"Of course." Their gazes lingered on each other for a moment too long before John took his hand off her shoulder. "I'll deal with Sam if he says anything. You just worry about getting him back home."
Sarah nodded and grabbed the pen to write for Herobrine, "Follow me. We're heading back to my home." He read the note and nodded.