HI,
Can you clarify, has a user deleted an archived shortcut from their outlook and the item is not visible using search.asp or archiveexplorerui.asp, always worth checking these to see if the item exists in the archive.
What is your archive policy set for soft deletes as this controls the bahvior when a user clicks "delete from vault" to delete a shortcut and the archived item.
Also what is your policy setting for desktop policy - options tab > outlook behavior -shortcut deletion, delete shortcut only ?
HTH