CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"What do you mean she's out?" said Agatha over the phone as she and the two Turtles made their way to the Guggenheim Museum at the break of dawn
"Deadlines. She has to get the next painting ready for this weekend" said Cade Butcher from the living area. One eye was trained on Tony-Ren as he curled up, headphones in his ears, trying his best to recite a passage of text despite his handicap. Cade wanted to spend most of his waking hours with him rather than detail his wife's whereabouts to the detective, but he knew how urgent the case was becoming.
"We need her in the vicinity, I had a little experiment ready for her" said Agatha, holding up a cup of Pen Pal soda in her hand before tossing it to Raphael
"What kind of experiment? You're a detective not a science whiz" said Cade
"Never mind, I'm sure I'll find a willing replacement volunteer" said Agatha, "Inform me of when she returns with her latest burst of inspiration"
"Will do" Cade said.
Agatha switched off the phone and she, Raphael, and Leonardo entered the museum
"Best take in one gulp, they don't permit that drink in here" said Agatha.
Raphael obliged and drank the soda as quickly as possible before tossing it into the trash can.
"Where do we start? The Dada gallery?" Leonardo said
"Why would anyone want to name a gallery after a baby's meek attempts at saying 'Daddy?'" asked Raphael
"No, Dada's an irreverent art form...nonsense paintings that defy reason and logic. It was a movement created after experiencing the horrors of the first world war" Leonardo replied
"The Black Labels were set to have their own gallery from what I hear" Agatha said, "Only one labelled painting currently resides in the location of that planned ensemble, it was put there at the insistence of Mr. Feldman shortly before the paintings were stolen...the title is Survival of the Silver"
"Hopefully this isn't quite as black and white case and we strike gold with it" Raphael remarked.
The three made their way over to the gallery and examined the painting in the centre of the room. It was a picture of a young boy looking into the luminous screen of his laptop computer as giant silver spirals shot forth out of the sides of the machine. High above him, two grey alien figures hold out their hands and pour electrical currents his head, one alien has a sizeable grin etched all over his face, while another is laughing out loud altogether
"What do you make of it?" said Agatha
"It's like they're giving him the secrets of the universe...but are mocking him at the same time, like he doesn't deserve to have this knowledge" Leonardo said, "Kind of cruel actually, to give someone an epiphany only to pull the rug out from under him, it creates a sense of distrust, and what if their intentions are known to the boy because of the info being dumped into his head?"
"Maybe all the info being plugged into his socket is the universe's largest joke book database" Raphael replied.
"Take this seriously Raphael" Leonardo snipped.
"Hey, you said it yourself, there's no rhyme or reason to paintings like this" Raphael said, "And I'm as ever the voice of zero reason"
"Is that why you took to Twitter so readily?" inquired Agatha
"Yeah" Raphael replied, then realized what he said
"And that's why you spilled the beans, well, I imagine you spilled something more than beans, on the new laptop computer that Irma bought for Donatello for his birthday?" continued Agatha
"Got it in one...but how...?" Raphael said
"I noticed the sticky stains on an open laptop when I entered the lair, add that to the discarded container of Pen Pal Soda lying on the floor within a close proximity of it and I had all the evidence I needed to evaluate a little mini-mystery to pull me into the zone. In a way, I'm glad I've ended up with the company I'm keeping. One needs to get something off his chest and the other is a most tactful sort of disciplinarian that can put you in your place while being understanding and restrained at the same time, whereas the other two Turtles would be too wild and upset to offer you a kindlier reception, now stop beating around the bush and tell Leonardo why you leaked out the fact my niece is dating your brother and we can get back to work"
Leonardo looked on at Raphael, his face completely aghast.
Raphael wanted to slide his head beneath his shell in shame.
"I wasn't thinking all the way alright? I'd gotten really addicted to that soda and wanted something to give my twitter account a bit of a hook , to get trending, to get everyone talking about us again, I think it's past due we were relevant, I wanted us to be more accepted. I figured at the time if people knew April was dating Mikey, it would break the ice a little...and it got a lot of good reception at the time, really it did, I managed to get members of the public to really trust us again because we were more open"
"In any other reality, I'd say we were meant to be shadows, but I'd have been open to this if you had just consulted everyone before you went online...bad enough you borrowed Donatello's computer and broke his trust like that, you targeted Michelangelo when he was at his most vulnerable with April" Leonardo replied, the raw hurt engraved all over his facial mannerisms while struggling to maintain a level temper.
"April doesn't mind people knowing" Raphael argued back, "All these mixed messages are difficult to handle...like going in two directions when the lights go green and red and then green and red have a fight to determine who comes out on top"
"Now who's being Dada?" Leonardo snapped back
"Of course" said Agatha, "You two, pipe down, I think I've solved this"
"What did you see?" Leonardo asked
"It's the tiniest detail...and to the naked eye, would be too easily taken for granted...the most basic, normal thing about this painting...the letters and numbers on the computer"
"Hey, I know those assortments, they're not just random letters and numbers, they're co-ordinates" said Raphael
"Exactly. This painting is here for one reason...it's acting like a catalogue of sorts, whenever a black label painting is stolen, it must have something to do with this, this painting hasn't been stolen because the thieves use it as a reference point when stealing all the others" Agatha deduced.
"Perhaps the black label paintings contain imagery found in these co-ordinates" Leonardo said
"Good deduction there Leonardo. We ought to get hopping over to the local library and check out some articles on the black labels as well as any reference photos of them, come along everyone" said Agatha
"This'll be a tough one" Raphael said
"Oh we'll crack this case in record time and no mistake" assured Agatha
"No, it's just...now that I've drank the soda, I'm going to have to confess to the librarians I have nine month overdue books back home"