Disclaimer: This story was written by a fan only for the enjoyment of other fans, without any monetary compensation. Gundam Wing and its characters are registered trademarks of Bandai Entertainment Inc.™ and Sotsu Agency. All rights reserved.
'The Museum' is a short story set in my Ghost Detective universe set during the last days of 'The Junkyard' while Duo and Heero are still out of town, and at the beginning of 'The Piano'. Hope you enjoy!
The Museum
Chapter 5
Outside the museum Milliardo and his friends said their good-byes to Sheriff Bonaparte. They had come in two cars which were parked just across the street, while the sheriff's jeep was still standing in the lot behind the Brower.
As they waited for the light on the cross walk to change to green, the young man noticed his lover's eyes still fixed on Bonaparte, even as the sheriff had almost reached the end of the block.
"Is everything okay?"
"I'm not sure." Treize replied slowly, then turned toward him suddenly. "Do you think you and Alexander could catch a ride with Trowa, Dear?"
"I suppose." Milliardo frowned slightly, and their friend nodded.
"Sure, no problem at all."
"Thanks. I'll be home soon."
"What was that all about?" Quatre wondered as they finally crossed the street, while the professor was walking swiftly in the direction Sheriff Bonaparte had left in.
Milliardo shrugged. "Beats me."
"I'm sure he will tell you when he gets home." Trowa unlocked the car and opened the driver's door.
"He'd better. Unless he is prepared to sleep on the couch tonight."
Quatre gave a quiet chuckle. "Hey, do you mind if I take the back with Alexander?" he asked.
"Be my guest." Milliardo graciously opened the door for them before slipping into the front passenger seat.
"You know, I was thinking..." his friend said as he fastened his seatbelt. "If we could determine when the spirit in the museum started to make it's rounds, by finding out when exactly those problems with the alarm system begun, we should be able to narrow down the time of the theft of Meriptah's mummy."
Trowa threw a look into the rearview mirror. "You think the ghost in that basement room was him?"
"Makes sense, doesn't it?" Even Milliardo had to agree. "I would be majorly ticked off too, if someone took off with my body. Alexander, what do you think?"
"He says it's possible. But maybe we should try to find out more about that Meriptah fellow," Quatre replied. "Say Trowa, how about dropping us off at the public library before you take Milliardo home?"
"Us?"
"Alexander and I."
####
"Sheriff?!" Treize Khushrenada caught up with the older man at the entrance to the parking lot.
Surprised Bonaparte turned his head. "Professor?! What gives?"
"Sheriff, you have been on your feet for almost 2 days straight. Perhaps it isn't such a good idea for you to drive right now."
A rare smile touched the bearded man's lips. "Thank you for your concern, Professor, but I wasn't planning to. I am just getting my phone from the car to call a taxi."
"Why don't you allow me to give you a lift, instead?" Treize asked.
"What about your friends?"
"They already left." It wasn't really a lie. "Besides, truth to be told, there is something I would like to talk to you about, if you don't mind."
Sheriff Bonaparte nodded. "In that case, I would be a fool to say no. Let me just grab my things."
The older man walked to the parked jeep, while Treize waited for him at the corner. A few moments later he returned carrying a well worn black attaché case.
"So, tell me, what is it you needed to talk to me about?"
"It's just that...I couldn't help but notice you seemed a little...shall I say pensive ever since your phone call to your office earlier," the professor explained as they walked together to his BMW. "I hope it's not bad news regarding your friend."
"Andrew Peterson?! No, his condition is unchanged which, according to his doctor, is a good thing right now. But I am a little concerned about him, you are correct." Bonaparte paused as he climbed into the car. "It's something I learned when I spoke to my deputy. The first preliminary report had just come in from the forensic team and something they found troubles me."
The sheriff paused again, longer this time, but Treize didn't push him. He slowly backed out of the parking space and pulled into the lane of traffic.
"It appears as though the broken window, which we assumed was how the burglar got into the building, might actually have been staged," Bonaparte finally continued. "Some shards of glass found outside, indicate that it was actually broken from the inside. And..." another pause. "glass particles were also found on Andrew's nightstick. It seems like it was the tool used to break the window."
"So the burglar used the nightstick after he had attacked the guard. Mister Peterson would have been in no condition to stop him, right?"
"True, but that wouldn't answer the question of how the burglar got into the museum in the first place. Remember my theory about this being an inside job?"
"You are worried that he might be that inside man?" Treize concluded.
"I'm trying to tell myself that the Andrew Peterson I know would never be involved in anything like this. But then I remind myself that it's been years since he and I worked together. People do change." Bonaparte looked straight ahead onto the road in front of them as he spoke. It was obviously hard for him to admit that he suspected his old friend.
"But if Peterson really was the inside man, the one person who gave the thieves access to the museum, why would they want to kill him?" The professor asked.
"Who knows? Maybe he wanted to get out? Maybe there was a falling out over money, or maybe his companion just didn't need him anymore? I'm sure I could come up with a dozen good motives. But what I can't think of is a reason why Andrew would be involved in something like that. Maybe he was blackmailed into it...?"
"Hmmm...Maybe money trouble," Treize guessed. "He told Dr. Hazzir that he was supporting his daughter who is still finishing up school. Tuition can cost a small fortune these days."
The sheriff's head snapped around. "What was that? Who did you say he told it to?"
"Dr. Nassar Hazzir, the Egyptian archaeologist," the tawny haired man repeated. "Why, what's wrong?"
Bonaparte had a deep frown line across his forehead. "From what I was told, Dr. Snyder had his intern drop Hazzir off at his hotel shortly before 5 pm. The night guards' shift doesn't start until 6:30."
Now Treize was frowning as well. How could Hazzir have spoken to Peterson more than an hour before he was even working?
"Perhaps Dr. Hazzir got the date wrong. He could have spoken to the guard a day earlier...? When was it he came to town?" he asked.
"He arrived Wednesday. But the guards work on a 7 days on 3 days off schedule," the sheriff explained. "Sunday night was Peterson's first night back on duty after his break. I guess I will ask Dr. Hazzir tomorrow what he has to say about this."
"He didn't mention anything to you when you spoke to him earlier?"
"When I asked him to confirm that the kid had driven him back to the hotel at 5 he did. After that there was no reason to question him any further. We knew the break-in didn't happen until much later."
"You don't really suspect Hazzir of being involved in this, do you?" Treize threw the older man a questioning look.
Bonaparte simply shrugged. "I hate to jump to conclusions, but I do like to cross all my 'T's and dot my 'I's."
###
"I'm home!"
A flash of furry lightning hurtled toward Treize Khushrenada even before the last word had left his lips. Laughing the tawny haired man braced himself for the assault. The dog was acting like he hadn't seen a human being in weeks.
"I'll take it I'm the first one home."
Although Cabal had lost the gawkiness common among most large breed puppies, and his fur had become long and silky, Treize was convinced by now that he was probably never going to grow up. But then, why should the dog be different from anyone else in this household?
"You probably need to go outside, don't you?" he asked as he scratched Cabal's furry ears.
With a yip that could only be a confirmation the hound turned and raced toward the back entrance. With a quiet chuckle Treize followed him to unbolt the doggy door. They had decided that it was safer to not leave the door unlocked at times when nobody was home. Cabal was a great companion, but a guard dog he was not. In fact, Treize could see him encouraging any thief to take the most expensive pieces all the while standing there wagging his tail.
Moments later Treize could hear the dog race back and fourth, along the long cobblestone way that let from one side of the garden to the other. The professor considered joining him outside, perhaps for a game of catch, when the ringing of the doorbell interrupted him.
"Coming," he called out as he made his way through the house. Moments later Treize opened the front door to find Wufei Chang outside, carrying no less than 3 boxes printed with the "Son's of Sicily" pizza chain logo.
One of his eyebrows jumped up in surprise. "Are you making deliveries now?"
"I don't." Wufei laughed. "When I got off work I found a message on my phone from Quatre. He said there was some news in the museum's case and asked me to pick up some pizza and come over."
"Well, that is news to me," Treize replied as he stepped aside to let his friend enter. "But then, I just walked in myself a moment ago. Why don't you bring the pies in the living room while I try to find out where the others are."
He pulled out his cell phone while Wufei slipped off his shoes.
"Pizza is here, where are you guys?" he texted to Milliardo. The message came back before he even slipped the phone back into his pocket.
"We are just pulling up."
The tawny haired man walked into the kitchen to grab paper plates and napkins from the pantry. Moments later when he heard the sound of the front door being unlocked, Treize turned his head. He blinked and had to do a double take when a mountain of books, at least two feet high, floated through the hall past the kitchen door followed by Quatre who was carrying several more volumes.
Well I guess that explains where they have been.
"Wow!" he could hear Wufei exclaim from the living room. "I thought there was a limit to how many books you can take out of the library at one time?!"
###
"So, we have a ghost who suddenly popped up out of nowhere like Waldo, a mummy that shouldn't be there and one that's missing, not to mentioned of course the break in that resulted in the injured guard and the missing Canopic jar, ...," Wufei summed up as he reached for the last piece of Hawaiian pizza. His friends had been filling him in on the story, while slowly chewing their way through the pies. "Sounds like they have a bigger problem at the Bowers than they are realizing."
In the kitchen Cabal threatened to break down the door, and howled in protest at being left out of the party. Milliardo and Treize had learned the hard way that curious puppies and pizza pies just didn't mix. Even after three baths and fifty bucks in doggy shampoos it took almost a full week to remove the stains left by the pizza sauce from the long white fur...Not to mention the stains left on the carpet.
Meanwhile, the array of books spread out on the carpet in front of the fireplace opened and closed as they were thumped through by a ghostly hand until Alexander finally seemed to have found the one he was looking for. The hardback hovered in mid air as the ghost flipped through it for a few moments before actually starting to read. It was a curious scene to say the least, but nobody in the room really seemed to take notice. Everyone had gotten so used to Alexander's presence; it would have probably felt stranger to not have him around.
"You know," Trowa announced suddenly. "There is one thing about this that troubles me."
"Only one?" The sarcasm in Milliardo's voice was hard to miss.
His friend ignored the remark as he went on. "We can't be sure when those mummies were switched, but I think we all agree that it happened prior to last night's break-in."
"I give you that." Treize nodded.
"So nobody knew, nobody noticed...they had pretty much gotten away with it. Why come back and risk exposure for something as insignificant as a little Canopic jar?"
"For one thing," Wufei pointed out. "We don't know if that's what they came for. They could have taken the jar just out of opportunity. For all we know they could have come for the second mummy. Or perhaps the jar isn't as 'insignificant' as we believe..."
"Could it possibly have belonged to... what's his name...the guy who got stolen?" Milliardo suggested, reaching for his beer bottle.
"His name was Meriptah," his lover told him. "You know, you might be on to something. The mummy and the Canopic jar together as a set, belonging to the same person would probably increase the value a lot."
"I could ask Dr Hazzir," Quatre suggested. "I mean, he should be able to tell us everything there is to know about that jar."
"Perhaps you should hold off on that for the time being." Treize replied.
The younger man frowned. "Why?"
"Quatre, how well do you think you actually know Dr. Hazzir?"
"How well? I'm not sure I understand what you mean. I would like to think I got to know him quite well during the time I spent at the dig. Why are you asking?"
"It is possible that he might have lied to Sheriff Bonaparte during the investigation."
"What? Why would he do that?"
"That's the question, isn't it?" Treize told the others about the talk he haa had with the sheriff on the drive home, including the revelation that the break in might have been staged, Bonaparte's concern about his old friend Andrew Peterson being involved in it, and that Hazzir couldn't have possibly talked to the guard when he said he did, if in fact he had left the museum before 5pm.
"No," Quatre shook his head resolutely. "If you are thinking that Dr Hazzir could be mixed up in this whole thing you are way off...waaaaay off, Treize. He is one of the most decent men I have ever met. You wouldn't even suggest it if you knew him better."
"Slow down," putting his hand onto his friend's shoulder Trowa tried to calm him. "Nobody here has accused him of anything. We are just looking at this from every angle."
"Well, and I am saying that we are wasting our time looking at Hazzir. I have known the man for more than 10 years…"
"Correction, Quatre. You knew the man ten years ago," the brunette reminded him. "Huge difference. People do change."
Unknowingly Trowa was using the exact words the sheriff had used when he spoke about Andrew Peterson, the guard.
"But it makes no sense. Think about it," Quatre argued. "Why would Dr. Hazzir want to steal a mummy? The Cairo museum is full of them; there are hundreds and hundreds of them that have not even been identified yet."
"Actually the Egyptians place great importance in their antiquities and their history," Wufei pointed out. "If we think about how many of their treasures have been moved out of the country over the centuries and put into collections and museums around the world, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they try to bring some of them back to Egypt."
"Yes, by buying them back or through diplomacy like the petition to have the Rosetta Stone moved from the British Museum to the Museum of Cairo, but not by stealing them."
"Hey," Milliardo shrugged, "some people might not consider it theft to take something back that originally belonged to you. And you have got to admit, Hazzir probably knows more about mummies than most. And he certainly would have access to them. Like you said, the store rooms of the Cairo museum are full of them. I'm sure there have to be bodies that are a lot less valuable than that of a well- known provincial leader."
"He wouldn't have had any problem moving the mummies in and out of the country, amongst all the artifacts that are being brought in for the exhibitions," Trowa pointed out.
Quatre groaned in frustration. "You guys are crazy, you know that? But I will prove to you that Nassar had nothing to do with this, if it is the last thing I do." He turned his head, smiling softly in the direction where he could feel Alexander's presence. "Thank you, I appreciate that. It's good to know that at least someone here is on my side."
TBC
Author's note: Thanks again for the reviews. For those who enjoy the "Ghost Detective" universe as much as I do, I hope you are pleased to know that I have at least another half dozen story lines lined up that will have the gang and Alexander not only solves crimes close to home. but also half way around the globe. Imagine Irish castles...Egyptian pyramids...ghost ships... and more.