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' 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 7
At first, when he pulled up, Treize only saw the black BMW with the tinted - and bulletproof - windows in front of the cozy, little Victorian house he and Milliardo had been sharing for more than a year now. But as he parked his own car, he noticed Heero's Jeep on the other side of the street, as well. Wufei had been driving it ever since Heero and Duo had left town.
As he climbed out of the car the professor grabbed his briefcase from the passenger seat. It was filled with student papers he had planned on grading this afternoon, but somehow he had the feeling that was probably not going to happen.
#
"Yeah, right!" Quatre laughed as he set his bottle of coke down on the little leather coaster. "I can see myself tell that to my trust-fund lawyer. He would most likely scratch his head and suggest a good shrink. What about you, Milliardo?"
The young man shook his head. He, Wufei, Trowa and Quatre were sitting around the low coffee table in the living room, plotting and planning, with Alexander checking in on them every once in a while. "Wish I could help, but most of my money is tied up in escrow on those two new houses I'm buying, and what's left in my bank account isn't enough to impress anyone. How about Heero? As far as I know, he is pretty loaded, isn't he?"
"Yeah, but his situation is probably no different than Quatre's. He isn't even of age yet, so most of his money is probably held in trust," Wufei pointed out.
"Right. Hmmm..." Quatre mused. "Anyone else come to mind?"
The sound of the front opening followed by footsteps in the hall had everybody turn their head.
"I'm Home!"
"Welcome home." Milliardo exchanged a long look with his friends, a conspiratorial smirk crossing his face. "Treize, say... you do have money, don't you?"
The professor frowned slightly as he entered the living room. "Umm...Yes? How much do you need?" he asked as he reached for his wallet.
"A million, maybe a million and a half."
Treize blinked. "Does it have to be cash?" he asked dryly.
#
"Let me see if I got this straight... You want me to buy a 'Mummy'?" A good fifteen minutes later Treize Khushrenada had listened to what Quatre had called 'the perfect plan' to flush out the person behind the museum's thefts, but he still wasn't sure that he got the whole picture.
"Well, we are hoping it might not even come to that." Milliardo replied. "You see, the idea is to spread word that you are 'looking' to buy one. He is convinced that the thief is working not on his own, but for someone who is in the business of selling stolen artifacts. like some kind of art's dealer. Like Trowa mentioned yesterday, for the right price it is possible to find a market for anything and everything, one just needs to know where to look."
"Well, last night I made the mistake of telling Quatre that I know someone who has his ear to the ground. Someone who would be able to find out if there is a mummy, or other artifacts, from the Bowers museum for sale..."
"Other artifacts? You mean like the Canopic jar that was stolen Sunday night?" Treize asked.
"Actually I have a theory that there might be more." Quatre told him. "If they managed to replace a mummy and it went undetected for at least a week or so, who knows how many other items at the museum might be replicas?"
"Hmmm... That would be worth looking into," Treize agreed.
"In any case," Trowa continued. "Quatre made me call my... um.. 'friend' right then and there."
"He made you?" Milliardo grinned. "What did he do, put a loaded gun to your head?"
"Worse!" the brunette glanced down penitently. "He high-jacked the last batch of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and threatened to eat them all by himself."
"Wow, that's cold." even Wufei admitted.
Quatre snorted. "I warned you, didn't I? I'll do whatever it takes to prive to you that Doctor Hazzir has nothing to do with those thefts."
Treize Khushrenada gave a deep bubbling laugh. "You know, Quatre, people look at you and might think you are all cute and cuddly, but you have the tenacity of a Tasmanian Devil."
"I happen to love those little guys, so I'll take it as a compliment," the blonde grinned. "In any case, Trowa heard back from that guy this morning during physics class, and low and behold...a 'authentic Mummy of an Egyptian nobleman' has been put up for sale... for the right price and the right buyer of course."
"And that's where I come in, I presume?"
"Bingo!" Trowa nodded. "If you want to do it, that is. I figure that the dealer, if he is anything more than an amateur, will do some kind of background check on any potential buyer."
"...Make sure he can afford the 'merchandise'." Treize nodded. "Makes sense."
"You want to do it then? I mean, as an alternative we could involve my company and have them set up a fake identity. It will take some time and money, but it can be done." Trowa suggested.
"No, no, count me in. I'm glad to help, but don't you guys think it would be better to let the sheriff handle this? If we give them the information your…informant provided, they should be able to do something with it, right?"
"Out of question," the body guard declared firmly. "The sheriff would want to know where and how we got that information, and I can not and will not reveal my source."
"Besides," Milliardo pointed out. You know how it is; Sheriff Bonaparte has to go by the book. He can't do anything on mere speculation alone, and with what little we know so far he wouldn't even get a judge to listen to him, much less issue a warrant."
"Yes," Quatre nodded. "Once we actually know who the mysterious person is, selling the Mummy and those other artifacts, we can go to the police."
"Very well," the older man sighed. "It seems you have been giving this some thought, and I'm obviously outnumbered." He looked at Trowa. "So, what do you need me to do?"
"For now, not much." the young man told him. "If it is okay with you, I will call my man right now and tell him to get word out that you are interested in buying certain artifacts, and then we will wait."
"Alright." The professor nodded. "Let's do it. And if you don't mind, I shall go upstairs and get changed, while Trowa makes that call. You guys will stay for a while longer, won't you?"
Quatre shrugged. "We are in no hurry, but I think Wufei has to go soon."
"Not for another 40 minutes or so," the young man replied." I promised Heero to be at the airport when they arrive."
Milliardo made an amused sound. "They charter a private jet but don't have the pocket change to pay for a taxi?"
"Actually, I offered to pick them up," Wufei explained. "I love driving that jeep. Though, I would have loved driving the Silver Bullet even more. Too bad it only fits two."
"You promised to pick them up. But DID you promise to pick them up both at the same time?" Quatre asked cheekily.
His friend laughed. "Now there is an idea. Got to remember that for the next time."
Treize was smiling as he made his way up the stairs. He had just set foot on the top landing when the house phone started to ring.
"I got it," he called down to Milliardo as he headed into the study, to pick up the closest hand set.
"Hello?" Treize dropped into the deep brown leather chair behind the desk.
"Professor?!"
"Ah, Sheriff. What can I do for you?"
"I just wanted to let you know that Doctor Snyder has finished the CAT scans on that Mummy," Bonaparte explained. "He uploaded the files, including a number of photographs, to some remote server for Professor Nueves to access, and asked if you can pass on the login info to the professor."
"Consider it done, Sheriff. I spoke with Professor Nueves last night. He said he would be happy to help in this investigation."
"Great, thanks. Have you got something to write with?"
"Uh huh." Treize pulled a pen from the holder on the desk and ripped a piece of paper from the notepad. "Go ahead, Sheriff."
He scribbled down the hostname, user and password for the FTP account and read them back to Bonaparte just to be sure.
"Thanks Sheriff, I will let you know as soon as I hear from Professor Nueves."
"Thank you, Professor. By the way, I think you might be interested in knowing, we recovered that Canopic jar that went missing during the break-in at the museum."
There was a moment of surprised silence. "You have? Well, that's good news, isn't it? Does this mean you arrested the perpetrator?"
"Well, not exactly, I'm afraid. At least not yet."
"May I ask where and how you found the jar?" Treize asked. "Or is that something you would rather not make public?"
"Truth to be told, I would prefer not to announce it to the world just yet," Bonaparte told him. "But I'm quite sure I can trust you to keep it under wraps. We found the jar inside the museum…. hidden in a storage room in the basement!"
"Oh?!" Treize frowned. It seemed to make little sense for the thief to take the time to hide the item inside the museum before escaping. The size of the jar would have made it easy to conceal, even in a backpack or beneath a jacket.
"Yes, but that's not all…"
##
Milliardo gave his lover a surprised look when Treize walked back downstairs a few minutes later, still dressed in the gray suit he had worn for work.
"That was the sheriff on the phone just now," the tawny haired man explained.
"Did he have any news?" Quatre wanted to know.
"He did," the older man confirmed. "But I'm not sure you will like it."
The blonde frowned; the frown deepening until it turned into a full blown scowl as the professor told everyone in the room about the recovery of the stolen Canopc jar and the discovery of Dr. Hazzir's amulet next to it.
"I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation. As the sheriff told you, the basement the jar was found in was the same the artifacts from Egypt were stored in after their arrival. Dr Hazzir was in that basement many times before. He probably spent hours down their unpacking and sorting the collection. He could have lost the necklace at any time."
"You forget that he was still wearing it after the break in." Trowa pointed out.
"Well, maybe the thief planted it to frame Hazzir?
"That would reinforce Sheriff Bonaparte's suggestion that the theft was an inside job," Milliardo agreed. "It would assume it would have to be a person who can move around the museum undisturbed, and access any area without raising suspicion."
"Dr. Snyder comes to mind," Wufei remarked. "As the director he is one of the few people with unlimited access. And he claims to have never noticed that the Mummy had been switched, which seems a little odd, doesn't it?"
"Dr Hazzir didn't notice it either," Trowa reminded his friends. "And he is supposed to be THE authority on Egyptian artifacts."
Treize shrugged as he settled down on the couch next to his lover. From the patio door the professor could feel Alexander's presence draw near. Apparently their heated discussion had attracted their ghostly housemate's attention. "I think we are going in circles. because we just have too few facts to go on."
"But if Hazzir had stolen our Mummy, why would he try to sell it now?" Quatre pointed out. "I thought your theory was he was stealing the artifacts to return them to his country."
"Well, maybe we were wrong about that?" his bodyguard admitted.
"Well, maybe you are wrong altogether."
The blond suddenly frowned and looked in Alexander's direction. "Whose side are you on anyway?" he asked the ghost with a little pout.
"What?" Milliardo asked. "What did he say?" It could be annoying that Quatre was the only one who had the ability to actually communicate with Alexander. A ability that seemed to be getting only stronger as their bond grew.
"He is suggesting that maybe the Mummy that's being sold isn't our Mummy." The young man grumbled.
"It's a possibility," Treize admitted. "But. of course we can't be sure either way."
"Say, that storage cellar wouldn't happen to be the same one you sneaked into during our visit to the museum, would it Quatre?" Wufei suddenly change the direction of the conversation.
Quatre gave him a amused look. "Now what are you suggesting; that I am the thief who planted the chain with the amulet?"
"Now there is an idea. Do you have an alibi for the night from Sunday to Monday?" Milliardo asked his friend with a smirk.
"He was at home." Trowa answered instead. "I'm his ear-witness."
Treize raised one curious eyebrow. "Ear-witness?"
"Yes. He was snoring so loud, I could hear it all the way to the living room. In fact, I'm surprised the neighbors didn't complain about us 'using a chainsaw' all night long." Trowa grinned, earning himself a playful smack on the head from his friend.
"Is it my fault my allergies are acting up when you keep the window open all the time?" Quatre complained.
"Actually…" Wufei brought everyone back to his initial question. "It wasn't you I was accusing, Quatre. But I was just thinking of what you said, why you went into that basement…about the presence you thought you felt. If something really is down there, it might be something worth looking into."
"A necklace snatching ghost?" Milliardo laughed. "Alexander, does vanity exist in the spirit world as well?"
"Maybe he is not only snatching necklaces…?!"
Quatre's head snapped up, and everyone in the room suddenly grew serious as they realized what Wufei was actually suggesting.
"I should talk to Doctor Hazzir." Quatre looked at the professor. "Do you know if the sheriff arrested him?"
"No, he hasn't. As far as I know Hazzir volunteered to come by the sheriff station later this afternoon to talk to him and hopefully clear up the whole issue," the professor told him. "By now you should know Sheriff Bonaparte is a man with an open mind. If there is a 'reasonable explanation', as you call it, he will listen to it and accept it."
"But what is reasonable for us, might not be as reasonable for others," Wufei pointed out.
"True, but I think Bonaparte would still give Hazzir the benefit of the doubt," Treize told him. "Besides, the last thing he wants is to create some kind of international incident over this."
Quatre nodded. "I think you are right." He turned toward his bodyguard. "Do you mind taking me to the hotel where Dr. Hazzir is staying? Maybe I can catch him before he leaves to see the sheriff."
Trowa shrugged. "If that's what you want?"
"Thanks." The young man rose to his feet. "I will call him and let him know we are coming." He nodded at his friends. "Talk to you guys later."
"Good luck," Treize wished him. "And Trowa, let us know when you hear back from your friend."
"Got it," the young man assured him.
As the two of them were leaving, Wufei got to his feet. "I should probably be on my way, too. If I hit cross town traffic I might not make it to the airport in time."
Treize nodded. "I'll see you in school tomorrow. Give our best to Heero and Duo, and tell them to call once they have settled down."
"I will do that."
###
A short time later, after everyone had left Milliardo turned to his lover, a playful glint in his eyes.
"Now that all our friends have abandoned us," he asked, "what should you and I do with the rest of the afternoon?"
"Well," Treize replied. "I was going to slip into something more comfortable and then grade papers; unless of course, you have a better idea?"
A smirk curved the younger man's lips. "A better idea than grading papers? That should not be too difficult a task. How about both of us slipping into something more comfortable," he purred. "Like, lets say the hot tub?! We wouldn't even have to get out to cook dinner. There is still pizza in the fridge from last night."
"You always have the best ideas." Treize gave a deep chuckle. "That's why I love you so."
"And here I thought you only wanted me for my body."
Treize gave another laugh. "I refuse to answer that."
"Last one in the hot tub is a rotten egg." Milliardo declared already half way up the stairs.
His lover snorted. "Alexander, take care of Cabal, will you?" he called out over his shoulder before he raced after his lover.
TBC
Author's note: