A/N: Thanks so much for the lovely comments, Leya, Virtute and Kenna! To answer your question, Virtute, I do have several stories that are a continuation to this one, so stay tuned. LOL Thanks again to everyone who's reading. Also, the "charmstones" in this chapter are all real artifacts, although not currently missing...that I know of. LOL

Chapter 7

"Cursed?" Joe looked at the crystal object he held between his fingers. "What are you talking about?"

"That's a charmstone," Duncan said, his eyes wide. "They're very powerful. They can be omens of either good or evil."

"Well, what makes you think this one isn't an omen of good?"

"Just look around you," Duncan said, with a wide swipe of his hands at the destruction in Emily's office. "How can this be an omen for good?"

"Wait a minute," Frank interjected. "You mean because this artifact showed up in the middle of a ransacked office, it's some sort of curse?"

"Aye," Duncan nodded solemnly.

"I don't mean to be insulting here," Joe said, "but you're sounding a little...nuts."

"I know it sounds crazy," Duncan acknowledged. "But how much research have you done on these objects?"

"None," Joe admitted.

"Precisely. I've studied them for years," Duncan explained. "And when I started, I used to scoff at men who believed in this sort of thing. Not anymore," he sighed. "I've read too much and seen too much. And when I say this object is cursed, you'd do well to believe it."

Joe examined the small crystal, set in silver and hanging on a burgundy ribbon, carefully. "Maybe you'd better tell us a little more about this."

"It belongs to Clan Campbell," Duncan said, eyeing the object warily. "It's over a thousand years old. It was used as protection by some members of the clan and used as a way to curse their enemies as well. If you touch it and you are not a member of the clan, the curse will extend to you as well."

"So how do you think it got here?" Frank asked.

"I don't know. We have a crate of the smaller objects that belong in the exhibit locked in a cage in the shipment room. I received a phone call from the dock saying that the larger shipment of artifacts from Scotland had arrived and was being sent from the airport," Duncan explained. "I don't expect it to be here for another half hour at least."

"Who was delivering the art?" Joe asked.

"A freight company from New York City who specializes in this sort of thing. Not just any delivery company can handle it. Our registrar was meeting the shipment at the airport and overseeing its transportation here." Duncan ran his hand through his hair. "He hasn't called me yet."

"Well, maybe he's already here and unpacked the crate with the small stuff too," Joe suggested.

Duncan shook his head. "Not without me, he wouldn't. He needs a curator to verify the artifacts, check them, and sign them off. We also need our insurance representative to inspect them. I wanted Emily there as well, since she's the intern assigned to this exhibit."

"I think we'd better head to your dock then," Frank suggested. "If this item was supposed to be in the shipment and the shipment isn't here, or if it was in the small crate and it's been looted, you've got some serious problems on your hands."

Duncan sighed. "More serious than yesterday's murder?"

"Not so far." Frank moved around the desk. "But I think they all may be related somehow."

"Okay." Duncan ran his hand through his hair as he looked around Emily's office again. "Let me tell Mitch where we'll be and I'll meet you at the dock."

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

"So," Frank began as he and Joe headed toward the museum's shipping and receiving area. "Are you going to call Emily later and check on her?"

"No."

Frank raised an eyebrow. "Any reason why not?"

Joe turned to him exasperated. "Look, in spite of what you might think...I can take a hint. And she's given me plenty of them. In fact, she's written it in the sky in big, bold, capital letters...'I'm not interested in you, Joe. Stay away.'" He sighed. "Fine. I got the message. From now on, anything I have to do with Emily Clark will be on a purely professional basis."

"So does that mean I can ask her out?"

Joe glared at his brother as he flung open the door to the loading dock. "Don't even think about it for one second."

Frank bent his head and stifled a chuckle as they entered the shipping room. Large wooden crates were being brought in through an open rolling metal dock door and Joe and Frank stood to the side, out of the way of the workers.

"Must be the artifacts," Joe said, pointing out large spray painted black lettering on the side of a crate that read "Edinburgh to New York".

"Which means the charmstone wasn't part of this shipment." Frank glanced around, and spotted several other crates in the far corner of the room, sitting inside an area cordoned off by a chain link cage. He hit Joe's arm and gestured with his head towards them.

Joe reached the fence first and tugged on the padlock that held the chain link gate to the alcove closed. "It's locked."

Frank peered through and stared at the crates. "They seem to be nailed shut."

"And in the original shipping containers." Joe looked at his brother. "Which begs the question...how did the charmstone get in Emily's office if it's still sealed up in this crate?"

"Is it?"

The main door to the room flew open and Frank watched as Duncan strode in, noting the mix of anger and frustration on his face. "Why didn't someone notify me that these crates had arrived?"

A well dressed, middle aged man with spiky blond hair and a clipboard standing near the loading dock turned to Duncan with a bored look on his face. "I called your office twice, you didn't answer. Perhaps if you checked your messages..."

Duncan reached his side and snatched the clipboard from his hands. "Yeah, well right now I don't have time to check messages. I have bigger problems."

The man crossed his arms and rolled his eyes as Duncan scanned the shipping invoices. "Then I guess you'll never know what's going on, will you?"

Duncan scribbled a signature across the top sheet of paper on the clipboard and handed it back to the blond haired man without another word.

Frank watched as Duncan turned and headed toward the fenced off area of the room.

"As you can see, the artifacts have arrived," Duncan announced.

"But the charmstone was supposed to be included with a smaller shipment, right?" Frank clarified as he approached him.

"Yeah, those boxes right behind you." Duncan gestured to the crates beyond the chain link fencing. He rummaged in his pocket, pulled out a key ring, and inserted a key in the padlock. "They haven't been opened yet."

"At least that you know of." Joe stepped into the cage and reached down for one of the smaller crates. "May I?"

Duncan nodded. "Bring it over here." He walked five feet over to a long table covered with packing supplies. Brushing aside the clutter, he motioned for Joe to set the box down.

"Just a minute." Frank carefully examined the crate. "It doesn't appear to have been tampered with."

Duncan reached for a crowbar and began tugging on the wooden slats. When the nails were out of the top, he reached inside for the hard sided case. Before he opened it, he donned a pair of latex gloves and hollered over his shoulder, "Evan, I need you to verify this."

The blond haired man strode over to him. "Can't it wait until I'm done checking off the other crates?"

"No, this is urgent. We think there may have been a theft."

Evan's face paled. "That's impossible. Of what?"

"The Campbell charmstone."

Evan violently shuffled through his papers. "There is no Campbell charmstone included in this shipment."

"What are you talking about? It was one of the artifacts from the Edinburgh museum they were insistent on sending."

Evan shook his head. "Duncan, if you're referring to the Breadalbane charmstone, it was stolen two weeks ago. Haven't you heard?"

Duncan's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. "Stolen?"

"Yes." Evan looked up from his clipboard. "I'm surprised you don't know. Don't you speak with anyone from Edinburgh anymore?"

"I-I've been so busy here getting ready for the exhibit, I haven't had time."

"Well, like I said, if you'd check your messages..."

"Wait," Frank interrupted. "This stolen charmstone was supposed to be part of this exhibit?"

"The director in Edinburgh wanted it to be," Duncan said, still dazed. "He said the exhibit wouldn't really be complete without one. I just assumed he was sending it."

"These are the things that are supposed to have magical powers?" Joe asked.

Evan snorted. "Don't believe everything you hear about that. According to the old Highlanders, everything in these shipments will 'bewitch' you if you aren't careful."

Duncan gave him an icy stare. "Don't be mocking something you don't understand."

"Listen," Evan said, tapping the clipboard with a pencil. "What I understand is that if I don't get moving, I'm not going be back in the city until after ten o'clock tonight. That's not going to work for me, so let's get done with the cataloging, okay?"

Duncan nodded. "Let's just check off that we've received the items and lock them up. I want my intern, Emily, to work on the cataloging."

Evan looked around the room, pointedly. "Well, where is she?"

"She had to leave early today," Duncan said, his mouth in a grim line. "She'll do it tomorrow."

Evan rolled his eyes. "Fine. Then let's get moving on this. I have to be back here tomorrow afternoon anyway. We can catalog then."

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

After checking through all the artifacts that had arrived in the shipments and reconciling them with the invoices, Frank and Joe headed back to Emily's office. Unlocking the door with an extra set of museum keys, they stepped inside and began cleaning up.

"I'm going to check through these files." Frank bent down and scooped up some scattered papers resting on the debris. "See if anything catches my eye."

"Yeah, well I don't know if that'll do much good." Joe righted Emily's bookcase and began shelving the books that were scattered on the linoleum tiled floor. "If whoever broke in here found what he was looking for, I'm guessing he took it."

"Maybe." Frank carefully read over a document before inserting it into a manila file. "Or maybe he missed it. Or had to leave in a hurry."

"What do you think about that charmstone thing?"

"That's got me baffled," Frank admitted. "We definitely need to do more research on that. Maybe Dad could look into the theft at the Edinburgh museum."

"Are we sure it's even the same artifact?"

"Well, I wouldn't know; that's for sure." Frank replaced the file he'd been reading in the cabinet. "Emily might though."

"Duncan has the charmstone, right?"

"He put it in the safe with some of the other artifacts. He didn't seem to really want to have anything to do with it." Frank reached for another file. "I think he really believes it's cursed."

"No kidding." Joe picked up Emily's stapler and set it back on her desk. "Don't you think that's weird?"

Frank shrugged. "To each his own, I guess. For what it's worth, I don't care about any supposed curse attached to it. What I want to know is how an artifact stolen from a museum in Edinburgh two weeks ago ended up here in Bayport."

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

Half an hour later, after returning Emily's office to some semblance of order, Frank and Joe headed upstairs to the security offices of the museum. They found Mitch, the head of security, sitting behind his desk, eating a sandwich and watching different screens on a bank of monitors along the far wall.

"Oh, there you are." He set down his sandwich on its wax wrapper and wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. "Sorry, with all that's been happening around here, I didn't have time for lunch. Although, I guess it's more like dinner now."

"Are these all the cameras you have in the museum?" Joe walked toward the monitors.

"Yeah." Mitch finished wiping his hands and picking up a remote control, pointed it toward the monitors and pressed a button. "These are the tapes from earlier today. I'll start from when the museum opened."

Frank and Joe watched as they saw employees arriving through the employee entrance, chatting with each other.

"That's everyone who was on duty today. We all enter through the back door."

"And, there are no cameras in the office areas themselves," Frank mused as he watched. "So, do you have footage of all areas leading down to the basement?"

"Well, we do have cameras on the stairwell exits and the elevators, but if someone entered an elevator on, say, the third floor, and got off in the basement...we would have no way of knowing that. There are no cameras in front of the basement elevators or stairwells."

"Why not?" Joe wanted to know. "I mean there are priceless artifacts, paintings and sculpture all over this place. Why such a huge security gap?"

"That's what I've been asking for almost a year." Mitch shook his head. "I keep getting the same answer. No funding." He snorted. "Apparently, we're not a 'priority' in the finance department here. Maybe having someone murdered will finally wake those clowns up."

Joe had been studying the tapes carefully. "So, everyone who's gone up and down the stairs today was an employee?"

"As far as I could tell when I looked over the tapes." He took another bite of his sandwich. "I called my staff and they all said the same thing. They didn't see anything or anyone suspicious."

"Where's your staff now?" Frank asked.

"On the floor." Mitch picked up his soda and sipped through the straw. "There's a guard in each exhibit hall and two guards in the main lobby. That's eight on duty when the museum is open, including me."

"What about after hours?" Joe turned away from the monitors and walked to Mitch's desk.

"One guard on night duty. And that only happened after the murder. Otherwise we let the security system take care of it."

Frank nodded. "We have one more question. Chief Collig mentioned that on the day Professor Ayres was murdered, the monitor near the entrance of the new exhibit hall went black. Do you know why?"

Mitch shrugged. "No. It happens though. This museum doesn't have the best surveillance equipment out there. Not by a long shot."

"Has that particular camera gone out before?" Joe sat on the edge of the guard's desk.

"A couple of times. I think it's because of the construction they're doing in there. Whenever they use power tools, it seems to make the cameras go on the fritz. An overload on the circuits, maybe."

"Well, thank you." Frank stood and shook his hand. "You've been very helpful."

"You let me know if there's anything more I can do." He shook his head. "I feel real bad for Emily. She wasn't hurt or anything, was she?"

"She's pretty shaken up," Joe said.

Mitch shook his head. "Well, I'm going to be on the lookout now. She sure is a sweet girl. Pretty, too. I don't want anyone hurting her."

"I'm sure she'll appreciate that," Frank said as he stepped out the door.

"Do you mind if I come back sometime tomorrow and look at these tapes a little more closely?" Joe asked.

"Nope. I'm here all day." Mitch said, reaching for a handful of potato chips from the small bag on his desk.

"Great." Joe followed Frank out the door. "See you tomorrow."

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

"What do you think?" Frank asked when they exited the museum.

Joe paused in the pathway and turned to his brother. "There are cameras on every floor of the museum in front of the elevators and stairs except where they open in the basement, right?"

"Yeah, I think that's what Mitch said."

"So, if we were to look at all the footage shot yesterday, we should be able to figure out who entered the elevators or the stairwells and watch them get off."

"Unless they got off in the basement." Frank stopped and turned to Joe, a huge grin on his face. "That's genius, bro."

"It'll narrow down our search."

"It wouldn't be proof, but at least it would give us a place to start looking."

"That's what I'll be doing in the morning," Joe said as he got to the van.

"And I'll head downtown. Steve at Bayport Camera should be done analyzing the other surveillance tape from the murder. The one that went dark for eight minutes. I'm hoping he can tell me exactly what caused it."

"Sounds like a plan," Joe smiled as he climbed in the passenger seat. "Now let's go home and eat. I'm starving."