The Heart of the Sphinx

Chapter 7

Hugh Linglithgow for the first time in a long time was shocked seeing the events unfolding before him. How could anyone be so daft as to not take the help from an expert in these matters?? But then again she was a strong and powerful woman who thought that she could do anything at all and need not bow before any others. But f**k that!!! Thought Hugh. He needed to know what was going on and he had every right to be here just like Gabriella had. He went towards the book case and then looked at the racks and found that there were no books at all as it had been told to him. It was really a strange thing to find that a book case was standing there without any kind of books. There were dents and marks on the whole case which made him think that there might be more mechanism to the rack leaving the place in which Gabriella was standing.

It lead to Hugh thinking that what kind of secrets the dead man might have at all that he needed to make all these crevices and hiding places and that too for what. But it was apparently clear that whatever the murdered might have been looking for he could not find that at all. There were however no marks of anything at all which might give him the slightest clue about the identity of the killer. But why would someone do this at all? Why would someone kill a man who was old and had no other family and had no treasures as such? Why would someone do this? He was not being able to find any motive at all. But just at the moment the rack slid and Gabriella stepped out of it, of the place and she stepped on his toe and stumbled on his body making them both tumble together.

Gabriella was looking at him, and was lying on his chest. Pain was shooting from his toe where he was stubbed but he could not say anything. He was too busy figuring out how to get her off from his body. Gabriella was all sweaty and apparently the room she was it did not have any kind of air passage which meant that it was not the way through which the murderer could have entered.

She scuffled and started getting up from his chest and Hugh thought that it would be the best if he lay still and did not help her in any way.

Once Gabriella was up she said looking at him scornfully,” What did I tell you? Are you a dolt? I mean, what the f**k is wrong with you? You knew that I might come out of there any minute still you were standing there…I mean for what? Did you want to hurt me on purpose?”

“And exactly why would I do that?” asked Hugh, very calmly. He knew that she had the tendency to flare up any moment and she did not need any reason for that at all.

“How would I know that? Wait, to show that I am the one who is incompetent and you were the one to crack the case?” asked Gabriella, mocking him as she was up on her feet.

“I am not working on your police force or I am not even in Scotland Yard Gabriella. I am coming from a different place altogether and that is the British Museum. And how on earth can you even say that I want to prove you to be incompetent? Really Gabriella, I used to think that you are an exceptional and intelligent woman with high reasoning and logical skills but now I seriously don’t know what is wrong with you…I mean, really what is your problem with me Gabriella?” asked Hugh as he was up on his feet.

“Oh dear!!! You think that complimenting me is going to make me run and crawl in your direction to your bed or what? That is the problem with all you men…you think that women are nothing else rather than pieces of flesh for your pleasure!!!” seethed the woman who wiped off the sweat from her forehead.

“I think you have misunderstood a lot of things about me but I am not going to tell you anything otherwise because you are all hot and bothered and you need to cool down. So please go and get some fresh air and I am sure that I will be finished looking for anything that you could not find till now,” said Hugh as Gabriella looked at him with narrowed eyes.

“Only till the time that I am back you are allowed to make your own research and what ever the f**k you are here for,” said Gabriella as she walked past him with her boots making sound and Hugh could only think that what might have happened to her which made her think that she was always in need of being like that. What could send someone into a state of continued denial and defense??? But he did not have the luxury of psychoanalyzing everything that Gabriella had said. He found that mechanism which let him slide the panel of the book case just like that. He peered inside and then looked up and down before stepping in order to be clear of any kind of mechanism which might be booby traps as well. He had no clue what might cause what in this place.

Hugh entered inside and he got a typical smell of dust and closed room and what he saw shocked him to the core. No wonder Gabriella did not want anyone coming here at all. This place was a veritable treasure trove and if media got a whiff of this then the entire British Museum was going to be under scanner. How the f**k did this ever go unnoticed at all???

At first he thought of calling his boss but then he thought the better of it. He was entirely sure that he was going to be asked to keep a lid on it and handle it anyway he found fit so that there was no report at all in the police files because that is the place from where the media gets all its leaked news anyway. And that meant that he needed to get Gabriella in his confidence and she needed to have him in his.

“Are you done?” asked the voice of Gabriella from his back and he was not startled at all.

“I don’t think I am ever going to be done with this Gabriella. Never ever I could have imagined that we would have taken a kleptomaniac to work amongst us!!!” said Hugh as he kept looking at the all the stolen goods inside which he knew that he had always known them to be lost.

“I am thinking that this might be more of a set-up so that we would think that this is a deal gone wrong and then we would put an end to the case here itself. That would make things much easier for whoever has committed the murder,” said Gabriella as she walked a few steps in order to stand beside Hugh.

“That might have been a really plausible theory but for that fact that there remains one single glitch it becomes a real problem from this to become a proper theory,” said Hugh and Gabriella asked him in a sour voice,” And what might that be?”

“If what you are saying would have been true then there would be books filled in the racks. And I know for sure that there are books which is pretty clear from the marks on the layers of the dust on the rack. The books would have been left there if we were supposed to be misguided. I am entirely sure that the murderer had not been able to find this secret place,” said Hugh as he looked around and found that Gabriella was nodding her head at his statement as well.

“I think that you might be right,” said Gabriella as she chewed on her nail and looked at Hugh who turned at her in shock.

“Wow!!! That was a very strong and very fast flip that you made from the earlier statement that you made when you were in the room,” said Hugh with a teasing smile on his face and her eyes narrowed again.

“I am just saying that I like the way that you are making good conclusions and I am not finding anything otherwise which might lead me to believe anything else. Moreover when I was not there you went in and focused on searching the hideout and did not come after me, that makes more sense about you being serious about this case,” said Gabriella, in a grudging manner.

“Well I would take that to be a compliment and I would also like to know that what are you exactly planning to do with all these goods that now you have found them,” said Hugh as he raised his brows and Gabriella said,” They are going in our custody. After all it is Scotland Yard’s discovery and evidence unless the investigation is over!!”