The Heart of the Sphinx

Chapter 9

Hugh followed Gabriella outside in the midst of a heated argument.

“But do you have any idea what is this going to make us look like? That the British Museum is so lax on their security that their own employees could steal from them…come on Gabriella we are going to be torn apart in pieces by the national media,” said Hugh as he tried to keep his voice normal but he was very close to panicking. His boss was going to eat him alive out of his own hands.

“That is really not my lookout Linglithgow. Whatever that might be it is going to be your mess and why am I going to be the one to clean it up?” asked Gabriella as she removed the protective gear which they had been wearing over their shoes so that they did not mess up with any of the evidence that might have been on the floor.

“This is a national issue Gabriella, and do not think that I am the only one who is going to know about this. Even if I keep my mouth shut and not say a word about the things which you are going to be bagging up as evidence I am telling you that still you are going to take the fall for it because the leak is going to happen and that too from Scotland Yard and the same thing is going to happen which always happens..I mean what the f**k is wrong with you?” asked Hugh and this time his voice was pretty loud in order to attract the attention of the other police guards standing there.

One of them looked at Gabriella and raised his cap in a manner of asking if she was fine and she nodded.

“You need to control that tongue of your Linglithgow, because if you don’t then I am gonna slice it off when you are alive and feed it to the dogs. And make you watch it,” said Gabriella as she pulled out a cigarette and lit it and then blew a puff of smoke in the air.

“You have been f****d over and over by your own department countless times and still you are not going to listen to me,” said Hugh as he took a step back so that he did not have to inhale the smoke from her cigarette.

“Yeah because that is the place and department I work for, not you. They are the ones who pay my salary and unlike you Linglithgow, I would like to keep my reputation and my job intact,” said Gabriella as she started walking away from him.

“We are not done talking yet Gabriella, where are you going?” asked Hugh, in a louder voice as Gabriella turned towards him and showed him the middle finger without stopping walking towards her car. She got in her car and started thinking about what Hugh had been saying. There was no doubt that his words did have merit and it was a sure shot fact that once they had bagged the things as evidence there was no stopping from this news being leaked to BBC National.

And as soon as she had reached home and was unlocking her door her mobile phone pinged with a text message which surprised her because every single person in the department along with her boss knew not to send her messages because she hated checking her phone. But this one was from an unknown number. She clicked it open and thought that who might be such a dumbass to do this.

“Give me 48 hours for damage control.”

And there was no doubt in her mind about the fact that it was Hugh who had sent her the message. Until now she had no clue about which direction the investigation was supposed to go and now that he was asking for the next two days to keep the investigation open it gave her the much needed time to think. And after some time for the first time in the last three years she texted him back saying,” You owe me big time.”

And she received smiley emojis in return. God, this man could be such a pain in the ass, she thought without realizing that she was smiling. She had forgotten that happiness was also a human emotion and one that she had not faced in probably a pretty long time.

And then she started thinking that what would be like to like carry or lug all; those books around London. It could not have been an easy task at all. And neither was it a one-man job and that many books means either he was going to dump it somewhere or sell them off in the market. The price of the book list could not be lower than a few million since she found the catalogue and there were a pretty number of good first editions of the books. Gabriella thought that they might have known that they would not find anything of value in his home so they had taken it away. But someone must have seen them doing so. There must be some eye-witness in the neighborhood who would have seen it all….and she needed to find out who that was.

Hugh sighed in relief as Gabriella agreed to his proposal. Now he could not leg them away and keep it in the storage of the Museum but he could definitely do and check the records and do a cataloguing but before that he needed to call his boss. He needed to be ready for any kind of event that might be happening later on and if media got a whiff about this then he would have to have someone at his back and there would be no better person that the curator of the British Museum.

“So how is my investigator doing?” came out Dr. Skank’s booming voice over the other side of the phone and Hugh quickly pulled away the device from his ears.

“When did that happen?” asked Hugh as he could not keep himself from scoffing.

“Hey!!! You are the one who is calling…not me…and that tone does not work me at all. So you would better be calling with some good news,” said Dr. Skank still his voice booming.

“I have news but that is gonna be good or bad that you have to decide. But the news is a big one so I would say that you get a grip on it,” said Hugh as he thought about how he was going to say this.

“I am listening. But make it fast. I have to take my wife for date night,” said Dr. Skank as he grumbled.

“I found a cache of stolen historical artifacts in the house of the murdered man. It was behind his bookcase and there are at least seventy articles and from first view all of them are Egyptian or Mesopotamian in their origin and it will be at the least a few billion dollars at first worth,” said Hugh and he could hear the other man gasping from the other end.

“That is both an amazing fact and a disaster,” said Dr. Skank and this time his voice much softer and Hugh could only thank his stars.

“The reason I am calling you boss. I am trying to think of what I should be doing at this moment and I am failing to do so,” said Hugh as he looked behind him and found that there was a man who was standing by the bench looking at other direction and smoking but there was something about his gait which made him believe that he was not just a casual passerby.

“How long do you have?” asked Stuart Skank as he looked at his watch.

“Two days from now,” said Hugh as he started walking slowly as he was pacing and found that the man smoking threw his cigarette on the side walk and started inching closer to him. He put his hands in his pockets and found a small button like thing and he was pretty sure that the man following him was hearing each and every part of his conversation.

“Gabriella has said that I am not going to be able to touch anything at all in her absence so she is coming soon here with a change of clothes and bringing food as well. Do you want to join us?” asked Hugh as he stood beneath a tree close to a bench and then flopped down on it successfully crushing the bug in his back pocket and the man who was following him yelped out as it shrieked in his ear and he quickly looked at Hugh who was looking back at him and he started running away and Hugh knew that it was not going to make any point because it was someone from the Scotland Yard. If this was the situation of their police force then they needed to seriously think.

“I think you youngsters should seriously enjoy date night in dust and Hugh, remember that this should come into British Museum and not go into the Scotland Yard stronghold,” said Stuart and Hugh could only mumble a weak yes.