NOLA (26 page)

Carol bustled into the room.  “I’m sorry, but we don’t have a ladder tall enough.”

Mia waved her off.  “Don’t worry. I think I can see everything I need to see from down here,” she assured her.  “Tell me, was anything else taken during the robbery?”

“Just the mask.  I think it’s because all the other cabinets are wired with alarms.”

“An experienced jewel thief wouldn’t let a few alarms stop him from clearing the lot and taking off before the police arrived,” Mia pointed out.  “I think he was after one item only.  The Mardi Gras mask that Alexei Romanov wore when he judged the Rex Parade.”

“It wasn’t even beautiful anymore,” Caroline told them.  “The glass beads had dulled.  The colors were dull and the feathers rotted.  Here is a picture of it.” She handed Mia a framed photo of the mask before it was put into the environmentally-controlled display case.  “We kept it here because it was donated with the jewels over here,” she said, lightly tapping the case where large brooches dominated the jewel necklaces and earrings.  “The Alexandrovich colors were purple, green and gold as you can see in the family crest pin here.  These colors became the official Mardi Gras colors after that.  Funny to think how one visitor brought so much to N’awlins.  Think about it a moment, Prince Harry visited Las Vegas, but they didn’t change all the colors for him.”

“I do think his blush did decorate a few scandal sheets and the net for a while,” Ralph said.  “But I get it.  Alexei must have really been something.”

“Still is,” Mia said under her breath.

“When did you discover the mask was missing?” Father Peter asked.

“Not until a few days later.  It was one of the cleaners who discovered it missing.  There was a search of the premises, but they came up with nothing.  We hoped that it would have been returned.  But no dice.  No leads and no mask.”

“Were any of the other areas disturbed?” Mia asked, trying to pick up Sean’s vibe.  There had been too many people walking through the museum to isolate one man’s trail.

“The police seemed to think that he may have left using a rear entrance, but no alarm went off.  They traced him as far as the employee courtyard.  Follow me.”

Mia followed the young woman down the stairs to the tiny courtyard.

“It’s rather a forgotten little place.  We use it for smoking and getting away for a good gossip.”

Mia looked around and saw several doors.  “Can you get out from here?”

“Not really.  That’s a closet, and the door next to it is the old house.  Now the green door will get you back into the main part of the museum.  I expect you can get out through there.”

Mia walked over and ran her hand along the doorjamb of the closet.  She felt a dent in the painted wood.  She saw that it matched a mar on the door.  “It looks like this was forced.”

“Why would anyone want to get into the supply closet?” Caroline asked.

“Would you mind if we looked inside?” Father Peter asked.

Caroline drew out a set of keys.  She unlocked the door.  Mia took a few steps in and stopped.  “He’s been in here, Ralph. I can feel him.”

“Are you sure there’s no exit?” Father Peter asked again.

“Go ahead, look for yourself.”

Mia backed out and waited.  The priest and Ralph examined the large closet and had to agree with the guide.  There was no way to get out.

“What’s this hook for?” Ralph asked.

Caroline looked inside and shook her head.  “I don’t know. Let me ask one of the cleaners.  This is their closet.  They’ve started in the main hall.  I’ll be right back.”

“Are you sure you felt Sean’s presence in the closet?”

“He has a rather cocky energy,” Mia said.  “I’m sure he was in there at some point.”

Caroline returned with an elderly man.  “This is Howard. He’s the main cleaner,” Caroline said.  “Howard, do you know what used to hang from this hook?”

“That be the extra keys, miss.”

“Where are they now?” she asked.

“Don’t know.  We all gots our keys, them’s just extras.”  Howard pulled out his set from the retractable key ring holder.

“May I?” Mia asked.  She pulled the ring away from the holder and examined the keys.  “They have writing on them.”

“That was old Cully’s idea.  Saved us from havin’ to figure out what key was what,” Howard said.  “A real time saver.”

“Thank you,” Mia said and stopped.  “Howard, do you have a key to the red door over there?”

“Yes, miss, but we only do the hallway there once a month.  Just to keep the dust down.  Last time I was up there was February.”

Mia nodded, looking at the key.  “Caroline, do you have a key to the old house?”

“No.”

“Howard, would you mind loaning me your keys?  I’ll bring them right back after we are done,” Mia promised.

“No problem.  This here is the key to the red door. This one is for the inside door. This here is the key to the padlocked door, but I ain’t got no key for the padlock.  Mister Dun would have that.”

“Thank you.”  Mia was excited to get into the old house and up the stairs.  She had her lock picks.  No padlocked door would be stopping her.

“Excuse me!” boomed a stout male.  “What is going on here?”

“Mr. Dun, we were just trying to find a key to the padlocked door in the old house,” Caroline replied.

The man wrinkled up his face in disgust.  “What in heaven’s name are you thinking, Caroline?  Only the family goes into that room.”

“I understood that we were supposed to have full access to the museum,” Mia said in their defense.

“That’s not part of the museum.  It’s the Cully family residence, or was.  No one goes in there without the family’s approval.”

“I understood we had that approval,” Mia said.

“No, you don’t. That came from the board.  Now if you want to track down one of the remaining Cullys and get their signed permission, then I would be happy to let you into the old house.  Until then, no one goes in there.  Do you hear me?” he said, directing his instructions to his employees.

“How are we to find the missing mask if we can’t access all the areas of the place?” Mia asked.

“That’s your problem.  Well, if you would excuse me.”

Mia didn’t know how it happened, but it appeared that Mr. Dun collided with Father Peter and tripped over the bench.  Both men fell down.  After many false expressions of worry over the other, the two men got up.  Mr. Dun left.

“Another great impression by yours truly,” Father Peter said red-faced.  “Can you imagine me a Pope?”

“Yes, you would make a damn good one,” Mia said, drawing a glare from Ralph and Murphy.  She looked back and asked, “What?”

“I’m sorry, folks, about the misunderstanding.  Let me take you through to the gift shop, and we’ll call this tour ended,” Caroline said, rubbing her temples.  “I think, I’ll have a little lie-down.”

“I take the peoples out,” Howard said.

“Thank you.”

“Follow me please.”  Howard waited until Caroline had left the courtyard before speaking.  “The other ring, the missin’ one, it had the key to the padlock.  I just wanted you to know,” he said.

“Thank you, Howard, you’ve helped us a lot.”

They walked into the main courtyard.  Mia looked back and asked, “Those bricked up windows, are they part of the museum or the old house?”

“They were old Albert Cully’s room.  He died in there. That’s why the family won’t let the museum have it.  They haven’t been in there to sort out his stuff yet.”

“How long has it been since Albert died?”

“Thirty-five years.”

“Thirty-five years, and no one has sorted through his things yet?”

“Yes, miss.”  Howard opened the door and escorted them into the gift shop.  Aside from a book on the Cully collection, there wasn’t anything that interested the trio.  Ralph bought the book, and the four left.

“May I buy you two a coffee and perhaps some beignets?” Father Peter asked.  “It’s still early, and I’m not expected back for a while.”

“Sounds like a great idea,” Mia said.

“Beignets, oh dear, I’m going to need to have my wedding suit let out again,” Ralph said.

They followed the priest into the café and chose a table in the courtyard at which to enjoy the pastries.  The priest handed each a coffee, and they settled down to indulge.  Murphy spent his time looking at the ornamental trees growing in the large pots on the patio.

Father Peter dusted off his hands.  “You know we have to go back there, perhaps tonight after closing?”

“Yes, but aside from me taking the Sean Edward’s way into the building, we’re out of luck.”

“Not entirely,” Father Peter said, holding up a set of keys.

“Did Howard give you those?”

“No, I lifted them from Mr. Dun.  I didn’t like his attitude.  We’ll leave them inside the door before we leave.  It will teach the man humility.”

Murphy pushed his hat back on his head in amazement.

Chapter Nineteen

Mia and Ralph took their time checking out the art galleries on the way back to the hotel.  Mia caught Ralph taking covert pictures of what he was convinced were appropriate wedding gifts for him and Bernard.  “Sometimes you have to lead them by the nose,” he said.

Mia, who noticed there weren’t any price tags, whispered, “I don’t think most of your guests can afford these.”

“Everything can be bargained down. Besides, my family is rolling in money, Mia.  I think we have gangster roots.”

“With the name Mendelssohn, I expected music. How about you, Murphy?”

Murphy shrugged his shoulders.  He was studying a series of birch trees painted in non-birch tree colors.

“Those look like Dr. Seuss trees,” Mia said and started to recite
Horton Hears a Who. 
“On the fifteen of May, in the Jungle of Nool…”

Ralph moved along to another series of trees, this time, stately oaks dripping with moss.  “You know if you applied yourself, you could recite poetry.”

Mia stopped and argued, “This is poetry.  Brian loves it.”

“You loved it too.”

“I still do. Come on, Ralph, you would act out these books for me. You must remember something?”

“I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them Sam I am,” Ralph said proudly.  “Of course I know them.  Thanks to you, I know them all.”

“I loved you for reading to me, Ralph.  You were my best mommy.”

“I’m still your best mommy,” Ralph reminded her.

“Yes, indeed.”

“Oh look, more trees,” Mia said as they rounded the corner of the gallery.  “Is this place called Trees are Us?”

“You’re a philistine.  Besides, I figured Murphy could enjoy himself.  I noticed that you don’t have any paintings in your home.  You must expand yourself.  Otherwise, Brian is going to grow up and think that a Marvel comic is all there is to art.”

“I don’t have any paintings because… well… Okay, it has to do with Sherry.”

“Sherry who?”

“Whit’s wife Sherry.”

“Oh, that one.  She was an abstract artist if memory serves me.”

“Yes, she put so much into her art that the pictures actually contained parts of her soul.  I don’t want to take the chance and contaminate my house with… you know.”

Ralph looked at Mia and shook his head.  Then he moved her in front of a painting of a willow by the riverside.  “How does this make you feel?”

“Happy, serene, calm.”

“Do you pick up any nasty vibes?”

Mia looked around and took off her glove and put her hand as close to the painting as she could without touching it.  “The painter was happy the day she painted it.  She found out she was pregnant.  She had to pee and…”

“Whoa, you got that all from that?”

“I didn’t even touch it.  Had I touched it, I would have been able to tell the baby’s heartbeat.”

Ralph looked at her in stunned silence.

Mia cracked a smile.

“Oh, you little scamp, you had me there!” he cried.

Mia noticed that Murphy was looking at the painting too.

“Murph, how does that painting make you feel?” she asked in a low voice.

“Summertime,” he said so Ralph could hear too.

“It makes him feel or remember summertime,” Mia said softly.  “I wonder how much it is?”

Ralph raised his hand.  One of the loitering clerks all but ran over to them.

“Yes?”

“Tell me about this artist.”

“Shelby Trueblood has been painting her trees for about ten years.  She’s just recently decided to use oil paints instead of watercolors.  She’s local.  I may have a bio card of hers,” the clerk said and walked smartly back to the desk and began sifting through the piles of biographies stacked there.

“She’s got her own bio card.  We can’t afford her,” Mia whined.

“Here we go,” the clerk said, handing the card to Ralph.

Mia took a deep breath and asked, “How much is the painting?”

“Twenty-four hundred dollars.”

Mia frowned, not because she didn’t think the painting was worth that much but because she couldn’t afford it.  “Thank you for the information.  We’ve got some thinking to do.”

The clerk gave her a smirk.  Mia felt bad.  She knew that he knew that she couldn’t afford the painting.  The clerk turned to Ralph who had just finished reading the bio card.  “I’ll take it,” he said, surprising both Mia and the clerk.  “I need you to have it wrapped for an airline flight and send it to the Marriott.”

“Yes sir,” the clerk said, taking Ralph’s Amex with him.

“Whoa, Ralph, you have a wedding to save for,” Mia said.

“I like the painting, and you and Murphy like it too.  You need something that will make you feel happy, serene and calm when you look at it, and I need to know that my grand godson isn’t growing up in a culture-starved home.”

Mia kissed Ralph on the cheek.  “You are wonderful,” she said.

Mia left to complete the transaction, and Ralph thought he felt a pat on his back.  He thought a moment and said, “You’re welcome, Stephen.”

~

Mia and Murphy spent the rest of the day being tourists while Ralph went back to the Marriott to work on his designs.  The duo walked to the Mississippi and watched the ships come into port.  Mia had just sat down on a bench to rest her bad leg when they heard a steam-powered calliope playing.  She looked in the direction the sound came from and saw that the calliope player already had attracted quite a crowd.  Curious, Murphy floated down to it and came back.