Seti's Heart (13 page)

“No prob.”

Outside the lab, Jason looked at Chris and Leo. “Well, my money says that Perry hasn’t said a word to anyone about Seti going missing.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward the lab. “Sheila was always one of the first ones to know about gossip in school. Stands to reason that she’d keep her ear to the ground here, too.”

“So, what do we do now?” Leo asked.

“Now? Now we go have ourselves a little chat with Perry,” Jason said, turning toward the stairs.

“Whoa, wait a minute,” Chris said, grabbing Jason’s sleeve. “Are you sure that’s such a good idea? What do you plan on asking him? Hey, where’d you put the golden sarcophagus and the missing mummy? You know, the two things no one is supposed to know about?”

“Don’t be stupid. We can go down there looking for Logan. See what kind of a reaction we get from Perry when we mention him,” Jason replied. “I want to know whether that scumbucket really thinks Logan took the mummy, or if he knows more about Seti than he’s letting on.”

“You don’t think he knows about Seti rejuvenating, do you?” Leo asked.

“I’m telling you, I’m getting really weird vibes about this. I think there’s a lot more going on than Perry hoarding an artifact as a nest egg.”

“All right, then. After you, O Psychic Wonder,” Leo grinned, bowing and gesturing Jason on toward the stairs with a flourish.

Jason shook his head. “You’re such a drama queen. Let’s go,” he said, brushing past Leo.

He led them down the stairs to the level that housed the Dungeon. They threaded their way between the rows of ceiling-to-floor shelves, making their way to the back to Perry’s office. The door was closed and the lights off. There was no sign of Perry anywhere.

Leo pointed to the only other door in the room. “That’s got to be the room where Perry kept Seti’s sarcophagus!” he said. Walking over to the door, he examined it, peering at the smooth wood and bright, shiny metal hinges. “This is new. Perry must have had the old one replaced.”

“Is it open?”

Leo grabbed a latex glove from the dispenser on the wall and snapped it onto his hand. He jiggled the handle, and the door swung open easily. He felt for a switch along the wall and flipped it, turning on the single light fixture. The room was empty.

“He must have gotten rid of it,” Chris said. “Why would he get rid of the sarcophagus after keeping it hidden for fifty years?”

“Maybe he didn’t want any evidence laying around,” Jason finished. “If Perry had said anything to anyone about the break-in, Sheila would have known about it, or at least heard a rumor. But, overnight, Perry had the sarcophagus removed and the door replaced. I’m convinced that Perry had Seti’s sarcophagus in here illegally.”

“Now what do we do?”

“Now we check Perry’s office for evidence.”

“Might I remind you that we’re not Sam Spade and Company? We’re a trio of grad students who don’t know their legal asses from their litigious elbows. What you’re talking about doing is breaking and entering!” Chris said, frowning.

“It’s only a B&E if the door is locked. If it’s open, then it’s only trespassing,” Leo grinned. “Come on. We’ve come this far. Nobody’s home – what can it hurt to take a peek and see what we can find?”

“You go on. I’ll keep watch,” Chris said, shaking his head. He trotted up the aisle toward the front of the Dungeon.

“You are such a chickenshit,” Jason called after him, chuckling. “Okay, here goes.” He suddenly paused, his hand hovering over the doorknob to Perry’s office. “Something’s wrong. Really wrong,” he whispered. He felt the blood rush from his head to his feet, leaving him dizzy. While Jason had often gotten “flashes” of feelings before, he’d never felt anything like this. This was more than unsettling. There were vibes coming from Perry’s office that were downright terrifying.

“Is it open?” Leo asked.

“I don’t know, but…I’m suddenly not sure that I want to see what’s inside.”

“Then move. I’ll do it,” Leo said, elbowing Jason out of the way. “And you’ve got the nerve to call me a drama queen. Sheesh.” He turned the knob and pushed open the door to Perry’s office. He found and flipped the light switch, instantly flooding the room with light.

Lincoln Perry sat at his desk, head thrown back, his lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling. A single gunshot wound marred the skin on his forehead. Surprisingly, there was very little blood - just a thin trickle down the side of his face and a few spots splattered on the collar of his shirt.

“Holy fucking shit!” Leo gasped, taking a step backwards. “Is he dead?”

“Oh, God. Unless he’s into some really fucking weird body modifications, he is,” Jason whispered, putting a hand over his mouth, his stomach lurching as his breakfast tried to make a reappearance.

“Guys?” Chris called from the front of the room. “I found something,” he said, walking back toward Perry’s office. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the looks on Jason and Leo’s faces. “Oh, shit. What’s happened?”

“It’s Perry. He’s dead.”

“What? Are you sure?” Chris asked, eyes widening.

“About as sure as I can get without performing an autopsy,” Leo said, running his hands through his hair. “What are we going to do? We can’t just leave him here.”

“Maybe he’s had a heart attack or something,” Chris said, stepping past Leo into Perry’s office. “Are you sure he’s…” His voice trailed off. “Oh, man. He’s been shot!”

“No shit,” Jason said. “Any other brilliant observations, Einstein?”

“Did you touch anything?” Chris asked, pinching the bridge of his nose as if he’d suddenly been struck by a terrible headache.

“I had a glove on. I didn’t leave any fingerprints,” Leo said.

“Okay. Then I say that we get the hell out of here. We can stop at a payphone and call the cops. Tell them where to find Perry and hang up before they can trace the call,” Chris said. “Come on. We need to leave. Now.”

“What’s that?” Jason asked, indicating a white envelope Chris held in his hand.

“I found it in Logan’s inbox. I don’t know what it is. I haven’t opened it,” Chris answered as they hurried back toward the stairs.

Forcing themselves to slow down to a walk when they reached the Main Lobby, they made their way out of the Museum. They hit the sidewalk at a run, sped down the block and turned off onto 79th Street, ducking down into the subway.

Chris wrapped his hand in a paper towel snagged from the men’s room, while Jason made the call to the police. It was short, sweet, and to the point. “Dr. Lincoln Perry has been murdered. His body in his office at the National Museum of Natural History.” He hung up before the 911 Operator could say a word other than “911. What’s your emergency?”

None of them breathed a sigh of relief until they were safely seated on the next train leaving the station. It left them six long city blocks from their apartment, but they doubled-timed it all the way back, taking the stairs two at a time and arriving in the living room huffing, puffing, and gasping for air.

“What the hell happened?” Logan asked, jumping up.

“Perry’s dead,” Jason wheezed, bending over at the waist, trying to get his breath. “He was murdered, Logan.”

“Oh my God! Who would want to kill him? Yeah, he was nasty, snooty, and a pain in everyone’s ass, but he was harmless,” Logan gasped, swaying a little on his feet. “They’re going to think I killed him, aren’t they?”

Seti put his hands on Logan’s shoulders, steadying him.

“No. If it comes down to that, you’ve got four witnesses who know you’ve been here at the apartment all night,” Chris said. Looking up at Seti, he amended himself. “Well, three witnesses. I don’t think Seti can take the stand. I’m pretty sure you need to have been born in this millennia to testify.”

“Whoever killed him must have smuggled the sarcophagus out of the Museum, too. It was gone, Logan. And the door had been replaced,” Jason said. Walking into the kitchen, he returned with the half-empty bottle of vodka and took a long swallow before passing it to Leo.

“Oh, and I found this in your inbox,” Chris said, handing the envelope to Logan.

Logan blinked, as if still in shock. He took the envelope from Chris’ hand, his own shaking badly. Sitting down on the couch, he opened it and took out a folded sheet of lined legal paper. “Oh, my God,” he said, unfolding it and reading a few of the handwritten lines, “It’s from Perry.”

 
Chapter Eleven

Jason, Chris, and Leo stood close together in a semicircle around Logan, staring down at the letter he held in his hands as if it was a snake that might jump free and bite them. Seti stood slightly apart from them with his arms folded, the look on his face stern.

“It was dated yesterday,” Logan said, looking up at each of them in turn. “He must have written it just before he…”

“Well, what’s it say, Logan?” Jason prompted, lifting the bottle of vodka to his mouth. He still looked shaken and a little gray, as if his blood wasn’t quite making it up to his brain.

Logan’s hands shook as he read Perry’s letter aloud in a halting voice.

Logan,

I’m certain that by the time you read this, I will be dead. How, I cannot say. Perhaps I will be shot, or perhaps poisoned or stabbed. I’ve no idea how hired guns go about the business of killing these days. What I do know is that Ethan Wilder will not allow me to live much longer.

I know that Seti is with you. I know all about the curse and how true it is, Logan. Seti’s curse is the reason I’d kept the sarcophagus hidden for fifty years – we were waiting for Seti to return. Unfortunately, it seems our calculations of the end date of the curse were flawed.

There were only five men on the face of the earth who knew that Seti’s sarcophagus rested in the Dungeon. If I am dead, then Ethan will have had the others killed as well. There is no sense in sullying their names. I will take their identities with me to the grave.

It was our plan to capture Seti once he revived and use his blood to discover the secret of his immortality. It was our firm belief that the curse would have altered his DNA, allowing him to return to life after five thousand years. We wanted that mutated DNA for ourselves. We wanted immortality.

I understand now that I was played as a patsy from the very beginning. Ethan never intended for me - or the others - to live to see Seti returned from the dead. I wasted my life protecting a secret from which I would never profit. I gave up my family, my health, and finally, my life, for it.

I was a fool, and I am sorry that I ever agreed to it in the first place. I’ve ruined careers and treated people badly – you included. All I can do now is try to make amends by warning you.

Know this, Logan. Ethan Wilder will stop at nothing to get his hands on Seti. Newly awake, Seti will know little of this world. He may become unbalanced by the shock of all the changes that have occurred, or he may adapt easily. I have spent hours instructing him on history and our language, but have no idea if he actually heard or understood anything I said. Also, there is no way of telling how well he will absorb the distress of his rejuvenation. You must protect him, Logan. Don’t let Ethan get him. Don’t let that bastard win.

Let Seti live in the peace he could not find in death.

“It’s signed ‘Sincerely, Lincoln Perry,’” Logan finished.

“Wow. Ethan Wilder! That’s big, Logan. Huge,” Leo said. He took a swig from the bottle of vodka before passing it to Chris. “He’s loaded, as in stinking, filthy rich, and he has more power than God. I’m not sure that you want to get involved with him.”

“Are you kidding? This letter is Perry’s confession! It completely absolves Logan of any involvement,” Chris said, frowning at Leo. “This is outstanding news, Logan! We need to take the letter to the police. Perry’s named his killer! It’ll get you off the hook for everything!”