The next morning Gina woke ready to put her plan into action. There were a number of steps involved, and the first one was to go to the Langham Museum, as she had every morning for the past week.
An hour later she walked into the museum dressed in her faux uniform, the first of the ‘volunteers’ to arrive for the day. “Good morning, Maria,” she said to one of her red vest-clad peers, “how are the dogs these days? Hi, Cal, good to see you. I noticed a bowl full of your favorite candy on the table in the break-room. You’ll have us all hooked on that stuff before long.”
She chatted with the others for a while until small groups of patrons came into the museum and the volunteers took up their posts, either standing unobtrusively in one of the exhibit rooms, or engaging visitors in conversation about the displays.
Gina continued her ‘work’ until almost noon, when the volunteer coordinator came on duty. Well before that time, Gina ducked into the janitorial closet, where she removed her vest and untucked her white blouse. Reaching up, she also removed the blond wig, which she folded into the vest, being careful not to snag the hair in the name badge that identified her as “Lee.” The wig and vest were soon tucked away on a high shelf, behind boxes of spare light bulbs.
Leaving the closet, Gina made her way back to the museum lobby and left the building.
Phase One complete.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Nick absently twirled the pen on his desk. “Yes, Rennie, that’s my advice. ... I do have hopes that you’ll get the Woodland Bowl back, but— ... Well, I assume the lawyer I referred to you is looking into all that. ... My advice to you is to do what the lawyer tells you; let him do the boring legal stuff. Oh, and also I think you should keep quiet. ... Mainly I mean in regard to the press—you know: newspapers, TV reporters—that sort of thing. No matter what happens, no matter what you see or hear over the next few days, just stay cool and keep quiet. ... Yes, exactly. ... Okay, then, I’ll talk to you again soon. Oh, no, you’re very welcome. Thanks, Rennie/Lou. Goodbye.” He hung up.
That lawyer had better be doing his job, he thought.
As usual, before deciding to take this case, Nick had done his own research into the Langham Museum; specifically, how Ann Heath managed to acquire some of the ‘finds’ she’d added to the museum’s collection. As expected, he learned that since she’d joined the Langham three years ago, she’d done to other institutions the same as she’d done to Avedon County. Nick discovered information on at least three separate lawsuits, in which the Langham museum is accused of using trickery or false pretenses to acquire historical objects. Each of the suits was dropped before going before a judge.
Additionally, Nick stumbled onto an online message board frequented by historians and curators, and mention was made there about Ann Heath and her unscrupulous business practices. Apparently, she’d been using the fine-print in contracts to swindle small and cash-poor museums (and even private collectors/owners) out of artifacts for the past ten years. And every few years she moved on to take a position at a larger and more prestigious institution, apparently on the strength of her ability to ‘grow’ a museum’s collection. In fact, Nick was flabbergasted to learn that, while at the Langham, Heath even defrauded one of her former employers out of a particularly-valuable Native American relic.... which she had first obtained under similarly-questionable circumstances from a private owner.
Ann Heath needs to go down, he thought. The Langham might suffer temporarily when the crap hit the fan, but in the long run Nick assumed the Board of Trustees would rather the museum be known for its integrity than for having conned rightful owners out of their pieces.
