Page 35 of Stone
Chapter 18
Humanity
A sheet of paper slid onto her desk, in front of her. Brielle glanced up to see Cassidy’s nod. Without asking, she picked it up and scanned the list, some of which had check marks next to them. She mentally counted the checks. Five. Five items. That seemed to match the number of items she’d seen the intruder stuff into his black bag.
“Thanks, Cass.”
She checked the clock at the bottom of her computer screen. It was almost half past three. The director should still be in her office. But to be certain, Brielle called upstairs.
“Curator’s office. Candace Truman speaking.”
“Candie, this is Brie. We just finished checking the inventory. Is Adele there?”
“Yeah, she’s still in her office. I think she’s been waitingto hear from you. Are you on your way up?”
“I was getting ready to email her the results.”
“I think she’s wanting a printout.”
“Then she can print out what I email her,” Brielle suggested. She was at a loss as to why all of sudden the curator wanted a printed copy of the inventory.
Candace sighed. “I think she’s wanting the original inventorythat was included in the shipment,” the woman rephrased.
Okay. Scratch being at a loss. Now she’d suddenly jumped into the “unprecedented” realm.
Brielle rolled her eyes. “Okay. I’ll bring it up there. See you in a bit.” She hung up to find Cassidy still staring at her.
“You have that slightly pissed off expression on your face,” the assistant remarked. “Anythingwrong?”
“I think Adele Moring has recently had an anal procedure done.”
“A what?”
“She’s had a stick rammed up her ass,” Brielle explained. She knew she could trust Cassidy not to repeat what she’d said. Hell, the girl had made worse comments herself about the curator’s snarky attitude and her holier-than-thou treatment of the staff. “Get this. She wants me to bringup the original inventory list that my uncle included in the shipment.”
“Whatever for? She knows that manifest is supposed to be kept filed down here.”
“I know, I know. Apparently she wants a printed copy. And, no, before you suggest she print off the list we made on thecomputer, thatwas shot down.” She got to her feet. “Where’s the original manifest? Still with theother artifacts?”
“Yeah. I sawPackyplace it on the examination table.”
Brielle chewed her lower lip, then got to her feet. “I’m going upstairs.”
“Want us to repack everything?”
“Yeah. Dr.Kellingis due to arrive back here sometime soon. I’d rather he take over the distribution and display details since he has best knowledge of the artifacts.”
Cassidy bobbed her head and left. Brielle followed her into the examination room to retrieve the original inventory. Picking up the paperwork, she placed it back inside its clear plastic envelope and went upstairs…but not until she made a short detour first.
Adele Moring was waiting for her when she arrived. The curator held out a hand for the paperwork without respondingto Brielle’s greeting. Nonplussed, Brielle gave her both the original inventory and the copy they’d used to mark the items that were missing.
The curator pulled out the papers, including the government forms clearing the artifacts through customs from the envelope and flipped through them. “Is this all of it?”
Brielle frowned at her. “Yes.”
“Good.” Shovingthe papers back inside the envelope, including the revised inventory sheet, she slipped them into one of her desk drawers. “Thank you, Brielle. That’ll be all.”
Brielle opened her mouth to ask a couple of questions, but at the last second thought better of it. Instead, she responded with a, “You’re welcome,” and exited the office.
