Meeting With the Curator

June 11th, 9:00 A.M

Police were swarming the parking lot of the Everleason museum, like flies on a cow pie. Anyone walking on the path between the parking lot and the road that passed the front of the museum would think that every last officer from the EPD was on the scene. But the parking lot was vacant of a certain cherry red car.

Typically, Daniel doesn't sign into work until 10:00 A.M, but the curator requested him by name. Daniel was currently at the police station, drinking some earl grey tea as he usually does. He was waiting for Damien. Damien soon left the restroom and headed to Dan. Dan handed him a cup of coffee.

"Did you wash your hands?" Daniel asked.

"I did. I'm not a child. Don't need to tell me twice." Damien replied.

"My apologies, it's an old habit, you'll understand when you have children of your own." Daniel replied.

"I haven't even found a lady yet." Damien retorted.

"You're only 24 earth years old. You'll find someone." Daniel explained with a hopeful smile on his face.

"You really think so?" Damien asked.

"Sure do."

"So, I heard Ryan Corkz asked for you personally? He's the curator of the museum. I've met him only a few times. I can point him out to you."

"I don't think that will be necessary, he'd probably be the only one there without an EPD uniform."

"Excluding yourself of course." Damien noted. Daniel was indeed wearing his suit and tie getup once again. Seeing him without his signature outfit was so unusual that when you saw him wearing anything else you would feel as if you were dreaming.

"Shall we keep talking, or should we head to the crime scene?" Daniel asked.

"Crime scene." Damien stated. Both of them went to Dan's beautiful and shiny red car. It looked like it came directly from the factory. Not even a single speck of dust could be found inside.

Dan drove them to the museum. Everleason as a whole was not too well known to him, but the CBD was like a second home to him. He knew where the museum was and how to get there.

Soon, Daniel's car joined the ever-increasing pile of police cars at the scene. Officers from Goldberg, Chaston, Yville and Bridgiton were all joining the investigation. This was huge. Really huge.

"Wow. I've never seen so many officers before. I wouldn't be surprised if the police commissioner has left his office to join in." Damien proclaimed.

"I don't think so." Daniel replied. "Remember, your position is based on your skill. That's why you're a lower rank than me and my rank is lower than David."

"You mean police rank, because David is a Sargent, although he doesn't really care what title you give him as he sees himself for the job and not the title, and you are a detective 2nd class. But his badge's number is 12320, and your badge number is 9797."

"You're right. That fact still stymies me."

Dan and Damien exited Daniel's car. "How do you do it Daniel?" Damien asked looking at Daniel's car.

"I'm not sure. Sometimes it just comes to me." Daniel explained.

"No, not your mystery solving, I'm talking about the car." Damien retorted. "It's so clean it makes my car and lieutenant storm's car both look like we drove them out from the wreck yard."

"If you need to know, good, hard honest work." Daniel stated with a smile. "Is your car and Bill's car that dirty?"

"Yeah. He washes his car once a month, and I wash mine every two months."

"Well, let's not talk about cars and their conditions right now. We have a crime to investigate, don't we?"

"Of course. This looks like a huge affair, so we shouldn't waste time with idle chitchat."

Daniel and Damien entered the museum and made their way to the gems and rocks exhibit hall. There was a massive number of officers roaming the museum. Daniel thought that the most crowded place on the planet might have been Everleason theme park, but now he believed that Everleason theme park was the second most crowded place on the whole planet, at least for the time being.

Daniel and Damien did their best to get through the crowd, they kept bumping into officers that they had never even met before. The members of the EPD were needles in a haystack. Daniel and Damien counted only two people that they knew worked at the EPD. The other members must have been so deep in the crowd that there was no chance of finding them.

Captain Orange and Lieutenant Storm were having a hard time trying to keep things a little more organised, but they were having a lot of difficulty just doing that.

"Damn it!" Edwin announced.

Daniel and Damien rushed to him. It took them a minute, but they finally got to him.

"What's the matter, Captain?" Daniel asked.

"I wish David was here. That stare of his would be mighty useful right now." Edwin replied.

"Is he still in China?" Daniel asked.

"Yes. Him and Linda. They are a dynamic duo. If they were both here then they would be able to sort out the mess of all of these officers. There are some many of them that are not under my jurisdiction that I can't even see my own men!" Edwin explained with some anger.

"I see there are four photographers in there." Damien noted looking over the cardboard wall that some unknown hero had set up. "Typically, there's usually two."

"What happened here anyway?" Daniel asked.

"Someone stole Rhombodian's largest emerald." William Storm announced.

"Really? But I thought it was a diamond." Daniel stated with confusion.

"Read the fine print Daniel." Edwin stated, handing him a pamphlet of the gems and rocks exhibit.

Daniel read the pamphlet.

Come see 'Rhombodian's largest diamond!'

The diamond is actually an emerald that was made to look like a diamond by illusion.

Daniel nodded. "That is some really small print. There's an image of it in full colour. The image must have distracted everyone so that they would ignore it."

"It worked on you." Damien chuckled.

"So, the emerald only looks clear and like a diamond because of the illusion ability?" Daniel asked.

"That's right." Bill stated.

Daniel nodded.

"But the emerald is still there." Damien noted.

Daniel peered over the cardboard wall as well and saw it was still in the display case. "Damien's right, why are you even here?"

"That one is a fake. Made from glass." Edwin explained.

"So, the real one?" Daniel stated.

"Nowhere to be found. It's strange though. The guy who stole it can't even cash it in. Not even in Darkrun." Edwin added.

"But why not? Darkrun likes criminals." Daniel stated. "Even I'm aware that a member of CORE became the mayor five years ago. I sure do miss riding along the old station railroad in a TransEverleason train. The steam trains that operate along that route now are not as smooth as the trains that used to go that way."

"Well look at just how big the fake is. No way he can take that anywhere without immediately being ratted out as the thief." Edwin elaborated.

"Oh, you're right." Daniel stated. "But what if they could shrink the emerald?"

"We thought of that. But such a thing would easily be reversible if someone carrying a power cancelling crystal happened to get close enough to destroy the power signature." Bill explained.

"Power signature? I feel like I know what that is." Daniel stated.

"You should know. You have come across an object created with an ability in one of your last cases. Objects created by abilities or objects that had abilities used on generally carry power signatures. They are like fingerprints. The signature always reveals the one who used the ability." Edwin explained. "For that desk that Simon George created in the attic, a power cancelling crystal would not be able to remove the signature and destroy the desk as it was something added to the world. However, for the emerald, a power cancelling crystal can remove the illusion since illusion changes something that already exist."

"So, in short. Objects that were created by abilities can't be destroyed by PCCs but objects altered by an ability return back to their original stated because of PCCs?" Daniel asked.

"That's right. So, shrinking the emerald changes its nature and therefore can be reversed by a PCC."

"Wow, Daniel. You sure are getting the concepts of this planet through that head of yours pretty fast." Damien announced.

"I guess being brilliant makes it harder to not understand things. Anyway, is the curator here? He personally requested my presence." Daniel stated.

"Oh, I was wondering why you were here so early in the morning, at least one hour sooner than I expected you." Edwin replied. "Yes, he's in the exhibit hall behind the cardboard wall. Lieutenant."

Bill opened a cardboard door in the cardboard wall with his left arm and used his right arm to point them in like a butler.

"Thanks Bill." Daniel stated as he passed him and through the door.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Storm." Damien announced as he followed behind Daniel.

"Damien, only citizens call me lieutenant Storm," Bill called out before closing the makeshift door. "You may call me Bill." He proceeded to close the door. It shut silently, as it was only just made of cardboard.

Percy was in a corner, he looked really tired. The folding chair he was sitting on looked like any other ordinary folding chair but Daniel felt an aura of comfort exuding from the chair beneath Percy.

Ryan Corkz was pacing back and forth frantically. He was clenching his hands together. His left hand on top of his right hand. His wedding band was barely visible on his right hand. He was petting his right hand over and over to try and console himself.

Ryan then looked over at Daniel and Damien and he held his heart and sighed in relief. "Finally! I thought you weren't going to come, considering most of your past cases were homicides." Ryan stated, shaking Daniel's hands. "I wanted to hire the police commissioner to investigate. I would have paid them every last cent I had just to have them help out. But when I got a hold of them, they said it was too easy for him to handle, you know what FORMAL says, everyone should get a chance."

"Them? Yes, I suppose you would call the police commissioner that." Daniel replied.

"I know you start work at 10, but I'll pay you to work outside your hours." Ryan stated.

"Do you want to work out a deal? Or do you want to pay the general fee of $12.50 Ascossian dollars per hour?" Daniel asked.

"Do I have to pay him too?" Ryan asked, pointing to Damien.

"Oh, I'm on the clock. You can't pay me." Damien stated. "FORMAL rules. You can pay Daniel for off the clock hours only."

"The way things usually work is when my body camera sees the EPD I get signed in, but because I was there before expecting, the software didn't sign me in. But Captain Edwin said that he put in a macro, whatever that is, to make sure my paid hours start at 10, even if I'm not at the EPD at that time." Daniel elaborated.

"Yes, I know how it works." Ryan stated. "It is all written in my insurance policy."

"Oh, sorry for wasting time." Daniel stated. "So why did you call me?"

"Follow me." He stated and he opened a cardboard door in a cardboard wall on the east side of the hall and Daniel and Damien followed after him. They walked all the way to the stairs in between the gem and rock exhibit and the café. Ryan ascended the stairs and entered his office. As soon as Daniel and Damien entered after him and sat down Ryan activated a PCC and turned on a device that scrambled Daniel and Damien's recorders.

"What I'm about to tell you cannot leave this room." Ryan stated in a serious tone.

"What is it?" Daniel asked.

"I believe that, perhaps, the one who stole the emerald was none other than someone within my own family!" Ryan stated.

"What!" Daniel and Damien stated simultaneously with the same look of shock on their faces.

"Why do you think that?" Daniel spoke on his own after the shock passed.

"Things in my very house have been disappearing. I know it's not an outsider, it's not easy getting passed the front door of my place. It may look old, but trust me it's secure."

"What sort of things?" Daniel asked.

"A watch, a class ring, a vase and now the emerald." Ryan elaborated.

"I see. But what makes you think one of them could have pulled it off?"

"Did you see the electrical box for the security system for that room?" Ryan inquired.

"No, I didn't know I had to look out for such a thing." Daniel stated.

"You could have said you were unaware of its existence." Damien added.

"That too, is a truth." Daniel replied with honesty.

"That's right. It's not easy to find it. A lot of people come to see that emerald so I can't keep the box out in the open. My family members know where it's hidden. So, they had the knowledge to take the emerald."

"So, you're saying that if we find the member of your family that has been making things disappear by taking them, then we'll find the emerald?" Daniel asked.

"It won't be easy. Keeping it out in the open would be out of the question, you saw how large the emerald is. Hiding something that large is hard. But there is a way to do it." Ryan noted.

"Would that be using a pocket dimension? Such as a blue dice?" Dan asked.

"Yes! That's right!" Ryan announced.

"How do you know about blue dice?" Damien asked.

"Because I have some myself. I have one for boardgames, one for jigsaw puzzles and one for puzzle magazines." Daniel stated. "They are a godsend. I've sent a ton of fan mail to Gregory Goodlance."

"You don't seem the type to send fan mail." Damien noted. "Also, I didn't know you could store two different boardgames in the same dice."

"The dice can absorb things that are 'the same type,' all board games are boardgames, no matter what type of board game they are and therefore all boardgames are the same type." Daniel explained.

"So, will you investigate this matter for me?" Ryan interrupted in a polite manner.

"I suppose I can. Who is in your family?" Daniel asked.

"Me, my wife Diane, my two sons, Brian and Oliver, and my daughter Sherry." Ryan replied.

"You consider yourself not a suspect, you could have taken the emerald yourself." Damien replied.

"The money I get from my insurance is far less than the amount of donations I have accrued over the six years that I have had that emerald. It is my most popular exhibit. I'm the last person who would have had motive to take it away." Ryan explained.

Daniel nodded. "You are not the one who is making things go missing, are you?" He asked.

"Do you think I would ask a detective to try and figure out who is making things go missing if I myself was the thief?" Ryan replied.

"No. But it would make a good plot twist in a book." Damien elaborated.

Ryan sighed and disabled the scrambling device. "I solemnly swear that I did not steal the giant emerald in the gems and rocks exhibit nor did I take any objects from my own place of residence, if I lied than I will be willing to accept double penalty of whatever crime I will be accused of." He turned the scrambler back on. "There, satisfied?"

"No man would risk double penalty." Damien noted. "Yeah, I believe you're innocent."

"I never believed you were guilty." Daniel announced.

"Well, I'm glad that at least one of you were by my side from the get-go." Ryan replied.

"So will you come back with us to the crime scene. We might have some questions for you." Daniel stated and he got up.

"I want to help out as much as I can. After all, I'm losing money from lack of patrons, and my café doesn't have enough donuts." Ryan replied.

"Heh, funny." Damien retorted, but he wasn't laughing. He didn't like that particular stereotype. Damien didn't like donuts, and Daniel was more of a cottage pie guy than a donut guy.

So, Daniel, Damien and Ryan returned to the gems and rocks exhibit. What will they discover? How is Daniel going to solve this one with four possible suspects?