Jellybones Part Four

Copyright

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Book cover by Inara Reynolds

October 29th, 2016

I stayed home from work. I did not want to face the destruction in the art gallery another day, nor did I want to talk to my boss. The statue was still stuck in my mind. There had to be something more about it.

Sam had listened to the recount of my dream with fascination. He had always told me that I had a wild imagination, and I was certain that was what he was thinking as I told him my story. He had sat smiling at me sipping his coffee. I felt as if he merely humored me when he told me to see what else I could find about the statue.

I had done all the proper research on that statue before I fought for it. He was right, maybe there was something I had missed. I doubted it, because my research skills were well above average, especially when it came to art.

“It never hurts to recheck, especially in a situation like this, Julie. It means something to someone enough to commit murder over.” Sam had said before he closed the door behind him.

I found information about the statue that I had already known. Discovered during an excavation of a motte-and-bailey in Wales, the sculpture had been found entrenched on the side of the ditch outside of the palisade.

By archaeologist estimation, the date of the piece had been listed as 1224. It was the oldest piece I had managed to procure for the Poxston Art Gallery. Despite its age and the fact that it had sat in mud for nearly 8 centuries, it was in pristine condition. As I had been certain of, there was nothing I had missed or found new about the statue.

I had started a google search for Jellybones, just as my phone rang. I wasn’t going to answer it until I noticed the call was from my boss. Wonderful, I didn’t want to deal with him today.

“Juliette, you need to get to the gallery ASAP! There has been another break in!” My boss didn’t sound angry; he sounded terrified and had begun to stutter before he hung up.

***

I arrived at the gallery and walked inside. The police were back and as I entered, I let out a loud gasp, realizing I was looking at the same scene as I had seen in my dream the night before. The walls were covered in blood, and the smell of rotten fruit overwhelmed me. This time, I had to run outside, I had to throw up. I do not know if it was the smell that got to me or the Déjà vu I was experiencing.

I forced myself to go back inside the gallery. My boss was in a state of panic as he surveyed the destruction of the art gallery. He stood with one of the cops, going over the list I had given them the day before.

He saw me and waved me over. “How could you let this happen?”

“I didn’t let this happen! I locked up both nights and the alarm was on! Maybe you should have put in better locks like both I and the security company advised you to do!” I wanted to snap his head off his neck. He blamed me just as I knew he would.

“The alarm was armed both nights, we checked that.” Detective Robinson said. I was grateful that the cop from yesterday had come to my defense. “We don’t know how they managed to bypass it, neither does your security company.”

“Would have been smart to have gotten the package with the surveillance cameras that actually worked…” I remarked.

I felt vindicated by the cop’s words. It was up to the security company to figure out how their system had been so easily breached. I had done my job. It was not my problem, I only worked here, and it was the boss’ dime.

I walked away from my boss to the display area my prized statue had been proudly displayed. I wanted to see if it was there as it had been in my dream. I knelt to look for it, scouring through the other broken pieces that lay on the floor.

I found the cat.

Thank you for reading! Creative and helpful criticism is welcome! Find typos in this draft? Let me know!