Preservation

by Charles Lemoine

  Mariska placed the car in drive and eased out of the parking space. Continuing to take slow, steady breaths, she successfully brought her heart rate back to a pedestrian pace. Marie Calendar’s wasn’t very far from where she was so all she needed to do was keep herself calm. It was now more important than ever to meet up with Theresa and try and get to the bottom of this before she wound up the next lifeless body on the floor.

  Before she realized it, Mariska pulled up in front of the meetup spot, then had second thoughts. Was she putting herself and Theresa in danger by meeting? She’d been careful to make sure she hadn’t been followed, but if she parked out front, they’d be easy to find. There would be more parking around the corner on Curson Avenue, across from the Museum. Half a block away, she parked and paid the meter. Checking behind her, she slung the computer bag over her shoulder and grabbed her purse. She was fifteen minutes late, but she was sure Theresa would wait for her. Glancing over her shoulder again, she shook her head. He hadn’t followed her. There was no way. Not with the physical damage she caused him today. It would take him a few days to regroup. Wouldn’t, it?

  She looked once more, but this time three parked cars away she saw a man in a black leather jacket and sunglasses looking her way. He was smoking a cigarette and didn’t look away. She turned to run but stopped herself. It’s time to call a bluff. If he was going to kill her, he wouldn’t be watching her on a busy street where there are hundreds of witnesses. Mariska marched toward the man.

  “Hey, asshole.” She stopped a few feet away from him. This wasn’t the same man who’d attacked her, but he looked shady as shit. His dark sunglasses hiding his identity she wouldn’t have been able to pick him out of a lineup. For all she knew, he was in Wulf’s book of jackasses that are wanted for recent crimes committed in the area.

  He turned and looked at her. Taking a long drag on his cigarette, he dropped it to the ground and smashed it under the toe of his shoe. “You need something, lady?”

  “Stop following me, or I’m calling the police.” She pulled out her cell phone. “I don’t know who the hell sent you to hurt me, but you better back off.”

  “Look, you, crazy bitch,” he said with his hands raise, palms out. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m on my break minding my own business.”

  She looked at the car he was standing next to. A black limousine. Shit, now she’s picking fights with innocent people. Or at least people that have nothing to do with trying to kill her.

  “Oh,” she said. “Just, stay away from me.” If her adrenaline wasn’t still pumping through her veins so hard, she would have been embarrassed. Instead, she hurried down the sidewalk toward the restaurant.

  Mariska pulled the door open to Marie Calendar’s and went inside. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the low light compared to the high-noon brightness of a sunny summer day in Los Angeles.

  “Can I help you?” the hostess asked.

  Mariska smiled, “Yes, I’m looking for someone. She is probably already here.”

  “Feel free to look around, if you’d like.”

  “Thank you.” Mariska walked up the steps to the main level of the restaurant. She wove her way through the tables when she heard her name being called.

  In the far back corner booth, Theresa waved her over. Mariska slid into the booth across from her.

  “Are you, okay?” Theresa asked.

  Mariska straightened her hair and looked at herself. Her clothes were rumpled, the tags still attached. The right shirtsleeve had an inch-long tear at the seam. She shook her head. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

  Theresa reached across the table and rested a hand on Mariska’s. “The beginning.”

  Mariska let out a sardonic chuckle. A waiter walked by, and Mariska reached out and took him by the arm. He looked surprised but remained pleasant.

  “Can I help you?” he asked.

  “Yes. I desperately need a drink.” Mariska opened her purse to find her identification. “Here.” She handed it to him.

  He looked at it and handed it back. “What can I get you?”

  “I’ll take a shot of vodka with a lime…make it a double.”

  Theresa was about to get overloaded with dangerous information that could put her life at risk, and Mariska needed to self-medicate, to make it all okay.

  Chapter Thirty

  Mariska slammed back the double shot of vodka as soon as it arrived. The waiter didn’t even have a chance to leave when she handed him back the empty glass. “Thank you,” she said.

  “Anything else?” he asked.

  Mariska looked over at Theresa who shook her head, no. “Maybe in a few minutes?”

  “Of course.” The waiter smiled and walked over to his other tables.

  There was a moment of silence while Mariska pretended to look through the menu. Her mind still spun with the morning’s events. Theresa dropped her menu on the table and cleared her throat. Mariska didn’t look up, she knew what she wanted—all the details, but Mariska didn’t want to talk yet.

  “Come on,” Theresa said. “Spill the beans.”

  “What?” Mariska played the fool and ran her fingers through her hair for a second, but then put her menu down and looked up.

  “You come in here, late. Your makeup is smeared. Your hair is a mess, and those clothes…what happened to you?” Theresa sat back in the booth and crossed her arms. It was clear; she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

  Mariska looked over her shoulder to double check for potential eves-droppers and then leaned in closer so she could speak in a low voice. “The past two days have been awful. I was attacked at my apartment, barely escaped.” She omitted the part about Jane because it was too much emotion to deal with right now. “I ended up spending the night at Detective Wulf’s house.”

  “Oh my goodness. That’s awful.” Theresa uncrossed her arms and put her hand on Mariska’s. “Are you sure you’re okay? I can take you to the hospital to get checked out.”

  “I never want to go to the hospital again, if I can help it.” Mariska pulled her hand out from under Theresa’s and sat back against the booth. “I’m fine. Just tired and kind of sore.”

  Theresa didn’t say anything for a moment, but she seemed to be scrutinizing her rather intently. “So, anything else you want to tell me?” Mariska couldn’t help, but notice Theresa looked almost amused.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “You mentioned that you spent the night at the detective’s house.” She glanced at Mariska’s blouse. “Your clothes are a mess…did you just happen to leave his place?”

  Her intimation dawned on Mariska. “Pull your mind out of the gutter. Nothing happened between us. Geez, what do you think I am? I’m a mess because…”

  “Because why?”

  “I left out the fact, that I was apparently followed to the store and attacked in the dressing room.”

  “Damn.” Theresa slapped a hand on the table. “Are you serious?”

  “As a heart attack.”

  “I don’t know what to say other than I think we should go to the hospital to make sure you’re okay.” Theresa shoved the menu to the end of the table and gathered up her purse to go.

  “I’m not going anywhere. We have too much to discuss. If I don’t get to the bottom of this, I lose everything. My grant, my career, and probably my life and the lives of my loved ones hang on the need for me to find who stole the La Brea Woman. If I can find out who did it, I’ll know who’s behind the attacks.”

  Theresa let out a sigh. “All right, then. We better get down to business. I can’t imagine you’re bulletproof and things seem to be escalating.”

  “Very true.” Mariska leaned on the table with her elbows. “Did you know that David was given the grant that was supposed to go to me?”

  Theresa didn’t look surprised. She opened her purse and took out a small piece of paper and turned it to face, Mariska. It was a list and at the top of it was th
e word Grant. “I saw something last night when I was snooping through Dr. Snyder’s office. On his desktop date-planner, he had written David’s Grant. I was going to ask you about it.”

  “Yeah, apparently, since La Brea Woman’s remains are missing, they assumed I wouldn’t be using the grant money,” Mariska said.

  “Makes sense to me. Although, it sucks big time.”

  “Yeah, it does. But to make matters worse, when David graciously told me about it at dinner, I blew up at him. I took it as he went behind my back and stole it from me.”

  Theresa went to say something, but Mariska interrupted. “I know, I know. He might as well have the money since I can’t technically use it right now.”

  “But?”

  “But it still hurts, and I’m a horrible person.”

  Theresa chuckled. “No, you’re not. You were shocked…that’s all.”

  “I guess, but I could have been a much better friend about it.”

  “David is an awesome guy. Just apologize to him, and I’m sure he will be more than understanding about the whole thing.”

  Mariska hoped she was right. “I have something I have to tell you about. It’s important, but could get me in deeper trouble.”

  Theresa’s eyes grew bigger as she leaned in closer. “Tell, me.”

  Mariska opened her purse and slid open the zipper pouch inside the back pocket. “I found these.” She placed the mystery tooth and remaining blue bead on the napkin in front of her.

  Theresa reached for them, but Mariska blocked her hand. “Can’t I look at them?” Theresa asked.

  Slowly, Mariska withdrew her hand and nodded. Theresa took the items and turned them over and over in her hands, examining them for every detail…much like Mariska had done when she first took a good look at them. Theresa was learning quickly as an intern what it meant to study rare and important objects. Do it with an intensity as if you’re never going to have another chance at it if you wait. Mariska let her take a few minutes to study them. Theresa put them back onto the napkin and slid it back across the table.

  “Where did you get them? What are they, exactly?”

  Mariska went to answer the first question, but Theresa kept going. “Why did you say you could get into more trouble for having them?”

  “Those are all very good questions. To start with, I have to have your implicit promise that no matter what. No matter who might ask, you have to deny any knowledge of them.”

  “Of course.”

  “I’m pretty sure these artifacts are part of why I’m being followed, threatened, and attacked. So, denial of their existence will help protect you as well.”

  “What artifacts?” Theresa said, her eyes big and feigning innocence.

  “Perfect.”

  Mariska took her time and laid everything out of the table for Theresa. Full disclosure. She’d been completely honest with her about how she’d found the artifacts inside the skull of the La Brea Woman the night she’d been attacked at the Fundraising Gala. What she’d done by taking the objects from the museum was theft, but it was also the only link they have left to her whereabouts and clues to who was behind her disappearance.

  “It’s a lot to take in,” Mariska said. “Are you okay with all this?”

  Theresa nodded. “Yeah. I think I would have done the exact same thing. It also explains why you went to Ingrid’s house and why we went to the library to find those photographs.”

  “That’s the other thing. Did you hear about the librarian?”

  Theresa looked away for a second. “Yeah, I can’t believe she died. She didn’t look like she was unhealthy.”

  “Unhealthy? She was murdered.”

  “She was? The news said they found her body but didn’t know what happened to her. I assumed…hoped she had a heart attack or something.”

  “Detective Wulf told me that she’d been killed.”

  “Shit, things are escalating for sure. Whoever it is that wants the tooth and beads are desperate enough to kill,” Theresa said. “By the way, I don’t recognize the tooth. Any idea what animal it came from?”

  “None. It’s way too large to be human. It’s even too large to be a Mountain Gorilla, which wouldn’t have been in North America, anyway.”

  “Could, identifying the origin of the tooth be important to why the killer wants it back? Maybe some kind of huge discovery? Maybe the person is desperate for the historical credit?”

  Mariska took a second to let that roll around inside her mind. “That could be a possibility. But that would also mean whoever it is would be a scientist…wouldn’t it?”

  “I can’t imagine who else would want the credit for a big discovery? But there could be another reason they want the tooth and beads.”

  Mariska gave her a curious look. “Lay it on me. I’ve been wracking my brain, but seem to have lost all my critical thinking ability.”

  “The DNA from the tooth could be important.”

  “Why? It’s clearly not human, so it didn’t come from the La Brea Woman.”

  “Yeah, but if you can identify the DNA of the creature, you might be able to trace it to a location where that animal lived…”

  Mariska sat straighter in the booth. “And by identifying the origin of the tooth, we could extrapolate what humans lived in the area and thus the rightful ownership of the La Brea Woman’s remains.”

  “Exactly. But where would you have the testing done? There are a few institutions in the area that offer DNA testing, but Dr. Snyder would probably find out.” Theresa tapped her chin in thought.

  “The scientific community here in L.A. are a bunch of gossips. And, let’s face it, loose lips will sink ships. We need an independent lab somewhere far enough away to not tie back to the Page Museum…any ideas?”

  Theresa didn’t answer right away. She picked up her phone and started digging. Mariska was about to change the subject and admit temporary defeat, but Theresa said, “I got it.”

  “Tell, me.”

  “Copenhagen.”

  “Denmark?” Mariska cocked her head to the side like a questioning Dire Wolf.

  “The GeoGenetics lab at the University of Copenhagen. It’s where they did all that groundbreaking DNA testing for the Kennewick Man. They were able to accurately identify which tribe he belonged to and thus ended a decades-long feud between the native peoples staking claim and the research institution that found him.” The excitement in Theresa’s voice was contagious.

  “That’s right. I remember that case well. I also remember Dr. Snyder saying it was the biggest waste of scientific research in recent memory. My guess is he doesn’t have any connections with the University there. Which, for us, makes it the perfect place. Nice job, Theresa.”

  “Not to change the subject, but is your computer in your bag?”

  “Yeah.” She opened the leather case and pulled out the laptop. “I was going to show you a few things I found on here too.”

  “I take it you were able to get some of the files back from the tech-guy you hired over the internet?” Theresa asked.

  “I would have asked you, but you’d suggested using a tech-nerd from the internet.”

  Theresa rolled her eyes with faked annoyance. “Hey now, I’m pretty good around a computer.” She laughed. “Show me what you found.”

  Mariska turned on the computer and then slipped into the other side of the booth to sit next to Theresa. “There’s suspicious financial files on here. I have no idea why they are on this computer, but my guess is that it was used to access the bank accounts of some very influential people.”

  “Like, who?”

  “Katherine Wellington, Kathy, someone with the last name Grassland, and even…my father.”

  Theresa turned to face her. “Your father?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t know why. When I looked into Kathy’s file, it had large sums of money going into her accounts.”

  “Who was depositing it? I know, she’s rich and related to Hollywood director guy, but I can’t
imagine what she’d be getting paid this much to do.”

  “That’s one of the other strange things. The money is being deposited from a series of numbers and letters. I have no idea what it means.” Mariska pulled up the file and showed it to Theresa.

  “Huh,” Theresa said. “Very interesting. I don’t see anything directly deposited by Dr. Snyder, but yesterday I overheard an argument between them. They were in his office, and I couldn’t hear much. In fact, had Kathy not exited the office in a hurry I probably wouldn’t have even been aware it was happening.”

  “So, you couldn’t hear anything specific? Did Kathy seem upset when she was leaving his office?”

  “I wish I had. When Kathy opened to door to run out, I could see Dr. Snyder standing in front of his desk with his arms crossed. He was shaking his head, and his face was bright red. Like, he better take his blood pressure pills, red.”

  “Was Dr. Snyder yelling at her?”

  “I wouldn’t say he was yelling, but the intensity of his scowl could have cleaned the tar off the mammoth bones.” Theresa continued to scroll through page after page of computer files under Kathy’s name. Not finding anything else of interest, Theresa closed out the file, but then opened the file labeled Grassland. “I wonder who… Oh that’s interesting.”

  “What?” Mariska craned her neck to get a better look at the screen.

  “Mr. Grassland owns One-and-Done Catering.”

  “Who?”

  “That’s the catering company used by the museum for their events,” Theresa said. “I saw their files in Dr. Snyder’s filing cabinet. From what I found, the museum has been using this company for the past few years. Every Fundraising Gala, ground-breaking ceremony or even small institution-backed birthday party gets fed via One-and-Done Catering services.”