The woman brought her the little figurine, carefully placing it in Brielle’s hand. Like so many of the artifacts the professor had already found in his excavations, this one was made of dried clay. There was no outer layer or additional dressing, like beads or feathers. No jeweled adornments. Just the odd little ring of what appeared to be gold around its neck. And they would have to continueto assume that’s what it was until they were able to test the metal. Then again, if this little grotesquerie was really a seal to a spiritual or symbolic treaty, it wouldn’t have any additional refinements. But if the gold was real, that would open a whole new can of worms.
But why a female gargoyle?shewondered to herself. Gargoyles were typically male. Same for the chimeras.
Now her interestwas rising. Once she got Arnie’s sketches of the dig, and she could get a better idea of where the statuette had been found, she would be able to answer the more pertinent questions. But would it answer the most important question?
If the statuette was a seal, what was it sealing? What was it keeping intact?
Was the secret it was hiding a good one or a bad one?
Brielle arose from her chairand walked into her uncle’s office, turning on the light as she entered. Normally the room was kept locked, but when the first shipment of crates arrived, she’d opened it to store them inside while they were waiting to be unpacked.
Kelling’sprivate safe was located in the false bottom of his lower desk drawer. Brielle was one of three people who knew the combination. She pushed aside the filesand punched the keypad. The door clicked open. Pulling several tissues from the box on the professor’s desk, Brielle wrapped the statuette before laying it inside the safe.
She started to close the lid when she hesitated. The figure wasn’t as important historically as it was theoretically. But something niggled in the back of her mind. Something wasn’t adding up, but she couldn’t put a fingeron why, or what.
Brielle sighed and shut the safe, sliding the drawer closed. She made sure to turn off the light when she left the office, but she wouldn’t lock it until the unemptied crates were stored inside first.
There was a lot more work to be done before she could call it a day.
