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fortune in her name.
    “You’re going to do fine, luv,” Mitchell said, as
if sensing her thoughts. “You and me, we’re going to make the next three years
count.”
    “Why?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Why did you work for him? Why are you offering to
work for me? Were you ever a Gravedigger?”
    Mitchell shook his head. Up close, he was a
handsome man, Charity realized. “No, can’t say that honor ever belonged to me.
I met Mr. Goldstein in England. Like you, I didn’t have much growing up and I
fell in with a bad crowd. One day, we were roughing up a shopkeeper, taking
protection money… and then there he was: dressed up like a Halloween spook and
swinging a blade like nobody’s business. That was one terrifying bloke! He
killed my friends and then chased me down an alley. I turned to face him, half
hoping that he did kill me. I was sick of living like that. To this day, I’m
not sure what he saw in me but whatever it was, he held his killing stroke and
told me that I could live, as long as I swore myself to his service.”
    Charity could tell from the emotion in his voice
that Mitchell held a tremendous respect for Josef. It made her feel somewhat
guilty for her treatment of the old man, though the memory of him shooting her
brought up feelings of confusion.
    “Let’s go, Mitchell. We have a long night ahead of
us – and in the morning, I think we should get started finding out if Meeks is
our murderer.”
     
    ***
     
    The Sovereign Museum of Natural History was a
sprawling structure. It stood in the heart of the downtown area, and was
comprised of twelve interconnected buildings. The Museum housed well over a
million specimens, only a relative few of which were on active display. With a
scientific staff of over a hundred, the Museum funded nearly four-dozen
scientific expeditions each year, sending explorers out all over the globe. The
Museum was divided up into numerous displays but the most popular was the
ever-present Start of Sovereign Hall, where the origins of the city were
examined. To access this, visitors had to stride through the huge entranceway,
where they could stare up at a full-size model of a Blue Whale, which hung from
the ceiling.
    Meeks stood directly under it, staring up at the
model, which was built from papier-mâché, iron and basswood. It had been
damaged about a year previous but the repairs were such that no one could spot
the difference 1 .
    “I could get into a lot of trouble for this, Mr.
Meeks.” The security guard said. He was a portly retired police officer named
Dinkins. He stood off to the side, shifting his bulk uneasily.
    Meeks flashed a smug smile. “I paid you well,
didn’t I? And if anybody causes any trouble, I’ll do the same to them. Money
talks in Sovereign – am I right?”
    Dinkins laughed, his mood brightening. “Want me to
show you where the exhibit hall is?”
    “I can find my way. I’ll see you on my way out.”
Meeks waited until Dinkins returned to his desk in the security office. Then he
set off down the hall, moving quickly towards his destination. He would,
indeed, see Dinkins before he left. He planned to kill the man and pocket the
money he’d given him – there couldn’t be any loose ends that would tie him to
this crime. The worst possible scenario would be for the authorities to arrest
him before he had a chance to summon the Old Ones.
    Meeks found the urn in a display on ancient Roman
artifacts. It definitely didn’t look like an object of tremendous occult power.
It was cracked in places but remained solid despite its age.
    Meeks started to reach out for it when a voice
brought him up short.
    “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
    Shocked, Meeks turned quickly and found himself
staring into the lovely face of Kelly Emerson. Though many in the city thought
of Kelly Emerson as merely “the curator’s daughter,” she was in fact much more.
A graduate of Sovereign University, Kelly held doctorates in archaeology