At exactly fifteen minutes past three, Tracy arrived at the art museum. Five minutes later, he was seated in Mr. Murlock's office.
Mr. Murlock was a well known figure in the city. He had been the curator of the Art Museum for the past decade and a half. He was a mild mannered man of medium height, in his late forties. He also had keen powers of observation, developed mainly during the early days of his career as an art dealer.
"Thanks for coming, Mr. Jensen.", began Mr. Murlock.
"You can call me Tracy, sir. I do not believe in unnecessary formalities."
"As you wish. Coming back to the matter at hand, I have seen my share of art related hate crimes during my career, but none so bizarre as this. There has to be more here than what meets the eye. I take it that you are aware of the sequence of events so far?"
"Yes, I have been reading all I could find about it after I got your call."
"Then you will agree that there is something very strange about the whole matter."
"There are a few things that don't add up."
Like a good detective, Tracy had spent most of his time after the phone call researching the details of the incident and had obtained quite a detailed account of the sequence of events. 816Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNZTS5CBr4
It had all started with a rather innocuous looking rant about the works of Baron Reigart, the eccentric sculptor.
The museum had recently organised an exhibition of the Baron's works, and among these was a cubist sculpture of the Greek God Apollo. As expected, this work of art had generated a small controversy, with criticism mainly centered around the 'insulting' depiction of a great mythological figure. Thanks to social media, some of the more extreme haters had succeeded in organizing a flash mob at the art museum in protest against the exhibition. Initially, there were the usual protests and slogan shouting, but things took a turn for the worse when someone decided that trashing the replicas in the museum's gift shop was a great way to make a statement. In the end, the cops had to be called to control the situation. A few people were arrested as well. But the damage had been done. A major portion of the gift shop had been destroyed during the incident.
But it did not end there. A few days after the attack, the incidents of vandalism started. These involved breaking into houses with the sole purpose of trashing the offending statues. Nothing else was ever touched at any of the crime scenes. The police surmised that, during the attack on the gift shop, someone must have managed to obtain details of buyers (the shop kept hard copies of invoices as backup) and used them to locate the statues. And then two weeks later, the incidents had stopped. The cops concluded that it must have been a group of pranksters who were destroying these statues simply for the challenge and risks involved. They must have given up the idea when the authorities started taking an active interest in their doings.
And this is what struck Tracy as odd. If someone really had a vendetta against those replicas, why didn't they trash all the pieces in the gift shop? And why now? It seemed that the actual intent behind the crimes was different. Maybe there was something hidden in one of those statues?
"So what do you think might have actually happened?", persisted Mr. Murlock.
"Maybe there was something in those statues..." ventured Tracy.
"I do not think that is the case." continued the other. "You see, we make all the replicas in our own workshop, located in the outskirts of the city. I have known the people who work there for years. And there is also a surveillance system in place at the workshop. So, it is very unlikely that someone was able to hide something in those busts without raising any suspicions."
"Then it is probably something else. Or may be nothing at all. In any case, understanding the real objective behind these crimes is the key."
"Which is why I have managed to obtain this for you." said Mr. Murlock, producing a flash drive from his pocket.
"Is this the footage of the gift shop incident?"
"Yes. I thought you might want to take a look at it."
"Yes. I would like to", he added, pocketing the flash drive. "I will also try to obtain the files of the other incidents from the police station. Is it, by any chance, possible to obtain the details of who bought those statues from the gift shop?"
"I will have them emailed over to you. Once again, Tracy, thanks for taking up the case. Let me know in case you need any help from me. Also, leave your bank account number with my secretary on the way out. I will arrange for your advance payment.", said Mr. Murlock, shaking his hand as he got up to leave.
"I will.", replied Tracy, as he exited the office.
"That wasn't so bad." thought Tracy, as he exited the museum. "Now let's see whether I can make any sense of this whole affair. This might be the big break I was waiting for."
Thinking thus, he started walking towards the police station.
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