“Dude, you should have seen the look on that cop’s face.” Bones’ soft laugh sounded like a thunderclap in the quiet Mount Vernon snack bar.
“Bones, I was standing right there. I did see the look on his face. In his defense, he was focusing on the victim instead of the property crime.” He took a sip of his coffee and grimaced. It was like drinking hot water filtered through potting soil. “So,” he said, setting his cup down on the table, “what were you going to tell me?”
“These guys are half-assing it. I saw another print leading up the stairs and more on the piazza.”
“Why didn’t you say anything to them?”
Bones shrugged. “Screw ‘em. If they’re paying any sort of attention they’ll find them. The point is, whoever was here wanted more than a copy of the Bastille key.”
“Don’t try to tell them that.” Melissa slid into a chair in between them. “They’re not finished looking around, but Ramos seems to think it’s no big deal.”
“How does he figure that?” Maddock asked.
“The guy who grabbed Sarah kept asking, ‘Where is the journal?’ She had no idea what he was talking about. I mean, Washington kept a journal while he was in the British army, but it’s not lost or anything. Heck, you can find scans of it online”
“So he was looking for some other journal,” Bones said.
“Which explains why the books in the study had been disturbed,” Maddock added.
Melissa nodded. “Ramos thinks it was a black market antiquities dealer.”
“One who shows up in the middle of the day?” Bones gave a slow shake of his head. “Give me a freaking break.”
“And what about the Bastille key?” Maddock asked.
“Ramos says the guy probably wants to sell copies to unsuspecting buyers.”
Maddock buried his face in his hands. “Seriously? Why wouldn’t he just steal the key?”
“An alarm goes off if it’s removed from the case. He’d have likely been caught. Ramos figures the guy slipped in between tours, made a quick casting of the key, and then poked around the study. When he heard Sarah coming, he panicked.”
“How does he explain the footprints leading up the stairs?” Bones asked. “Or did he even find them?”
“He found a couple on the stairs but nothing else, and everything upstairs appears normal, at least, according to Sarah.”
“You sound like you’re not too happy with her,” Maddock said.
“She treated me like an idiot. I swear there’s something about the portrait in the study, but she dismissed me out of hand. After that, everyone treated me like I’m a buffoon.” She reached out and took Maddock’s hand. “I don’t think Ramos is taking this seriously. What if this guy comes back?”
Maddock checked his watch. It was almost closing time. “How about Bones and I come back for some late night detective work?”
“Break into Mount Vernon? Oh hell yes.” Bones pounded his fist on the table, startling an elderly couple seated two tables away.
“A little louder next time,” Maddock said. “I don’t think they heard you in DC.”
“Bite me, Maddock.”
“The two of you?” Melissa’s eyebrows sprang up. “I’m the one who can get you in here, disable the alarms, and turn off the security cameras. I’m the one who will notice if something’s out of sorts. You’re not leaving me out of this.”
“Wait a minute,” Bones said, “how do you know how to do all that stuff?”
“I like to learn things, and the head of security has a thing for me.”
Maddock sat up a little straighter.
“Don’t worry. Just a little harmless flirting. I did the same thing with the head archivist, and now I know the passcode to the secure area.”
“Where did you find this chick, Maddock?” Bones smiled in approval.
“Hey, I was straight-laced when I met you.” She blushed and glanced away. “Okay, that’s a lie, but these adventures you’ve been telling me about have brought out my... devious side.” She grinned at Maddock. “Admit it. Aren’t you happy to have me at your disposal?”
A cool breeze rolled up off the Potomac, and Melissa gave a little shudder and pressed her body against Maddock.
“I don’t know if I’m cold or just nervous,” she whispered.
Maddock wrapped his arms around her and gave her a squeeze. “You’re doing great. If it weren’t for you, we’d have probably set off an alarm or two.”
“Hey,” Bones said, “a little more confidence in my burglary abilities, if you please. I could have gotten us in.”
“Sure you could have,” Melissa said, “but isn’t this way easier?” She unlocked the veranda door, stepped inside, and quickly disabled the alarm.
“Where do you want to start?” Bones whispered.
“The study. I want another look at the Washington portrait.”
They moved quickly to the study, with only faint security lights and the dull moonlight shining through the windows to light their way. Once inside the study, Melissa took out a small hardbound book and a penlight. “There’s a shot of the study in here. It shows the painting.” She shone the light on the page and they spent a few seconds absorbing it, then she turned the light on the painting. “See anything different?”
Bones shrugged. “His package is smaller? Bigger?”
Melissa let out an exasperated sigh.
“Let’s see the picture again,” Maddock said.
Melissa shone the light on the image and it clicked into place.
“Look at Washington’s left hand,” Maddock said.
“He’s holding a book,” Bones said.
“Now look at the painting on the wall.”
Melissa turned her light to the portrait and gasped. “The book’s gone.”
“What the hell?” Bones asked. “He switched out the paintings? What for?”
“I’ll bet that’s the journal he’s looking for. He’s just removing a visual reminder of its existence. Think about it. It’s so subtle that Sarah didn’t even notice.”
“The painting’s small,” Bones agreed. “It would be a pain, but a big guy could smuggle it in or out under his jacket.”
Maddock ran a hand through his hair. “So he switched the real painting for a fake one, and he clearly intends to make a fake Bastille key. This is weird.”
They made a quick inspection of the room, but nothing else caught Melissa’s eye, so they proceeded to the stairs. The police had noticed only a couple of footprints, but Bones’ sharp eye was far superior. He noted scuffs and tiny bits of dirt that the police had missed. The big Cherokee quickly led them into a second-floor bedroom.
“This is the Lafayette Bedchamber,” Melissa said. “Marquis de Lafayette was like a son to Washington, and this was where he stayed on his visits.”
Maddock shone his light around the room, its beam playing off the canopy bed, armchairs, washstand, and fireplace, eventually landing on a gold-framed portrait of the Marquis himself.
“What did he want in here?” Melissa asked.
“Looks like...” Bones moved slowly across the carpeted floor, following a trail only he could see, “he stopped right in front of this painting.” Bones shone his light on the wall around the painting. “I think he took it down. You can see a gold smudge where he banged the frame against the wall.”
“You think he switched this one too?” Melissa asked.
Maddock shook his head. “Too big. Let’s take a closer look.”
He slipped on a pair of gloves, took the painting down, and laid it face-down on the bed. “I wonder...” He worked the thin wooden backing out of the frame and pulled it free. Just as he had suspected, it was a false backing. He flipped it over and whistled in surprise.
“There was something here.”
In the center of the backing were eight ragged corners of yellowed paper.
“Somebody glued pages from...something in here,” Bones said.
“And our friend found them and tore them free.” Maddock hung the painting back up. “The plot thickens.”
“I guess we’ve hit a dead end,” Melissa said.
“Not necessarily. We can research the journal, and also see if we can find out what might have been hidden in this portrait.”
“As long as we’re here, we might as well follow the footprints out on the piazza,” Bones said. “Maybe he went somewhere else while he was here.”
Outside, Bones quickly pointed out a footprint that he claimed matched those of the intruder.
“The guy was coming this way when he left this print, so I guess we’ll be retracing his steps.”
Maddock could scarcely make out the print in the soft earth, but he trusted Bones. He and Melissa followed his friend as Bones followed the tracks around the main house, past the outbuildings, and along the trees that lined the front lawn. Halfway down, they cut across the greenspace and picked up the trail again among the trees on the opposite side.
“He was clearly trying to keep out of sight,” Maddock said.
“Like it was necessary,” Bones said. “There’s hardly any security in this place.”
They cut through a series of gardens, crossed a wide walkway, and soon found themselves staring at a gray, metal door at the back of the Mount Vernon Museum. Bones took out his Maglite and gave it a close inspection.
“Do you want me to pick the lock or let Melissa handle it?”
“Get out of the way.” Melissa slipped past Bones, tapped in a code on the keypad, and, pushed the door open.
Maddock stepped inside and flicked on his flashlight, revealing a storage room filled with row upon row of shelves. They followed the footprints on the floor, found where they stopped, inspected the boxes in this area.
“There’s a gap here,” he said, shining his light on an empty space. “Do you have any idea what was here?”
“As matter of fact, I do. I was just in here the other day.”
“Hooking up with someone?” Maddock asked.
Melissa ignored him. “A museum in Boston came across some artifacts from a visit Washington made there in 1791. They were mixed in with items belonging to Sam Adams and were only recently identified. The archivist was just inventorying it.”
Bones and Maddock exchanged a meaningful look. They knew something about Washington’s 1791 visit to Boston that few others knew, and even fewer would believe.
Melissa looked around. “There it is.” She pointed to a single box on the top shelf. “The guy put it back in the wrong place. Must have been in a hurry.”
Bones took it down and handed it to her. She opened it, took out a sheet of paper containing an itemized list of the contents, and compared it to what was in the box.
“There’s one item missing. A letter to Lafayette that was never mailed.”
“A deathbed letter to his surrogate son,” Bones said.
“What do you mean by deathbed?” Melissa asked, replacing the box.
Just then the lights switched on and a voice came from near the door. “Hands in the air, Bonebrake. Maddock, I know you’re in here. This is Detective Ramos. Speak up to acknowledge that you heard me.”
“Is there another way out of here?” Maddock mouthed to Melissa.
She shook her head.
“Anywhere you can hide?”
She nodded.
“Go.”
Melissa slunk away, vanishing behind the rows of shelves.
Anger laced Ramos’ next words. “You boys may think I’m just some local hick, but you’d do well to think again. There’s no other way out of here and I called for backup as soon as I saw y’all sneakin’ in. Be a shame if you was roughed up when we take you into custody.”
Maddock prayed Bones could resist that kind of provocation. He closed his eyes and waited for his friend to respond to the challenge. Thankfully, Bones kept his silence.
“I’m getting tired of waiting. You got five seconds to show yourself before I start sending bullets your way.”
Maddock remained silent. Ramos didn’t know they were there, and if he wanted to search for them, he’d have to pick a side of the room to check out first. Left or right? If he chose badly, they might be able to outflank him.
Five seconds passed, and Maddock heard a light scraping of footsteps. They weren’t loud enough for him to determine the direction in which Ramos was moving. Maddock grabbed a book from the shelf next to him and tossed it over a shelving unit toward the doorway.
The thud of it striking the ground sounded out of proportion to the size of the tome. He half expected the detective to fire a shot in that direction, but the man wasn’t falling for it. Maddock wanted to do something else besides just stand there, but he knew that the worst thing he could do was to move without a definite plan. So he crouched near the end of an aisle where he was hidden by shadows but still had freedom to move quickly if needed.
Then he heard the faintest of whispers.
“Dominos.”
Maddock had to hand it to his friend. Bones’ plan would likely create the diversion they needed to escape. Standing about ten feet apart, they each shoved hard on one of the shelving units. The groaning of metal preceded the toppling of the seven-foot-high structure. It bridged the four feet of aisle on the other side and then crashed into the next unit.
As that unit started to fall, Maddock and Bones bolted for the door. Before reaching it, they heard a cry of surprise, and Maddock hoped that Ramos had been struck by one of the falling shelves. He fumbled with the door handle before realizing that Ramos had locked it from the inside. The man definitely wasn’t dumb. He quickly unlocked it and he and Bones stepped out into a dimly lit corridor.
And found themselves face to face with three uniformed police officers with guns drawn and pointing at the door.
“I’m telling you, you’ve got the wrong guys.” Bones tried to slap the table with his hands, but the manacles allowed him only a couple inches of leverage.
Detective Ramos held a disposable ice pack over a bruise just under his right eye, which had turned a dark purple in the two hours since an unidentified object from the collapsing shelf had struck him. His expression did not convey enjoyment. On the plus side, he hadn’t said a word about Melissa, which indicated the detective had no clue about the role she’d played.
“Bonebrake, I imagine you think you’re funny. We got you boys dead to rights breaking into one of our most sacred landmarks, not to mention destruction of private property and assaulting a police officer. The courts round these here parts don’t take kindly to that sort of thing, and given the judicial backlog, y’all could be our guests here for quite some time. So, how ‘bout we try again and you tell us what you’re really after.”
Another detective occupied the chair next to Ramos. Slight of frame and with short hair and a forgettable face, he hadn’t said a word. Maddock had no doubt who the alpha dog was in this partnership. He jumped in before Bones said something to make their situation worse.
“Detective, I can appreciate what it looks like, but I want to make sure my girlfriend is safe. You didn’t seem to be taking the situation seriously so we decided to look around and see what we could find.”
“So we can add a charge of interferin’ with a police investigation?”
“I’m sorry. You mean you were still conducting an investigation here? I noticed all the crime scene tape is already gone and the fingerprint dust cleaned up.”
“You were messing around with my crime scene, Maddock. By definition, you’re interferin’.”
“Dude, you didn’t even know the records storage room was part of the crime scene,” Bones added.
Ramos’ face went scarlet. “It doesn’t matter.”
Maddock sighed. “Fine, whatever. I told you why we were there. If you’re not going to listen to us, then get us an attorney.”
Ramos licked his lips and raised his eyebrows. “Why? You fellas got something to hide?”
Bones laughed. “Ramos, don’t tell me that line actually works on anyone with a double-digit IQ.”
Ramos showed the first signs of anything other than annoyance by displaying a set of crooked teeth. “Hey, it was worth a try. But seriously, once the lawyers are around, I can’t do nothin’ for you. Tell me this, why did you assault Sarah Abrams yesterday?”
Bones and Maddock shared a puzzled look. Maddock said, “Assault? What are you talking about?”
“You heard me. You expect me to believe there was a break-in and an assault one day and then you boys just happened to break in the next?”
Maddock shook his head. “This is pointless. Attorney. Now.”
Ramos’ hands caused the table to creak as he raised himself from his seat. “Have it your way. You may be here a while.”
The door swung open and a woman entered. “No, Dwayne, they won’t.”
The woman had walked with a slight limp through the door, but aside from that she conveyed nothing but competence. Red hair that hung just below her shoulders, a trace of freckles, blue eyes with the slightest trace of green. She reminded Maddock of someone.
“I want to believe!” Bones exclaimed.
The newcomer rolled her eyes and Maddock realized that Bones had identified the resemblance to Special Agent Dana Scully from the show The X-Files.
She pointed at Bones. “Like I’ve never heard that before. You don’t do too well with the ladies, do you?”
Bones’ eyebrows wrinkled and he looked at Maddock. “The one on TV is much nicer. Smarter, too.”
“If you two are done with your fantasizing, perhaps we could talk about why I’m actually here.”
Ramos snorted. “Boys, this is Lieutenant Sandra Sterling. What a surprise. Yes, tell us why are you here? Last time I checked, this was just the lowly Mount Vernon District Police Station, not Club Fed over in McLean.”
“Dwayne, my friend, I’m about to do you a big favor. I’m about to relieve you of responsibility for dealing with these lowlifes. No thanks are necessary. ” She handed him a sheet of paper which he glanced at before folding it and stuffing it in his breast pocket.
“Us country bumpkins not quite up to your high-tone Park Police standards?”
“Lose the chip on your shoulder, Dwayne. It’s unattractive, and you need all the help you can get in that department. We all know you were raised in the canebrake and pulled yourself up by your jockstrap to graduate from William and Mary. With two break-ins and an assault on National Park property, it was a question of when, not if, we got involved.”
Ramos held her stare for several seconds. Then he shrugged and reached for the key to the cuffs which secured Maddock and Bones to the interview table. Maddock massaged his wrists as he stood, glad to be free of the confinement.
With a move so quick that Maddock barely saw it coming, Sterling slapped a cuff around one of his newly free wrists. “Not so fast, Mr. Maddock. The three of us are going to have a little talk somewhere more private. The cuffs mean that I won’t have to worry.”
Bones held out his arms, palms up. “I like a woman who accessorizes. And you don’t have to worry about us, we’d never hurt you.”
Sterling regarded him the same way Maddock recalled his second-grade teacher looking at a student who tried to eat chalk. “I’m not worried about that, Bonebrake. If one of you tried something and I had to take you down, it wouldn’t look good on your service records. I don’t want that on my conscience.”
Bones turned to Maddock as, both cuffed, they followed her out of the room. “Any chance she’s an alien, because I want her to probe me.”
Maddock failed to suppress a chuckle and Sterling didn’t turn as she replied over her shoulder. “Don’t push me, Bonebrake. Be a shame to have to shoot you before you can answer any of my questions.”