Her Knight at the Museum

Chapter Twenty-Six

Twenty-Six

On the way home, in the back seat of the Uber, Emily scrolled through approximately one hundred texts from Rose, alternating between supportive, vindictive, and despondent. Emily called her, putting her on speakerphone so Griffin could hear; if the Uber driver had a podcast, she supposed, he could have the scoop. Rose was thrilled to hear that Emily had been released, with the charges dropped, but unsurprisingly, she was pissed at Aaron.

“He lied to my face! And he got me to tell him all these personal things!”

“My lady Rose,” Griffin said quietly, “for what it is worth, I believe he sincerely likes you.”

“Too bad I don’t date cops or liars,” she shot back.

“No, I get that,” Emily admitted, feeling for her. Rose deserved a guy who treated her right and listened to her and flattered her. It sucked that the lovely night at Cindy’s hadn’t been real—or completely real, anyway.

Once Emily and Griffin were inside the apartment, Emily wished she could whisk him into the bedroom, but Andy needed to get out first. She loved the dog, and he deserved plenty of walks and visits to parks…but still, it would’ve been nice, now and again, to be able to open a back door and let him out into a yard. Griffin went with her on the walk, recounting his evening with Aaron, and telling her what he’d learned about his sister.

As they approached the apartment building again, Emily said, “I should call Jason.”

“I don’t believe you need to.”

Emily peered up at him. “Why not?”

“You can talk to him now.” He nodded ahead at the front gate.

She’d vaguely noticed the man lingering there, but she hadn’t recognized him. Her boss, whom she’d only ever seen in a suit, was wearing sunglasses, a gray T-shirt, loose black basketball shorts, and dirty white sneakers. What was he doing here?

“Hi, Emily,” he said as they approached, and nodded to Griffin. “I just heard about your release on the news.”

“Yeah.” That was fast.

“Sorry to bother you at home, but we need to talk.” Andy responded first, with one of his trademark bellows. “Jesus,” Jason muttered under his breath.

“Sure,” Emily said. “Come on in.”

Andy licked Jason’s knee as she keyed in the code for the gate. “That’s Andy War-Howl,” she told him.

Jason didn’t smile at the name, as she’d expected. In fact, he’d barely taken his eyes off Griffin. She added, “And this is my boyfriend, Griffin Beauford.” She mentally added, You might know him from TikTok, security camera footage, or the national news.

“How’s it going?” Griffin said, as she’d taught him to do.

Jason said, “Yes, I believe we’ve met.”

Griffin’s eyebrows shot up. He exchanged a shocked glance with Emily.

Did he mean…?

“Have you known all this time?” she asked quietly, pausing in the hallway. “That Griffin used to be a statue?”

Jason frowned. “I mean…yeah, I had my suspicions.”

“We should go inside,” Emily said. Once she’d closed the door behind them, she asked, “Can I get you anything? Would you like a beer?” She glanced up at the clock. Well, it was almost five.

“I think we could all use one,” Jason said.

As she opened two beers for Griffin and Jason and poured a generous glass of rosé for herself, she heard Jason compliment the apartment and ask Griffin if he lived there, and he told her boss yes. She came back out into the living room and handed Jason a bottle.

“How did you know? I mean, I know there was footage of Griffin in the office, but…?”

“There were a couple of strange accounts about the sculpture, over the centuries,” Jason explained. “A maid’s diary said it talked to her in her dreams, and Richard Burke the First said the same thing in the original version of his will. He didn’t want it to be sold off.” Jason shrugged. “I thought it was going to be haunted.”

Emily shook her head in disbelief. “But you acquired it anyway?”

He pursed his lips. “Can we keep some secrets here?”

She nodded. Griffin said, “If you keep ours, we shall return the favor.”

“I acquired it because I thought it was haunted.” He paused. “Some of my colleagues and I are interested in studying art and artifacts with supernatural qualities.”

“Some of your colleagues at the Art Institute?” she asked.

“Uh, no, although there are a few pieces there rumored to have certain…properties.” While Emily took that in, he said, “I’m talking about colleagues at various museums around the world.”

She shook her head. “So what, you’re like in some kind of secret society?”

“No, it’s more of a…private association.”

Which was different from a secret society, how ?

Griffin said, “This is why you were at the Burke estate years ago.”

Jason flashed a grin. “Exactly. I was at the MFA in Boston then. That’s the other museum in the US where we, uh…collect.”

“Wait,” Emily said. “Where are the other ones?”

“I really shouldn’t say.”

“Oh no. After all I’ve been through, you owe me.”

He looked reluctant. “There are a dozen of them in all. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna are two of the major ones.”

Emily shook her head. “I…Why are you doing this, though? What’s your goal?”

“Have other people been turned to stone?” Griffin demanded. Good question. She hadn’t even gotten to that yet.

“ No , this is unprecedented,” Jason said, gesturing with the beer bottle in his hand. “It’s incredibly exciting.” At Griffin’s glower, he added quickly, “I mean, it’s horrific, what happened to you. But it’s fantastic that you’re alive again.”

“It is,” Griffin said, seeming mollified. “And I daresay I would not be, had you not brought the statue here, so that I might meet my lady.” He cast an ardent look Emily’s way.

Emily asked, “So you want to…interview him and stuff?” She had an awful thought. “You’re not going to take him anywhere, are you?” He better not try, or Griffin wouldn’t be the only one fighting him.

“No! I mean yes, I would like to interview him. Both of you, actually. He can stay right here, or wherever he wants.” He took a sip of the beer. “In fact, we can help him get settled. We’ve done that kind of thing before.”

What? If no other statues had come to life, then what exactly was he talking about?

Before Emily could ask, Jason said to Griffin, “I’m guessing it hasn’t been easy, adjusting to the modern world.”

“It has been a great effort,” Griffin admitted.

“First things first. You’ll need a social security number and a birth certificate.”

“Exactly,” Emily said, her attention swinging on the problems at hand. “We got a fake driver’s license, but that’s it.”

“Send a photo of that to me. We’ll create a provenance for Griffin.”

“Can you really do that?” she asked. “That’s amazing.”

“I know people who can.” He looked back to Griffin. “We can create a provenance for that armor of yours, too, and get it auctioned at Christie’s.”

“Oh, he won’t sell it,” Emily said.

A wide smile crossed Griffin’s face. “No, I will.”

“Seriously?” Her voice came out a squeak.

He shrugged. “I no longer need a fine suit of armor to remind me of happiness or to know my own worth.”

Her heart melted.

Jason said, “Emily, we may need to fake a little bit of patina on the armor, though.”

She nodded. “I can figure something out.”

“And I can’t make any promises, but I’ll see what we can do about the head count. I might be able to muster up some sympathy, now that you’ve been falsely accused and released. In the meantime, of course, you’re still a temporary employee.”

“Thanks.” She wasn’t going to get her hopes up there. She was just grateful to be free and with Griffin.

“I’m sorry you went through all this,” Jason said. “And Terrence and Laurie, too, and your friend in social media. It doesn’t make up for it, but I’ve gotten you all invited to the opening gala.”

“Oh, wow. Thank you.” She’d almost forgotten about the museum’s high-dollar fundraiser with the sneak peek of the exhibition. It would be, hands down, the fanciest and most lavish party she’d ever attended. “That’s going to be so much fun!”

“It’s the least I can do.” He took out his phone and glanced at the screen. “I should get going.”

Emily felt a twinge of exasperation. She had a lot of questions about this secret society thing…Although, somehow, she suspected she wouldn’t be getting a lot of answers.

Jason turned back at the door. “Oh, and Emily. Great presentation today.”

“Thanks.” She took Griffin’s hand. “I had a little help.”