Muriel’s Adventures

by Barron, Melinda

  Muriel took another step. It was obvious to her someone was up here, and she realized that, although she wanted to continue and be the one to possibly find Mr. Seeps, it wasn’t a good idea.

  She turned back toward the stairs, ready to go to the lounge and wait for Ewan and the others so she could tell him what she suspected. But as she hit the stairs a man was coming up, and she recognized him as one of the men they’d seen that morning. He looked very surprised to see her, but then he grinned, an evil look that set her nerves on fire.

  “You’re making this too easy,” he said. He started up the stairs and Muriel knew this was the only way down, and there was no way she was going to give over easily.

  She tensed up and when he reached the top she put out her hands and pushed. He went tumbling down, and while he was still moving she streaked past him, lifting her skirts to keep from falling. He didn’t even reach for her, and when she reached the second floor she continued down. No one seemed to notice, or maybe it was just that there was no one on the second floor. Muriel didn’t notice.

  Her heart raced as she reached the bottom level. Her instincts told her to go to the lounge and wait there, that going outside would open her up to whoever was out there, waiting.

  There were two men in the lounge. Both of frowned at her, but when she said she was waiting for Mr. Franklin they both went back to their books and papers.

  Muriel took a seat by the window and tried to calm her breathing. Her mind raced with questions. Should she tell someone about the man who might be injured on the stairwell? If she didn’t, and he died, would she become a murderer?

  “Damnation,” she said, causing both men to look at her.

  “I beg your pardon, madam?” one of them said.

  “Sorry,” she left without further explanation. She started up the stairs, wondering about her reasoning. If things were reversed, would the man try to help her? Something told her he would not, but that was the difference between them. She’d barely made the top of the stairs when Ewan called her name.

  “That was fast,” she said.

  “Seeps is not at home, and the storage area is the same as yesterday,” he said. “Whatever they wanted was in his office.”

  “I think I know where Seeps is,” she said. She began her tale, and before she was even part way through, North started up the stairs. She soon heard a loud whistle, and she knew North had found her would-be assailant.

  People started to come out of doors, and Ewan pointed upstairs. When they were somewhat alone she said, “I’m sorry I didn’t discuss this with you before you left.”

  “You did good,” he said. “I’m glad you didn’t try to continue searching on your own.”

  A man ran down the stairs and out the door.

  “I hope he’s not dead,” Muriel said.

  “You said you heard someone making noise,” Ewan said. “It’s bound to be Seeps.”

  “Not him, the other one,” she said. “I don’t want to have taken a man’s life.”

  “It was you or him,” he said. “Remember that.”

  Muriel nodded. They started up the stairs, hand in hand, and when they reached the scene she could see that the man was still alive. He was moaning, and it was obvious from the look of his leg that it was broken.

  “Serves you right,” she said.

  North looked at her, and she could swear she saw admiration in his eyes.

  “He’ll live,” he said. “And I think there is someone who wants to thank you.” He pointed to the top of the stairs where Seeps stood with a man she didn’t recognize. He was rubbing his wrists, and there was a red mark around his cheeks. She imagined he’d been bound and gagged.

  “He told me the men were looking for something he found in Egypt, some sort of statue of a cat,” North said. “Why they would move everything out of his office to get to it I don’t know, and, Seeps claims, he does not, either.”

  The porter looked between the two of them. “What about you? Are you really doing an article for publication, or are you looking for this cat?”

  “We’re not looking for a cat,” Ewan said. Muriel was proud that he’d spoken the truth without giving away their true reason for being in Oxford. Muriel waited to hear if North would repeat the question about the article, but he didn’t.

  “The medical people will take our friend away, and I’ll try to get information out of him,” he said. “Something tells me he won’t say much. I don’t know if Mr. Seeps will say much, either. If he’s found something of value, I’m sure he wants to keep it to himself.”

  North continued to stare. “Are you sure there’s not something you want to tell me. For instance, why would the people who tied up Seeps move all his furniture upstairs?”

  “I can honestly say I have no idea,” Ewan said. “It doesn’t make sense.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” North said.

  The two men stared at each other, and Muriel could see that North knew their story didn’t hold water.

  “If you want to talk with me later, I will make myself available,” North said.

  He moved aside so men with the stretcher could get by.

  North turned to speak with them, and Muriel glanced at Ewan, who was now staring at Seeps.

  She wanted to ask what they should do now, where they should go, what questions to ask Seeps, but she didn’t want to draw any more attention to them. North was already suspicious, and they didn’t need him asking any more questions. Since Ewan wasn’t speaking, she figured he thought the same thing.

  “I would ask that you remain in Oxford until we get to the bottom of things,” North said.

  “But, I have a deadline facing me back in London,” Ewan said. “We’re leaving first thing in the morning.”

  What Ewan said was the truth. They had two weeks to find the papyrus scroll that Brown wanted, so they didn’t really need to be back in London tomorrow. Of course, to Muriel’s point of view, the action was here in Oxford, something that Ewan knew. That told her he had something up his sleeve, and he didn’t want to be beholden to North, didn’t want the porter to be able to find him at the drop of a hat.

  “You need to reconsider,” North said.

  It wasn’t really a suggestion, more of an order. Muriel waited to see how Ewan would respond. She knew her future husband, and he wasn’t one to follow directions.

  “My job is very important to me,” Ewan said. “I might be able to give it one more day, but I’m not sure. You can’t expect me to hang around here. This is more than we bargained for; are you sure that Seeps doesn’t know more than he’s saying?”

  Muriel lowered her head to hide her smile. Leave it to Ewan to push his way into the investigation. Maybe being around Oxford might give them information that would help them find the scrolls that Brown wanted. The moment the word scrolls passed through her mind, Muriel thought about the scroll she’d found in the box. She glanced over to where Mr. Seeps stood. He was looking down, but as if he could feel his gaze upon her, he looked up, and he frowned.

  “He’s in on it,” she said. That scroll she found in his office meant something. But why would he have his men, and she was sure they were his, create this hoax?

  “What?” North asked.

  “I said Ewan is right, we need to go, as soon as possible,” she said. “As a matter of fact, we need to catch the next train. Which means we need to leave, collect our belongings and be on our way.”

  Ewan and North were both staring at her, but it was Ewan who spoke first.

  “You’re right, Muriel, we do have that appointment with Mrs. Haskell this afternoon,” he said. He turned to North. “Mrs. Haskell is Muriel’s landlord, and we’re purchasing a piece of property from her. We are supposed to meet her at five this afternoon.”

  North looked between the two of them. His eyes narrowed before he said, “Come back tomorrow, by three in the afternoon, so we can talk more.”

  Muriel waited for Ewan to say no, but, surprisingly, he agreed.

&nb
sp; He took her by the elbow and they headed toward the street. “Where are we going?” he whispered to her.

  “We need to take another look at Seeps’ things,” she said.

  “What is this about?” he asked.

  “The blank scroll,” she said. “Remember when Brown told us there was a famous scroll about sex? And I found a blank scroll amongst Seeps’ things? What if he is trying to replicate the sex scroll? What if he is trying to sell the original, but he will try to sell the fake one, or maybe more than one, I don’t know. I just wonder why they would move all his things, and then tie him up and leave him there. There has to be a reason. And, he seems so very nonchalant. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in his position. I think I would lose my mind. Something is different about him.”

  Ewan hailed a cab and helped her up. He told the driver to take them across the campus. The driver argued that it wasn’t that far, and it would be faster to walk, but Ewan waved a ten-pound note in his face and the man stopped arguing.

  “You know, I’m afraid my friend’s quadracycle is probably gone. I’ll have to replace it.” He grunted, and Muriel knew he was frustrated. “Well, they’re in the building now, and they think we’re leaving, so we can’t go up and search again.”

  “But we can go to his storage area,” she said “I think we need to look for blank scrolls, as well as the one Brown wants us to find. We ignore everything else, unless, of course, we think scrolls might be hidden inside statues.”

  “Like cats,” he said. “There were lots of cat statues in the storage area. What if one of them is stuffed with scrolls?”

  Muriel set up straighter. “Seeps said he thought the men who attacked him and moved his things were looking for a cat. Wouldn’t that draw attention to the cats in his storage area?”

  “No, I think it would keep North from looking at them.”

  The carriage came to a stop. Ewan helped her down, and then paid the driver.

  “It’s not far from here. We need to hurry, and then go back and find the quadracycle, if it’s still there.”

  “How many cat statues are we talking about?” Muriel asked. “Can we take them with us?”

  He turned and grinned at her. “You sneaky little thief.”

  Muriel cocked her head and smiled. “He’s stringing us along, and I’m sure he’ll use us if he can. I’d like to throw a kink in his plans.” She looked around. “I wonder if we can hire a wagon nearby.”

  * * *

  “Darling, your idea of quite a few and mine are very different.” Muriel picked up one of the cat statues, a black one that was no larger than two feet. The cat had a golden necklace around its neck, and rings through its nose and ears. “They are so beautiful, don’t you think?”

  “I’m not much for cats,” he said. “They are good for getting rid of rodents, but not for much else.”

  “I disagree,” she said. She turned the statue upside down and looked at the bottom. “How old do you think this is?”

  “Thousands of years,” Ewan said. He was sitting on the couch, staring out the window. “I wonder how long it will take Seeps to realize his property is gone.”

  They’d been back at the house for about three hours now. It hadn’t taken long to rent a wagon and load the statues, which totaled about nine, onto the wagon. Only one of them was so large they couldn’t move it. But they did look at it closely, and didn’t see any nooks or crannies on it where scrolls could be hidden.

  They’d offloaded the items at their temporary house, and then taken the wagon back in town. Surprisingly enough the quadracycle was still in place and they’d ridden it back home.

  “How long do you think it will take him to realize his things are gone?” she asked. She put down the first cat and picked up another, smaller one. This one was about the same size but this one was in a different position. The first one had been seated, and looked very regal.

  This one stood on its back paws, as if it were a person. Whereas the other one had been black, this one was golden, and it wore no jewelry.

  “What do you think they mean?” Muriel asked. “I know the Egyptians had a lot of gods, and prayed to them for different reasons. Do you think the cats are the goddesses of sexuality? Is that why Seeps mentioned cats when he said he thought they were missing?”

  “We should have bought food,” Ewan said. “I’m getting hungry.”

  “I mean why would he do that?” She put the cat back down. “He would never have mentioned cats if they didn’t mean anything.”

  “Very hungry,” Ewan said.

  Muriel couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re ignoring me, aren’t you? How long do you think it will take for him to figure out we’ve stolen from him? And, more to the point, what do we do next? Should we send him a note? Should we harass him? We just can’t sit here and wait for him to show up. He doesn’t know where we are.”

  “Maybe a trip to the pub that’s close to here,” Ewan said. “I could go for some shepherd’s pie. How about you?”

  “Are you listening to me?” she asked.

  “A pint or two would help, too,” he said.

  “What are you taking about?” she asked. “I’ll ask once again, have you been listening to a word I’ve said?”

  “I’ve heard several,” he said, and then he winked. “If you’re not interested in food, how about sex? We can visit the bedroom, or the kitchen, or the library. It’s a small house, but there is a library.”

  “Ewan! This isn’t a time for sex,” she said. “Maybe we could consider the food, but we need to be on our guard, in case someone comes looking for these cats. Please, stop playing a fool and let’s discuss this.”

  “What is there to discuss? Seeps will be along shortly, and I’d like to have eaten before he gets here,” he said. “Either that or we forgo food for sex. That’s my part of the conversation.”

  Muriel stared at him. “How can you be so sure he’ll be along shortly, as you say. He doesn’t know where we are.”

  “Yes, he does,” he said. He tapped his temple. “Think about it, my love. Reason it out.”

  “You can be frustrating at times,” Muriel said.

  “You’re the smartest woman I know,” Ewan said. “Talk it out. The biggest clue for me was the cat, but that was because I’d seen so many of them in the storage area.”

  “The storage area,” she said. “The cats.”

  Ewan stood and said, “Let’s go the pub. I am very hungry.”

  “What if they show up and take the cats? Then we have nothing.”

  His laughter was sharp. Then he picked up the cat she’d just studied. He held it out as if he was studying it, and then he dropped it to the floor.

  “Ewan!” Muriel moved and stared at the shards of the statue. There were pieces of pottery everywhere, but hiding inside it was a scroll, tightly wrapped and bound with a piece of ribbon. “Real?” She bent and picked it up. “Or fake?”

  “I’m going toward the latter,” he said. “Now, pick it up and let’s get out of here before we miss our time for food. I want to face Seeps on a full stomach.”

  They took the quadracycle back to the city. This time Muriel wore a dress, and she worked as hard as she could to keep it from getting caught in the wheels of the contraption. The trip to the pub was not that far from the house, and by the time they arrived, Muriel was sure that Ewan, who had been hungry to begin with, was not famished.

  They went inside and ordered pints, and two plates of shepherd’s pie. After the drinks arrived, Muriel put the scroll on the table.

  “It’s fake, and Seeps is making them and selling them to people,” she said.

  “Did you reason it out?” he asked.

  Muriel took a sip from her beer. “Let’s start from the beginning. Brown wants the scroll. I think, and this is deductive reasoning, if Seeps is making copies, then he has seen the original, probably has it in his possession now.”

  “Go on,” Ewan said.

  She took that to mean she w
as on the same track that he was.

  “So, Brown sets us up,” she said. “He sent me the blocks, which made us end up here. One thing I’m not sure about is your friend. Did he innocently tell you about Seeps, or is he part of it?”

  Ewan sighed. “I’m not sure. I’ll ask him when we get back to London. There is no telling if he will be honest with me or not, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

  “What about the moving of Seeps’ items?” she asked.

  “I’m not so sure about that.” He stopped talking when their food arrived. When the server was gone he said, “Let’s talk it out. You’re the one who figured out that his things had been moved upstairs. What made you think that again?”

  “I kept thinking they couldn’t get everything out before we got there,” she said between bites. “North said the building was empty by seven. We were there right after midnight. It wasn’t possible to move those things very far. We didn’t see anyone moving things. There was really only one place they could have taken the things.”

  They ate in silence for a few moments. Finally, she said, “The real question is why.”

  “I have a theory about that,” Ewan said. “Seeps became nervous when he thought someone else might be in his office. But, truthfully, I think he wanted me out of the storage area. I think moving the office was just a rouse, trying to keep us occupied. I really think he wanted to empty out the storage area, of the cats that contained the scrolls, but you found him too quickly.”

  Ewan lifted his glass from the table. “Good job.”

  “Thank you,” she said. “May I ask how you know that Mr. Seeps knows where to find us?”

  “I mentioned the name of my friend,” he said. “Dumb move on my part. Oxford is a close-knit community. I think everyone knows everyone.”

  Muriel took another bite. She swallowed, took another, and when her mouth was clear she said, “I think your friend is in on it. You’ve never mentioned his name. Why?”

  Ewan looked away. “This is really good food, don’t you think?”

  “Why are you avoiding my question?” she asked.