Two months ago, the sight of that thing would have had Kirk salivating. Now it made him sick.
“You know the cameras are only for show. Plus, there’s no visitor log, sign in sheet, the security here is part time...” A pause so that he could swallow. “We only noticed the thing missing because Sydney Uni sent over their team to double check the exhibit. One of their guys noticed it gone and... oh, I’m never going to hear the end of this!” He shoveled the rest of the candy bar into his mouth. “If you think Dean Pritcher isn’t going to spend the rest of his days letting me know about this, you are sadly mistaken.”
“I’m sorry, I’m still a little... it was just the one vase missing?” Kirk confirmed. He was still playing catch-up on what exactly was happening. “Nothing else? No weaponry – nothing from the personal memorabilia? Just the single vase?”
“Yes!” the Dean exclaimed. “But isn’t that enough! I don’t need to tell you what that vase alone is worth.”
“No... you don’t.”
Kirk got the call roughly thirty minutes earlier. He had been at home, as it was his day off, and had actually been looking forward to doing a whole lot of nothing. His body ached from the gym, but today was rest-day. He’d finished all his work for the week, so he didn’t have to worry about that. And best of all, he and Lance were in a good place. With Lance at work too, it meant that Kirk had nothing but free time all to himself. Yes, it was going to be a very relaxing day... until it wasn’t.
The first indication that something was amiss came when the Dean called, asking Kirk to meet him at the Alexander exhibit. Not only was it his day off, but there was no reason they’d ever meet there. The Dean had his own office, a cushy warm office with big soft seats and little reason to ever leave.
It took Kirk a second after walking into that wing to see what the problem was. It was the Dean, literally shaking and wringing his hands together with worry, as he stood right beside the empty space where the Vase of Pangaion was meant to be.
“Ah... where’s the Vase of Pangaion?” Kirk had asked casually. When the Dean didn’t respond, he’d asked again. “The Vase of Pangaion? Where’s it gone?” Again, no answer.
Someone had stolen the vase from the exhibit. Someone had literally walked into the museum, lifted the vase from its perch, shoved it into their backpack or carry bag or whatever it was that they had, and then walked back out. It would almost be amusing if it wasn’t so detrimentally terrible. And that was because the blame for this was falling entirely on Kirk’s shoulders.
“Someone’s head has to roll.” At least the Dean didn’t look happy, like he was getting some sort of thrill over threatening Kirk. If anything, he looked even worse than Kirk was starting to feel. “That’s just how it is – I’d volunteer myself, of course. But that’s just unfeasible.”
“No,” Kirk said bitterly. “You can’t do that.”
“Well it’s thanks to you we even have this exhibit in the first place – your Alexander expertise made this campus a shoe-in for it. So now that something has been stolen... Kirk, there’s nothing I can do.”
Kirk sighed but nodded his head in agreement. The Dean was right. Someone’s head had to roll because of this, and it may as well have been his. He was low enough on the totem pole that it wouldn’t affect the school greatly, but he was also high enough that the symbolism behind the axing would help to appease those few angry collectors.
“How long do I have?” Kirk eventually asked.
“We’re not firing you yet!” The Dean hurried, piece of Mars bar exploding from his mouth. “Not until we’ve done a full—”
“I know, I know. I mean how long until... assuming that the vase turns back up and everything goes back to normal. How long do I have until that?” As if the vase might just suddenly re-appear.
“Three months,” the Dean answered. “That’s how long until the exhibit leaves the country. One more month here, two at Sydney University and then it gets shipped overseas. If the vase isn’t with the rest of the collectables by then... I’m sorry, Kirk. You know I am.”
“Yeah...” Kirk bowed his head. “Me too.”
When Kirk stumbled from the Dean’s office, his first instinct was to go