Mystery at the Museum: Kate & Nick Mysteries

By Cheryl Rodgers

When the Museum of Natural History finds itself ensnared in a web of baffling incidents that could devastate its priceless collection, who better to call than retired museum consultant, Kate, and her billionaire bon vivant younger husband, Nick?

Mystery at the Museum, the second captivating installment of the Kate & Nick Mystery Series, finds our dynamic duo untangling a baffling series of incidents threatening the esteemed Chicago institution. With their friend's innocence and the museum's reputation teetering on the edge, every tick of the clock counts.

Perfectly paced for a leisurely weekend or vacation read, Cheryl Rodgers' Mystery at the Museum is a delightful romp with Kate and Nick. As they navigate the enigmatic labyrinth of antiquities, their charming camaraderie, witty repartee, and steadfast resolve will leave you with a lingering satisfaction, long after the mystery has been delightfully resolved.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cheryl Rodgers
• Release date: Sep 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9781959136040

Book preview

Chapter 1

The three of them stood staring straight into the eyes of the cougar, which was standing perfectly still but poised to spring into action at any second.

Oh my, said Dawn in a whisper.

This truly is a beautiful specimen, said Leonard in a soft, reverent voice.

Yes, they all are, said Kate, looking into the case of taxidermy animals. Even though they’re all over a century old, they still look as lifelike as ever. It’s an amazing exhibit and one of my favorites. I would have liked to have worked on this one.

Doing your museum evaluation work? asked Dawn.

Yep, said Kate, looking fondly at the collection of animals.

Kate had worked for years as an independent museum evaluator. She had gained an international reputation as one of the best exhibit evaluators in the business, and this was one of her favorite museums anywhere, The Natural History Museum in Chicago.

This is the gold standard of taxidermy, said Kate, a tall, striking woman in her sixties.

Leonard has been telling me about this collection forever. I see now why I should have come sooner.

You can’t be in taxidermy and not study the animals in this exhibit, said Kate.

I get that now.

Finally! said Leonard with both a hint of aggravation and triumph in his voice. Why doesn’t she listen to me?

Because I have to see for myself.

Kate laughed and was about to chime in with her two cents when Richard Caine, the director of the museum, strolled up to meet them.

Ah Kate, I heard you were here today, he said in his smooth, deep voice. How lovely to see you.

Kate tilted her head and gave a sideways glance. Really?

The tension between Kate and Richard had grown strained over the years and had reached its climax recently after the installment of a textile display within the dinosaur exhibit area, leaving the general public with the impression that somehow humans had existed at the same time as dinosaurs and that they had even known how to weave. The cavemen figures wearing tartan loin clothes definitely perpetuated the notion.

Richard had succumbed to the pressure of two of the most prominent benefactors, Jean and Andrew Stewart, textile manufacturing magnates. In return for their fifty million dollar donation, they had insisted the museum place their textile exhibit in the highest traffic area. Hence, dinosaurs and textiles.

Richard feebly argued that the signage clearly stated that textiles didn’t arrive on the scene until so many years after dinosaurs. But the incredibly small print and remote placing of the plaque didn’t soothe Kate’s indignation at the slap in the face to scientific accuracy and intellectual integrity. She hadn’t evaluated an exhibit at the museum since then. Not so much in protest but as a happenstance of her busy life.

She had married Nick Gregory four years earlier and, by doing so, had married into one of the wealthiest families in the Midwest. Nick’s family had made a fortune in transportation, mostly rail. His inherited wealth was so enormous to Kate’s way of thinking that, like counting stars, it was hard to comprehend.

Kate had done quite well as an exhibit evaluator and, by her standards, was well-situated for a comfortable retirement. But wealth like Nick’s required attention, mostly because of the charities that depended on the Gregory Foundation. Kate found the endeavor engaging and hadn’t sought to renew contracts with many of her clients. She was at The Natural History Museum today only to bring her friends to see the animal exhibits.

How Richard knew she would be here was one mystery of Richard’s wheelhouse of talents that made him a master at his job.

He was smiling at her today; something was up.

Richard, allow me to introduce two of my dearest friends, Dawn and Leonard. They’re down from Wisconsin.

We have a small taxidermy business, said Dawn.

Or part of a business, chimed in Leonard, For people’s dearly departed pets.

Dawn pointed to one of the display cases. These animals are amazing, so lifelike.

Thank you very much. We’re proud of our collection. These all date back a number of years. We don’t do any taxidermy these days. Instead, our work is focused on maintaining the collection. We hope that these beautiful specimens will educate and inspire the next generation to become the caretakers of these animals rather than their predators.

Kate listened with amusement. Always on were a couple of words that came to mind when thinking of Richard. In under thirty seconds, he had turned a simple introduction into a message about the mission of the museum. Yes, a master of diplomacy, I’ll give him that, she thought to herself, though she didn’t disagree with his message in this case.

Kate, can I borrow you for a few minutes? asked Richard in the politest of voices.

Richard, I’m showing Dawn and Leonard...

Dawn interrupted.

Kate, we do need to get going. We want to head out of town before the traffic gets too heavy. We’re not used to big city traffic any more, especially in this rain.

So soon? Dawn and Leonard were two of her favorite people, and visits were always too short. It was difficult to get them to come down from Wisconsin and their beloved home.

Listen, come up and see us. We’re opening their camping resort soon. You’ll have to give it a try, said Dawn.

Camping? Kate made a face, knowing how Nick felt about it.

Leonard rolled his eyes. It’s not what you think.

Yes, more like luxury camping, added Dawn.

Is there such a thing?

You know me, said Dawn by way of an explanation.

Leonard swiveled on his heel. Now, how do we find our way out of here?

Richard cleared his throat. Maddy, can you help? Emerging from the shadow of a display, a young docent stepped forward, looking eager to please.

I can show you, she said with a friendly smile and firm voice. It’s this way. She deftly moved Dawn and Leonard into position and set them in motion down the hall. It was clear she was accustomed to escorting groups through the museum.

See you soon, called back Leonard.

Give our love to that husband of yours, said Dawn.

Yes, and tell Nick he still owes me twenty bucks for the gym shoes.

What? asked Kate.

Never mind, said Dawn, giving Leonard’s arm a light jab. As they disappeared down the long hall of dioramas, Kate could hear their giggles echo back.

She had to hand it to Richard. He had spirited away her friends in under five minutes, all the while calm and composed. It had been executed flawlessly, right down to the docent just happening to be there.

How do you do that?

Do what? asked Richard, his voice only now betraying a fringe of edginess. Listen, Kate, would you mind coming up to the offices? There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.

She followed him through the dark corridors past the animal exhibits, past the mummies, the precious gems, and spinning earth, through a gilded door to a private elevator that required a key card. The behind-the-scene, not-so-elegant elevator rattled as it rose slowly to the uppermost level of the neoclassical structure. She had once again entered the inner sanctum of the great museum.

Chapter 2

Stepping into Richard’s office, the elegance of the museum returned. It was a luxurious space with heavy wooden furniture and rich colored fabrics. A large half-moon window behind Richard’s desk offered a majestic view of the main exhibit hall.

Richard usually looked relaxed wherever he was, so it seemed odd to Kate that he looked uncomfortable in his own office. Whatever he wanted to talk to her about was obviously causing him great discomfort. She could hardly stand the suspense but waited for him to find his way to the topic.

How’s that husband of yours? he asked with his usual politeness.

He’s doing great. Has a birthday coming up. He wants to go someplace tropical, but so far hasn’t settled on where that will be. Can be a bit tricky this time of year with hurricane season and all.

Jamaica is rather nice. Chris and I were in Trelawny last year, looking for ceramics. We thought the museum should try to collect some before they disappear.

Always on, Kate repeated to herself, suppressing a smirk.

Birthday you say? How old is that boy of yours? I mean, old boy, said Richard. Before she could answer, he stammered. By that Kate, I didn’t mean to say boy, I meant old boy as in the British use.

No worries; I understood your meaning, said Kate about the subliminal slip. Few people could fail to notice that Kate was quite a few years older than her husband. It wasn’t an issue for them. She didn’t mind that people noticed and didn’t care what they thought.

Nick is coming in from Santa Fe. As a matter of fact, he’s coming here to meet me. We’re going over to Berghoff’s for dinner.

Berghoff’s? My favorite place for German food in the city. Is that still there? I mean, of course, it is. Still up to its standards? Richard was faltering in his best attempt to make casual conversation.

As irritated as she had been with Richard these last years, Kate couldn’t stand seeing the usually self-composed man so rattled.

Look, Richard, why don’t you tell me why you’ve asked me up here?

He seemed relieved that the formalities of polite conversation weren’t necessary with Kate. He took a deep breath and dove into an explanation. As the story unfolded, Kate could hardly keep from laughing and had to face the window and pretend to look out to hide an occasional smile.

It turned out someone was breaking into the museum, which was not the funny part. The funny part was that nothing was missing, but objects from one exhibit were showing up in the morning in another exhibit. The security guards had found an anteater hovering over a miniature display of a mummification room, and a tropical bird from the west wing was placed inside an igloo in the east wing.

Kate couldn’t help but make the connection between the dinosaur-textile exhibit and these odd pairings. Was someone making a statement about the integrity of the museum?

The most recent incident involved a phallic statuette from the Pacific Islands exhibit showing up on the backside of a South American deer, said Richard, with lament in his voice.

Kate now fully understood Richard’s discomfort, but she could no longer hold back her laughter.

It’s not funny, Kate. This is serious business. Someone is tampering with the museum’s artifacts.

Kate understood his concern. These were priceless objects, many of which could never be replaced.

Is there any pattern to these events?

Not that I can tell. They seem completely capricious and random.

Why are you telling me this, Richard? You have a security team here at the museum.

I’ve looked at the security tapes, but nothing’s there. Cameras cover all the galleries, but night after night, they don’t show a thing. The security team says they can find anything wrong with their equipment.

You think it’s one of the mummies?

Kate! Richard exclaimed. Be serious.

OK, so you think security may be covering something up?

Yes. Or someone from the museum is involved. In this case, I don’t think I can rely wholly on my security team.

And the police?

The police? The tone in Richard’s voice meant absolutely no publicity, so there would be no call to the police.

Yes, but why me, Richard? asked Kate, thinking about their strained relationship these last few years.

Kate, I know that you’ve done some investigating in the past. Do you think you could look into this?

I’m not sure, began Kate, but before she could finish speaking, the door to the office opened, and in walked the Assistant Director of the museum, Dana Thorp.

Dana was a delicate man with fine features and pale skin. He was dressed impeccably in a silk suit with a fashionable tie from what must be an enormous collection, as Kate had never seen the same tie twice. What he didn’t possess was any actual knowledge of exhibit design or any particular understanding of physical or anthropological sciences. It made it hard to understand why he held the position of Assistant Director over so many other highly qualified individuals.

I have some updates on Mr. Porter’s legacy agreement worked out, but legal still has some questions, and I was wondering if you wanted to... He stopped mid-sentence. Sorry, I didn’t realize you had a visitor.

Highly unlikely, thought Kate. A skill that Dana did possess was an uncommon knowledge of everything that went on at the museum that could give him any sort of political edge.

Dropping some papers on Richard’s desk, he turned and said with as sincere a voice as he could muster, Kate, I’m sorry for interrupting you.

The only thing that Dana was sorry about when it came to Kate was that she was married to Nick. He didn’t think she was pretty, rich, or young enough to deserve such a catch. Kate suspected he had a crush on Nick.

I’m glad I’ve run into you, he said, as though their meeting had been serendipitous. There are some papers that I’d like Nick to look over. I can drop them off if you know when he’ll be around.

So that was it. He was being nice today because he was looking for access to Nick through her. I’d be glad to deliver them, Kate said, knowing this was exactly what he didn’t want.

Thanks for the offer, but I need to explain a few things about it. He’s helping with the charity ball this year.

I’ll let him know you’re looking for him.

If you could give me his schedule...

Richard interrupted. Dana, could you find out legal’s questions for Mr. Porter before I take a look at these? Richard would have diverted this exchange in any case, but especially today, he didn’t want Kate antagonized.

Of course, said Dana, understanding that line of pursuit was over. Picking the papers up from Richard’s desk, he turned and left the room.

When they were alone, Kate resumed. Do you have any idea of who might be involved?

I have a few thoughts.

Such as?

We need to look at the staff, especially some of the exhibit designers who’ve worked on these exhibits and have had access.

Kate began to get a bad feeling about where this was headed.

I know you’re not going to like this, but Gina...

No, no, and no! exclaimed Kate.

Hear me out. You know that Gina has been outspoken about the textile exhibit being part of the dinosaur exhibit.

Part of the exhibit! Kate latched onto the statement with triumph. Richard had insisted emphatically that simply because the textile exhibit was in the same gallery space as the dinosaurs, it didn’t automatically make it part of that exhibit. This was spinning a story at its highest cycle to Kate’s way of thinking. This slip of the tongue confirmed that he knew as well as she did that what’s in an exhibit is part of that exhibit.

Richard stopped and took a breath. Yes, Kate, I concede your point. Here today, in this room, privately. He allowed Kate a quick smirk before continuing. "And in return, I would