Chapter 4
Charlotte
The closer I get to research room #4, my heart rate quickens, or are those my steps? They seem to be going at the same rate. This could very well slingshot my career and potentially secure me a permanent job here at the museum if I find anything of value in this jewelry box.
As I reach the room with a large #4 on the front, I scan my ID badge on the security lock. The metal door unlocks and the security light turns green signaling that I can enter.
I quickly open and shut the door and look around the space. It’s a fairly plain and dimly lit room the size of a small living space with a desk and computer on the far wall. In the middle of the room is a tall large metal table with stools that just fit underneath the table. On this table is my jewelry box along with a box of gloves, an LED lamp, and other tools I might need when examining this ancient artifact.
As I continue to look around the space, I notice a red blinking light in the corner of the ceiling. It’s hard to make out, but it looks to be a camera that is constantly recording while someone is in the room. It shouldn’t surprise me since there are cameras all over the museum to make sure no one tries to take anything of value from these halls.
I approach the table in the center of the room and pull out one of the stools to sit on. My heartrate is still going a million miles per hour. So as I sit down, I begin my breathing exercises to center myself. Once I start on this project, I won’t be leaving this room for the day. I don’t want to waste any of the time I have been gifted to use this area.
In and out. In and out, until I slowly start to feel the sense of quiet and focus that I need to start a project such as this. As I exhale one last time, I carefully pull the jewelry box to me and turn on the LED light.
This artifact was believed to be recovered from the house of a wealthy nobleman before the fall of the Roman empire. Experts dated the jewelry to originate around the start of Octavian’s rule. Several pieces in the box can be found on a noblewoman’s portrait and busts found at that time period, linking the box to a family of one of Octavian’s generals who eventually rose to political power in Rome.
The pieces are unique with some having Egyptian qualities to them, which is where my research comes in. If I can find more hidden jewelry in this compartment or even notes belonging to the owner, I could figure out more history of these pieces and if the original owners were Egyptian.
Carefully, I empty the jewelry box’s contents. Many of the original pieces from the box are still on display, but I put a couple of bangles and earrings to the side so that I can turn the box on its side without damaging those pieces.
Only a week ago, I had the box placed in this exact position on a hunch. I noticed that the dimensions that I had taken of the outside did not match the interior dimensions.
The box itself is a work of art with carved ivory legs, a turquoise stone in the lid, and hand-painted with gold flakes. Since it was the size of an encyclopedia, the jewelry box should have held many pieces, but I noticed that the dimensions were off and that it should have been deeper. It was not uncommon to have a false bottom in some furniture pieces at the time, but after extensively searching for a lever or button to activate a false bottom I came up with nothing. As I started looking at the painted sides, I noticed that the right side panel did not quite match with the left. There were grooves that had been patched together on the right side. This had been noted in the initial report, but was explained as being damaged with age.
A week ago, I sent my findings and suspicions to Dr. Peribsen and asked if an x-ray could be completed to confirm if a secret compartment was part of the box. He was very willing to accept my theory and arranged for an x-ray analysis the very next day. I went out for celebratory scones that night, because I was right! The x-ray showed there was a compartment with something large inside that ran the length of the box.
It took a week of paperwork and waiting while on holiday, but I was approved to break open the right panel to examine the contents of the jewelry box. Apparently there is a lot of red tape to go through to tamper with an artifact over 2,000 years old.
So, I’m now about to see if all of this fuss was worth the red tape. What could have been worth hiding inside a jewelry box for all of this time?
After grabbing the scalpel, I take a deep breath and start to carefully saw away at the grooved edges of the right panel. It feels like hours pass, but a glance at the clock on the wall shows that only 45 minutes have gone by when I finally hear the small crack that tells me the panel is finally loose enough to pull off.
I take another deep breath and gently pull off the side panel only to be met by stone.