Douglas Preston - The Cabinet of Curiosities

“This is incredible,” said Nora.

“Yes, indeed,” said Puck. “One of the finest rooms in the Museum. Historical research used to be very important.” He sighed. “Times have changed. O tempo, O mores, and all that. Please remove all writing instruments from your pockets, and put on those linen gloves before handling any of the objects. I will need to take your briefcase, Doctor.” He glanced disapprovingly at the gun and handcuffs dangling from O’Shaughnessy’s service belt, but said nothing.

They laid their pens and pencils into a proffered tray. Nora and the others slid on pairs of spotless gloves.

“I will withdraw. When you are ready to leave, call me on that telephone. Extension 4240. If you want photocopies of anything, fill out one of these sheets.”

The door eased shut. There was the sound of a key turning in a lock.

“Did he just lock us in?” O’Shaughnessy asked.

Pendergast nodded. “Standard procedure.”

O’Shaughnessy stepped back into the gloom. He was an odd man, Nora thought; quiet, inscrutable, handsome in a Black Irish kind of way. Pendergast seemed to like him. O’Shaughnessy, on the other hand, looked as if he didn’t like anybody.

The agent clasped his hands behind his back and made a slow circuit of the first table, peering at each object in turn. He did the same with the second table, then moved to the third table, laden with its assorted papers.

“Let’s see this inventory you mentioned,” he said to Nora.

Nora pointed out the promissory note with the inventory she had found the day before. Pendergast looked it over, and then, paper in hand, made another circuit. He nodded at a stuffed okapi. “That came from Shottum’s,” he said. “And that.” He nodded to the elephant’s-foot box. “Those three penis sheaths and the right whale baculum. The Jivaro shrunken head. All from Shottum’s, payment to McFadden for his work.” He bent down to examine the shrunken head. “A fraud. Monkey, not human.” He glanced up at her. “Dr. Kelly, would you mind looking through the papers while I examine these objects?”

Nora sat down at the third table. There was the small box of Shottum’s correspondence, along with another, much larger, box and two binders — McFadden’s papers, apparently. Nora opened the Shottum box first. As Puck had noted, the contents were in a remarkable state of disarray. What few letters were here were all in the same vein: questions about classifications and identifications, tiffs with other scientists over various arcane subjects. It illuminated a curious corner of nineteenth-century natural history, but shed no light on a heinous nineteenth-century crime. As she read through the brief correspondence, a picture of J. C. Shottum began to form in her mind. It was not the image of a serial killer. He seemed a harmless enough man, fussy, narrow, a little querulous perhaps, bristling with academic rivalries. The man’s interests seemed exclusively related to natural history. Of course, you can never tell, she thought, turning over the musty pages.

Finding nothing of particular interest, Nora turned to the much larger — and neater — boxes of Tinbury McFadden’s correspondence. They were mostly notes from the long-dead curator on various odd subjects, written in a fanatically small hand: lists of classifications of plants and animals, drawings of various flowers, some quite good. At the bottom was a thick packet of correspondence to and from various men of science and collectors, held together by an ancient string that flew apart when she touched it. She riffled through them, arriving finally at a packet of letters from Shottum to McFadden. The first began, “My Esteemed Colleague.”

I herewith transmit to you a Curious Relic said to be from the Isle of Kut, off the coast of Indochine, depicting a simian in coito with a Hindoo goddess, carved from walrus ivory. Would you be so kind as to identify the species of simian?

Your colleague, J. C. Shottum

She slid out the next letter:

My Dear Colleague,

At the last meeting at the Lyceum, Professor Blackwood presented a fossil which he claimed was a Devonian Age crinoid from the Montmorency Dolomites. The Professor is sadly mistaken. LaFleuve himself identified the Montmorency Dolomites as Permian, and needs make a corrective note of it in the next Lyceum Bulletin…

She flipped through the rest. There were letters to others as well, a small circle of like-minded scientists, including Shottum. They were all obviously well acquainted with one another. Perhaps the killer might be found in that circle. It seemed likely, since the person must have had easy access to Shottum’s Cabinet — if it wasn’t Shottum himself.

She began to make a list of correspondents and the nature of their work. Of course, it was always possible this was a waste of time, that the killer might have been the building’s janitor or coal man — but then she remembered the crisp, professional scalpel marks on the bones, the almost surgical dismemberments. No, it was a man of science — that was certain.

Taking out her notebook, she began jotting notes.

Letters to/from Tinbury McFadden:

CORRESPONDENT J. C. Shottum

SUBJECTS OF CORRESPONDENCE Natural history, anthropology, the Lyceum

POSITION Owner, Shottum’s Cabinet of Natural Productions and Curiosities New York

DATES OF CORRESPONDENCE 1869–1881

CORRESPONDENT Prof. Albert Blackwood

SUBJECTS OF CORRESPONDENCE The Lyceum, the Museum

POSITION Founder, New York Museum of Natural History

DATES OF CORRESPONDENCE 1865–1878

CORRESPONDENT Dr. Asa Stone Gilcrease

SUBJECTS OF CORRESPONDENCE Birds

POSITION Ornithologist New York

DATES OF CORRESPONDENCE 1875–1887

CORRESPONDENT Col. Sir Henry C. Throckmorton, Bart., F.R.S.

SUBJECTS OF CORRESPONDENCE African mammals (big game)

POSITION Collector, explorer sportsman London

DATES OF CORRESPONDENCE 1879–1891

CORRESPONDENT Prof. Enoch Leng

SUBJECTS OF CORRESPONDENCE Classification

POSITION Taxonomist, chemist New York

DATES OF CORRESPONDENCE 1872–1881

CORRESPONDENT Miss Guenevere LaRue

SUBJECTS OF CORRESPONDENCE Christian missions for Borrioboola-Gha, in the African Congo

POSITION Philanthropist New York

DATES OF CORRESPONDENCE 1870–1872

CORRESPONDENT Dumont Burleigh

SUBJECTS OF CORRESPONDENCE Dinosaur fossils, the Lyceum

POSITION Oilman, collector Cold Spring, New York

DATES OF CORRESPONDENCE 1875–1881

CORRESPONDENT Dr. Ferdinand Huntt

SUBJECTS OF CORRESPONDENCE Anthropology, archaeology

POSITION Surgeon, collector Oyster Bay, Long Island

DATES OF CORRESPONDENCE 1869–1879

CORRESPONDENT Prof. Hiram Howlett

SUBJECTS OF CORRESPONDENCE Reptiles and amphibians

POSITION Herpetologist Stormhaven, Maine

DATES OF CORRESPONDENCE 1871–1873

The penultimate name gave her pause. A surgeon. Who was Dr. Ferdinand Huntt? There were quite a few letters from him, written in a large scrawl on heavy paper with a beautifully engraved crest. She flipped through them.

My Dear Tinbury,

With regard to the Odinga Natives, the barbaric custom of Male Partum is still quite prevalent. When I was in the Volta I had the dubious privilege of witnessing childbirth. I was not allowed to assist, of course, but I could hear the shrieks of the husband quite clearly as the wife jerked on the rope affixed to his genitalia with every contraction she experienced. I treated the poor man’s injuries — severe lacerations — following the birth…