"About two months," the security chief said. "He was a visiting professor doing a detailed examination of one of the traveling exhibits. It's already been taken down and packed up. He was due to leave in a few more days."

"Which exhibit?" the young cop asked.

"One of the Native American displays," the security man supplied. "Cahokian artifacts."

"Ka-what?" the older cop asked.

"Cahokian," the security chief said. "Amerind tribe that was all over the Mississippi River valley seven or eight hundred years ago, I guess."

"Were these artifacts valuable?" asked the older cop.

"Arguably," the security chief said. "But their value is primarily academic. Pottery shards, old tools, stone weapons, that kind of thing. They wouldn't be easy to liquidate."

"People do crazy things," the young cop said, still writing.

"If you say so," the security chief said. "Look, fellas, the museum would really like to get this cleared up as quickly as possible. It's been hours already. Can't we get the remains taken out now?"

"Sorry, sir," the older cop said. "Not until the detectives are done documenting the scene."

"How long will that take?" the security chief asked.

The older cop's radio clicked, and he took it off his belt and had a brief conversation. "Sir," he told the security chief, "they're removing the body now. Forensics will be over in a couple of hours to sweep the room."

"Why the delay?" the chief asked.

The cop answered with a shrug. "But until then, I'm afraid we'll have to close down access to the crime scene."

"There are a dozen different senior members of the staff with offices off of that hallway," the security chief protested.

"I'm sure they'll finish up as quickly as they can, sir," the cop said, though his tone brooked no debate.

"Told my boss I'd give it a try." The chief sighed. "You want to come explain it to him?"

"Glad to," the cop said with a forced smile. "Lead the way." The two cops and the security chief strode off together, presumably to talk to somebody with an office, a receptionist, and an irritatingly skewed perspective on the importance of isolating a crime scene.

I chewed on my lip. I was pretty sure that the apparent murder the cops were talking about and my hot spot of dark magic had to be related to each other. But if the hot spot was located on a murder site, it would be shut away from any access. Forensics could spend hours, even days, going over a room for evidence.