The Curious Case of the Cursed Dice (Curiosity Shop Cozy Mysteries Book 2)

by Constance Barker

  I also didn’t know if he knew about Clarence, or Enid, or the other Antique Dealers. The way to play it was for me not to let on that anyone else was involved.

  "So it seems that all the cards are on the table… most of them anyway," I said.

  Steele nodded. "It does indeed."

  "I'd like to know more about the Cabal if you've got a little time."

  He smiled. "I'm afraid you know more than I'd like you to already. I don't think I'll risk giving you more information."

  "I don’t see why not?”

  “You honestly don’t? You must be smarter than that.”

  “Well, I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that you don't intend to let us walk out of here."

  "That is a good, well, perceptive analysis. It is insightful of you and refreshing to know that you realize you won't leave, especially with my goodies."

  "Could we convince you to reconsider that stance?"

  "I think not.”

  “Then where is the risk in telling us all about you and your buddies?”

  He liked the idea. “Reluctantly, I'm reminded of the part of your backstory where Walter once held you prisoner. He let you go because he thought you couldn't stop him. As it turned out, that was a mistake. I think such foolishness provides a good, even poignant lesson in what not to do. Even under normal circumstances, letting you go certainly wouldn't fit with my rather successful business model, so I see no reason to change tactics now. And I don’t have the hubris that would allow me to tell you anything assuming you have no chance to escape."

  “That’s very narrow thinking,” I said. “And aren’t villains required to boast of their plans?”

  “Only in bad television shows.” He nodded to one of the guards who stepped forward. "This gentleman and some associates will find you a safe place to wait… safe for me... while I take care of some business. Once I've taken care of that I'll come back… and take care of my business with you. I do like doing business. I like closing deals. I suggest that you cooperate with my men. They are highly motivated to see that my instructions are carried out, even if others must suffer as a result."

  The guard waved a hand and two other guards moved toward me while two more moved toward Lila. "I'll go peacefully," I said.

  "Good choice," Steele said. "These men are equipped with tasers and being subdued with them hurts more than you want to know."

  "Is that legal?" I asked.

  He laughed again. "Probably not. And that's unfortunate, however, I find that most of the good things in life are either deliciously illegal or officially frowned on in some form or another. Terribly boring."

  "I'm all in with cooperating," Lila said, sounding nervous. "My main hobby is avoiding pain. That motivates me to be one of the most cooperative people you'll ever capture."

  So the guards flanked us and we walked toward the elevator. Lila flashed me a look that managed to combine sheer panic and… a wink.

  Chapter 21

  I've never been in prison. Not even for a visit. For that matter, I've never been inside a jail, but I'd have to guess that the prison Ulrich Steele stuck us in was pretty posh by most incarceration standards. What's the saying about a gilded cage? Whatever it is, that's sort of what it felt like to be locked up with Lila in a room that, while it was minimalist, was furnished with furniture that was… well, I'll put it this way—I’m quite certain I've never paid as much for a car as I'll bet Steele paid for the couch in that room. Obviously, crime pays pretty well. Or at least being in the Cabal does.

  As long as we didn't resist, the guards who escorted us to the room were rather gentle and polite. For once I resisted testing the boundaries of what I could get away with. They had us empty our pockets and then took everything… keys, wallets, Edgar's pen box, and of course, the lock and the dice.

  That was when I got my first look at the dice. They were discolored, a faded red, and chipped. All in all, rather disappointing. "They look so… ordinary."

  That made Lila laugh. "The part that matters isn't visible and it's probably clever to make the object itself nothing special."

  That sounded right. None of the objects were ever cursed in an obvious way. It didn't give them warts or something. In my experience, curses are felt more than seen.

  “Put these away in the vault,” the man in charge said. A guard came over and scooped them into a bag and turned to leave. Just then Lila spun around, collapsing against him. He dropped the bag and grabbed her as she slumped to the floor.

  Another guard ran over and they picked her up and put her in a chair. “What happened?” the head guard asked.

  “I got dizzy. All the excitement...”

  “Well stay out of the way. Stay in that chair.”

  “Of course,” she said. “Thank you.” She was so sweet that I knew she was playing some sort of game. But she did as she was told and stayed seated as the guard who’d been leaving picked up the bag and left the room.

  “Is he going far?” I asked.

  “To the vault. Why?”

  “Just curious.” I tried to estimate how far we were from the vault, assuming he meant the one the dice had been in, but I was all turned around now. I hoped he wouldn’t test the limits of the distance Edgar and I could be apart. If the curse was working as it usually did, and he went too far, I had no idea what would happen. I knew that if I walked away from it, it just stopped me. But now? Would he be stopped, or would he start dragging me along? And if I was being pulled out of the room, what would the guards in the room make of it?

  As it turned out, he clearly didn’t go far. I felt nothing and he returned. “All secure,” he said.

  One of Ulrich's men went around the room, checking it, making sure they hadn’t left us a way out. When they left us alone, we both looked as well, although I think Lila was trying to see if there was anything she could steal. At that point, I wasn't keen on her, though, so perhaps I was being harsh.

  After a time the door opened and Ulrich came in. "Now… everything is back to normal around here, for whatever that is worth." His eyebrows arched. “Normal… why is it that people so often want normal—it’s simply what they had before.”

  Lila scowled. "I assume that’s a rhetorical question?”

  “What are you going to do with us?" I asked.

  Lila just sat down on the couch and leaned back, almost as if she was a spectator so Ulrich addressed me. "You must be the pragmatist of the crew. I suppose you’d be much like your Uncle Mason, although you seem smarter, and I don’t think Mason would’ve been so ruthless with Walter.”

  “The need to defend myself from a madman brings out the ruthless in me.”

  Steele thought that was funny. “To answer your question, to begin with, I'm going to ask a few questions."

  "Questions?"

  "Yes. I'd like very much to know how you found out about the lock and that I had it. And then, I’d be delighted to hear how many of you there are on this little scam team. You’ve launched a rather comprehensive assault… much more than just a fire alarm distraction. You are playing quite a game. According to security, a man tried to gain access to the control room before Cecilia here managed to do it herself. Too bad they didn't report that attempt beforehand. We would've been waiting for you. And, just so you know, that small weakness, that chink in our armor has been remedied."

  Reading between the lines, I realized that they knew about Clarence, but not who he was. That meant, I hoped it meant, that he had escaped. "I'm not telling you anything," I said.

  Ulrich stared at me, tipping his head to the side. "Is that so? Do you think you can keep from telling me what I want to know."

  "I'm not going to help you." I stared into his eyes, hoping to show a resolve I didn't entirely feel. "I won't talk… even if you torture me. I certainly hope you won't do that, because it would definitely be unpleasant, and would make any future dealings between us awkward at best, but even if you do, I'm not talking."

  "Please, Cecilia… what
have I done to make you think I would do such a thing? I'm sorely wounded by that idea… my pride has been dealt a blow. I think of myself as a gentleman. Furthermore, I think that you'll have to agree that I am the injured party in this encounter. You don't know me, yet you broke in, damaged expensive equipment and stole things that I acquired legally. And now you are talking as if I had threatened to stoop to torture when the questions I've asked are entirely reasonable ones, under the circumstances."

  "Then I apologize," I said, feeling rather confused.

  "No," he went on, "if you don't know the answers to my questions, or are simply unwilling to tell me, that's not important. I was actually just curious."

  "I won't even tell you if I know the answers," I said firmly. I was feeling better—more in control.

  He sighed. "In that case, I'll just have you two disposed of. If you aren’t a source of answers or entertainment then you are of no use to me.”

  “That’s a bit drastic,” I said.

  “But eliminating you ensures that I don't have Walter's problem of you showing up at some inopportune time. You Antique Dealers are a slippery lot. Dead you are much more useful."

  "What?" Suddenly my stance seemed more foolhardy than brave and noble. I wasn't sure I knew anything worth dying for.

  Lila put up a hand. "Let me point out a couple of things, Ulrich."

  He folded his arms and looked down at her. "Go ahead. This should be good."

  "I'm not an Antique Dealer, whatever your crowd means by that." She looked at me. "I have no idea what all that part is all about, so we can just move on."

  "To what?"

  "The thing is that I know plenty. I have information and I'd be happy to talk if you let me live. I never met this Walter character."

  He smiled. "Of course you would. You'd love to talk on and on because it delays the inevitable. The idea is rather agreeable on the surface as you have a lovely voice and use interesting turns of phrase. You are also both pleasant to look at. However, I have this little, teeny problem."

  "What's that?" she asked.

  "I can't believe a thing you say.”

  “I’m hurt.”

  “But how can I trust a woman who sells me something and then comes right back to rob me? Where, I ask you, is the logic in that?"

  "But I'm a thief, not a liar."

  "I beg your pardon?"

  "I never lied to you and don't intend to. I didn’t even plan to come back here. That part was Cecilia’s idea. She thought I’d be a help. Instead, I could be valuable to you."

  "You could?"

  "As it turns out, I'm rather good at finding these little oddities you admire so much. I found the dice, for example. And, once they've been located I'm even better at… shall we call it, acquiring them."

  "And you are saying what?"

  "That I could work for you. You're part of the Cabal, right? I don’t know about Antique Dealers but I've worked with your people before. Walter wasn't the only person able to find people hoarding artifacts, you know."

  "So who have you found lately?" he asked.

  She smiled thinly. "Cecilia Parish comes to mind. And I found you. I even convinced Cecilia to beg me to help her get them from you. That would've worked if you weren't with the Cabal yourself. You guys need name tags or at least a secret handshake. I wouldn’t have helped anyone take stuff from the Cabal."

  "If you know the Cabal, then you know it isn't exactly a fraternal organization. We prefer a tiny modicum of anonymity."

  "No, it isn't fraternal—you have women in it too." She tipped her head. "One thing I know about the Cabal is that they expect results. And yours would rank as… this won’t make your reputation exactly stellar.”

  “I caught you too.”

  “Not easily. And the play-by-play doesn’t look promising. You found the lock, but are having trouble hanging on to it, and you wouldn't have the dice if I hadn't brought them to you in the first place. I doubt that scores you many points in the what-have-you-done-for-us-lately way the Cabal keeps records.”

  "My operation is set up to attract objects. When you felt that you’d tapped your luck to the limit, you came to me. You wanted cash. You knew I'd sense the curse in them and be interested. Then you'd check out security and the possible targets.."

  "You know, you are right, Ulrich. That's absolutely true. You nailed it. And the fact that I'm sneaky like that, diabolically clever, is exactly why I can be useful to you."

  I watched Ulrich's face and realized that he was actually considering her proposition. That surprised me. "I do appreciate honesty," he said, "especially in a thief." He waved a hand and pointed at me. "Tie this one up." He took Lila by the arm. "You come with me. You’ll tell me what you know and then we can discuss options for your future."

  They left, Ulrich and Lila going out together and Lila didn't even glance in my direction as two men pushed me down into a straight-backed chair and began tying me to it. Well, they were using cable ties to hold my wrists to the arms of the chair and my ankles to the legs. "You can't even tie a girl up with nice rope?" I asked. "What if I have a plastic allergy?"

  One of the men laughed. "Then you'll sneeze a lot. Lady, rope is expensive. This is a cost-conscious operation here and we get a ten pack of these restraints online for about ten bucks."

  "And they are easier to carry," the other man said. "You should keep that in mind."

  "You need to weigh all the costs and benefits in selecting your tools," the first one said.

  Given that there wasn't much I could do about it, I resigned myself to being strapped into the chair.

  It’s a truth that before I started this life, chasing down cursed objects, no one had ever tied me up—restrained me, call it what you like. And now, courtesy of the Cabal, here it was happening for the second time. I didn’t have a clear idea of what that organization’s goals were, but pretty clearly, what Clarence and I did meant we got in their way.

  This crew was pretty professional and they did a better job of securing me than I would've liked too. They snugged the restraints down tight. Seeing that I wasn’t going anywhere, I had lots of time to contemplate Lila's betrayal.

  It hadn't totally surprised me and I even concluded, a little late, that I should've trusted my own instincts. If you are sensing a theme in that thought, a meme that keeps surfacing with substantial force and velocity… you aren't the only one. I was beginning to feel that the words “trust yourself and only yourself” went far beyond being just a reasonable defensive thinking; it was a maxim that I should emblazon somewhere where I would always see it. As it was, I kept letting other people convince me of things that I knew (in my gut) but couldn't prove, were bad ideas.

  And here I was again. I was tied to a chair, okay cable-tied to a chair, because someone else (Lila) didn't stick to their own plan. I needed to add that to my list. In addition to not trusting other people, you'd think I'd know better than to trust their plans. I did know better. I had just let other people convince me that this time would be different.

  Einstein famously said that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results was the definition of insanity. So I was acting insanely. That had to stop. I promised myself that, if I ever got out of that chair alive, I’d do exactly that.

  Chapter 22

  Clarence felt more than a little trapped and he didn’t like it one little bit. With the door locked behind him, the security room felt both tiny and insecure. So he focused on his work.

  When Cecilia left, Clarence found and appropriated a few tools —the keyboard and monitor that the techs used for testing and update were in place. When he looked inside the system his breathing calmed. He was automatically logged in and he didn't need to hack his way in. That saved time.

  Working quickly, he was able to reprogram a number of features that would make the system behave the way he wanted it to… he tailored it to suit himself.

  He shut down the landline telephone system. That wouldn't stop anyon
e from using their cell phones, but he knew that a lot of systems collected data over the phones and he wanted this one cut off from the outside world.

  For a time things went well. He was able to monitor their progress as Lila and Cecilia went up in the elevator. He shut off the fire alarm as it’s work was done.

  Then Steele and his men came in. Steele had a pass key that he used that took the private elevator off the system and restored local control. Clarence hadn’t counted on that. All he could do was watch.

  When he saw Lila and Cecilia captured (watching the monitor) his heart rate accelerated. He knew they'd come for him next and the door would just slow them down. When he saw armed uniformed guards in the lobby he set off security alarms near the service entrance, drawing away from the lobby. That bought him time. But not very much.

  A glance at the monitor showed him that the guards had checked the back entrance and found nothing. They were on their way, heading for the security desk. When they arrived he didn't need to watch them on the monitor anymore, as they'd discovered that he'd locked the door and changed the access code. He heard fists and probably batons pounding on it. Angry voices shouted for someone to get tools.

  The door was sturdy but not that secure that it would keep them out. He had to find a way to escape. Looking up, he found it. An air duct. Maybe that would lead somewhere. Calling up the building schematics he found that the ducting led to an emergency elevator that went to Steele's floor. That could be just the thing.

  But first….

  Scrolling through the code, he located another thing he'd been looking for; a remote override that was intended to let techs at the security company office take over control of the system from a remote location during an emergency. Identifying the code that directed it to the Ethernet port was easy. Next, he identified a device port that the system information folder told him wasn't being used. He quickly rewrote the code. This new, improved, family sized routine patched the remote control, along with the security camera feed, directly to his cell phone.