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

by Constance Barker

  Does anyone want to control building security from a cell phone? Now there was an app for that. At least for this building and Clarence’s phone.

  The last chore he’d given himself meant locating the surveillance video archives. Like most security systems, the videos collected monitoring public spaces were kept for a time in case they were needed. That was a little like having a candy store—that video was available for all sorts of purposes. Clarence set up a video loop so that it would play old footage from the various locations on the monitors. When security checked, they’d only see normal activities.

  With another minor adjustment Clarence ensured that a technician could run diagnostics and learn that everything was working just fine, thank you very much. Eventually, they'd realized the video was bogus, but, with luck, it would take them a while.

  Finally, it was time to say his goodbyes. By standing on a chair he could reach the duct. He got a screwdriver from the toolbox Cecilia had left and pried off the cover and the foam filter. Then he clambered up into the air duct and closed it behind him. It was tight, but he managed to turn and start crawling through it, hoping it didn't involve things like fan blades. It was snug and every movement seemed to make an incredible amount of noise, but it led away from his pursuers.

  The ducting wound through the building and after a number of twists and turns he came to another opening. Clarence peeked out and saw that it opened on the landing of a stairwell. After the confined space of the duct, barely large enough to accommodate him, the stairwell looked spacious and welcoming. "Stairs are good," he told himself. "You can go up or down as it suits you, not just wiggle forward."

  It was easy enough to pry off the grill and he held it so he could look down. The opening was about five feet off the ground. That height he could handle.

  He tucked the grill inside the duct and squirmed around until he could lower himself down feet first. When his hips were dangling down, he dropped down onto the stairs.

  The loud slap of his feet resounded in the stairwell and he froze in place in a crouch. He held his breath and listened for voices, for footsteps, but he heard nothing. He’d been lucky and no one had heard him.

  For the moment, he was safe, although he had to admit that safe was an extremely relative term these days and recently he thought he might have used it to describe situations that were not even remotely what he would have considered safe a few months ago. It was amazing how life and experience could change you. It was spooky. Still, there was a little bit of rush in his life that had been missing when he was nothing but a curiosity shop manager. He was rather coming to like this new, more dynamic Clarence, even if he didn't always measure up to Cecilia's "rush in where angels fear to tread" standard.

  As the rush wore off, he felt a more familiar feeling—anxiety. "I need a new strategy," he said. Saying the words, he knew he was right. The old plan was in tatters and, with Lila and Cecilia prisoners, he was on his own. Like it or not, for the time being, he was forced to operate the way Cecilia liked to—on a wing and a prayer.

  But at least he could develop a strategy. First, he had to set a goal. He could escape, as the original plan intended, or he could risk life and limb in attempting to free his friends. That was a no-brainer for Clarence. He wasn’t going anywhere without them. He wasn’t about to sit in a bar wondering what happened to them.

  He didn’t have a plan but had some tools. His cell phone gave him a little control over the building… locks, alarms, the heating and cooling.. and the video feeds provided somewhat spotty eyes on the enemy. Mostly he could see doorways and hallways. That was about all he had, so he sat on a step and began to flick through the feeds from the various cameras, concentrating on the ones in and around Ulrich Steele's place, the place he'd last seen Cecilia and Lila.

  As he flicked through the video feeds from the cameras that covered the hallways on Steele’s two floors, he saw what he was looking for. Well, part of it. The camera in the hallway in Steele's apartment showed Steele, some of his men, and Lila passing by a camera. It surprised him to see that she wasn't cuffed or tied. She was just following Ulrich Steele down the hallway. As she came near the camera, she stared into it, held up her hand, and said something.

  Sitting in the palm of her hand, he saw what had to be the dice. What else would it be? But he couldn't make out what she was saying… he'd been looking at the dice. He backed up the video, zoomed in on her face and watched her lips. "Follow me," she said. He was pretty sure that's what she said. It would have to do. He hoped that's what she said. If it wasn’t he had no idea what she wanted.

  Chapter 23

  Lila was nervous. She disliked being nervous any time, and now she was more nervous than she thought she should be, more nervous than the situation warranted. There is the nervousness that comes with launching into a job, with the rush of knowing you might get caught, knowing that you had to keep your wits about you. She thrived on that.

  This was different. So entirely different. This time her concerns had nothing to do with her. It had nothing to do with Ulrich Steele for that matter—not directly anyway.

  There were actually two things that had her uneasy. The first was that her entire plan hinged on a lousy pair of cursed dice. They'd brought her luck… at first. Even now they'd helped her open the safe. But how did you know how much luck you had left? The dice amplified her luck. As long she had some, she'd be luckier than you'd expect… defy the odds. But when she ran out, got into a deficit, well, apparently that got amplified too. In the same way. And without a long break it wouldn't turn positive again, just get increasingly negative until something bad happened.

  That was her theory anyway. It seemed that the guy she'd gambled with had sensed it when his luck changed. At the end of his streak he'd suddenly gotten tentative. Hesitated over bets, and stopped letting the money ride. At the end, although people had stopped paying attention, he'd lost two in a row.

  And handed her the dice.

  Luck was easier to measure at the tables. When it turned you saw the results right away. But here? Who knew how it worked. Too bad people didn't have some kind of luck gauge, like a fuel gauge in a car. Now she had no idea where she stood. That put her in the unusual and uncomfortable position of having to rely on Clarence and Cecilia.

  And how much of their success in escaping and helping her out had to do with her own luck? Far too much was unknown to suit her.

  Still, the dice were the only toy she knew of in the toy cabinet, so when she faked fainting, she managed to palm them. Fortunately, the guard didn’t suspect and didn’t check the bag. So she got away with it. And, in case Clarence was watching, she’d shown them to the camera.

  And now, she sat in a chair looking at a CCTV camera that was positioned to capture anyone going in and out of the door. She scooted her chair back so that she'd be in the images the camera captured. Then she had to hope that Clarence would be monitoring the feeds. It was the only chance. But then, she her survival depended on luck, so why not take it?

  She sat in her chair, talked into the camera (looking for her chance), listened, and stalled for time. Time would give Clarence a chance to rescue her. And she would feed him the information he'd need.

  Ulrich was talking. "So you expect me to think you've worked for the Cabal before?"

  "Expect? No, I expect nothing and I don’t have much idea of how or what you think. I'm saying that I did work for some of them. I just didn't know the extent of the group’s activities. And I certainly didn’t know that you were part of it. Like I said, you folks don't exactly advertise your membership in that group."

  "Naturally we prefer that the information be restricted to a small circle."

  "And yet, you made sure that Cecilia knew you were part of it. You did everything but announce it, using her name and talking about Walter."

  "Well, I didn't see the harm. It isn't as if she wouldn't figure it out. Besides, I have to assume she already knew that. Honestly, I don’t think she would have risked
coming here if she didn’t know about me. And then, after all, she is Cecilia Parish," he said. "If her uncle Mason taught her anything…"

  Lila shook her head to clear it. "Her uncle… Mason Parish? Right! I knew the name was familiar but I hadn't put that together. Now it makes sense that she knew as much as she did."

  "The Antique Dealers all know far too much as far as I'm concerned."

  "And you don’t need to worry about that, do you Ulrich? I have to say that you have a nice, tidy little setup here. As a collector of antiquities, it's a perfect front. Having a few cursed objects around is only natural. Tell me, how many people do you have to employ to guard all this?" Ulrich didn't answer. "I mean, they can't all be Cabal members. Maybe the top dudes, but the minions? Is there a special hiring hall for thugs who want to work for nefarious organizations?"

  "Where did you first find out about our quest? About us?"

  She realized he wasn't going to talk about those things. Too bad. "When I was working up north, doing some investigating."

  "Investigating?"

  "Some rich people acquired some interesting pieces, and then decided to hire me to find out why some items they'd bought made them feel strange."

  "Why you?"

  Lila grinned. "Because they were rich people with questions. So I made up a Lila Twill who specialized in investigating paranormal things."

  "Did you know anything about them?"

  "No, but I knew that pretending to would get me in their houses. I began poking around and before I knew it, some of your crowd introduced themselves by offering to pay me to get the artifacts for them. Seeing that doing that was a lot easier than stealing a lot of overpriced stuff and then taking the risk of fencing it all for peanuts, and they offered good money so I took the job. They liked my work and pointed me at a couple more. Along the way, I picked up some basic information about them and this Cabal they worked for. You guys are tight-lipped in general, but you all seem to have the need to mention the Cabal at least once a day."

  "And what, Lila Twill, con artist and a royal pain, do you have for me? What information do you have that I can use?"

  "You are at war with the Antique Dealers, right?"

  "In a manner of speaking."

  "Well, what I have is less current information and more skills that can be useful. I get around. I see things. I pay attention and remember what I see. Like about the Cabal."

  "A problem that could be solved quickly by having a guard snap your neck."

  "Oh gross, Ulrich! I thought we were being civilized here."

  "We are. As long as you give me some real and useful information we can continue to be quite civilized. But as you pointed out, the Cabal expects results. Therefore, I must insist that you produce results now. This sense of duty goes up and down the food chain, Lila. A food chain that I can use to choke the life out of you."

  "That would be a bad choice." Ulrich was losing patience and it was clear that she needed to throw this dog a substantial bone or she wouldn't be around long enough to see if Cecilia and Clarence could rise to the occasion. But what?

  She glanced around and noticed a book on the shelf. It had a scintillating title: OIL BOOM AND THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS ON FARGO, North Dakota.

  Did anyone read books like that? Apparently so, or at least they bought them. As she shook her head, she rattled loose a flash of memory. It was vague, hard to see, taste, or hear, but as she focused on it, it began to clear. Her memory had nothing to do with oil or North Dakota. She was sure of that. Still, that title caught her attention, triggered the memory. There was a connection and she needed to put her finger on it.

  Fargo. Who named a city Fargo? What kind of weird name was that? As the idea of weird names and cold places spun through her head (just thinking of North Dakota made Lila shiver) they also began to give the memory some form. It was coming back. She looked at Ulrich Steele. "Sagavanirktok," she said.

  "Gesundheit," Ulrich said.

  "The town."

  "I beg your pardon."

  "It’s a town. Sagavanirktok is the name of an actual place," she said.

  Ulrich chuckled. "A rather dark place from the sound of it."

  "It’s the Russian name for a town. The original name.” She was struggling. "Give me a minute. I think the town is in Alaska."

  "Well, why don’t we just call up the Russian version of Google maps and locate the sucker? Why do I want to know about this place? Are we planning to take a vacation there?"

  It was coming back to her now. "No need for the map or the sarcasm," she said. "I'm remembering. The English name for the place is Prudhoe Bay.”

  “Alaska?"

  She nodded. “Right.”

  "Of course, Prudhoe Bay. I've been meaning to go there, just never found a reason to even think about it."

  "That's the location of an artifact."

  "What artifact?"

  "One I didn't go after. I only heard a whisper about it," she told him. "Several whispers, actually. Enough to convince me it's a real lead."

  "Then why didn't you chase it down?"

  "I had other fish to fry and I didn't have nearly enough frequent flier miles to get there and back. It's on the northern coast of Alaska, dude. It wasn’t one the Cabal was after at the time. I don’t know if they knew about it even, but my guess is yes."

  Ulrich looked suspicious. "And there's an artifact there? That’s news to me. What’s the object? What does it do?"

  She stared into the camera, hoping Clarence was as smart as he thought and more observant than she thought he was. "I’m not sure. Look, I was up NORTH. FIVE thousand miles from the artifact, in Fargo, North Dakota. I was one of a handful of GUARDS. So I didn't have a chance to find out much about it."

  Ulrich sneered. "I've heard the skiing there sucks."

  Lila laughed. "Fargo? I wouldn’t know. I didn't like the weather or the nightlife much and didn't hang around. I did a little preliminary checking but after I left I forgot about the artifact. Until now, that is."

  "Memory is amazing in that way. When you confront someone with the fact of their death and it clears their mind. They suddenly find it easier to remember all sorts of useful things."

  "You've read Sartre, I see."

  "I've read all sorts of things. And your story reads like a comic book."

  "The thing is… what I do know about the artifact is that it is nothing special in the curse department. I do understand that the object itself might be worth a bloody fortune. And… I could take you to it."

  Ulrich snapped his fingers. "And why do I need you for that? How big can this sneeze town be? I can send my chauffeur to get it."

  "As I recall, it has a population of around 3,000."

  "So he could ask around, talk to every one of them and it would be less trouble than trying to keep tabs on a sly one like you while we went there."

  "Sure you could do it yourself. I’m not saying it’s hard. This information is just for demo purposes. Take it and run with it, but hold off doing anything permanent about me until you verify what I'm saying. My real value isn't that I have a large storehouse of memories of artifacts, but my ability to find stuff out for you."

  "Funny you should use the word 'storehouse,' Lila. What do you know about that?"

  The tone of his voice suggested this was a big deal. Time to tread carefully. "A warehouse? Nothing.”

  “Something called the Grand Storehouse.”

  “Just enough to know that I have no idea what you are talking about unless it’s a new box store at the mall."

  "Has Cecilia mentioned anything about an old key? Or have you seen her with one?"

  "Not yet. I could find out for you. Hey, there is an idea. Let us go but make it look like we escaped. I’d free her, win her confidence and find out if she has a storage locker somewhere."

  Ulrich took out a cell phone. “I don’t think so. However...” He gave Lila a long, intense look, then sent a text, typing with one finger.

  "You usually have
people around who do your texting for you, right?" she asked.

  He glared at her. “What are you saying?”

  "That's painful to watch, Ulrich."

  He gave her a dark look. "I don't usually send texts."

  After he hit send he continued to stare at the phone, waiting impatiently. Lila realized that the dark look held a promise of danger. She'd never doubted his ability or willingness to carry out his death threats, but this side of him was even darker than that. Maybe it had to do with the Cabal. Maybe that was something she didn’t want to know more about.

  The phone beeped and he read his text. Then he looked at her. "Prudhoe Bay. That's the place you mentioned, right? The town with the artifact?"

  She nodded, hoping she'd remembered right. "As I recall."

  He closed the phone. "I'm told that you might be right about that."

  "See. I'm telling the truth."

  "Well, all I know is that your story checks out as far as I can check it through one of those whispers you mentioned." He put the phone away and sat down facing her. "Let's move on to more immediately useful information."

  "Like what?"

  "Like what else you know about Cecilia Parish and this attempt to get the lock. For starters, who else is working with you?"

  Lila tried hard to calm her breathing. "I've only dealt with Cecilia. She tracked me down from the casino. She was actually following the dice, not the lock.”

  “Curious,” Steele said.

  “She told me she was coming here to get the lock, I thought I might retrieve a thing or two myself. So I joined up."

  "And who was the man?"

  "What man?"

  "The one who came in to see the lock. The one who pretended to be a technician. The one you convinced the guard was your boyfriend."

  She clapped her hands. "Oh him! That's just a cute guy that I saw getting himself in trouble. I was leaving after our meeting and saw him running a game, but I saw your people were onto him. He hadn't had a chance to do anything yet, so I bailed him out. I figured he might provide an evening's entertainment."