Twilight Heart

by Adam J. Wright

  He turned his attention back to me. “I guess this must be a shock for you, finding me here. I came by hoping you’d be here but the place was locked up. I have a key, of course, so I let myself in and acquainted myself with my new office. I hope that’s okay.”

  “I had no idea you were coming,” I told him.

  He sighed exasperatedly. “I was told you’d be sent a text message.”

  “My phone isn’t working properly; it’s full of cemetery dirt.”

  He seemed taken aback by that for a moment and then he said, “Would you like me to take a look at it for you?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, how about a drink? Coffee?” He indicated the pot on the burner. “Or tea?” He pointed at the box of tea bags next to the machine.

  “Those belong to Felicity,” I told him, taking my phone out of my pocket and checking the texts. There was a message from the Society, even though the phone hadn’t notified me. The message was simple and to the point, as most of the Society’s messages tended to be.

  New assistant Carlton Carmichael arriving today.

  “I have a message about you,” I told Carlton, “but it doesn’t tell me anything other than your name.”

  “Then allow me to give you some details about myself. I hail from Renfrew, Ontario, and I’ve been working with the Society in Canada for fifteen years. I can speak seven different languages, including Old Norse and Enochian. Unlike your previous assistant Felicity Lake, I have no desire to become a P.I. myself. My role is in the office, performing the admin duties that allow you to go out and fight the monsters without worrying about the paperwork. I’ve previously worked with three other P.I.s, all in Canada. My last posting was in Thompson, Manitoba. I requested a transfer to the States because my wife and I wanted to live somewhere a little bit warmer. I was expecting to be posted somewhere further south but here I am in Maine.” His disappointment was evident in the grin he offered.

  “Sorry that didn’t work out for you,” I said.

  “I’m sure we’ll grow to love it here. And you don’t have to worry about me leaving anytime soon. Once I’m settled somewhere, I don’t move on unless I have to.”

  “You left Manitoba to come here. Are you sure you aren’t going to ask to be transferred somewhere further south?”

  He looked a little sheepish. “Actually, I had to leave Manitoba.”

  “Oh? Why was that?”

  “The P.I. I was working for got herself killed by a troll. It was quite tragic.”

  “You said you worked for three P.I.s previously. What happened to the other two?”

  “They were also killed. After they died, the Society asked me to stay and work with their replacements but I felt it was time to move on. It’s only a tragedy that will get me to move to a new posting, Mr Harbinger, so you needn’t fear, I’ll be here in Dearmont for as long as you need me. I won’t be going anywhere unless...something terrible happens to you.”

  “That’s very comforting,” I said sarcastically.

  “That came out all wrong. What I meant to say was that I won’t just abandon you like your previous assistant.”

  “Felicity isn’t abandoning me, she got promoted,” I told him.

  “Yes, of course. That came out wrong too. Sorry. Maybe if you tell me what open cases we have at the moment, I can review them and get myself up to speed, eh?”

  “We don’t have any open cases at the moment. We’re currently working on an issue that arose during one of our older cases.”

  “Oh? What might that be? Is there a file I can read?”

  I indicated the computer on the desk. “You have access to the computer, right?”

  He nodded. “Of course.”

  “Look up a case we handled regarding John DuMont and an artifact called the Box of Midnight. There should be some notes on there about the curse that befell Mallory. Familiarize yourself with the case and be at my house at noon. I assume you know my address?”

  “Yes, I do. My wife and I will be moving into the house next door tomorrow.”

  “Oh. Yeah.” I’d forgotten that as my new assistant, Carlton would also be my new neighbor.

  “Be there at noon,” I reminded him before leaving the office.

  Mallory and I went back down the stairs and outside to the Land Rover.

  When we were inside the car, she said, “He seems eager to please.”

  I started the engine and headed toward the grocery store. “Yeah, he does. There’s just one thing that worries me.”

  “What’s that?”

  “When a P.I. gets a new assistant, it’s standard procedure to contact the P.I.s who worked with the assistant in the past and ask them for a reference. I can’t do that because everyone Carlton has ever worked with is dead.”

  5

  Mallory and I got back home at eleven thirty with the groceries. It had finally stopped raining but the roads were slick with moisture.

  A patrol car was parked on the street and Merlin and Amy were standing at Felicity’s front door, talking to her. I parked the Land Rover outside my house and went around to the back of the vehicle to get the sacks of food Mallory and I had bought at the store.

  Amy came over and said, “Need some help with that?”

  I nodded. “Sure, thanks.”

  As she took a couple of sacks out of the Land Rover, she said, “Merlin asked me for the phone numbers of people he should invite to the party. I decided to call them myself. I hope that’s okay. He isn’t so good on a phone.”

  “Of course it’s okay. I only asked Merlin to do it because he was with me at the time.” I grabbed three sacks and opened the front door.

  “It was all pretty sudden, huh? Must have been quite a shock for you. I know how invaluable Felicity has been.” Amy asked as she stepped into the house and headed to the kitchen.

  “Yeah,” I said, following her. “I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet.”

  We dropped the sacks onto the counter and Mallory came in with a couple of cases of beer, which she placed next to the sacks.

  “Are they going to send someone to replace her?” Amy asked.

  I sighed, thinking of Carlton Carmichael. “They already have. He’s at the office right now, familiarizing himself with the case involving the Box of Midnight and the curse.”

  She raised a quizzical eyebrow. “I can tell you’re not too keen him. What’s his name?”

  “Carlton Carmichael.”

  “And why don’t you like him?”

  “I didn’t say that. I’ve barely met the guy.”

  “The last three P.I.s he worked with are all dead,” Mallory said.

  Amy looked shocked. “Wow!”

  “That isn’t necessarily strange,” I said. “Being a P.I. is dangerous. It’s probably just Carlton’s bad luck that everyone he worked with came to an untimely end.” I paused while I tried to work out how to explain what I felt about Carlton’s past record of misfortune. “I don’t want his bad luck to rub off on me.”

  “You mean you don’t want to be the fourth dead P.I. on his resumé?” she asked.

  “Exactly. He seems to attract misfortune and that’s the last thing I need.”

  “I didn’t realize you were superstitious, Alec.”

  I shrugged. “Maybe a little. Sometimes it pays to err on the side of caution.”

  Amy nodded. “I guess I can’t argue with that.”

  The three of us unpacked the snack food and loaded it onto plates, dishes, and bowls which we placed on the kitchen table along with the bottles of beer.

  Felicity came into the room. She was wearing jeans and a black blouse and had obviously spent time on her hair and makeup. I looked down at my flannel shirt and T-shirt, which were still damp from the rain and sighed. I should have changed into something more appropriate for a party. I didn’t want Felicity’s memory of me to be of a scruffy guy in wet clothes with unkempt hair.

  “Thank you for doing this,” she said, smiling. “It makes me feel apprec
iated.”

  “You are appreciated,” I told her. “I don’t know what I’d have done without you these past few months.”

  “Likewise,” she said. “You’ve taught me so much about being a P.I.”

  “I’m not sure about that. I may have taught you what not to do.”

  She laughed lightly. “You know that isn’t true.”

  Carlton Carmichael stuck his head around the door. “The policeman outside said I should come right in, I hope that’s okay.” His eyes found Felicity and he went to her, hand outstretched. “Miss Lake, congratulations on your new position within the Society. I’m Carlton Carmichael, your replacement.”

  “Oh.” Felicity shook his hand, seemingly taken aback by Carlton’s presence. I guessed that, like me, she hadn’t expected her replacement to arrive so quickly. “Hello, Carlton, it’s nice to meet you,” she said, quickly recovering—at least outwardly—from her shock. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy working with Alec and his team.”

  “I’m sure I will,” he agreed. “And I must commend you on your case reports. I’ve read through many of them and they are quite impressive.”

  “Thanks,” Felicity said. “Hopefully they’ll bring you up to speed on what’s going on around here. Are you hoping to become a P.I. yourself?”

  “Oh, no, not at all. The office is my battleground and the only thing I fight is the paperwork.”

  Merlin appeared at the kitchen door and announced, “The remaining two members of the Scooby Gang have arrived.” With a flourish of his arms, he indicated Leon and Michael, who were standing next to him.

  “Yeah, err, thanks for the introduction,” Leon said. He went to Felicity and hugged her. “I’m so sorry you’re leaving. I’m going to miss you but I’m happy for you too.”

  “Thank you, Leon,” Felicity said, holding him tight.

  “Congratulations on your new appointment, Miss,” Michael said.

  Felicity released Leon and hugged Michael. “Thank you.”

  “Maybe we should move into the living room,” I said. “Everyone grab a beer and some food. The paper plates are over there.”

  Everyone moved toward the table and began filling their plates.

  When we were all settled in the living room, Felicity, who had remained standing, said, “There are some things I need to tell you all regarding what you’ll be facing when you lift the curse. I’ve researched the subject quite extensively, especially during the last few weeks, and now that I’m leaving, I need to pass on everything I’ve learned.”

  Everyone sat forward attentively.

  “Rekhmire was the high priest of Heliopolis during the reign of Amenhotep the Third” Felicity began. “Amenhotep was the ninth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty and ruled Egypt from approximately 1386 to 1349 BC. A sorceress named Tia was part of Amenhotep’s court. She cast spells and enchantments and used her power of prophecy for Amenhotep. It seems that Rekhmire, the priest, became jealous of Tia’s closeness to the Pharaoh.”

  She took a swallow of beer before continuing. “Eventually, Rekhmire’s jealousy consumed him so much that he decided to destroy both the sorceress and the Pharaoh by using dark magic. A jubilee was held to celebrate 30 years of Amenhotep’s rule and the festivities took place at the Pharaoh’s summer palace in Western Thebes. At the hour of midnight, during the jubilee celebrations, Rekhmire murdered Tia and cut out her heart. He magically sealed her heart into a box of gold and silver that came to be known as the Box of Midnight.”

  I felt Mallory’s body stiffen beside me on the sofa. I looked over at her. She was staring at the floor in front of her feet, taking long, slow breaths. Beads of sweat covered her face.

  “Are you okay?” I whispered to her.

  She turned to me and for a moment didn’t seem to recognize me. Then she nodded. “It’s just this story. I’ve seen Tia’s murder played out in my head over and over and it gets to me every time.”

  That was understandable. Tia’s spirit inhabited Mallory’s body so it was possible that their emotions were intertwined in some way.

  “Are you all right, Mallory?” Felicity asked, a concerned look on her face.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” Mallory said. “Please, continue.”

  “Okay,” Felicity said uncertainly. “Rekhmire also fashioned a staff with which he could channel magical power from the box and raise the dead. He raised an undead army and attempted to destroy Amenhotep. He failed. Amenhotep’s soldiers were victorious in the battle that ensued and Rekhmire went into exile. At that point he disappears from the history books.”

  She cast a worried glance at Mallory, who still seemed to be going through an internal struggle to control her emotions.

  Mallory noticed the pause and said, “Don’t worry about me.”

  “My parents are Egyptologists,” Felicity said, “While I was at their house, I discovered some references to the curse that was placed on the box of Midnight, the curse that states that anyone who destroys the heart inside the box will only have one year left to live. It’s called the Heart Curse and there’s a painting on the wall of Amenhotep’s tomb that depicts Rekhmire creating the box. At least, that’s what all the Egyptologists and historians have always believed. I think they’re wrong and the painting shows something else entirely.”

  She paused to drink more beer. “The painting is believed to show a ritual known as the Sealing of the Heart. I found a description of the painting in a book called Wonders of the Tombs, written by a man named Charles Walpole in the 1930s. Walpole described the painting as showing a priest removing a heart from a person and placing it inside a magical box.”

  Felicity cast a quick glance at Mallory before continuing. “In my father’s study, I found a photograph of the painting. It shows a man standing face to face with a mummy. On the floor between them is a box and the man is holding a heart. Walpole had mistakenly assumed this image showed the heart being removed from the mummy. But the Heart Curse requires a living heart and a living heart can’t be taken from a mummy. So I believe the heart in the painting has been removed from the box and the man is about to place it inside the mummy. It’s the reverse of what everyone thinks the painting shows but it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

  She drained her beer bottle before adding, “I think the painting shows how to lift the curse. The heart has to be placed back into the mummified body of the person it came out of. In this case, that’s Tia, the sorceress.”

  Mallory doubled over, clutched her stomach, and let out a low moan. Her hair fell over her face, obscuring it completely, but I guessed that there would be hieroglyphs pushing against the skin of her cheeks and forehead, the same as I’d seen when we were being questioned by the Shadow Watch agents in Bangor.

  “I will have vengeance,” Mallory whispered in a strained voice that was not her own. “Rekhmire must die for what he did to me.”

  “Mallory,” I said, placing a hand gently on her shoulder. “Don’t let Tia’s emotions consume you.”

  She lifted her head to face me. As I’d suspected, her skin was raised in the shape of various hieroglyphs. The irises of her eyes—which were usually hazel in color—had turned black and melded with her pupils.

  She shrugged my hand away and said, “Rekhmire must be destroyed.”

  “We’re working on it,” I told her.

  “No,” she said. “You are talking. Not killing. Not destroying.”

  “It isn’t that simple. We have to find him first.”

  She let out a frustrated grunt and picked up a marker from the coffee table. Then she went to the wall and began drawing on it.

  “I don’t think you should be doing that,” Carlton told her. “This house belongs to the Society of Shadows. You shouldn’t vandalize Society property.”

  “Let her do what she has to do,” I said. If my hunch was right, she was going to draw the same two pillars and hieroglyphs she’d scrawled on the wall of Mallory’s hotel room. Maybe she’d explain what they meant too.

&nbs
p; She drew the exact same thing she’d drawn on the hotel room wall and turned to face me, pointing at the symbols and the two pillars with her finger. “This is how we find him.”

  “What does it mean?”

  Instead of answering, she stumbled forward in a faint. Felicity caught her and laid her down on the carpet.

  Mallory’s eyes flickered open. They were back to their normal color.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  She nodded, pushing herself up from the floor. “Tia takes over sometimes. I could feel her power rising every time Felicity mentioned Rekhmire’s name. She’s fuelled by her pure hatred for him.”

  “I just hope her hatred will help us when we come face to face with him,” I said as she resumed her seat next to me on the sofa.

  “What just happened?” Carlton asked.

  “I’ll explain later,” I told him.

  “Sorry for the interruption, Felicity,” Mallory said.

  Felicity smiled at her. “No problem. It wasn’t your fault.” She inspected the lotus pillars that were scrawled onto the wall and traced her fingers over some of the hieroglyphs.

  “Do you know what it means?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “I’d have to carry out some further research, which I obviously can’t do now that I’m leaving.” She turned to Carlton. “I’ll leave this in your hands.”

  My new assistant nodded. “As you say, it will take some time to interpret the hieroglyphs.”

  “I can see from first glance that the name of the Egyptian god Khonsu is mentioned in there a few times,” Felicity said.

  Carlton nodded. “Yes, it is.”

  “Khonsu is the ancient Egyptian god of the moon,” Felicity said, turning to address the room. “His name means “traveler” so perhaps this message and these pillars are part of a ritual that concerns traveling.”

  “Probably,” Carlton agreed.

  “The lotus designs on the pillars and these specific symbols remind me of something I’ve seen before,” Felicity said.

  Carlton nodded knowingly. “Yes, me too. I’ve definitely seen them somewhere before.”

  Maybe my new assistant was trying to make a good first impression by appearing knowledgeable but the lack of substance behind what he was saying was having the opposite effect. He hadn’t offered anything new to the conversation and was simply parroting Felicity’s words.