by Gigi Pandian
“What are the police doing now?” I asked.
“Unfortunately,” Feisal said, “I believe they’re now focusing their attention on Izzy, because of his background.”
“But that’s all in the past,” Daniella said.
“The police don’t see it that way.”
“It wasn’t his fault,” Daniella said. “It was a moment of weakness years ago. Everyone deserves a second chance.”
“I don’t believe he’s guilty either,” Feisal said. “I wouldn’t have employed him as security if I felt different than you, Daniella.”
“I know,” Daniella said.
Feisal’s eyes were downcast. “I only hope I’ll be here to have a job for him once this mess is over. My father never wanted me to stay in this country. He wanted me to learn what I could here, but return home. Home. Such a strange word. Even if I lose my business, Britain is my home. If I lose the money from the chess set, I can rebuild my business. But if I am presumed guilty of this thing I didn’t do…”
“You don’t mean you could be deported?” I said.
“I’m a permanent resident,” Feisal said. “But I don’t know what would happen if I were to be found guilty of a crime.”
“Don’t worry,” Clayton said. “We all know you didn’t have anything to do with this. The police will see that. Shall we find that tea and leave police matters to the police?”
“I don’t want to drink any tea!” Daniella said. Her distressed, bulging eyes reminded me of the rook chess piece who was biting his shield. The bartender gave her a sharp look.
“Feisal,” Clayton said. “Even if the ladies don’t want tea, how about you and I have a cuppa?”
Daniella and I followed the two men out of the bar. Clayton and Feisal left the hotel, a sea of heads turning in their wake. Daniella wanted to stay at the hotel to wait for Astrid and Izzy, so we found a spot in the corner of the lobby with a good view of the front doors.
“What am I going to do?” Daniella asked.
“Clayton is probably right that the police will get to the bottom of this,” I said.
“You don’t understand, Jaya. The police will be biased against Izzy.”
“With what you told us about the crime,” I said, “I might have an idea.”
“You do?” She wiped a tear from her cheek.
“I know someone who might be able to help. He thinks…differently than the police.”
“Differently?”
“He creates seemingly impossible situations for a living.”
“Please, Jaya. Anything that could help, please do it.”
I pulled my phone from my bag and sent a text message to Sanjay.
Sanjay dissected the seemingly impossible acts of other magicians all the time, and this theft reminded me of such an illusion. If Sanjay could figure out how a thief and chess set vanished, he could help prove it wasn’t one of the people involved in the play who’d stolen the set. It looked like Daniella was close to a nervous breakdown about Izzy being persecuted. I couldn’t enjoy a relaxing vacation when my friend was convinced an innocent man would go to jail.
Beyond Daniella’s worries, an image of Feisal’s frightened eyes stuck in my mind. I hated to think about him losing his business and being forced to leave the place he thought of as home.
I’m named Jaya Anand Jones after my great-great uncle Anand, the first of the Indian side of my family to come to the United States in the early 1900s. I’d heard countless heroic stories about him from my mom when I was a kid. Like Anand, Feisal had created a life for himself in a new country, and had been willing to take a chance on someone he believed in.
Daniella bit her lip. “Do you really think your friend will be able to help?” she asked.
“I’m not sure, but it’s worth a try.” A text message flashed on my screen. “Sanjay texted me back that he’ll come over to the hotel as soon as he can.”
“Who’s Sanjay?” a female voice asked.
“Jaya’s friend.” Daniella gave Astrid a hug and clung to her for several seconds. “What’s going on?”
Astrid gave a graceful shrug. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she worked as a model in addition to being an actress.
“Izzy will be along shortly,” Astrid said.
“They’re not holding him?” Daniella asked.
“He couldn’t have done it,” Astrid said.
“Thank God the police came to their senses about this being an inside job,” Daniella said.
“I didn’t say that,” Astrid said. “Come, let’s go outside. I need a cigarette.”
“How can they have cleared the four of us but still say it’s an inside job?” Daniella asked as we left the lobby.
The sidewalk outside was even more crowded than the hotel—full of street performers and people in town for the festival—but it felt like a different world outside in the fresh air.
“Who said they cleared us?” Astrid said. “They told you the same thing, that we were to remain available? That means we’re all still under suspicion. All of us except for Izzy.”
“Can someone please tell me what on earth this Izzy did?” I asked.
Astrid tilted her head back to blow out a puff of smoke. “Of course Daniella wouldn’t tell you,” she said. “She’s sweet on Izzy.”
“Just because I think he deserves a second chance,” Daniella said, “doesn’t mean I have a thing for him.” She blushed as she spoke the words.
“He used to be a policeman,” Astrid said. “He was caught taking bribes.”
“One bribe,” Daniella snapped. “A weak moment, when his wife was dying of cancer and needed extra care.”
Astrid rolled her eyes. “A lot of people agree with her,” she said to me. “He hasn’t had a problem finding private security gigs. Feisal loves him, and not just because he’s such a big guy that he can either scare away or beat up anyone out to steal Feisal’s antiques. Oh, and that big size of his?” she turned back to Daniella. “That’s why he’s off the hook.”
“They found how the thief got out?” she asked.
“That’s what they implied,” Astrid said. “Didn’t they ask you about how tall you were, Daniella?”
“They did,” Daniella said, “but I didn’t think anything of it.”
“Well, I asked. They were trying to figure out which of us could have gotten out through the window. Izzy is the only one of us who’s obviously too big to have gotten out that way.”
“But the suite was five floors up.”
Astrid shrugged. “There has to have been some way out. It’s not as if it was magic.”
SEVEN
In spite of the fact that Sanjay’s show premiered that night, he left his theater to meet us outside the hotel.
“A locked room,” Sanjay said after he greeted us, already wearing his tuxedo. “How could I resist?”
“That’s all you care about?” Daniella said. “The puzzle? This is my life.”
Sanjay frowned.
“Finally,” Astrid said. “Someone who says what they really mean.” She smiled seductively at Sanjay.
“Of course that’s not all I care about,” Sanjay said.
“Sanjay’s magic show opens tonight,” I said. “Shall we get down to business?”
“Which is what, exactly?” Daniella asked.
“Let’s go over everything you two know,” Sanjay said.
“What, you’re like one of those fake psychic detectives on television?” Astrid asked. “You can pick out some minuscule detail the police missed?”
Sanjay’s shoulders visibly tensed and his eyes narrowed.
“I make my living as a magician and escape artist,” he said slowly. “I have never failed in any escape I’ve attempted, and I have come up with challenges even Houdini never dreamed of. I can free myself from anything anyo
ne can construct. You seem to have an impossible escape. Do you want my help or not?”
Sanjay wasn’t known for his modesty.
“We do,” Daniella said quickly.
Astrid shrugged.
I went over the basics of who was involved with Fool’s Gold and the chess set.
“None of us were here at the hotel when the theft took place,” Daniella added, “so I’m not sure what more we can tell you.”
“Where were you?” Sanjay asked.
“Astrid and I were together,” Daniella said. “Jaya was there, too.”
“I suppose the police have the hotel room roped off as a crime scene,” Sanjay said. “Whose room is it?”
“It’s a suite we’re sharing,” Daniella said. “Feisal and Izzy are sharing one of the bedrooms, and Astrid and I are in the second bedroom of the suite. I suppose we’ll all need new rooms tonight.” She paused and shook her head. “All these rooms have high-end safes in them, that’s why Feisal selected this hotel. It was supposed to be the safest place to keep the chess set when we weren’t using it on stage for a performance. We rehearsed with a regular chess set painted gold and silver.”
“Who knew the chess set would be in the hotel room safe?” Sanjay asked.
“Only the four of us,” Daniella said. “Me, Astrid, Feisal, and Izzy. That must be why the police think it was one of us.”
Astrid gave a short laugh. “It wouldn’t have been difficult to figure out, would it? Anyone who saw the advertisements about the famous chess set appearing in our show would have known the set had to be locked up somewhere. It’s not like we’re in disguise when we return to the hotel. We’ve been here for days. And we used our real names to register.”
“That’s not true,” Daniella said. “I mean, it’s true we’ve been here for days and used our real names, but nobody would have guessed the set was in the hotel room. Feisal made a big deal about pretending to give it to the hotel staff to put it in the hotel’s bigger main safe. Anyone paying attention to us would have thought the set was in that safe, not the room safe.”
“You mean there’s a duplicate fake chess set in the hotel’s safe?” Sanjay asked.
“Exactly.” Daniella rubbed her eyes, smearing her eye makeup even more. “I’m making this worse, aren’t I? Making it seem like it has to be one of us. Feisal gave the front desk a spray-painted fake set, just like the one we’re using in our rehearsals. The set’s in a box, so unless someone tried to steal it they wouldn’t even get a close enough look to know it was fake.”
“Interesting,” Sanjay said. He placed his fingertips together in an overstated show of thoughtfulness, as if he were performing. “I need to get back to the theater to get ready for my show. Don’t you want to walk me out, Jaya?”
“What are you talking about?” I said. “We’re already outside.”
“Don’t be dense,” Astrid said. “He wants to talk with you in private. We’ll be inside.” She stubbed out her cigarette.
“You gotta love the French,” Sanjay said after they’d gone inside.
“What couldn’t you say in front of them?” I asked. “They didn’t steal the set. They have alibis. You heard them. They were together.”
“Do you want my cape?” Sanjay asked, pulling a thin red cape from an inner pocket of his tuxedo jacket. “You look like you’re freezing to death.”
“I wouldn’t say no to the jacket.”
Sanjay hesitated.
“What?” I said. “You don’t trust me with one of your customized magic act jackets?”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you…”
“Never mind,” I said, ignoring the goose bumps I felt under my sweater. This was what passed as summertime in Scotland? “I’m fine.”
“Anyway,” Sanjay said, tucking the thin cape back into his pocket, “all their alibis prove is that they didn’t act alone. Any combination of people could be in on it together and even with alibis could have hired someone to steal the set for them.”
“Someone who can disappear into thin air,” I cut in.
“We’ll get to that,” Sanjay said. “Daniella seems genuinely upset. She’s a wreck.”
“She is an actress,” I admitted. “But I don’t think she’s acting. Why would she ask for our help if she’s guilty?”
“Agreed,” Sanjay said.
“Why didn’t you ask more questions?” I said. “I thought you were all about the details?”
“I am,” Sanjay said. “But I can’t get into that room right now, and I’m not the one who’s going to be able to get any useful details from Daniella. You are. She trusts you. You should stay with her.”
“She’s going to a festival gala tonight.”
“Can you go to with her?”
“I have an invitation, but I’m coming to your show tonight.”
“I’ve got nine more performances after tonight,” he said. “It’s more important that you find out everything you can about what Daniella knows. She’ll feel more comfortable with you, especially once she’s out drinking.”
“You’re saying you want me to take my friend out to a gala at a castle and get her drunk.”
“You’ve got a rough life, Jaya, but somebody has to do it.”
EIGHT
Sanjay left and I went back inside. I maneuvered through the still-crowded lobby. A man with a shiny bald head was talking with Daniella and Astrid. I guessed this was Izzy. He was large and muscular, and held himself like someone aware of his surroundings.
“I didn’t do this,” he was saying to Daniella. He put an awkward hand on her shoulder, hesitating for a moment as if unsure if he should follow through and give her a hug. “I swear to you.”
“I know,” she said.
Izzy squeezed her shoulder, then dropped his arm. Daniella’s face fell. She smiled a moment later when she saw me.
“This is Jaya,” Daniella said, introducing me to Izzy. “A friend who’s in town for my show. She’s staying here at the same hotel. Thought we’d have more time to hang out together that way.” She gave a bitter laugh. “I suppose that worked out, though not as I imagined.”
Izzy gave me a vigorous handshake and looked at me squarely with bright blue eyes. “Good to meet you,” he said.
“Why don’t you tell her the truth, Izzy?” Astrid said. “That it’s not nice to meet her, because you’d rather be anywhere but here.”
I tried to stop myself from smiling. Astrid was brash, but she was right. All of these English guys were so proper they’d be sure to pop at some point if they didn’t let out their frustrations.
“Leave it to you, Astrid,” Izzy said, “to make a bad situation even more uncomfortable.”
“I’m going back outside to have another cigarette,” Astrid said. “The three of you can stand around exchanging fake pleasantries for the rest of the afternoon. Jaya, it’s been real. Really awful.”
As Astrid turned and walked out, several male heads turned and watched her.
“She’s not normally like that,” Daniella said once Astrid was gone. “It’s the stress of what’s happened.”
“Yes, she is,” Izzy said. He sighed, his large shoulders swaying close to Daniella. I could have sworn I saw her give him a longing glance, but it only lasted a second.
“Don’t worry about me,” I said.
I felt like a third wheel, but I knew I couldn’t leave. Sanjay was right that I should stay with Daniella if I wanted to help her and Feisal. The two shy lovebirds could figure things out once the theft of the chess set was resolved.
Besides, I wasn’t feeling especially generous when it came to other people’s romances, since my own recent year-long relationship had ended only a couple months before. I wouldn’t exactly say I was bitter. Well…Who was I kidding? I was bitter. This was the start of a new phase of my life. It wasn’t being alo
ne that bothered me; I’m used to being on my own. It wasn’t even worrying about whether I could pull it off. I was a damn good historian. No, what left me apprehensive was that everything in my life was new. A new home, a new career as a professor of history, the start of a new life.
“What did the police tell you, Izzy?” I asked, bringing myself back to the present.
“Not much. They were awfully keen on me at first, but then they found out something else that made them think I didn’t do it. There’s no way I could fit through the window. They think it’s you, Astrid, or Feisal.”
“They still think one of us did this?” Daniella asked.
“There was no forced entry into the room,” Izzy said.
“Surely that’s a mistake.” Daniella’s voice grew agitated as she spoke.
“What about the window?” I asked. “If someone got out that way, couldn’t they have gotten in that way too?”
“We were the only ones who knew the chess set was there in our suite,” Izzy said.
“You remember how tiny those windows were,” Daniella said. “Maybe it was one of the acrobats from one of the other performances.” Her face lit up at the idea.
Izzy’s gaze lingered on Daniella’s with fondness. “I wish it was,” he said. “But there’s no way around it. I agree with them. It has to have been one of us.”
NINE
I didn’t have time to go shopping for a dress. I didn’t think my jeans and black sweater, or my new leggings and florescent pink t-shirt, would be appropriate attire for a fundraising gala for the arts.
It was less than thirty minutes before Daniella said we had to leave. Daniella hadn’t been allowed back into her suite, but her luggage was cleared and returned to her, so she had moved into the room of a performer she knew with an extra bed in a different hotel. I hadn’t thought about asking her to borrow a dress until she was already gone.
