The Curious Case of the Cursed Dagger (Curiosity Shop Cozy Mysteries Book 3)

by Constance Barker

  "But what..."

  "You're welcome, Cecelia," she said and hung up.

  "Who was that?" Clarence asked, coming into the shop.

  I turned and faced him. I thought about lying for a moment, then decided that was a bad idea. "It was Lila."

  That stunned him for a moment. Despite her deviousness, in a general way, I understood her attraction for him. She was tall, mysterious, and slinky in a way that men seemed to find sexy. Maybe her devious ways even added to her allure for Clarence. Although he came across as a tiny bit uptight, sometimes he surprised me by embracing the bizarre and extraordinary. "Where is she?"

  "I don’t know. She only told me where she's been and that she’s moved on. She thinks we need to make a road trip and follow in her footsteps."

  "To where?"

  "Traverse."

  He made a face then twisted his lips. "Boring. Will she meet us there?"

  "Honestly, Clarence, I have no idea what she is doing. I have no idea why she took off or any other answers about Lila, but she implied that she was moving on."

  He was disappointed. "Why should we take a road trip then?"

  "She thinks she came across evidence of an artifact at work in Traverse."

  The best part of that news was that it took his attention off Lila for a moment. "Wow.” He smiled. “I’ve got a certain prejudice. Somehow, artifacts being in a place like Las Vegas makes some sense too. But we seem to uncover more than our fair share in small towns around here and that doesn’t seem right."

  "The abundance around here is probably because Walter tossed a few out to do their mischief after he left here with the objects he stole from Uncle Mason.” The Cabal, or some of it, was intent on leaving artifacts to be found and used by the unwitting. Walter was a true believer in sharing the wealth, no matter the cost. Not only did it spread chaos, it helped cover his tracks.

  “So we go check it out?” he asked.

  “I think we need to. It involves murders.”

  “With an ‘s’?”

  “Yes, plural mayoral murder.”

  He licked his lips. “Nothing better than alliterative mayhem.”

  “It’s speculation at the moment. I guess we have to get over there to find out if this is the real deal."

  He held up a finger. "Let's not rush off half cocked. Let's pause and think for a moment.”

  “And do what?”

  “Why don’t we do a little research about the town. I mean, I've been there a few times, but I don't know anything about it really. It wouldn't hurt to know the town's history and have some data about it before we lock up the shop and get going. Besides, it’s late in the day. We could leave in the morning, all fresh."

  I was, as always, impatient. My first impulse was what I called the fireman response—the alarm goes off and you hit the trail, but Clarence was making a great deal of sense and I needed to listen to him. We were a team and it would be good to balance our natures. "You're absolutely right."

  "I am?" His smile told me that he was enjoying being appreciated more.

  "You get online and see what you can learn; I'll call Enid and tell her about Lila's call, and about the artifact. Maybe she even knows something about an artifact that kills town mayors."

  His eyes dilated. "How many murders, mademoiselle?" He was still having fun being alliterative.

  "Lila didn’t know much more than that that there was a ‘string’ of them – her word. Because they were all stabbed to death, the circumstances struck Lila as being suspiciously like the work of an artifact." I saw the look he was giving me. "That's all I know until we get there. Even if she knew more, Lila was rather vague and cheap with details."

  He sighed. "She does like being mysterious," he said.

  If he'd been talking about a man I would've taken that as a criticism of him. But he was talking about Lila and his voice got dreamy. That wasn't a particularly good thing. I had no reason to be jealous or even care what he thought of her, but I found myself hoping that the wench would keep on going wherever she was headed, to some other con, and not be lurking around when we got to Traverse. Having her around would distract Clarence just when I needed him to focus.

  "If mayors were killed, there should be plenty of background information available in news stories about the murders," he said.

  "Then off you go," I told him. "Collect the data while I see what Enid knows, put gas in the car. When I get back you can tell me what you’ve learned."

  “And vice versa. Bring beer.”

  Chapter Four

  The time Clarence spent on his computer checking out the town of Traverse while I was gone was not wasted. "This is not a recent phenomenon. Over the last fifty years, Traverse has had thirteen mayors killed in office," he told me. "Each of them killed by his closest associate or friend on March 15th."

  "The Ides of March," I said, feeling a shiver run through me.

  "You know I checked on that and, until Caesar's assassination, that day was best known, at least in Rome, as the day for settling debts."

  "Debt collection day?"

  "Yup."

  "So I guess that our old pal Brutus had a sense of poetry about him even before Shakespeare got a hold of him."

  "It would seem thus," Clarence said, grinning. "According to what I read, historians say the date marks the change from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. And that’s curious.”

  “Why?”

  “Didn’t Caesar start the Empire?”

  I smiled. My background wasn’t that strong concerning the period, but I had studied it in more depth than you usually get after a quick glance at Wikipedia. “No, he was part and parcel of the Republic. The Empire was established by Octavian after the civil war that his assassination provoked.... although absolutely no death stars were involved."

  "And to think that before this I always thought the Ides of March just had some significance relating to bad luck."

  "Well, it was bad luck for Julius Caesar."

  He grinned. "Point taken. And for people who owed money."

  “Them too. So I wonder what does the date mean to people in Traverse?"

  Clarence smirked. “Kill the mayor day?” he asked.

  “Alternative voting day?” I was enjoying the playful banter, but then, suddenly, the name resonated oddly in me making my stomach twist in a painful knot.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  I saw him looking at me and realized my feelings must’ve been showing in my face. "I was thinking of a clever comeback... but then the name of the town, or something it conjures up, popped into my head. It gave me an eerily familiar feeling. It’s as if I've been there, but I don't know the place, yet..."

  “I can feel it too,” Edgar said, yawning. “But I get that feeling a lot.”

  "I think the words you used, ‘conjures up’ pretty much says it all," Clarence said. "I’d think it was just something you read and couldn’t remember, but if these killings are the work of an artifact it must be powerful."

  "So you think I could sense it from here?”

  “You might. Maybe you are developing an ability. Edgar has it.”

  “Not at this range,” Edgar said. “I could certainly sense an artifact if we were in the same town, although I’d need to be paying attention. I’m sure she’s onto something else, reacting to something besides an artifact.”

  “Well, when we get to town, finding the artifact, sensing it is going to be your job,” I said. “My feeling is just a gut wrenching wrongness or unease. It doesn’t seem to come from a specific thing or direction.”

  “An idea,” Edgar said.

  “And yet, somehow it is tied to this artifact,” Clarence said.

  “What makes you think that.”

  “Lila is no dummy and she suspects one. Besides what else would produce that all too strange series of murders? This might be a quite different artifact than any we’ve encountered before."

  Edgar faded slightly, then seemed to get ahold of himself. “T
hat’s not a happy thought.”

  “No, it isn’t.”

  Clarence pointed to a printout of his research. “What’s strange is the cyclical nature of the crimes. All of them were solved, by the way. Justice was done. In every case, the murderer confessed. And they were all committed in the mayor’s office. If an artifact was lying around, you’d expect someone to pick it up and go somewhere else with it. If not to another town, they’d at least take it home with them.”

  I didn’t need more complexity in my life right then. “Even stranger. Although maybe part of the curse involves taking it back to a specific spot to make the kill.”

  "That’s possible. My point was just that, once again, this sense of conjuring something up, becomes the norm. It seems to be the case in all our adventures lately.”

  Edgar chuckled. “Well, what did you expect when you started chasing after cursed objects with a ghost in tow? You can’t complain that things are the way they used to be.”

  Clarence smiled. “That’s true enough, I suppose.” He turned to me. “Did Enid have any ideas about what the artifact might be?"

  "Not really. She is mulling it over and suggested that we drop by before we leave and talk this through."

  "And you are good with that?"

  “With talking to Enid? Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “I didn’t mean that. I wondered if you were good with waiting and taking that step and not rushing off into the breach.”

  I smiled. "Yes. Maybe I'm getting more cautious."

  He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "And maybe it has something to do with Lila being involved in this."

  I didn't realize it until he mentioned it, but her involvement did bother me. But I didn’t want him to know that. "Of course not. Don't be silly. She isn’t involved, she just reported it."

  He smiled. "I like her, but even I know that if she tells us about an artifact, she will have her own reasons. And we don’t know that she is not involved."

  He was right and that thought had been nagging at me, even if it took Clarence saying so to let me see it. "You’re right, so we better assume she isn’t out of the picture."

  He considered that then looked serious. "And try to find out whose side she might be on." Then he gave me a broad grin. "But then, everything is in flux, isn’t it? We are dealing with cursed objects after all."

  Edgar laughed. "Or at least we think we might possibly be dealing with them. Or not."

  "The uncertainty keeps it interesting," I said.

  "Keep telling yourself that," Clarence said.

  UNFORTUNATELY, WHEN we arrived at Enid’s, we learned that she had come up empty. "I don't have a clue what it might be," she said. Her unhappiness was plain on her face as she sat down a plate of sugar cookies and then poured three cups of chamomile tea. "I looked through Mason’s journal carefully.” Uncle Mason had a book where he’d recorded what he knew about artifacts and we’d entrusted it to her. It was often handy to be able to call her from a hunt and have her look something up.

  “No weapons or bureaucrat hating artifacts?” Clarence asked.

  “Oh there are all sorts of artifacts intended to throw off oppression, but nothing that makes sense here. I reviewed the entire list but nothing rang a bell, nor gave me a tremor. There was no mention of anything related to murdering mayors. None of the objects in the journal was tied to serial killings of any kind. Not overtly, anyway."

  "Would he necessarily mention that?" Edgar asked.

  "That's a fair question, but despite the rather sketchy descriptions of some of the artifacts, that strikes me as a characteristic that would be rather worth mentioning," Enid said. “But do remember that these are only the ones Mason knew about and got around to writing about.”

  "And, to be fair,” Clarence said, “your Uncle Mason, didn't put in a lot of useful information about some of the objects he put in the book. Most of it is just notes, apparently for his own reference. At least it seems that way to me. So, even if it called out a Mayor-murdering artifact in Traverse, it wouldn’t necessarily tell us anything that would help."

  He was right, but even so, this entire absence of information didn't seem right to me. There was a void sitting in front of us with no reason to be there. "And yet, it seems like there should be something, some information."

  "Why do you say that?" Clarence asked. "Do you think we overlooked something?"

  "No. It’s just that there is knowledge...” I waved my hand, “...around us. I feel it." I couldn't put it any more bluntly. "It's in the back of my mind, a humming, an irritation, a feeling that I should know what it is. It's lurking there like the name of a song I can't quite remember, or an actor's name. This feeling of the truth being just out of reach is driving me nuts."

  "I do understand,” she said.

  “You do?” Clarence asked. “I don’t.”

  Enid put her hands in her lap and looked at me. “I've been feeling like that myself. Exactly that way. Ever since you called me and told me the story of what has been happening in Traverse, I've had a strong and uneasy sense of familiarity associated with all this. I've never been to that town, and I'm not sure if I've heard of this artifact before and forgotten what I knew, or if it's something else entirely. Still..."

  "Neither is good," Clarence said. "If you knew what it was and can't remember, that could mean you wanted to forget it."

  "It's deja vu all over again," Edgar said, and we all stared at him. "What?"

  Clarence scowled. "You aren't trying to make us believe you thought that was original, right?"

  Edgar scowled. "Fine. It was the first time I said it. You just weren’t around to hear it."

  "Back on topic...” Enid said, frowning at Edgar, “...when I think of the artifact, when I try to think of it, it's almost like something prevents me from focusing on it clearly. Something distracts me or obscures it.” Then she gave me a broad smile. “Ah well, the world of hunting artifacts is frequently like that."

  "Like what?" Edgar asked.

  "Filled with new and unsettling sensations. This feeling... well, as Edgar joked, there is the possibility that we have done all this before."

  I didn't like the sound of that. "If we'd done this before, wouldn't we remember?"

  "I have no idea how it would be. If we've done it before, then some other things have happened, things that alter time, or confuse our perception of it, at least."

  "So is there another artifact out there now as well?" Clarence asked. "One that messes with time?"

  “I don’t know, Clarence. We are talking feelings here, not facts that we can analyze.”

  "This is confusing," I said. "Are you saying that our uneasiness has something to do with someone changing time?"

  She laughed. "Dearie, as is often the case, I have no earthly idea. I was playing with ideas."

  I wasn't ready to accept that. "I think there is more to it than that, Enid. This kind of speculation, tossing out time distortion thoughts isn't like you. What aren’t you telling us? Are there more time artifacts than the Antiketherium Mechanism? Because that one, the mechanism that Walter tried to alter time with is safely stored in the Grand Storehouse."

  "At least we think it is," Enid said.

  Clarence grabbed my arm. He was concerned. "But that's where we left it.”

  Enid looked away. “People, creatures, move things all the time. They even move time."

  I thought she was getting a bit too far out there. "Well, it's unlikely they've moved that one. And Enid, you’ve never answered my question. Are there any other artifacts that distort time?"

  Enid poured more tea. "It seems likely to me. Why wouldn't there be? There's no law of the universe that says there can't be two of something, or that two things can't have the same general effect."

  Clarence wrapped his arms around himself as if he was cold. "That, Enid, is not in the least comforting."

  "Sorry, Dearie."

  "So you really think someone might be changing time around." />
  "That’s how it feels. I don’t think it or know it. And the issue is that temporal disruptions, as Mason called them, rarely go uncorrected."

  "They change back?"

  "It tries to. The time line is malleable but has memory and wants to return to the way it was. As it shifts back, things can get way out of order at times, or so I'd imagine. I've never seen it myself. Beatrice said something that makes me think she might've experienced that, though."

  "And you didn't ask for details?" I couldn't believe she wasn't more curious.

  "Each experience will be unique, dearie. We are talking about the chronology of lives, after all."

  "This sounds horribly complicated," Clarence said.

  "For once we agree," Edgar said. "My head hurts thinking about it."

  "I suspect it's much better if you don't think about it at all," Enid said. "Especially right now when you have something important to do. I really shouldn't have said a thing."

  "Don’t think about it?" I asked.

  "That is a lot like being told to stand in the corner and not think about polar bears," Clarence said.

  "Or a stupid song," Edgar added.

  "Nonetheless... Now you should go to Traverse and learn the lay of the land. Forget time lines and such and focus on learning what the artifact is that is killing those mayors and who has it. Then get it and put it in one of our shiny new storage boxes. The rest is a distraction."

  I stood up. "It's a pretty serious distraction." Then I took a deep breath. "I don't see anything we can do about it though."

  "Exactly. So don't let it confuse you," Enid said as she walked us to the door. "Whatever you do, don't be confused."

  "That in itself is confusing," Edgar said. "But don't mind me."

  Clarence patted his back. "We never do." As we walked to the car, Enid watched from her door. Clarence moved closer. "Did you think... is it just me or does Enid sound a bit off?"

  "Off?" I asked.

  "Off her rocker. Off center. More than a tad dotty." Edgar said.

  Clarence nodded. "Yes, that's what I mean."

  I shrugged. "I didn't notice anything different today," I said. "She's always seemed eccentric to me. And I think she's got a good excuse for going off on tangents. After all, she and Mason had been doing this, chasing artifacts, a long time. And there is no end in sight, is there? I can imagine that when we've been doing it for ten years, fifteen, maybe fifty years, we will be pretty off center ourselves."