"What is disturbing?” Beatrice asked. “Losing the artifact?"
"Losing the artifact is simply a matter of not accomplishing a mission.” He looked at me again. “I was referring to having feelings," he said calmly. "At least I suspect that's what they are. I haven't had them before. They don’t seem useful. Not at all."
I looked into his eyes. They were dull, but for a moment I saw a flicker of... something. "Who are you, really? Who and what is Belial?"
He turned his head. "I must go now. Mrs. Bentley, Beatrice, will undoubtedly tell you all you need to know and then some. But my presence here is aggravating her so I must leave. I don't wish her to change her mind and decide to put me in the Grand Storehouse." He grimaced. “It’s spooky in there.” He smiled at Edgar. “No offense intended, sir.”
“None taken,” Edgar said stiffly.
"Good luck," I said, wondering why I was saying that.
He stopped and turned back. "Before I go, would you mind terribly passing along a message for me."
"A message? Who is it for?" I couldn't imagine that we had any mutual friends.
"It's for Enid."
"You know Enid?" I hadn't expected that, although why wouldn't they know each other? Enid had been in this game longer than I.
"Sure, I'll give her a message. What is it?"
"Just tell her that I've really missed our talks. They meant a great deal to me." He turned back and walked across the grass, headed for wherever, and ultimately Las Vegas, I imagined.
Chapter Twenty-Four
"Thank goodness he’s gone," Beatrice said.
A moan from the ground startled me. I looked to see that Clarence had opened his eyes and was starting to come around. Albert was still kneeling beside him.
“Welcome back,” Edgar said.
"What happened?" Clarence asked. "I feel like someone clubbed me, beat me unconscious."
Albert shuffled uncomfortably. "I’m afraid that's because that's exactly what happened. I hit you with my fists.”
“It was very dashing, actually,” Beatrice said. “My boy rose to the occasion.”
"Why did you hit me?"
"I did it to keep you from strangling Cecelia." Clarence looked puzzled. "After Bel took the knife away from you, you decided to strangle her. It was going off script, but you were determined."
"Oh. Really? Bel took the knife away?" He was trying to remember. “I thought I cut his hand.”
“Yes,” I said, “but that was the first time he tried for the knife. The second time he did it rather well.”
Albert nodded. "And while I was getting it back from him, you went for Cecelia's throat."
Clarence looked up at me nervously. "Are you all right? Did I hurt you?"
"I'm fine, Clarence.”
“I can’t believe that I...”
“You didn’t. It was all because of the dagger, the artifact we wanted."
"And we have it now," Beatrice said, showing him the box.
"Good," Clarence said, getting up onto his elbow and looking around. "Oh, we're outside. What else did I miss?"
I laughed. "Just the first two acts of the Tragic Death of Julius Caesar as performed by the Traverse impromptu theater."
"She's kidding, right?" Clarence asked weakly.
Just then Billy Walker walked up. "How is the overthrow of the republic versus world domination playoffs going?" he asked. “Is this halftime?”
“Nope, game over. I think we called it a draw,” I told him.
“How’d that happen?”
“We aren’t sure of the details,” I said.
“I’ve forgotten why I wanted to assassinate her,” Clarence said.
“Well you talked more assassination than murder,” Billy said.
“I’m not sure I know the difference,” Beatrice said.
“That’s fine, great even. So here’s a question for you: Are you still interested in being mayor for life?”
“You want me to be mayor for life? Why on earth would you want that?””
"Your friend proposed to the council, threatened them actually, with the idea that they needed to decide between liberty and death." He smiled. "They saw the choice being helping murder you or granting you your job for life. Naturally, being elected officials they haven't done a fool thing since getting the ultimatum. Someone decided it would be better to find out if you'd raised your army already before picking one course or the other. They also decided that as the only paid city employee, I'd be happy to be their spy or front-line war correspondent."
"Her army?" Beatrice laughed.
"I think that was the idea that Clarence had floated," Billy said. "She was going to put the council to death for rising up against her."
“Well, that part of my reign is over.”
“No longer an issue,” Clarence said, “assuming it ever really was. My judgment was... clouded.”
“Well, the more the council thought about it, the better the idea sounded. A mayor doesn’t really have all that much power—one that doesn’t have an army, anyway. They talked about it and started to see the advantage of getting rid of those expensive elections, the idiotic posters that make the town look ugly, and all the bad feelings that come from arguing about things.”
“In short, politics,” I said.
“Right. And they kind of like you, when you aren’t talking about putting them to death, so, when looked at the up and downsides of the idea, well, a benevolent despot for life started to look attractive. And if you’ve resolved the little problem of assassinations...”
“We have,” Beatrice said, clutching the box tightly under her arm. “It’s all boxed up.”
“Excellent. And so what do I tell them?”
“Why did they send you to ask?”
He laughed. “Fear. They didn’t know that the civil war was over. You have to understand that council positions are non-paying, nearly volunteer gigs. The council members are just private citizens doing a public duty. I, on the other hand, am an employee. So I don’t get a choice. Not knowing how things stood, and having decided to embrace the idea, they sent me over here to get the lay of the land, as it were, to find out which way the wind blows, and act out any other cliches I can think of that those cowards might've missed."
"Well, you can tell the town council to rest easy. I don't have an army, have no desire to execute even one of them, and I don't have interest in being the mayor of this lovely town even through tomorrow, much less for life. I'm resigning as of now. I hope that's all right with them. Not that this isn't a wonderful town and all that, but I think I've had enough of running a government to last me a lifetime."
"Given all the new information, I think they'll be happy to accept your resignation, especially in lieu of your death certificate.” He gave me an odd smile. “Although there is an argument to be made that a revolution and coup might have interesting benefits for tourism, our town isn't used to as much excitement as your crew has been bringing to the party."
"So remind the council and the citizens that they better pick the next mayor well," Clarence told him. "Even if you don’t elect them for life, I don't think you can count on him or her being killed in office... not murdered anyway."
"Now that would be a refreshing change," Billy said.
“Do I need to formally resign?” I asked.
“Naw. Why should your term in office end any different, any more regular than it started? The council will just pass a resolution that negates the first one and be done with it. It’ll make them feel powerful again.” He gave me a cautious smile. “Any plans for the immediate future?”
I looked at the others. “I think we need to head home,” I said. “We have unfinished business to attend to.”
“Does the ghost you talk to have anything to do with that?” he asked.
“He’s part of the team, why?”
“I was thinking that if he was interested... a haunted house would be a real moneymaker.”
“Certainly not,” Edga
r said. “Nothing less than a castle would be acceptable if I’m going to play that stupid role.”
“He isn’t interested, and we are rather... inseparable. I’d have to hang around and that might make the local people nervous.”
“It might indeed. Well, I hope you folks enjoyed your short stay in town.”
“Oddly enough, I think I did,” Clarence said.
“You might want to give us a good rating on one of those travel sites when you get home.”
“Sure thing. Meanwhile, I'll go sort things out with the council, get them started on that resolution and let everyone know it’s safe to be mayor again."
“You’d be a good mayor,” I told him. “I doubt you’d want my endorsement, but...”
“I appreciate that.” And off he went.
"We need to review what’s happened," Beatrice said.
I nodded. “That’s a good idea. I, for one, have a lot of questions that really need answers.”
“Then why don’t we meet at Enid’s house. I doubt any one person has a coherent view of what all happened the last few days so we can compare notes."
“Over chamomile tea,” Albert said, chuckling, “and to the scent of lilac and lavender.”
I pointed at the box under Beatrice’s arm. "What about that dagger? Is it safe to transport now?"
“Safer than out of the box,” Beatrice said.
Albert winced. "It's pretty powerful. I wouldn’t trust the box to hold it for long."
"I can sense it through the curse," Edgar said.
I held out my hand. “Well, then, we will load the car and take it straight back and get it tucked away.”
"I think that Albert and I should take it with us," Beatrice said.
“It would be safe with us,” I said.
“You’ll be traveling longer for longer,” Albert said. “That means you’ll be in proximity to it, and you’ve already suffered its effects. Besides, Bel might not be the only agent the Cabal has in the area. They might try for it.”
“So why will it be safer going with you?”
Beatrice smiled. "Because we traveled here via the Grand Storehouse. Even if they sense it, they’ll never know what direction we are traveling and they won’t be able to intercept us.”
Albert smiled. “And since we will be inside, we can hide it in a dark corner of the Grand Storehouse on our way back to Destiny's Point. We know that it will be as safe as an artifact can ever be."
That sounded fine to me. I think the Grand Storehouse, as much as it is a place at all, is about as far away as you can take something. "Okay. I think you taking it is a great idea.”
“Excellent,” Beatrice said.
“Where is the portal you are using?" I asked. Going in and out of the Grand Storehouse usually meant using a regular door hidden somewhere in plain sight. All you needed was a key, the right cursed key. I knew they’d exit through the one in Enid’s spare bedroom in Destiny’s Point.
"It’s in your hotel," Albert said.
“Wow. How did you work that?”
He rolled his eyes. "Wild, isn’t it? It just worked out that way, curiously enough. When Enid called and asked us to get here, we entered through the door to our utility room and the first door we came to brought us right there. Which is lucky.” He bit his lower lip. “Unless, of course, someone planned it that way."
“How would they do that?” Clarence asked. “They’d have to know...”
"I don't think that possibility bears close inspection," Beatrice said. "I feel better off not knowing more about how that works."
Albert grinned. "Then, mom, we will just enjoy the ride back. Maybe those of us who are interested can chat about the possibilities when we are back at Enid’s house."
“Good thinking.”
"I wish we could go with them," a rather translucent Edgar said.
"Why is that, Edgar?" Beatrice said. "I know you like our company, but..."
"He's the only one who thrives in that place," I said. "Last time, before he had to expend his strength fighting Walter, he got almost as substantial as we were."
"It certainly makes me feel good," he said. "Strong and healthy."
"A strong and healthy ghost?" Albert said. "That should be an oxymoron, but probably isn't at all.”
“No?” Clarence asked. “Why not?”
“I’m not sure, but given that we do like Edgar, and he is part of the team, we want him strong and healthy.” He looked up at the ceiling. “Of course, the fact that being in the Grand Storehouse makes Edgar stronger gives me mixed feelings."
"Me too," Edgar said, "and I'm not sure why."
“It seems counterintuitive at best,” Albert said.
It was another in a long list of things I was hoping I’d come to understand with time. Unfortunately, the Grand Storehouse didn’t come with an owner’s manual, even online. An awful lot of the things I had encountered since returning to Destiny’s Point required flying without any instructions whatsoever. All too often, we found ourselves in situations where we had to use a cursed object just to stay alive. It was bothersome that we didn’t know if we were causing problems by doing that.
Of course, every time you used some cursed object, assuming you survived the experience, you learned a thing or two more about how it worked. And since no one seemed to know that much, we stuck with our trial and error approach.
At times like this, I wondered how long we could go on that way. It was a question of how far we could get, relying on accumulated knowledge, without doing serious damage. And sometimes it was bothersome that even our allies didn’t share all they knew. I kept feeling that if they’d each chip in all the pieces of the puzzle they had, we could get a better picture. It wasn’t that they deliberately withheld information as much as a problem that people knew things without realizing that it was a part of the puzzle. They didn’t know you didn’t know whatever they knew.
If you can make sense from that observation, good for you.
As we walked in the front door to the hotel, Albert strode through the lobby and over to an alcove where there was a small janitorial closet. He turned to Beatrice and held out a hand. “This is it,” he said. "The grand entrance."
She pulled out a key that was on a chain around her neck. “I’m ready.”
Albert opened the door and took her hand. "Off we go, then.” He glanced at me. “We will see you back in Destiny's Point." Then he turned back to Beatrice. "Now, Mother, remember that to get to Enid’s you need to step to your right. Our house is to the left."
"Yes, dear," she said. “I do recall that.” And with that, they opened the door and stepped through. As long as you have your key, that's all it takes. They were gone, and I was standing there with my mouth wide open. Not that I was astonished, by any means, but Albert’s statement puzzled me and I’d started to ask a question.
Obviously getting an answer would have to wait until we got home.
“Let’s go home,” I said.
“That sure sounds good to me,” Clarence said. So we went to our room and packed our bags, hauled them down to the lobby and checked out, then we walked to the car.
“I’ll drive,” Clarence said.
“That sounds great,” I said. I was tired of trying to focus, to remember, to clear up the confusions bouncing around my head. I was looking forward to being back in Destiny's Point.
"This is a nice town," Edgar said as we drove slowly past the town hall, heading toward the highway. "Not as nice as Destiny’s Point, but pleasant. Too bad about the local politics."
That made me aware that I knew almost nothing about the politics back home. I didn’t even know who was mayor. Knowing that ratcheted the recent adventures up the irony scale quite a few notches.
"I could say that about most towns," Clarence said as he glared at the building for a moment. “And the politics of cities too. It’s all about power.”
“So are the artifacts,” Edgar said.
“That’s right on target, Edgar. Tha
t’s exactly what they are about. All that magic and cleverness is about little more than power. That’s sad.”
Clarence didn’t say any more; he paid attention to his driving, picking up speed as the buildings became sparse. Soon we were out on the open highway and headed for home. I sat back, closed my eyes and let myself feel the relief creep over me. It was just really dawning on me that we’d done it, acquired the dagger. And, at the same time, I was becoming aware of how close to death I’d come... again.
I’d learned to accept a lot of things in this new life, but I’d never get used to that.
Chapter Twenty-Five
"I’m so glad you are all back safely,” Enid said as she opened the front door of her cottage and invited us inside. “I've been hearing a little bit about your adventures from Beatrice and Albert. Just the ending, of course. It sounds like your trip was both exciting and dangerous."
"That's a good description," I said. “It was dangerous, exciting, and exhausting.”
“But ultimately successful,” Clarence said.
“Beatrice and Albert are in the sitting room having tea,” she said.
“They took the shortcut,” Edgar said.
“They are eager to hear the story from beginning to end, as much as I am I think. So let’s join them. I just made a fresh pot of tea and there are plenty of cookies.” Enid led the way to where Beatrice and her son were sitting on the couch. "I'm excited about hearing your version of what happened."
Beatrice clapped her hands. “It’s so strange to know the very beginning of the tale and the ending, and none of the middle.”
“I’ll be interested to hear it too,” I said.
“But you were there, dear,” Beatrice said.
“The thing is, the power that dagger wielded is enormous, and it affected Clarence and me quite differently. As a result, I’m sure Clarence and I will have rather different stories.”
“Mine is the only one you can trust,” Edgar said.
“For once, that might be true,” I said. “Your version will be biased toward your supernatural side, but it will still probably be more objective than either of ours.”
The Curious Case of the Cursed Dagger (Curiosity Shop Cozy Mysteries Book 3) Page 17
