by Alex Archer
“In one hundred twenty feet, turn left onto West Pico Boulevard, Steven.”
Krauzer was already sailing through the intersection. He missed colliding with a city bus by inches. “You know,” Annja said, “there’s really no rush to find Melanie.”
For a moment, the cool, cocky composure Krauzer displayed evaporated. He curled his left hand into a fist and banged it on the steering wheel.
“Melanie Harp stole from me! She took that scrying crystal because she knew I was going to need it for the scenes today. She’s trying to destroy my film.”
“She probably doesn’t even know the theft has been discovered.” The realization that the scrying crystal was missing had occurred only a little over twenty minutes ago. Since Annja had been hired as an expert on the authenticity of the props, Krauzer had demanded she come with him to find the woman he believed had taken the scrying crystal.
“Ha!” Krauzer reached down and flicked the gearshift, skidding through another corner and nearly locking bumpers with a delivery truck that pulled hastily to the side. “That just goes to show that you might know a lot about anthropology, but you don’t know squat about Hollywood.”
Archaeology.
But she didn’t press the issue, because it would only serve to distract the director. Since she’d been in LA serving as a consultant on his movie, Krauzer hadn’t paid attention to her anyway.
Krauzer hadn’t even known about her show, Chasing History’s Monsters. She’d been requested as a consultant on the film by one of the producers. When Krauzer had discovered she was something of a celebrity herself, he hadn’t been happy. He’d warned her about becoming a distraction to the filming. What he had meant was she shouldn’t steal any of the the director’s thunder.
Chasing History’s Monsters had a large international fan base, and Annja enjoyed doing the show. She strove for actual historical authenticity and audiences responded well to her stories. An elf witch’s scrying stone, however, was off the beaten path for an archaeologist.
“If you check social media,” Krauzer went on, “I’m sure someone has posted about the theft of the elf witch’s scrying crystal. Five minutes after Melanie Harp took that thing, you can bet the whole world knew. No. We’re going to be lucky if she hasn’t left town and gone back to wherever it is she’s from.” He looked at Annja. “Do you know where she’s from?”
“No.”
Krauzer returned his attention to the streets. “I thought you might have known.”
“Why would I know?”
Krauzer shrugged. “She’s a girl. You’re a girl. Girls talk.”
Annja struggled not to take offense at the offhand summation, but it was difficult. She took out her smartphone, entered the security code and studied the viewscreen when it opened up the websites she’d been inspecting.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
“When we found out the scrying crystal was missing, I programmed in some online movie memorabilia sites to see if the prop showed up there. In case Melanie is trying to sell it.”
“The prop? Seriously? Just yesterday you were telling me that we might have a real artifact on our hands. You were begging me for a chance to examine it. Now the elf witch’s scrying crystal is a prop?”
Begging was a strong word. After seeing the crystal briefly in one of the scenes Krauzer had shot the previous day, Annja had been curious about the piece. She wasn’t all that invested in the crystal. She’d wanted to see it, but Krauzer had refused, insisting that the crystal had to be locked up when the filming had finally finished. She’d known the director was deliberately throwing his weight around.
Annja hadn’t lost any sleep over not getting to see the crystal—even if that seriously hampered the job she’d been paid to come here and do!—but the possibility that it might be authentic kept scratching at her mind. Los Angeles—California in general—was a melting pot of the world’s history.
Annja had planned on taking advantage of the movie deal to pursue research into Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the Portuguese explorer who had sailed under a Spanish flag to explore the West Coast of North America. Annja had turned up some rumors on the alt.history and alt.archaeology sites she’d wanted to check out while she was in town. And Doug Morrell, her producer on the television show, had wanted her to investigate sightings of “ghost pirates” he’d heard about on some late-night radio show.
The research she’d done on Cabrillo had actually led to her interest in Krauzer’s so-called prop, but she hadn’t told him that.
And now the scrying crystal had been stolen and might disappear before she got to find out.
“If Melanie took the scrying crystal—” Annja began.
“Which she did!”
“—then she might think of selling it on one of those sites. How much do you think it’s worth?”
Krauzer cursed. “Fans are idiots! Do you remember when that comic-book artist, the guy who drew Spider-Man or something, paid over $3 million for a baseball?”
“That was Mark McGwire’s seventieth home run in the 1998 season.”
“You’re a baseball fan?”
Annja shrugged. “I live in Brooklyn.”
“Baseball. Bunch of guys standing around waiting for stuff to happen.” Krauzer blew a raspberry. “My point is, this comic-book-sketch guy blew the prices for collectible baseballs for a long time. And they’re baseballs! They sell those everywhere. You can write anybody’s name on them. But that scrying crystal? That’s one of a kind. I made sure of that.”
Annja believed it was one of a kind, too. She needed to study it. “If she was smart, she’d sell the crystal back to you.”
“Me?”
“You’d pay for it if you had to, and you’d pay a lot. You’ve got it insured, right?”
“Of course I’ve got it insured. Do you think I’m some kind of idiot?” Annja ignored the question, certain Krauzer really didn’t want to hear her answer.
“Insurance companies routinely pay off on buyback situations.”
“This is something you know about?”
“Yes.”
“How?” Behind the sunglasses, Krauzer’s features knotted up in suspicion.
“Insurance companies have sometimes hired me to verify a certificate of authenticity on objects that were stolen and bought back. Sometimes thieves have created copies of the stolen items and attempt to sell those to insurance companies, doubling down on the original theft.”
“That cannot happen. I cannot shoot this movie with a counterfeit. Do you know what would happen to my reputation if I did something like that? When fans go to see a Steven Krauzer picture, they see a genuine Steven Krauzer picture. There’s nothing fake about it!”
Krauzer slammed on the brake hard enough that the seat belt cut into Annja as it held her to the seat. The tortured shriek of shredding rubber echoed through the neighborhood, and the Lamborghini came to a stop half on the street and half on the sidewalk.
Leaning over, Krauzer popped open the glove compartment and took out a nickel-plated revolver with a six-inch barrel. “Let’s go.”
He opened the car door and got out.
2
Shocked at the sight of the gun and the director’s apparent willingness to use it, Annja was a step behind Krauzer as he strode toward the building. She caught up to him as he slid the big pistol in his waistband at his back and covered it up with his shirttail.
“A gun?” Annja asked. “Seriously?”
“Having a gun makes people listen to you.”
“Do you even know how to use it?”
“Of course I do.” Krauzer shook his head. “I cut my teeth on guns-and-ammo movies. Action stuff. Science fiction. I had to know how to use guns so I could film actors using them. You wouldn’t believe how many times directors get it wro
ng because they don’t know how to use a gun and the actors don’t know, either. Big case of the blind leading the blind.”
“This isn’t ‘Grand Theft Auto.’”
“That woman stole my scrying crystal and she’s delaying my film! She’s not smart enough to do that on her own. She has partners. Trust me.”
Annja was beginning to think Steven Krauzer lived inside a movie in his head. “Melanie Harp is not a master criminal.”
“Exactly my point. She couldn’t have thought of this on her own. She had help.”
“I don’t think she knows any master criminals, either.”
“Do you know that for a fact? Because I don’t.”
Annja didn’t bother to argue, because she knew she wouldn’t win. She just hoped no one got hurt.
A green awning covered the double-door entrance, which had seen better days. Gold lettering on the door announced The Wickersham Apartments. The red carpet leading up to the doors was thin and worn.
There was no guard on the door, but another sign promised Security.
An older woman wearing a sundress, a floppy hat and big sunglasses and holding a small dog came through the doors. She wrapped her arms protectively around her pet as Krauzer barreled toward her.
“Don’t shut that door,” Krauzer barked.
The woman blocked the closing door with her sandaled foot.
Krauzer caught the door, pulled it wide and entered the apartment building.
“Thank you,” Annja told the woman.
The woman looked at her conspiratorially and leaned in to whisper, “Is he somebody?”
“He likes to think he is,” Annja replied.
Shaking her head, the woman said, “So many people in this town think that. They do one cat-food commercial and they think they’re stars.” She waved dismissively and continued her walk.
She smiled at the woman, then hurried after Krauzer.
Annja reached the landing with Krauzer and went up the next flight. “Do you know which floor Melanie lives on?”
Krauzer checked his smartphone. “Fourth floor. Apartment F.”
“Okay, and if she’s there, you’re not going to shoot first and ask questions later?”
“I’m not going to shoot unless I have to. I don’t want to hurt that crystal.”
* * *
“THIS COULD ALL be some kind of mistake,” Annja said as they stepped into the fourth-floor hallway from the stairwell. The hallway was narrow and poorly lit. Evidently, Melanie Harp’s career had been skidding farther over the edge than the entertainment shows had reported.
“You’re saying Melanie accidentally stole my scrying crystal?” Krauzer demanded.
“She got cut from the picture—”
“She got cut because she drinks and snorts so much she can’t get to work on time. Thankfully, she’s not in many of the scenes I’ve shot so far, so I can just get another actress in. The only reason I hired her in the first place was for the extra publicity having her working for us would bring. You know, entertainment media cruising around to see if Melanie Harp was going to have another meltdown.” Krauzer cursed. “I just really didn’t expect this. Her agent promised me. The schmuck is definitely gonna hear from me.”
“Taking the scrying crystal could be a cry for help.”
Krauzer growled irritably and shook his head. “Figures you’d stick up for her.”
“I’m not sticking up for her.”
“Sounds like it to me. You’re a girl. She’s a girl.”
For a moment, Annja thought about drop-kicking Krauzer in a way that would remind him he was not a girl. She blew out a calming breath and reminded herself that there was a lot of research she was looking forward to this evening.
And she would definitely get to look at the scrying crystal and satisfy her curiosity about the piece if Melanie had it and was still home.
Krauzer stopped in front of the door to apartment 4F, took the pistol from his waistband and gripped it in his fist. He stood there for a moment, ran his free hand through his hair, let out a quick breath and shook himself. Then he knocked on the door.
There was no answer.
For a moment, Krauzer stood there. Then he looked at Annja. “Why isn’t she opening the door?”
“I don’t read minds.”
He shrugged. “So what would you guess?”
“Maybe she’s not home. Maybe she’s on her way back to the studio with the scrying crystal and feeling really guilty.”
Krauzer thought about that for just a second. “Or maybe she’s taking a clever forgery back there to pass off as the real thing.”
Annja regretted mentioning anything about insurance companies and counterfeit items.
His attention back on the door, Krauzer banged on the door with his fist. “Melanie! It’s Steven Krauzer. I know you’re in there! You can’t hide from me. Open up. I want my scrying crystal back!”
They could hear movement sounding inside. There were at least two pairs of footfalls.
“See?” Krauzer said, frowning at the door. “Told you she wasn’t alone. The mastermind of this whole thing is in there with her.”
Krauzer stepped forward and banged on the door again, harder and faster this time. “Melanie! Get out here in the next minute and I’ll keep you off the entertainment shows. I’ll have the PR people whip up a story that the reason you’re no longer in the movie is that you had something else come up. You know how this town works. You start putting a story out there, even if it’s a lie, pretty soon everybody has heard about it. Then somebody, if you play your cards right, will actually offer you something.”
“I have been offered something, you self-absorbed little Hitler,” Melanie called back through the door.
Krauzer gazed at Annja in disbelief. “Did she just call me ‘little’?”
Annja ignored the question. “Melanie, it’s Annja Creed.”
“What are you doing here?”
“We need the scrying crystal.”
There was a short pause. “It’s not here.”
Krauzer kicked the door. “What do you mean it’s not here?”
They heard a quick flurry of whispering.
“I mean it’s not here unless you pay me for it,” Melanie replied.
“I’m not going to pay you for something you stole from me!” Krauzer howled.
“If you want it back, you are.”
Krauzer stepped back and kicked the door. The frame splintered as the lock tore free. In the room, Melanie Harp stood next to a beefy bald guy wearing a biker jacket and dirty jeans.
The actress’s arms were crossed in front of her defiantly. Her blond hair was piled on her head in a twist that was coming undone and looked as though a surge of electricity had shocked it free. She was underweight, something the makeup people had struggled to deal with, and bags bulged beneath her red eyes, one of which was brown and the other an exotic lavender. Evidently, she’d lost one of her contacts.
“You can’t just break into my home,” Melanie protested.
Krauzer looked around in disdain. “This dump?”
“Hey,” the big bruiser rumbled. He sounded like a cement mixer coming to life. He was in his forties and had scars on his head and cheeks that Annja could see through the graying beard that hung to his chest. He wasn’t wearing a shirt under the biker jacket. His jeans were tucked into motorcycle boots. “Don’t disrespect the lady.”
Krauzer turned to the biker. “Did you help steal my scrying crystal?”
The biker stepped forward. “Hey, man, you stole Melanie’s job. I’m just helping her even the score.”
“I gave her that job, you idiot! I took it back because she can’t handle it. She’s the one who prefers squalor and nose candy over working. And her taste i
n boyfriends isn’t so great either, evidently.”
The biker closed his fists and took another step forward. “Now you’re gonna get beat.”
Krauzer pointed the pistol at the biker’s face. “Keep coming, you big ape.”
Melanie closed her brown eye and squinted the lavender one at Krauzer. “Oh my God, Barney! He’s got a gun!”
Barney the biker? If Krauzer hadn’t been waving the big pistol around, Annja wouldn’t have been able to keep from laughing.
Eyes popping, Barney stepped back. “Hey, man. No fair.”
Annja knew Krauzer was already in danger of getting arrested for threatening Melanie and her guy, and maybe she was, too, at this point. Getting arrested for felonious assault with a deadly weapon would not sit well with Doug. She also knew that if Krauzer accidentally shot someone, things would get even worse in a hurry.
She moved automatically, trapping Krauzer’s gun hand, pinching a nerve in the back of his hand that caused him to release the pistol and catching the weapon before it hit the carpeted floor. She popped the cylinder open, dumped the bullets into her cupped palm and walked over to the window at the back of the living room.
Below the room, a half-filled garbage bin sat open. Annja opened the window, wiped the gun and the bullets clean on the curtain, and dropped them all into the trash. The gun and the rounds disappeared into the discarded debris.
She turned to face the three other people in the room, who stared at her in disbelief.
Krauzer peered out the window and looked apoplectic. “Did you just throw my gun away?”
“Yes,” Annja replied. “Way too many things could have happened with you waving it around.”
“Well, did you happen to think of the things that could happen since I don’t have it to wave around?” Krauzer looked back at Barney the biker, who had pulled a ten-inch hunting knife from behind his back.
“I’m gonna cut you, loudmouth.” Barney waved the knife as if it was a weaving cobra waiting to strike. “Then you’re gonna get that money you owe Melanie.”
