The Curse Keepers (Curse Keepers series)

by Swank, Denise Grover

  I didn’t have time to dwell on it. Collin had already entered the building, leaving me on the sidewalk. Watching him disappear inside, I realized he wasn’t necessarily rejecting me. Whenever we got close, he ran away. Could it be that Collin Dailey was afraid of getting close to me? I nearly laughed. Talk about delusions of grandeur. He probably worried I’d be some clingy chick, and he’d be stuck with me until this thing was done and for some time after.

  When I entered the lobby, Collin had already purchased two tickets and waited for me with mock impatience. “For someone complaining about the heat, you sure were reluctant to get out of it.”

  If he only knew.

  He lingered in the lobby a few minutes more, pretending to look at a map of the exhibits. I caught his eyes wandering around the room, cataloguing the locks on the doors, the sprinklers in the ceiling, the sleepy-looking guard—wearing a blue volunteer vest—and where he was positioned. Then Collin looped his arm through mine and grinned. “Time to go inside.”

  Watching the way he took in everything filled me with awe. A strange reaction to nefarious activities, and a true sign that this guy had crawled under my skin. Still, while I’d seen him in a few shady situations, I’d never seen him in full action. I pretended to check out exhibits, but my focus was too much on Collin. I wasn’t sure how closely he wanted me to stick to him, but when I stopped at an exhibit about colonists in the eighteen hundreds with genuine interest, Collin moved ahead of me, out of sight. Once he realized I wasn’t close, he came back and whispered in my ear, “We need to stick together.”

  I nodded, but it was a waste of time. He’d already taken off again.

  The museum was bigger than I expected. We hadn’t yet found the exhibit that displayed the wooden bowl, and I was beginning to wonder if the stupid thing was here. Several exhibits later, Collin’s shoulders tensed ever so slightly. No one else would have noticed but it was obvious to me since obsessively watching Collin Dailey had become my new hobby. I really needed to get a new one.

  I stood next to him, staring into the case about Powhatan Indians and artifacts from the time of Pocahontas.

  “It’s not here,” he hissed in my ear.

  I tried not to visibly react, but this was my worst nightmare come true. Well, second worst. The first was what would happen if we didn’t get the bowl and close the gate in time.

  He walked around a glass case. An empty platform at one end had a placard that read, SIXTEENTH-CENTURY CEREMONIAL BOWL, POWHATAN TRIBE.

  I squinted in confusion. “I thought the bowl was Croatan.”

  “It is. They’re fucking idiots who don’t know shit.” Good to know he was as worried about the bowl’s absence as I was. His head jerked up and he searched the room until his gaze landed on a volunteer moving toward us. He plastered on a smile. “Excuse me.” He gestured toward us. “We have a question.”

  The elderly man wearing a blue vest stopped next to the case. The top of his head was so bald it was shiny, but the hair on the sides of his head was long and swept over the top in an attempt to hide it. “How can I help you?”

  “Actually,” Collin said, “I was wondering about the piece that’s missing there.” He pointed to the empty spot. “Do you know where it’s gone?”

  The volunteer smiled. “Oh, good question, and it’s a shame you’re going to miss it. The bowl was sent for cleaning, but will be back on display in two days. Some experts believe it was used in John Smith’s cleansing ceremony, before he was presented to Pocahontas’s father.”

  Collin grinned, his mouth lifting higher on one side. “You don’t say. My girlfriend here is obsessed with anything to do with Pocahontas.” He wrapped an arm around my back and pulled me close to his body. “Aren’t you, Myrtle?”

  Myrtle? “I’m not sure I’d call it an obsession…”

  Collin cocked his head and leaned toward the man, lowering his voice into a conspiratorial tone. “Don’t let her fool you. She told me it all started when she saw the Disney movie when she was a little girl. She pretty much devoted her life to anything to do with the story of Pocahontas and John Smith after that. She has an entire room filled with anything to do with the topic and, I swear, she has over a hundred Pocahontas dolls.”

  The volunteer’s eyes widened as he shot a concerned look at me. “Oh, my.”

  “She even has a tattoo on her butt cheek. A heart shape that strangely enough resembles the princess herself, with a flaming arrow shot into it with the words John Smith trailing behind in smoke.”

  “Oh. My.”

  I turned slightly and grabbed a handful of my skirt. “Would you like to see it?”

  The man swallowed, his eyes now on my legs and my slowly rising hem.

  Collin tensed. “She really should be on one of those hoarder shows, but what are you going to do?” Collin asked with a half shrug. He squeezed me tighter. “I love her.”

  “Those dolls are collector’s items, Fred, and you know it.” I gave the man a nod. “You can’t put a price on history, now can you?”

  The volunteer looked confused. “That’s true.”

  “And as for the tattoo…” I lowered my voice. “Sometimes I just have to be naughty.” I gave a little shudder.

  The volunteer brushed a long strand of hair out of his eyes to get a better look at me.

  “Myrtle, behave,” Collin grumbled.

  “Do you think Pocahontas herself touched the bowl?” I asked in a half whisper. “I’d give anything to see that.”

  The man shook his head, checking out my legs again. “Unfortunately, it won’t be on display for two more days.”

  “But is it here? In the museum? Just knowing I might be in the same space as something Pocahontas touched would be like… the best experience of my entire life.”

  Collin’s fingers dug into my waist. “Even better than me, Myrtle?”

  I pinched my lips together and shrugged, waggling my eyebrows.

  “It’s due back tomorrow, and they’ll put it back on display the day after.”

  I touched the man’s arm. “But it used to be in the case? Right there?”

  He nodded, looking down at my hand.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “OMG. To breathe the same air that surrounded an object an Indian princess touched.” I released a groan.

  “Are you all right, dear?”

  “Myrtle.” Collin’s tight voice spurred me on.

  My eyes flew open, and I pressed my hand to my chest. “Oh… to think…” I moaned again. “Pocahontas… touched something… here.” I slid my hand down to my stomach in a slow sweep.

  Other visitors began to stop and stare.

  Collin released my waist and grabbed my arm. “Myrtle, I think we need to get your medication.”

  “But Fred…” I moaned, long and loud. “John Smith…”

  Collin pulled me to the exit, looking over his shoulder at the volunteer. “Thank you for your help.”

  When we went into the next exhibit room, Collin released his hold. “What was that?”

  “I found out that the bowl is coming back tomorrow, right?”

  “I’m talking about the rest of it.”

  “Payback’s a bitch.”

  “Now we’re going to be suspects after your suspicious display.”

  “Oh, please. Like my hundred-strong Pocahontas doll collection and the tattoo weren’t enough?”

  “After your Enrique act, I couldn’t resist.” He grinned and shook his head. “That was quite the show. If I hadn’t stopped you, where was that going?”

  I looked up at him, and stroked his jawline with my fingertip. “Ever seen When Harry Met Sally?”

  His body tensed.

  I gave him a wicked smile and spun around, heading for the exit. Let him think about that for a while.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  After we got back in the truck, Collin watched the museum, his hands folded over the steering wheel, deep in concentration.

  “So do you have a plan?�
�

  “Yeah.”

  I waited several seconds. “Are you going to tell me?”

  He grinned that wicked smile he got when he knew he had something I wanted. But to my surprise, he answered. “I’d staked this place out before. I wanted to see if anything had changed.”

  “You had? When?”

  “About six months ago, after my brother gave the bowl to the museum.”

  This surprised me on so many levels. First, although I knew Collin had a brother who didn’t believe, I found it amazing that he disbelieved enough to actually give the bowl away. And two, that Collin had the nerve to get mad at me for pawning my cup. I smacked him on the arm.

  He shrunk back in surprise. “What was that for?”

  “There are too many transgressions to list.”

  He narrowed his eyes in confusion, then shook his head. “Do you want to know the plan or not?”

  “Yes,” I grumbled.

  Again he looked confused before he shrugged it off. “My biggest concern before was how to get the bowl out of its glass display, so the fact that it’s already out and not due to go back in until tomorrow is a godsend. What we need to do is get it tomorrow night, after it’s been returned to the museum, but before it’s put back on display.”

  “How in the world do you plan to break into a museum? They have alarms.”

  “I told you, Ellie. I’ve scoped this place out. I know how to get past the alarm system.”

  My mouth dropped open in disbelief. “You’re kidding me, right?”

  “Oh, Ellie. When will you learn to trust me?”

  “When hell freezes over.”

  I expected him to make some sarcastic comment, but instead, he turned serious and studied me for several seconds. “Good girl.”

  What did that mean?

  He moved on before I could ask. “We’ll break in tomorrow night around midnight.”

  “But won’t they consider us suspects?” I now regretted my earlier performance. I had no desire to do jail time for stealing some old bowl.

  “You don’t know the beautiful part of my plan.” A shit-eating grin spread over his face.

  “Are you going to sit there grinning like an idiot all day or are you going to explain your genius idea?”

  “We’ll make a switch.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I have a nearly identical bowl. They’ll never realize that it’s not the original—or at least not for a very long time. I hope. By then, we’ll be ancient history, no pun intended. They’ll never associate the theft with us.”

  “Do I want to know where you got the replacement bowl?”

  “Probably not.” I suspected this fell into the same category as the Ricardo deal. The less I knew about criminal activity, the better. “So why didn’t you get it sooner? Why leave the bowl here for six months?”

  “If I stole it and my brother found out, he’d just give it to someone else. The safest place for the bowl was behind a glass case until I needed it.”

  My suspicion went on high alert. “Wait. How did you know you’d need it? This curse has been in existence for hundreds of years. Why would you need the bowl?” He claimed he didn’t know who I was when he’d come into the restaurant. What if he was lying?

  But why would he want to break the curse? It didn’t make sense, and I was too paranoid.

  His face hardened. “Was I supposed to tell the next Keeper he or she could find the bowl in the museum? I’d have to retrieve the relic sometime, in order to pass it down along with the responsibility of being Keeper.”

  I scoffed. “The only way you were passing down the Keeper title was if you had a kid. You don’t seem like the daddy type.”

  “You never know, Ellie. People change.”

  I’d like to think that. For some reason, I harbored a small, secret desire that Collin Dailey would denounce his life of crime and become a responsible citizen and then, just maybe, I’d have a chance with him. But that was irrational and stupid, and I’d better not forget it. If I wanted a fling with him, fine. But I could suffer no delusions that a relationship with Collin could be anything more. “So what do we do until tomorrow night?”

  He turned back to face the museum. “It’s a long drive back to Manteo, just to turn around and come back tomorrow. We could stay here for the night.”

  Butterflies squirmed in my stomach. “That was why we packed clothes, right?”

  He grinned. “Okay.” Then he turned out of the parking lot and drove down the Outer Banks.

  When he pulled into the parking lot of a motel on the beach, I gave him a suspicious glance. I knew his financial situation. He didn’t have eight hundred dollars to buy back my cup.

  “How can we afford this?”

  He shrugged and opened his door. “I know a guy.”

  I followed him out. “You know a guy? What the hell does that mean?”

  “I’ve got it covered, Ellie.”

  I was sure he did. The question was did he have it covered by legal or illegal means?

  We walked into the lobby, and I realized from the nineties décor that the motel was older and a little run-down. Nevertheless, beachfront property was premium. Run-down or not, I was sure Collin couldn’t afford it.

  Collin rested his forearm on the registration desk counter and smiled his one hundred megawatt death-by-sex smile. I could see the girl on the other side of the counter turn to putty in his hands. I decided to sit back and watch the master work his magic.

  “So, sweetheart.” Collin leaned closer and lowered his voice. “What’s the best room you’ve got?”

  “Um. They’re all the same.” She cast an ugly look in my direction before returning her gaze to Collin, batting her eyelashes. “They all face the ocean. But there are three levels and the rooms on the third floor on the north side have a better view.”

  “And how much is one of those rooms?”

  She told him, and despite his financial straits, he didn’t flinch. “Is Tommy here?”

  She blinked in surprise. “You know Tommy?”

  “Tommy told me that porcelain is king.”

  She tilted her head and looked at him with more awe.

  What was up with the “porcelain is king” crap?

  She handed him a room key. “You’re in Room 326. It has the best view.”

  Collin slid the key card off the counter in one smooth movement. “Thank you”—he looked at her name tag—“Tammy.”

  “You’re welcome, Mr. Pressley.”

  Mr. Pressley?

  He started to walk away, but turned around and smiled again. “Is there anything to do around here for entertainment, Tammy?”

  “I’d be happy to show you a good time.”

  I gave a little shudder, sure I’d heard her wrong. Did she seriously say that in front of me?

  Collin leaned closer and shrugged a shoulder toward me, lowering his voice as though I couldn’t hear him. “I’m a little preoccupied at the moment, but you never know when things will change.” He winked and a slow smile lit up her face. “In the meantime, is there anything else I can do?”

  “Sapphire Cove, the next town up, is having a street fair tonight.”

  He scowled. “Anything else?”

  “There’s a go-cart track with mini golf a half mile down the highway.”

  He obviously liked the sound of that even less. “Thanks,” he grumbled as he ushered me out the door and back to the truck.

  “Porcelain is king? Mr. Pressley? What was all of that?”

  He spun around with a grin. “Think about it long enough and you’ll get it.” He grabbed my suitcase and two duffel bags out of the truck bed and headed for the stairs.

  “Do I even want to know about your tête-à-tête with Tammy?”

  “Insurance.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Ellie, when you’ve been in my line of business long enough, you learn to make friends whenever possible.”

  “And what exactly is your line of business?
”

  He shot me a grin. “Getting what I want.”

  At least he was honest about it. I wondered how much time he spent fishing on his boat and how much he spent on shady activities.

  We climbed two flights and walked along the outdoor walkway to our room. While Collin opened the door, I stared out into the ocean, the rhythmic sound of waves drawing my attention.

  Collin stood behind me, enclosing me with his arms as he braced his hands on either side of me on the rail. “You feel it don’t you?” he whispered huskily in my ear. “The call of the water.”

  I nodded. “Do you feel it too?”

  He swept my hair off my shoulder, his face close to my neck. “I’m the son of the earth, Ellie. You’re the daughter of the sea. The call is for you.”

  What was he up to? I couldn’t imagine that he was trying to start anything. Once again, I wondered if he couldn’t help himself. The Collin Fucking Dailey charm was as natural as the air he breathed. He probably had to purposely suppress it.

  “You feel a call from the land.”

  “Yes.”

  “So is it hard for you when you’re on the water? Does part of you ache for the land?”

  “I’m sure it’s no different from how you feel when you’re on the ocean.”

  “I’ve never been.”

  His body tensed, ever so slightly. “Never been what?”

  “On the ocean.”

  “How is that possible? You live less than a hundred feet from the sound.”

  I shrugged. “Momma was deathly afraid of water, and my obsession with it didn’t help. So she purposely made sure I never went on a boat.”

  “And later? After she died? Was that some desire to please her since you felt responsible for her death?”

  Collin was dangerous. He was much too intuitive to suit me. “Partly. The other part was the few times a friend had a boat and offered to take me out on the sea. But they weren’t the most trustworthy of people, and I decided it wasn’t worth risking my life.”

  “Good call, but you need the water, Ellie. It feeds your own Manitou.”

  I stiffened at the thought of dead sea animals. I could never steal life so callously.

  Collin sensed my horror and ran a hand down my arm. “Not like that. This is different.”