The Gilded Mirror

by L. M. Somerton

  “Hey! Stop getting the antiques wet,” Landry shouted.

  “It’s not just raining cats and dogs out there, there’s an entire petting zoo falling out of the sky.”

  Landry thought about that for a moment then grinned. He grabbed his coffee from Petey. “Wouldn’t it be great if it did rain small furry things? We could have a pets’ corner in the store to keep the kids entertained.”

  “You mean to keep you entertained.” Petey shivered. “I’m soaked through. You mind if I run upstairs to change my T-shirt and dry my hair a bit? I’ll be five minutes.”

  “You think maybe you should have worn a coat? Go ahead. You do look like a drowned rat. Oh, we should have a movie night when Gage is working late. We could watch Ratatouille.”

  “You want to watch a cartoon rat when we could be ogling Jason Momoa?”

  “Good point, but the rat is cute too.”

  “Hey, I’m not judging but I’m not into the furries. If you and Gage want to dress up in fuzzy costumes, you go for it.” Petey ran for the stairs before Landry could deliver the smack he was aiming at his backside.

  He’s getting to be as cheeky as I am. I’m gonna have to up my game.

  While he was waiting for Petey to return, Landry grabbed a mop from the back hall then ran it over the main aisle. He didn’t want anyone face planting because Petey had dripped everywhere. He glanced outside to confirm there was no chance of the downpour letting up anytime soon—the weather seemed set to last for hours. He turned on another lamp near the rare books to cheer up the gloom. Mop in hand he scanned the books, running his fingers over embossed spines, the gold reminding him of his mirror. One of the larger books caught his attention, and he pulled it from the shelf.

  “The Art of Cartography—that could be useful.” He took the book with him, stored the mop then returned to the cash desk just as Petey reappeared.

  “I want hot chocolate and secrets. You’d better not have snaffled my drink.”

  “I was cleaning up after your soggy ass.” Landry slipped his book onto the shelf under the cash desk before grabbing his coffee.

  “What’s that?” Petey swung his cup-holding hand precariously close to the map.

  “Careful!” Landry steered his arm away. “That’s my secret. I found the map hidden in the back of my mirror.”

  “Wow! That’s so exciting. Is it a treasure map? It must be if it was hidden, mustn’t it?”

  “I hope so, but so far I haven’t had a chance to decipher it. Gage reckons all the squiggles are contour lines, and I think he might be right. There are some symbols and what I think are letters, but the ink is faded.”

  “I was in the orienteering team during high school, I know all about map symbols and geography was always my best subject.”

  “Then you can be chief treasure-hunting assistant. Mr. Lao keeps a magnifying glass in the store cupboard, wanna fetch it?”

  “Sure. You know, if it is a treasure map, there could be invisible ink, or a code or something.” Petey kept talking while he fetched the magnifying glass.

  “I’d prefer it to be something real simple, like a big red X and a detailed description of the location,” Landry said.

  “That’s never the way it happens on TV or in books. Did you not read the Da Vinci Code?”

  “If it’s that complicated the two of us don’t stand a chance.”

  “Isn’t it in the best friend rulebook that you don’t insult me?” Petey’s indignation made Landry laugh.

  “The rulebook I have has it top of the list.”

  “Color me not surprised.” Petey squinted through the magnifying glass at the map. “I wonder if there’s some clever gizmo on the Internet, which can identify where contour lines are in the world.”

  “Not that I’ve been able to find,” Landry said. “It was the first thing I thought of. We should invent that, or at least patent the idea or something then one of those big tech companies can buy it from us for millions of dollars.”

  “If we’re going to do that, we won’t need to go treasure hunting.”

  “This is more exciting. Keep your fingers crossed we don’t get any more customers. I can’t believe how much stuff we’ve sold today. Enough to reach our target for the week.”

  “We should be grateful,” Petey said, “not looking to put off prospective buyers.”

  “There’s a rare books store I follow on Twitter called Sotheran’s. It’s kind of ancient, and their social media guy posts the funniest stuff about how they don’t want to sell the books. They have an owl, and a ghost and people send him tinned tuna.”

  “Where’s that then, New York?”

  “London. Don’t think I’ll be getting to visit any time soon.”

  “Me either,” Petey said. “But wouldn’t that be the most amazing trip? We’d have so much fun. Carson was telling me about this firefighter exchange program. He has a buddy in the UK called Beau. It was fate they got matched up because this guy is as kinky as Carson and he’s a member of this amazing club called The Underground. If we ever get over there, we’ll have to go. That reminds me, Carson was talking about us having an outing to Scorch pretty soon.”

  “That sounds great. The last time Gage and I went we were both so tired it was all we could do to sit in the corner and cuddle. Not exactly hard-core.”

  Petey chuckled. “No one judges at Scorch. Map first, kink later. If we can’t work any of this out, you’ll have to get Gage to help, the man has skills.”

  “He sure does.” Landry’s mind drifted a little.

  “Earth to Landry, earth to Landry, come in, please. I know where your head just went and it had nothing to do with topographical symbols, did it?”

  “It’s your fault, mentioning Gage’s skills. What did you expect?”

  “I was talking about his detecting skills. Jesus, you have a one-track mind.”

  “And you don’t? It’s a very nice track.”

  “So not the point. Do you want to look at the map or not?”

  After some elbowing and jostling they both got into a position where they could see, sharing the magnifying glass between them.

  “If these are contour lines, and I think they probably are, this could be a canyon or gorge,” Petey said. “At the very least, a valley with very steep sides. The line at the bottom could be water, or a path. Without color there’s no way of knowing.”

  “If it is a canyon, it looks like there’s a church at one end. What’s that symbol?” Landry pointed out a mark that resembled a line drawing of a picnic table with a dot underneath it.

  “I think it might be a mine entrance but I’m not absolutely sure. Better check that online.”

  Landry heaved his book from under the counter. “I have an actual book. It’s all about cartography. We had it in stock.”

  “Wow. Old school.”

  “I read.”

  “Yeah, on your e-reader. Or manga comics.”

  “Don’t get me started on the joys of yaoi. I’ll get distracted, and we’ll get nowhere.”

  Landry found a section of the book that listed map symbols from various decades. They hadn’t changed a great deal. “You’re right. It’s a mine entrance.” Petey preened. “So we have a church at the end of a valley or canyon, a mine entrance in the canyon and a possible stream. It’s not much to go on, there must be hundreds of mines in the US and thousands of churches. We can probably rule out the flat states because of the terrain, but that doesn’t narrow it down much at all.” Landry huffed his frustration.

  “Well, if somebody hid something they didn’t want found, interpreting this map isn’t going to be easy,” Petey said. “If there are clues, they might only mean something to the person who made the map.”

  “That’s so depressing. It could take us months to find a possible match just by looking at maps.”

  “It would be good if we had a way of dating it, too.” Landry yawned. “I’m still a bit wiped out from this ear infection. It’s hard to concentrate when there’s t
his muffled ringing in my ears.”

  “You came back to work too soon.”

  “It was that or go stir-crazy in the apartment. I’m not designed to spend lots of time on my own. My mind tends to misbehave and come up with the kind of plans that get me into trouble.”

  “You definitely shouldn’t be allowed out unsupervised, that’s for sure.”

  “You sound like Gage.”

  “I wouldn’t normally side with him over you, but he knows you. You have a habit of attracting trouble and don’t give me that big-eyed innocent look. I know you even better than he does.”

  “I feel persecuted,” Landry muttered. “But thinking about the Dommy one, which I do a lot, how would he approach this?”

  “Carson would just lecture me about how paper is an incendiary material. He’s obsessed with fire safety.”

  “And then you could start discussing how effective his hose is,” Landry cackled. “Oh no, is that a customer?” The bell over the shop door rang.

  “It’s Gage. You think he knew we were talking about him?”

  “We were actually talking about Carson’s hose,” Landry said, giggling.

  “Do I want to know?” Gage approached the cash desk, his hair glistening with raindrops and the shoulders of his jacket darkened by water. He leaned in for a kiss. “No! Don’t get water on my map.” Landry scampered around the cash desk to claim his kiss in safety.

  “Have you two been playing detective?” Gage asked once they’d separated.

  “We are not playing,” Landry protested. “This is serious stuff.”

  “Then what does Carson’s firehose have to do with it?”

  “Nothing. Petey is easily distracted.”

  “Hey!” Petey stuck his tongue out. “You’re the one that got off track. Perhaps you can help us, Gage? We think we might be being a bit obvious. How would you investigate the map?”

  “We’ve identified the symbols, but other than that we’re not getting very far, and they don’t help us narrow down location much.” Landry tugged Gage over to have a look. “Are you staying or do you have to go back to work?”

  “I’m on a flying visit to check if it’s okay for Sancha to come for dinner tonight. Her in-laws have the kids, and Pietro is having a boys’ night out.”

  “Of course,” Landry said. “She’s welcome any time, you know that.”

  “Sure but I thought you might need me to go to the store for extra supplies. I wasn’t sure what you had planned for tonight’s dinner.”

  “Good point. How about grilled chicken, stuffed baked potatoes and a side salad? I have everything I need for that, but you could pick up something for dessert and maybe a bottle of wine. Sancha doesn’t get a night off very often, I’m sure she’d like a drink or two.”

  “Will do. Let me take a look at this thing. Have you thought about the paper the map is on rather than just looking at the drawing?” Gage held the map up beneath the angle poise lamp. “Looks like there’s a watermark of some kind, perhaps that will give you a clue.”

  “Unbelievable,” Landry muttered. “You’re here three minutes and find something we didn’t even consider. So not fair.”

  Gage rolled his eyes. “You’ve either got it or you haven’t.” He caught Landry’s glare and backed away. “I’ll be going back to detecting now.” He jogged down the aisle then out into the rain.

  “You do that, or you’ll be the one needing a safe word later,” Landry shouted after him. He huffed. “You can stop laughing too, Petey.”

  “You guys are too funny.”

  “Do you and Carson want to come to dinner? Not that you deserve it.”

  “Oh that would be fun, I love Sancha. I’ll text Carson.”

  “I’d better up the dessert order. If Gage gets anything involving chocolate, we won’t get a look in with Sancha at the table.” He sent Gage a text while Petey got in touch with Carson. “If Carson can’t make it, it’s no problem having left over dessert.” Landry held the map up to the light. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this. The watermark has a name and a date. Bellingham, 1946.” He did a quick sketch of the mark. It was circular, the words written in uppercase inside two outer rings. In the center circle was a line drawing of a framed portrait. “This gives us something to research. The map could be a red herring.”

  “It’s a starting point. We can get everyone to help over dinner. Ooh, customers!” Several bedraggled people came in. “You put that away, and I’ll go help.”

  Landry put the map back in its hiding place, resigned to a wait before he could carry on researching. He turned to thinking about dinner—spontaneous plans with friends were his favorite. A mystery to solve would make the gathering even more fun.

  Chapter Seven

  Gage didn’t look at his messages until he got back to work and was sat across the desk from Sancha. “Landry says to get extra dessert because Carson and Petey may be joining us for dinner.”

  “Cool. Petey is darling, and Carson is the best kind of eye candy. He could give me the kiss of life any day.”

  Gage shook his head. “The whole gay Dom thing not putting you off?”

  “I don’t discriminate. Hot is hot.”

  “Good Lord.”

  “What dessert are we getting?”

  “You’re worse than Landry. I’m less important to him than peach pie, did you know that?”

  “He has a point, but chocolate silk would beat you and peach. They have them at that fancy patisserie about three blocks from Treasure Trove.”

  “Fine. We’ll drive by later. We still have a few hours’ work to do, though, so stop drooling.”

  Sancha scowled. “Dessert choices are more stimulating than paperwork, and you know how I feel about chocolate.”

  “I hope Pietro knows he has a rival for your affections and tell me about it.” Gage eyed the foot-high pile of paper in his in-tray. “I thought this was supposed to be a paperless office now.”

  “Yeah, and that’s a purple-spotted hippo I see flying past the window.”

  Sancha’s desk phone rang, so Gage begun rifling through folders while she took the call. When she slammed the phone down, Gage gave her a curious look. “What’s up?”

  “I may have to start believing in those purple hippos. A contact of mine just gave me some very interesting information. You know when Petey was attacked, he was on his way to deliver a parcel?”

  “Yes, to the building next to Scorch. An accountant’s office.”

  “So we were led to believe, and there is an accountancy business registered to that address, but turns out it’s a cover.”

  “Are you going to tell me what for, or am I going to have to guess?” Gage folded his arms and scowled.

  “I should make you guess, but I’m too excited. There was an accountant based there until two years ago. They relocated to Denver and since then the place has housed a firm that imports and exports precious gems. A diamond merchant, though they deal in all kinds of stones. The fact that they are hiding their presence puts my hackles up.” Sancha drummed her fingers on the desk. “It could be innocent because I doubt they want to broadcast their presence for security reasons, but still…”

  “We’ve been looking into the obvious ways of hiding money in this laundering case,” Gage mused. “Nowadays, it’s mostly done electronically, via Internet businesses and so on. I thought criminals had moved away from precious metals and stones, but maybe I was wrong.” He grabbed a pen and tapped it on his notepad. “When you think about it, what better way to keep us off track than by going back to an old trick? It’s possible it could be a legitimate business concerned about their security but why keep old signage up?”

  “Call me cynical, but I think the place stinks like a ten-day old haddock.”

  “I’m not going to ask how you know how that smells but I’m inclined to agree. I guess that means Petey could be more than the victim of a simple mugging. He could be a witness to a much more significant crime.”

  “Did he
see anything?” Sancha sounded worried. “He couldn’t identify his attackers or give a description.”

  “He could only say there were two of them, he saw their feet, but they won’t know that. They may well think they killed him. If they find out he’s alive then track him down, he could be in danger.”

  Sancha’s eyes grew wider. She opened her mouth to speak but before she could utter a word Gage shoved his chair back and stood. “Fuck, that means Landry is in danger too.” He grabbed his cell and stabbed at the menu to get Treasure Trove’s number. “Landry, it’s Gage. Are you and Petey alone in the store?”

  “What’s going on, Gage? You sound funny.”

  “Please answer the question.”

  “No, we’re not alone. There are a bunch of customers in here, which I need to be helping. Carson just got back from his shift and he’s lurking in a corner somewhere.”

  “Put Carson on the line.”

  “Why?”

  “Not now, Landry. I need to talk to Carson.”

  “Fine.”

  Gage listened to Landry’s muffled mutterings as he made his way to Carson. Several different voices were apparent in the background.

  “Carson, I’ve got Gage on the phone and for some reason he won’t tell me why he needs to talk to you. It’d better be to discuss dessert options, or I’m going to be very unhappy.”

  Gage gripped the back of his chair, holding back a snarl of impatience.

  “Gage?”

  “Carson, thank the Lord. Can you move somewhere out of Landry’s earshot?”

  “Sure, I’ll go stand outside in the porch. Can’t go much further because there’s still a deluge going on out there. What’s going on?”

  Gage gave Carson a very brief summary of the situation and the possible danger. “Don’t leave the two of them alone in the store, okay? Sancha and I will be there when we can but we have a new lead to run down. Keep your eye on the customers. Look out for anyone that doesn’t fit in.”