Order of the Black Sun Box Set 8

by Preston William Child

  “Let me see if I understand this,” Dr. Le Roux said in disbelief. “He was struck by lightning a few minutes ago.”

  “Aye,” Nina replied.

  The two stood leering at one another for a moment. Dr. Le Roux’s brow twitched at the report, but she thought she should give the academic the benefit of the doubt. Dr. Gould was not exactly an idiot, so her word as witness had some gravity.

  12

  New Acquisition

  Purdue was cheerful to a fault. The dining room of his mansion, Wrichtishousis, had incurred severe structural and esthetic damage since it was gutted by a fire a few weeks before. The staff of the house was just as happy to see the repairs and renovations finally being completed, since the grand old room with its high ceiling and bar area was one of much life. This was where Purdue usually received his friends as guests, using the adjacent area of the same room to watch football and play billiards.

  “Oh my God, Nina is going to be so jealous,” he grinned as he stood watching the final touches being added to the room before the furniture was due for delivery.

  “Why is that, sir?” asked Lillian, the motherly housekeeper. Purdue adored her, even with her tendency to be nosy and a little intrusive at times.

  “Lillian,” the butler, Charles, urged from his post at the lobby table, but she paid him no mind.

  “It’s alright, Charles,” Purdue chuckled. It was the perpetual exchanged between the butler and the housekeeper in his home – the curious and harmless older lady overstepping her boundaries while the painfully rigid butler would reprimand her at every turn.

  Purdue put his arm around her shoulder and led her to the unkempt part of the lobby where the evacuated pieces of furniture waited to be relocated and arranged by Charles and his staff. “I bought a new table for the dining room,” Purdue told his housekeeper. It was not big news, Lillian thought, but she was happy for her boss nonetheless.

  “That is wonderful, sir. It is such a pity the previous dining table was destroyed,” she sympathized. Lillian remembered why the dining room was destroyed. Another in a line of bad choices in women that her playboy employer was all too known for, happened. A shoot-out that almost killed Purdue followed the malicious woman’s wrath, and it all ended up in a destructive fire that broke out from the hearth. “Glad you found a new piece worthy of replacing it, sir.”

  “No, no, you are missing the point, my dear,” Purdue smiled. He reminded Charles of a naughty child waiting for a well-planned prank to unfold. “You see, Lily, the table I bought to replace the old one is from an era of romance and chivalry. Good old 12th Century Britain and its legends has yielded a stunning piece of work, built by a carpenter from the Isle of Arran.”

  “Ooh!” she enthused, clasping her hands together. “And how old is it, then?”

  His staff knew how obsessed Purdue was with history, which was the primary reason for his constant expeditions far and wide to unearth relics of legend.

  “Edward McFadden, the carpenter who built and carved this immaculate piece, lived in Arran in the 14th Century,” Purdue informed her. Charles gave the revelation a nod of acknowledgement as he polished the brass dragon bowl Purdue received as a gift from a Mongolian business partner.

  “My, that is old,” Lillian conceded. “And this is why Dr. Gould will envy you?”

  “I certainly hope so,” he said. “It was inspired by the Round Table of lore.”

  “King Arthur’s Round Table, sir?” Charles finally asked.

  “Correct!” Purdue boasted. “For many years, historians thought that it was in fact the Round Table that French poet Maistre Wace wrote of in 1155. Of course, it was disputed, what with Arthur being a fictional character, but still, an antique treasure in its own right.”

  “Lovely!” Lillian smiled. “And when will it be arriving?”

  Purdue looked at his watch. “Should have been here already, actually. Charles, will you arrange for the other furniture to be carried in so long, please. I shall give Ava a call and find out what is keeping them.”

  “Yes, sir,” Charles answered, and proceeded to round up his people.

  Purdue got no answer from Ava’s cell phone on the first few tries, but finally she picked up, sounding a bit rushed. “David, I’m sorry. We will be there momentarily, I promise. Had some trouble loading the goods due to a last minute shuffle in movers.”

  “What is your ETA then?” he asked. “Will you be coming with?”

  “Of course,” she said. “I oversee all of our deliveries personally.”

  “Now that is good service,” Purdue flirted, looking forward to the beautiful woman’s presence. It had been days since the auction where he purchased all the items her company had up for sale, so he was anxious to meet her again.

  “See you in fifteen!” she sang.

  As soon as Purdue hanged up the call, his phone rang. Caller ID revealed the caller. “Wow, two pretty ladies in the stretch of a minute,” he remarked to himself. “Hello Nina! I was just talking about you.”

  “Dare I ask?” she jested.

  “Rather not. To what do I owe this honor?” he inquired.

  “I was invited by a Glasgow school to participate in their history week, right?” she started.

  “Mazel tov,” he replied.

  “Listen! Let me finish,” she snapped a little. “I cannot talk for long. At show and tell, a boy brought in a scabbard that looked old. I mean old as fuck. You know, authentically antique.”

  “Okay?” he said, nodding as she spoke.

  Nina paused and then whispered, “I saw something incredible happen today. While wearing this scabbard, the boy was struck by lightning, Purdue.”

  “Oh my God!” Purdue reacted. “Is he alive?”

  “That is the thing,” she said seriously. “He walked away from it as if he took a piss. Like…nothing. Nothing. He practically came off it completely unscathed!”

  “Unbelievable!” Purdue agreed.

  “I am sending you pictures of the scabbard. Please have a look and tell me what you think. You dabble in ancient artifacts, so I figured you would be able to help me find out more about this thing. The boy says his grandfather has never had it appraised, so I have no idea what the deal is with this scabbard, but I know that it had something to do with that child not getting fried today.”

  “Maybe it conducted the current away from him,” Purdue speculated.

  “Purdue, he was standing in the rain in a puddle of water! I don’t care what kind of conduction that sheath had, there was no way he would not have been killed, or at least seriously injured.”

  The artifact was not normally something Purdue would be interested in, but the way in which Nina related the fascinating science anomaly behind the incident hooked him. “That is absolutely intriguing, Nina. I am just taking care of some business and then I will have a look at your pictures. Can I let you know tomorrow?”

  “Aye, thanks Purdue,” she said, sounding relieved over the veins of worry underneath. “As soon as you can, please. My stint in Glasgow runs out tomorrow evening, and then I will be back in Oban.”

  “Oh, about that,” he quickly interjected. “Before you go back home, would you mind coming over to Wrichtishousis for a few drinks?”

  Nina took a moment. “Um, sure, of course.”

  “Then we can discuss your scabbard in more detail, perhaps,” Purdue applied the chum. In the background, Charles unintentionally eavesdropped. Shaking his head, he cracked a rare smile at his employer’s juvenile thrill.

  13

  Who’s Your Guinevere?

  A knock at the door prompted Purdue to say goodbye to Nina. Charles went to open the tall double doors and announced that London Bridge Collectables had arrived with the goods Purdue had purchased.

  “Excellent,” Purdue smiled. He slipped his phone into his pocket, feeling it vibrate as Nina’s photo messages came through. He made a mental note not to forget to look at them as soon as he had enjoyed the company of Ava Somerset.


  Two men brought in the first armoire from China and took direction from Charles. She stood behind them on the steps, gawking at the black marble posts that hugged the massive old manor’s main entrance. Her silver hair looked alive in the smooth cold wind that lapped up against the stairs, playing with the corners of her coattails.

  “Welcome to my abode, dear lady,” he hailed her.

  “Oh my God, David, this place is amazing,” she said in astonishment. “I thought the gardens were extravagant, but this! Look at the detail on the architectural features.”

  “That is just the outside. I think you will find the inside far more impressive, my dear,” he replied, taking her hand to lead her inside. The gorgeous woman could not stop staring at everything, enraptured by the beauty and grandeur of the historical old house. Like a child, she slowly twirled as she examined the motifs of the ceilings and the collections of original paintings adorning the small enclosures leading to other parts of the ground floor.

  “You have a beautiful home, David. I swear, it would take me a week just to look at everything you have in here,” she raved in admiration. “There are myriads of pieces here that I have only seen in books or read about in old documents! It is unbelievable, truly!”

  “Be careful or Mr. Purdue might think you are casing the joint,” a man from the group of movers said. He was not dressed in overalls, like the others, so Purdue presumed he was in charge. Ava slapped him on the arm.

  “Shut it, you mongrel,” she laughed. With her hand in his, she turned to Purdue to introduce them. “David, this insensitive animal is my brother and business partner, Bernard.”

  “My apologies,” Bernard told Purdue. “I have a dark sense of humor.”

  “All in order,” Purdue answered jovially. “For a moment I feared that the lovely Ava was married. That would have been the true horror.”

  The three laughed awkwardly under the gaze of the butler. Charles had learned from Purdue’s past mistakes and he often wished that Purdue would do the same. So many strangers came and went in this house, but most of them left marks, both on the house and on its master. Again, Purdue had fallen for a beautiful woman he knew nothing about and blindly bought new acquisitions just to appease her. At least the belongings were an investment and it usually stayed far longer than the women Purdue engaged.

  ‘Sometimes I wish Mr. Cleave would relinquish Dr. Gould and let David have her once and for all. She is the only woman worthy of his money, his time and his efforts. These gold diggers and opportunists make me sick,’ he pondered as he watched them use their senseless quips to forge trouble.

  At last, the table Purdue had been waiting for came through the door.

  ‘Thank God!’ Purdue thought, eager to escape the queer conversation between the siblings and himself. “There it is! I was over-excited all day, waiting for my favorite piece to take its rightful place.”

  “You know, it was hard to let that table go, but after so many years we felt we had to finally sell it,” Bernard noted, trailing Purdue with his hands in his pockets. Dressed all in black chinos and a stylish shirt, the antique dealer seemed very at home. His sister, on the other hand, used the time to fawn over the statues and paintings, ignoring the men.

  “This was inspired by the Round Table of Arthurian legend, correct?” Purdue made sure.

  “Yes. Oh, hang on,” Bernard said. He turned to find his sister and cried, “Ava! The provenances, please!”

  She hurried to him and produced the certificates of origin and authenticity. “This is the provenance of the table, David,” she said as she handed it over to him for perusal. There was a number of previous owners noted, but Purdue was too excited about the actual table to care much about it now. All he sought with his eyes was the stamp that proved it to be genuine.

  Bernard continued, “Did you know that they used to think this was the actual Round Table?”

  “I heard that, yes,” Purdue answered.

  “A little ludicrous, since it was never a historical fact that Arthur even existed. Even if he did, whatever king inspired his character did not possess a table circled by knights,” Bernard claimed. “Then again, most legends come from true, more raw happenings, so I am sure its age alone will make it special.”

  “Well, it is truly sublime in its raw realness,” Purdue agreed. “I have always been partial to the less flamboyant relics in favor of, what is the word? Soul.”

  “That is true. Most famous artifacts are not half as flashy as their legends make them to be,” Ava said. “Just like real gold. Most people think gold is deep amber and full of sheen when it is actually quite ugly in its simplicity. A pale yellow, dull clump.”

  Purdue chuckled. “Well said, my dear.”

  Bernard looked at the newly imported bar and cabinet to the far side of the hearth, looking impressed. “Good pieces, those. Not too imposing. As you said, raw and real.”

  Purdue smiled contentedly. “Previously, this room was much more ‘Versailles’. Now I want it to denote ‘Glamis’, you see?”

  “Perfectly executed!” Bernard smiled. “Accurate, except for our Round Table being a tad too raw for Glamis, hey?”

  “Indeed,” Purdue chuckled. “But I love its appeal.”

  The two siblings oversaw the placement of the antique table where Purdue wanted it. Charles took care of the other pieces. When they were done with all the arranging, Charles took his place at Purdue’s side. The two of them took a good hard look at the place to ascertain if there was anything amiss.

  “Looks rather good, sir,” Charles chipped in.

  Purdue nodded in satisfaction. The once lavish room resembled a cozy dining hall from a medieval movie. Thick faux bear- and wolf skin covered the wooden floor, reinforced by concrete beneath. In the corner by the window a suit of armor stood sentinel, reflecting the cast iron work of the burglar bars welded to stained glass windows.

  The walk-in hearth had not been replaced, but the wooden panels had been replaced by cement and stone. This would prevent the likelihood of sparks or fire reaching flammable areas outside the fireplace, and it added to the castle-ambience of the room. In the other corner form the armor, the new bar had an equally rustic appeal. Purdue had specified to the Chinese antiques dealer that he wanted a three-part cabinet for his alcoholic stock. He had sent a picture of it to the manufacturers of the bar itself, to which they produced a replica of the design onto the newly fashioned bar.

  The resulting work was amazing. Appearing to be from a set from the same era, the cabinet was, in fact, made in 458AD while the bar was still having paint dried in the year of our Lord, 2017. Against the paint-stripped walls, medieval torches provided the light, but Purdue was not ready to subject his cleaning staff to daily tortures of ash and soot. No, he had fitted flame lights in the bases to directly replicate torches of fire. There was no reason to increase the chance of another fire. Knowing how he and Sam Cleave usually partied, the idea was wise.

  As was his wish, Purdue’s Round Table finished off the room beautifully. With its large circumference, it sat center below the immaculately carved ceiling with fifty locally manufactured chairs to match, circling it. “I cannot be happier with this acquisition. Really. Thank you to both of you,” Purdue smiled at Ava and Bernard, when he actually solely wished to exalt the silver-haired beauty. It was Ava, after all, who introduced him to the items of London Bridge Collectables, not her brother.

  In the same breath, an idea came to mind. Purdue clapped his hands once, holding his palms together. “How would you two like to be the first guests at my table? What do you say? A drink before you depart?” Purdue invited cordially.

  Ava was elated. Bernard looked unfazed. He had to keep up the image of someone who could not be surprised by anything in his fabricated worldly wisdom. Appearances were everything to him. Secretly, he was ecstatic to spend more time in the breathtaking halls of Wrichtishousis, in itself a mansion of legend.

  “That would be fantastic!” she cooed. “What say you,
Bern?”

  Bernard shrugged and nodded. “Why not!” he smiled.

  “Marvelous!” Purdue exclaimed.

  14

  Serendipity

  Purdue could not wait to sit at the newly acquired table. From the still stacked inventory of alcohol, he selected a vintage Armagnac and beamed as he placed the bottle and three glasses on the hand-sanded table surface. “Chateau de Laubade,” he announced.

  “Wow,” Ava smiled, “which year?”

  “1941, I’d say,” Bernard jumped ahead of Purdue. He relished his host’s surprise.

  “A man who knows his liquor,” Purdue remarked.

  “A man who knows his antiques,” Bernard added charmingly. His sister did not appreciate his cavalier manner toward Purdue, but she kept wearing her smile to appease the master of Wrichtishousis. While Purdue poured the drinks, the butler entered. Charles wished to know if he and the staff should proceed to shelf the wines and spirits in the new cabinet.

  “No, no thank you, Charles,” Purdue replied amicably. “Once our guests have taken their leave, I will let you know and then you can start stacking the goods for a nice display.”

  “Very well, sir,” Charles agreed with a brief nod. His eyes lingered on the ravishing woman, but for once, she was not the object of his mistrust. It was her black clad brother and his snide expression and wandering eyes that made Charles uncomfortable. Unfortunately, it was not his place to judge and he left the room to attend to the rest of his duties. He listened to the merriment fade behind him, wondering what kind of disaster the latest strangers would cause after winning Purdue’s trust.

  In the dining hall, as it was now called, Purdue made the usual gesture of toast and blessing before the three partook of the vintage libation he had poured to seal their successful deal.

  “So, now that you have rid yourselves of the latest consignment, what is the next step for London Bridge Collectables?” Purdue asked with interest. Of course, his interest was not in the company’s future, but the availability of the beautiful Ava. Tactfully as always, he had hidden his true inquiry underneath a feigned engrossment.