The Curious Case of the Cursed Dice (Curiosity Shop Cozy Mysteries Book 2)

by Constance Barker

  Finally, he was moving ahead and things seemed to be going well. He was on a roll and when you were on a roll, well, that was precisely the right time to strike, wasn’t it? What did they say? There was no time like the present and all that. If he just got on with it, with luck he’d meet Cecilia for dinner and be able to show her his prize – the Egyptian lock, the ancient, cursed artifact.

  To add some final convincing touches, he stopped in an office supply store and bought a cheap clipboard, some paper, and a pen. Ready to take on his role, he walked back to stand outside the glass doors of Steele's building. He could see into the lobby from that angle, so he leaned against the cool marble wall and waited for the guard behind the desk to change. Fortunately, (he was definitely on a roll) after just a few minutes a new guard came in. He was carrying a coffee cup with the logo of a fancy coffee shop around the corner. Clarence had seen their sign… and prices. Obviously, this guard job paid a lot better than the wage he earned working in the curiosity shop.

  The two guards chatted a bit, while the new man looked over some notes on a clipboard. He nodded his satisfaction and signed a paper, then the one going off duty grabbed up a lunch box and thermos and headed for the front door.

  Clarence stood close by so that he could read the man’s name tag as he walked toward the bus stop. "Chuck Ramsey," it said.

  He let out a breath to calm himself, muted the ringer on his phone, and stepped through the doors into the lobby. He dropped the bag with his clothes in it in the corner and went straight to the security desk.

  "Hey there," he said to the guard. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here. The traffic was terrible."

  The guard gave him a suspicious look. "To do what?"

  "To find out what's going wrong."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "I'm talking about me driving all the way across this city to respond to a trouble call that came from this desk," Clarence told him. “The video feeds from the top floors are intermittent.”

  The man glanced at a clipboard. "Sorry. There's been a mistake. No one here made a trouble report. It didn't come from us." He turned a monitor around to show Clarence. “The feed looks fine.”

  “Of course it does now,” he said. “That’s why it’s called intermittent. Even if it weren’t, it’s like taking your kid to the doctor. The symptoms disappear in the waiting room.”

  “I don’t have kids,” the man said.

  Clarence pointed to the security room. "Are we gonna have a problem here? I have a job to do. A fault had been reported and I'm supposed to fix it. You don't want it fixed?" He stared at his own clipboard. "A security guy from this building reported it an hour ago." He smiled. “Like I said, traffic is hell.”

  "That didn't happen," the guard said. "I just came on, but we log all those calls and there is no record of it."

  "We log them too. My boss said that a guy named..." he looked at his clipboard, pretending to study it... "Chuck Ramsey was his name. He called my office and they sent me over here to provide contracted tech support. It says I am supposed to check out the interconnection box and verify that things are good." He gave the man a shrug. "The boss wants me to install some updates we were planning for next week as long as I’m here."

  "Not on my watch," the man said. He turned to a computer screen. "There's nothing recorded here about any glitch in any of the systems."

  Clarence could see that this was a by-the-book guy. "So you are telling me that I came for nothing?"

  "I guess so."

  Clarence moved around the desk, going toward the back room. "In an hour you'll be on the phone insisting I come all the way back again. It's better if I take a quick look as long as I'm here. I doubt your boss will be thrilled when he’s billed for two service calls when I could’ve done it now."

  The guard moved in front of him. "That isn’t my concern and you aren't going in there without proper authorization."

  "If you let me do a quick system's check then we will know for sure if something is wrong. If not, I'll be on my way."

  The man shook his head. "I guess you aren’t hearing me. That isn’t happening on my watch, buddy. Now you better get out of here."

  Clarence wracked his brain trying to think of something he could say, an excuse to get past him. This was supposed to work. It always did in the movies.

  "Oh, so there you are, darling." He turned in the direction of the voice to see a woman swoop over and take his arm. "I wondered what you were up to." Clarence looked at her. She was tall and thin and looked to be in her twenties. She had short red hair that was sculpted around her elegant face. "Why the costume, Jeff?"

  The guard stepped back, tense. "Do you know this man?"

  She gave him a big smile. "Yes, I do know this romantic fool," she said. "He can be so flamboyant. I'm really glad you didn't let him inside that room."

  The guard moved a hand toward his belt. Clarence wasn’t sure if he had a gun in the holster there, or a taser. Either one could be bad news. And who was this woman? "Why is that, ma'am?"

  "Because he is in love with me. He knew I was visiting Ulrich Steele. He probably intended to make the building light up with my name or somehow use the cable system to show everyone in the damn building a video of a declaration of his love for me. I bet that's exactly what you had in mind, isn't it, darling?" She smiled at the guard. "He's something of a genius with that sort of thing."

  He realized that somehow she was leading him away from the desk. He stopped. "Look, I don't..."

  "Of course you don't," she said, and then she kissed him, pressing her body against his and giving him a kiss as passionate as any he'd ever experienced. The moist, hot kiss, and the softness of her warm body, taken together with the high note of her perfume intensifying things, made Clarence's head spin. He was having trouble thinking.

  Back behind his desk, the guard shifted nervously, awkwardly and when the woman broke the kiss, she said, "come along, darling," and led a rather confused Clarence out the front door with him just managing to remember to make enough of a detour to pick up the plastic bag with his clothes.

  Outside, back in the heat and glare of the afternoon Nevada sun, she held his arm. He wasn’t sure if she was clingy or afraid he’d run away. "My, my, this has been a rather whirlwind affair, hasn't it, Jeff? By the way, I’m Lila Twill."

  "I’m Clarence Copperfield."

  She did a bit of a double-take. "Of course it is. Any relation to David?”

  “Who?”

  “Never mind. And now, Clarence Copperfield, you can reward my good deed by buying me a drink in some dark, air-conditioned bar."

  "But..."

  "You are a delightful young man, but you almost got yourself in big trouble. Has anyone ever told you that you have to be the absolutely worst con man in the universe? Not counting the idiots with the email fraud stuff, I mean. They are worse."

  "I'm not..."

  "Darling, denial doesn’t suit you any more than those disgusting coveralls. I could spot your scam from all the way across the room. I think the guard could too. I'm surprised and pleased that he didn't call the cops."

  "He..."

  "You are just lucky that I came along when I did. I don't usually like to involve myself in other people's games but I couldn't let a colleague screw himself up like that, now could I?"

  She was beaming and smiling, obviously rather pleased with herself. Clarence knew he was being distracted from his goal, but after that kiss, after the warmth of her body against his, and seeing her pleasant smile, the idea of taking a break to regroup and to buy Lila Twill a drink, and perhaps getting to know her better, seemed like a very, very nice idea.

  "I remember seeing a bar on the next block," he said. He held up the bag. "And I have more suitable clothes in here.

  "Excellent," she said cheerfully. “I want to see how you look when you are being you.”

  Chapter 15

  I tried. I really did. I gave it everything I had...every ounce of patienc
e. I had been so positive that Clarence would call me that I was actually hurt when he didn’t. Once Enid had spilled the beans that he wasn't as close to getting the lock as he'd made me think (I'd get him for that, too) I just knew that he'd call me and ask for help.

  Clarence was many things, even resourceful, but he often needed to be pointed in the right direction. That was my job and I wanted him to ask me to do it.

  He didn’t call. That meant I, my analysis, was wrong. I hate being wrong. I don’t hate it as much as I hate giving in first, but I don’t like it at all.

  The worst thing about this particular situation, waiting for Clarence to call, was that I had nothing to do while I waited for him to call―except to dwell morosely on the sinking feeling that the woman I was after could easily be on a plane to Des Moines by now.

  That was my brain being weird, actually. I wasn't even sure any planes left Las Vegas for Des Moines. I mean, that would mean people wanted to go there from Las Vegas, but you get the general drift. Of course people coming from Des Moines to Vegas would want to get home again. .

  Anyway, thoughts like that were all I had to occupy myself with while I waited for Clarence to call me for help. When he didn't I got tense. By the time I'd waited probably the best part of an hour, I couldn't take it anymore. Thinking about what Enid said I had started to worry. If he was in trouble… It scared me that maybe he wasn't calling me because he couldn't.

  I broke down. I gave in and called him.

  It was a relief when he answered. I heard music in the background. Lounge music. "Where are you?" I asked.

  "In a bar," he said, as if I should have known he had nothing to do and would be taking the day off.

  "Why?"

  "Because it's hot outside and cool in here and the drinks are good."

  "I see. How’s the work going? You were going to work, right?"

  "Is that your friend? Tell her to join us," a woman's voice said.

  "Who is that?" I asked.

  "Lila,” he said.

  “Lila?”

  “Lila Twill." He sounded impatient. Or reluctant to tell me.

  "And who is Lila, Lila Twill?"

  He laughed. "A new friend."

  There was an uneasiness in his laugh that bothered me. "So how is it going? Have you got the lock?"

  "Not quite yet." Now he sounded annoyed, a little snappish. "I suffered a minor setback.”

  “You almost got arrested,” Lila said.

  I heard Clarence try to shush her. Then he addressed me again. “I told you I'd give you a call when I got it. I didn’t call, so I haven’t got it.”

  “Okay. Don’t be hostile.”

  “Did you get the item you were after yet?"

  "No. I need your help." There, I'd said it. Out loud, even. "My trail went cold and I need your ideas."

  "Since you are at a dead end, come join us," he said. "We are at the Budapest Bar. Lila wants to meet you.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “I'll text you the address."

  There were no clues in the casino I was in, they were ensconced having drinks, and I couldn’t think of any excuse for making him come to me. My competitive brain scored another depressing point for Clarence. But I was curious about this woman he’d met. Mostly how he wound up on a date when he was chasing the lock. "I'll grab a cab and come right over."

  I didn't bother calling Ronny. I had the address and at this time of day, there were always long lines of cabs in front of the casinos. I went out and grabbed the first one.

  The Budapest Bar was a nice enough mid-market place. It struck me as being aimed at locals—the less flashy kind of place that people who actually lived in Vegas might go. Tourists would be in the casinos. As a result, it was pleasant and not super pricey.

  It wasn't crowded and I found Clarence sitting at a table. With him, chatting animatedly was a tall, thin, redhead. The way my day was going, the way things seemed to work out when you went after cursed artifacts the way we did, I knew immediately that this was the woman I'd been chasing after all day. While I’d hunted her, she had managed to latch onto Clarence. She had to be the woman ― I had moved into a universe where there were no coincidences at all. None.

  "It’s you!" I said, walking up to her. "I've been looking for you all day."

  That idea didn't seem to bother her in the least. "And now you've found me," she said. "Lucky you. What did I do?"

  I wondered about that too. “That’s exactly what I want to know—what you did.”

  Clarence looked more confused than usual. "You two know each other?"

  "By reputation," I said. “I’ve been going from one casino to the next trying to find you.”

  "I’m flattered, I think," Lila said. "Am I really so well known? Did you want to meet me that badly? Why?"

  "Because you were with the big winner at the casino the other night."

  "Ah," she smiled. "That reputation."

  "Freddy described you to me."

  Clarence wrinkled his nose. "Who is Freddy?"

  "He's the security guy at the casino where the last victim won big."

  Clarence scowled. "First it’s Ronny and now Freddy? You get chummy with people pretty fast."

  I nodded toward Lila. "Not quite as chummy as you, apparently."

  He scowled, unhappy to have the high ground eroded under his feet. "We're just friends."

  “So why did your pal Freddy describe me to you?” Lila asked.

  "The security people watched you."

  "Of course they do. They watch anyone who so much as finds a penny on the sidewalk. That’s their job.”

  I glared at Clarence. “How did...”

  “It was a figure of speech,” Lila said.

  “You weren’t surprised when I questioned you. You must’ve known I was looking for you.”

  “I must’ve? I still have no idea who you are.”

  “This is Cecilia,” Clarence said. “I should’ve introduced you but I was busy struggling with the way the ground was shifting under my feet.”

  “Clarence doesn’t like rapid change,” Lila said.

  “He hates it,” I agreed.

  I sat down and let the waitress take my order for a vodka martini. “You had to know about me and about Clarence. I don’t know exactly what you know, but how else, why else, would I find you sitting here with Clarence?”

  “We met at the office,” she said. “I had no idea you were hunting me down. I came by the building to conduct some business and when I was leaving, there he was, all geeky and cute.”

  "You aren't surprised by all this?" Clarence asked her. "I am."

  Lila Twill gave us a thin smile. "Not really. It's been that kind of day. The last couple of days have been more than a little insane."

  "Can you explain that a bit?"

  The waitress came with my drink. Lila smiled and held up an empty glass. "If you order us a round, I'd be happy to. I have nothing to hide.” She hooked her arm through Clarence's and slumped against him. "I have a hunch that we are all going to be great friends."

  "We are?" I asked. I nodded at the waitress and gave her my credit card. “Better run a tab.”

  "We better become fast friends whether we want to or not. After all, we all have to deal with Ulrich Steele, don't we?"

  I looked at Clarence. He seemed shocked. "You know Steele too?”

  “Of course. Why else would I be in that building?”

  As we waited for the new drinks I found myself wishing I had a gun. There were so many reasons not to rush into considering Lila Twill to be anything remotely like a friend that I couldn’t count them. I gave her my most sincere smile. “So what sort of business did you have with Ulrich Steele?”

  “Why that’s a part of the story of how Clarence and I met.”

  I sighed. She wanted to make it a real story. She was enjoying herself. "Okay, the drinks are coming, so tell me... how did you two meet?"

  She rested her cheek against Clarence's shoulder and smiled. The
waitress came with the drinks. When she handed them around, Lila looked up at Clarence. "Well, it's such a lovely story. Like a fairy tale, only one in which the princess comes to the rescue of the erring knight errant."

  An embarrassed grin covered Clarence's face as I sat back to listen, certain that this would be good.

  “I went to see Ulrich because I wanted to sell him a pair of dice,” she said.

  I thought the room was starting to spin. I was sure it was. How could this all be pulling together in the Budapest Bar?

  Chapter 16

  As urgently as I wanted answers to my questions, I could see that Lila intended to tell her story her way. She liked a good show and all I could do was give her an opening. “How about taking one step back?" I asked. "Start with the other night, when you were gambling.”

  A look came over her face. "You are after the dice," Lila said. “That’s why you two are sniffing around Ulrich’s place.”

  "Not me. I was after a lock, actually," Clarence said. "Cecilia was after the dice."

  Lila looked away. "You are better off without them."

  "Tell me about the dice."

  Lila smiled. "I didn’t know about them at first. It was a heady night. The guy was winning constantly. He was greedy about it too. I knew they'd stop him sooner or later. He admitted that this was the first time he’d ever been lucky. That doesn’t happen, so I watched. He was reaching into his pocket so I finally asked him what was up and he showed them to me. His lucky dice, he said. He told me that the dice were new to him. He got them somewhere from a guy who said they’d change his luck.

  He’d been around and when he started winning, when we saw that the security guys were getting itchy, he knew his run was over. That would be it for him. They'd put his name and photo into the cheater database. Even if they couldn’t catch him doing anything, since he wasn’t a high roller, after winning as big as he had, he'd never be let into a casino again. He didn't care though. He said he was going to leave the country and buy himself a place in Tuscany."