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

by Constance Barker

  Accent the positives, Cecilia, I told myself. Focus on what can go right. In a reasonable world, our plan had a decent chance of succeeding. If Clarence was right about the wonderous things he could do from the security room, if I kept an eye on Lila, and if things went even close to the plan, we just might get out of that building with the artifacts and our skin intact. That’s what I hoped for. That would be a lot to ask.

  Chapter 19

  Just at dusk, when the shadows of the high-rise buildings began growing long and blurring together, we arrived outside the building where Ulrich Steele lived and where he housed his collection. The roar of traffic was probably loud, but it was drowned out by the pounding of my heart in my chest. I had on chic coveralls and a tool belt. I had proper patches. Lila had even come up with a fake ID badge that said my name was Daisy. And I had every nerve ending in my body on high alert. My mouth was dry and palms sweaty.

  “She’s got flop sweat,” Lila said.

  "I'm not an actress," I said.

  "You've pretended to be a reporter," Clarence pointed out. "Rather convincingly, I might add."

  He was plying me with flattery and even though I knew what he was up to, I liked it. I decided to enjoy it. "This isn't the same thing at all. I knew something about that role," I said. "This is a totally different skin."

  "Be arrogant," Lila said. "Guys like that, and nerds tend to be dismissive when other people don't understand them. It’s a winning combo for when your brain freezes up. You don’t need to remember any particular lines.”

  “I don’t?”

  “No. Just have your head set so that if they ask questions you don't understand or can't answer you feel that they are the ones who have the problem. Sneer at questions."

  "You both say that, but it still doesn't sound right."

  Lila licked her lips. I was sure she’d played a similar role at some point. "Cecilia, it will work, believe me."

  Before we'd left the motel, Clarence had called the security desk and informed them that one of the company techs needed access to update a router. I was impressed with his matter-of-fact delivery. “It’s routine stuff,” he said. “There won’t be any downtime at all, so you can enjoy your coffee.”

  Then he gave them a name—the name of the technician they should expect.

  With the stage set, we went to the building. We had a taxi drop us off a block away and while I walked up to the front door, Clarence and Lila hustled around back of the building to a service entrance. When they were in place, Clarence sent me a text. “Go!” it said. I pulled back my shoulders, gripped my toolbox and went in.

  My palms were still sweaty but I gritted my teeth and walked up to the guard. When he looked up at me I smiled and recited my piece. When he nodded and smiled at me, I was almost overwhelmed with relief. "Been expecting you," he said. Then he turned and went to the security door. It had a keypad lock. He entered a code and unlocked the door.

  He watched me walk in, watched as I put my toolbox down near the monitor.

  “Routine maintenance, huh?” he asked. I could tell that, as Lila predicted, Roger, the guard, was more interested chatting than getting information.

  “System updates,” I said. “Nothing complicated but it takes a little time.”

  “I took the call about it. I didn’t know I’d be so lucky as to have a pretty girl come to do the work.” Lila’s plan was working too well. I needed to get him to leave me alone. I couldn’t exactly send Clarence photos and then sabotage the system with him standing there staring at me. I was still dry mouthed from nerves and decided to use that.

  "Is there a soda machine around here somewhere? I'm dying of thirst."

  "I'll get you one," he said brightly, and as eager to please as I’d hoped he would be.

  "You can leave the desk?"

  "It's real slow about now so it’s no problem. It's just for a couple of minutes. We leave from time to time, delivering packages, doing rounds, things like that."

  “Then I’d appreciate it. Anything that isn’t orange would be fine.”

  “I can do that,” he said.

  As he took off toward the elevators, I called Clarence, sending him photos of the boxes. He walked me through the steps to unlock the service entrance door without setting off an alarm. I could see he and Lila on the CCTV system and watched as they swung the door open and in they came. I realized I was holding my breath.

  As they walked, Clarence was talking to me all the time, explaining what I needed to do next. I located the controls for the fire alarm and found the switch that allowed testing it for emergency drills without alerting the fire department. "I think that automatically tells the fire department that there is a drill going on," Clarence said happily.

  "Is a diet soda okay?" Roger was calling out as he approached.

  I hit the button and suddenly the building came alive with the sound of the fire alarm.

  "Oh crap!" Roger shouted. I heard him running toward the elevators. A moment later, Clarence slipped into the room and started flipping switches. "The elevator will be waiting for you. Lila is over there now."

  As I left, Clarence shut the door behind him. I knew he intended to change the access code on the door so that Roger wouldn’t be able to get in. I ran to the private elevator where Lila waited. "The guard ran off to execute the evacuation protocol," she said as the elevator door opened. “He was telling me I should exit the building calmly. Isn’t that the sweetest thing?”

  As we got on the elevator people started flooding into the lobby from stairwells and elevators. It hadn’t even occurred to me how many people might be in the building other than Steele and his minions. I was staring when Lila grabbed my arm and yanked me the rest of the way in. She pressed the button and the door closed. “Next stop, ancient artifacts and cursed treasures of all kinds,” she said as we rose quickly.

  Another factor I hadn’t considered previously was that going up into the building, riding in the elevator with the fire alarm sounding, made me feel a little trapped. We were stuck in that box, going up when everyone else would be going out. Even knowing there wasn't a fire didn't completely eliminate the reflexive fear that we would be stuck in a burning building. Sometimes instincts are funny. Lila was smiling. I guess that for her this was just an adventure.

  We stepped off the elevator and into Steele's upmarket, minimalist living room. Lila went to the table she'd mentioned and pulled out the passkey. "Do we need that when Clarence controls things?"

  She smiled. "It's a lot like a Teddy Bear… it might not be necessary, but I find I comforting. Very comforting."

  Heading for the security door at the base of the stairs to the collection room, we saw no one. I could hear muffled voices, but mostly just the shrill sound of the fire alarm. The security door was open and we ran up the stairs. "No guards?" I asked.

  She laughed. "They've probably all seen those movies of towering infernos too many times and ran for their lives.”

  As we reached the top of the stairs, the fire alarm suddenly stopped, immersing us in beautiful, wonderful, blissful quiet. We stood for a moment in a hallway that was empty, except for a couple of doors and the inevitable surveillance cameras. The walls and ceiling were painted a bright, antiseptic, sterile white that reflected the light harshly. “A little indirect lighting would improve the mood of this place, soften it a bit, I’d think,” I said.

  “I figure that Ulrich is more the harsh and shape-edged type of guy. But I’ll mention that the next time I see him, as a décor suggestion.” She pointed to the door on our right. "Your lock is in that room. Mine's in a vault at the end of the hall.”

  “A vault?”

  “Our boy Clarence will pop it open for me. You go get your toy and we can meet back downstairs outside the service door not up here."

  The change in plan surprised me. "Why not?"

  "If one of us is slow, there's no sense in holding up the other woman. If I’m not here when you are done, just go.”

  "All fo
r one and everyone for herself?"

  She started moving down the hallway. "By Jove, I think she's got it… finally."

  There was no time to discuss it and she had her mind set anyway. So I went through the door and into a room as startlingly white as the hallway. There were displays set around the room, hundreds of artifacts of all sorts in glass cases. Keeping the picture of the floor plan in my mind, I oriented myself and went straight to the case Clarence had indicated the lock had been in—and there it was.

  I’d been a bit dismissive of the lock and I had to admit it was a lot more impressive in person that in the photo. It was a gorgeous piece, if a bit weathered by time. Forcing myself not to look around at everything else on display (and possibly getting distracted by finding other artifacts to deal with) I tried to open the case. It was locked.

  We hadn’t thought to bring any tools (the first glitch in our program) but I saw a rather statue, ugly but heavy looking, sitting on a stand. I don’t like violence, but I raised it over my head and brought it down on the case. I expected a crash of glass and to have shards of it flying, but the case turned out to be plastic. The statue rebounded, leaving a small scratch.

  Fortunately, the lock that held the door closed wasn’t as strong. My blow sprung the lock and I managed to open the case and take out the Egyptian lock. It was lighter than I expected.

  I had thought to bring a soft over-the-shoulder bag and I put the lock in the bag and went back into the hallway.

  It was empty and quiet.

  The door at the end of the hall was open, but there was no sign of Lila. I still smarted from her trying to change our plan on the fly, so I made my own executive decision—I’d go see if she needed any help.

  When I got to the door, I peeked in. I saw the vault she’d mentioned, standing wide open. Off to the side of the room I saw Lila kneeling in front of a large safe, spinning the tumblers. "What are you doing?"

  She looked at me. "Don’t panic. I've got the dice.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “I wasn't about to pass on a golden opportunity."

  "That's his safe. You’ve got what we came for. Let’s get out of here."

  She arched her eyebrows. "Hey, I'm a thief. Thief, safe… that makes for a complete, well-matched set. It's important to go with the natural order of things. You don't want to break up a matched set."

  "But…"

  She held up a hand. "I'm wearing gloves."

  Just then our peaceful silence was shattered by an alarm. This wasn’t the clanging of the fire alarm, but a piercing buzzer that sounded ominous.

  Lila was frozen. She'd swung the safe open and clearly that was what set off the alarm. She turned to look at me, her mouth open wide. "What is it with this guy Steele? Isn't enough security enough?" She turned at stared at me. "The damn safe has its own alarm. Who does that?"

  I felt my stomach churn uneasily.

  Chapter 20

  Without waiting for an answer to her question (as she already knew exactly who would do something like that) Lila lurched up from her place on the floor in front of the safe and bolted for the door into the hall. "You do have the dice, right?" I asked. She'd said she had them, but I wanted confirmation before we left. I couldn't see us getting in here again. I sure didn't want to have to come back.

  "Sure. How do you think I was lucky enough to figure out the combination to the safe?"

  "I thought that the dice only worked for roulette."

  "Why would you think that? Aren’t you paying attention? I told you I got lucky other ways."

  I'd forgotten that part. In fact, from the time that I’d heard all three big winners who died had made their money at a roulette table, I’d been fixated on the way they influenced roulette. Maybe for once, there was a coincidence at work?

  As we emerged into the hallway I heard a noise. We glanced at the elevator we’d come up in. The door was closed. It was in motion.

  “Clarence said there was an emergency elevator,” I said.

  Lila was already moving. "Take the stairs," she called out over her shoulder. I whirled to follow her toward the emergency stairwell. Before we got far, the elevator went "ding," the doors opened and far too many guards, all armed to the teeth, poured out.

  “Halt,” one of them shouted. “Halt or we will shoot.”

  We halted. They fanned out in the hallway, guns pointed at us as Lila and I turned to face them.

  "Is the fire out?" Lila said. "We were afraid to go down so we came up here to hide."

  The guards parted as a big man in an expensive suit got off the elevator and walked toward us.

  “Damn,” Lila said.

  "Tsk, tsk," the man said. “Lying again?” He seemed to be smiling, but it wasn't the most pleasant look I'd ever seen on a man. I was sure I was looking at Ulrich Steele. "Well, well, my little Lila, you brought a friend to visit. I guess this makes a certain amount of sense now."

  "What makes sense?" I asked.

  "The reason she brought me the dice," he said. "You see there were two possibilities and first I tended one way and then the other.”

  Lila just stared at him.

  “Two possibilities? She brought them to sell them to you.”

  “So she said. But you see I wondered why she thought I'd be interested in some old, worn, rather ugly dice. It isn't like there is a market for them. That told me she knew about their special qualities.”

  “Qualities.”

  “So either she thought she could get me to buy them because she was afraid of them, yet reluctant to just abandon them, or she wanted to use showing them to me to get a chance to take a look at my collection. I wondered if it was as much a scouting mission as anything else. Now I see that it might be some of each. She wanted to get rid of them, at least briefly, but there was a definite interest in seeing what was here to benefit her.”

  “I didn’t want the risk of holding onto them,” she said. “That’s why I brought them here, Ulrich. I figured you’d know they were worth something.”

  “They were worth much more to me out there,” he said. “It was much more fun seeing the havoc they caused out in the world."

  "But you bought them from me.”

  “She said you had a buyer in mind."

  He laughed and the laugh was one of genuine surprise. "Is that what she told you?"

  I looked at her. Lila shrugged and gave me that face. You know, the one that says, "So I lied. Sue me."

  "I did buy them from her, but only to try and learn what she was up to. And now I have. Lila brought them to me as an excuse to case my collection. And now you two have come to rob me."

  "That wasn't the only reason I came to you, Ulrich."

  "No?"

  "Of course not. Partly it was your reputation. I know you collect lots of weird and oddball things; most people, even collectors, aren't stupid enough to pay good money for something like old dice. Besides that, your building has a great air-con unit and it was incredibly hot outside."

  "You are as witty as ever, Lila. I did realize that the reason you asked to see my collection was so you could check out my security. It’s rather impressive if I say so myself. And although you tried to mask it, the look on your face when you saw my safe told me that you'd be back sooner rather than later. A lovely safe like that one has to be an irresistible draw to a thief. That's why I made sure its independent alarm was tested and its batteries fully charged. I never doubted for a moment that you’d find a way to disable the normal building alarms. Centralized systems are so vulnerable."

  Lila sneered. "It's not the safe so much as the pain of not knowing what delicious things a man like you might hide inside it. Opening it feels a little like gifts under a tree at Christmas."

  Steele nodded. "I can see that. You'll agree it is a lot noisier, however. And in this case, the neighbors complained… and here we are."

  Steele was talking to Lila but looking me over, sizing me up. Now he seemed to be done with Lila and it was my turn in the
hot seat. "You know, Cecilia, when I'd heard that there was a new Antique Dealer running around the city I wasn’t at all surprised. The news of our little disruption was bound to set off ripples in that pond. I will admit that I am surprised to see you. I didn’t expect another Parish, not so soon."

  “You two know each other?” Lila said, looking honestly shocked.

  “Only by reputation,” Steele said.

  Of all the strange things, many of them bordering dangerously on actual, certified coincidence that had happened recently, this one truly rattled my cage. I didn’t even pretend to hide my amazement. "How did you know my name?"

  Again he laughed. He seemed to find a lot of things funny. "How? You are rather famous in my circle."

  "Me? Famous?"

  "Of course. Cecilia Parish is the girl who bested Walter Temple. Taking him out was quite something. We all considered him rather formidable. It’s unimaginable that you didn't think that by now we wouldn't all know who you are. I, for one, have been dying to meet you, although some of my colleagues don't think of you in any social context."

  My stomach knotted up hard. All of these plurals were unsettling, but suddenly a lot of things came clear, such as who Steele really was.

  “You’re with the Cabal.”

  He bowed. “At your service, speaking metaphorically, in this instance.”

  Lila was looking at me, wanting to know what I knew. “Ulrich Steele is a collector all right. Unless I miss my guess, his collection, or some collection of his, includes a number of objects that Walter Temple, my ex-fiance, stole from the vault in the back of my Uncle Mason's curiosity shop.”

  “Except that, we’ve not hoarded them,” he said. “Many of them were handed out.”

  As a card-carrying member of the Cabal, it made sense that he knew all about our adventures with Walter. What I didn't know was if he saw the fact that I'd stopped Walter from destroying the world as a good thing or a bad thing. After all, just because he and Walter were part of the same underworld, this Cabal, that didn't mean he didn't view Walter as a loose cannon. The truth was I knew very little about the Cabal, just what Walter had said and he seemed intent on destruction.