Wicked and the Beast

by Lotta Smith

  “Why don’t we set that aside for a while and check everyone’s alibi first?” Rick looked at the detective. “As we all know, this house is wired with USCAB’s security program—meaning if anyone broke in, we would’ve been notified. With that info as a precondition, we can deduce that the theft was committed by someone in this room.”

  “Excuse me?” Seyfried snapped. “That’s an outrageous accusation.”

  “Rick is right,” Nicole interjected, looking at each person surrounding the table. “The security program I’m subscribed to is topnotch, and the only possibility is it was an inside job. Look, I’d rather not cast suspicions on my guests, but I’d really appreciate your cooperation—partly to prove your innocence.”

  As she batted her eyelashes at the insurance agent, Seagal cleared his throat again. That time, voice louder, he said, “Let’s begin with the alibi.” He cleared his throat. “After Mrs. Sparks and Mr. Rowling locked the storage and came back here, Mr. Radcliffe appeared.” He looked at the art broker and then moved his gaze at Shannon. “Then Ms. Tate left for the bathroom.”

  “Oh, yeah. I guess so,” Shannon agreed, playing with her phone and looking bored.

  Then Seagal added, “When she was out of the room, I also left briefly to make a call to the precinct.” His tone was businesslike, but his speech sounded more rushed.

  “He must be really, really hating this situation since he’s one of the suspects,” Jackie commented.

  “Hate is a strong word, but I think you’re right,” Claudia chimed in. “He reminds me of my first husband, Andy. He was always like that—grumpy, control freak, and so unfriendly. Oh Lord, bless his soul.” She made the sign of the cross.

  “When I came back, Ms. Tate was already here,” Seagal went on. “Did anyone leave while I was away?”

  “No, Detective. Everyone stayed here.” Nicole shook her head.

  “All right, then. When I came back, Mr. Radcliffe left this room immediately.” Seagal squinted at the art dealer.

  “So what?” He snorted. “I suggested Mrs. Sparks accompany me, but she said it was fine for me to go on my own, killing off my alibi as a result. Detective, are you implying that I’m a total moron? If I were the thief, I’d be way more discreet.”

  “I don’t know.” Seagal shrugged. “You’ve been visiting this home periodically, and it’s possible that you found the right timing to steal the mask today.”

  “What? That’s a stupid speculation!” Lips twisted and arms crossed, Radcliffe shot daggers at the detective.

  “Mr. Radcliffe went out, and Ms. Reinhart returned shortly after. Immediately, the memo from the Mysterious Art Connoisseur was found, and we rushed to the storage. So those who have an alibi are….”

  “That’ll be Nicole, Mandy, and me,” Rick chimed in. He seemed to be trying not to yawn while the detective talked. “You can exclude the three of us from potential suspects.”

  “Hey, I was here with you the whole time,” Seyfried said defiantly. Or maybe he was saddened to be treated like an invisible man.

  “Oh.” Rick raised an eyebrow. “I forgot about you. Add the insurance guy to the list.”

  “So, here are the people without alibis.” Nicole raised her right index finger. “Shannon, Mr. Radcliffe, and Detective Seagal.”

  “Don’t forget Ms. Reinhart.” Seyfried glanced at the housekeeper waiting in the corner of the room.

  “Pardon me?” Heidi raised her head abruptly, her hair bouncing. “Who, me?” Her eyes widened considerably, like they were ready to pop out of the sockets.

  “But Heidi was out grocery shopping,” Nicole interjected, furrowing her eyebrows.

  “She has the key to access this house, right?” The insurance guy looked back at her. “She might’ve returned home much earlier and committed the theft. In retrospect, I find the way she discovered the note pretty unnatural.”

  “But… I’m not a thief!” Heidi insisted. “Also, I’m not into fine art, especially Asian ones. No offense, but monetizing stolen art pieces takes time and connections, not to mention storing and keeping the art at its best condition. If I were to steal anything, I’d prefer cash or gold, at least.” Then she looked sheepishly at Nicole. “I swear I didn’t steal your treasure. I’ve never stolen your valuables, and I have no intention to.”

  “I know, I know. Heidi, take a deep breath and calm down, okay?” Nicole cooed. Looking at Rick, she said, “We have the logs on when her key was used to come in and out of the perimeter, right?”

  “Yes. We can check that out with just a phone call.” Rick took his phone out of his jacket pocket.

  “Not so fast.” Nicole touched his arm. “We can check for her log anytime. Also, having just three suspects is boring.” Her eyes twinkled. For someone whose obscenely pricy treasure had just been stolen, she seemed to be enjoying the whole situation.

  “Oh, Mandy, I can’t help admiring her grit.” Jackie sighed longingly. “Had I been in her shoes, I’d be making a really big fuss, like life-or-death kind of a fuss. I’d be crying and screaming like a total idiot, but look at her. She’s absolutely in control of herself. I want to be just like her when I grow up.”

  Suppressing the urge to roll my eyes and snort, I put my palms over my mouth.

  “Are you all right, Mandy?” Nicole cast a concerned look at me. “Are you sick?”

  “No, I’m fine. Thank you.” I offered a smile, which worked nicely as I’d been desperately trying to suppress a grin.

  “What a relief.” She nodded. “Okay then, why don’t we proceed to the part about how the culprit broke into the locked storage area?” Then she added, “Detective?” as if she’d just recalled he was there.

  “I know. I was going to say that,” the detective muttered.

  “Okay, so it takes my code and the key Rick was carrying to enter the locked storage where the mask was being held. My husband and I are the only people who know the code, and it wouldn’t be easy to steal anything from Rick. So how did the thief break in?”

  Seyfried harrumphed, giving Rick a sideways glance. “Codes can be broken, and keys can be stolen. The thief could’ve stolen it in front of your nose and then returned it to you.”

  “Are you implying that Rick let the thief get away with stealing the key from him?” I narrowed my eyes. “For your information, he’s not dumb.”

  “It’s okay.” Rick patted my hand and looked back at Seyfried. “You’re funny. So, how are you going to prove your theory? Want to try picking my pocket?”

  As he rolled his shoulders, Seyfried looked away. “Maybe the thief had a copy of the key. If that’s the case, there’s no need to steal it in the first place.”

  “Mr. Seyfried, how about my code?” Nicole chimed in. “Are you saying the thief accessed the code in my head and stole it?”

  “Well….” He crossed his arms. “That sounds… tricky.”

  “Wait a minute.” Shannon raised her hand, holding a pen in her right hand and a small notepad in the left. “Assuming that everyone’s telling the truth, it just leads to one theory—no one had a chance to steal Beast.”

  “But he was opening the little vent at the bottom of the room.” Radcliffe indicated Rick with his palm. “Maybe the thief used that as a way in.”

  “I don’t think so.” Nicole tilted her head. “That vent is too small for anyone to pass through, and even Beast couldn’t have gone through it.”

  The moment she said that, Jackie hooted. “I guess I know who did it! Beast was stolen when the locked storage was opened. And here’s a catch, Beast was still securely displayed inside when we visited there. It was stolen when the locked door was opened. The confession note from the Mysterious Art Connoisseur was a decoy to lure all of us to the locked and secured storage. As soon as the note was discovered, the storage was opened, so that has to be it. Mandy, you can share my theory with everybody here. Oh my God, I could be the next Sherlock Holmes!”

  She had a point, so I relayed her words, ending with “That�
�s what happened.”

  “Hello? It’s my theory, but you’re making it sound like yours,” Jackie protested, but Claudia patted her arm.

  “Darling, there are no copyrights to theories.”

  “That sounds promising. Well done, Mandy.” Rick squeezed my hand.

  “I know,” I cooed, and the baby moved. “The culprit is the person who went inside the storage room before anybody else. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Mysterious Art Connoisseur!”

  I pointed directly at Seyfried.

  “What… what are you saying?” Seyfried’s face turned red. “Are you crazy? Do you know what you’re talking about?”

  “Of course I know what I’m talking about,” I shot back. “Besides that, you’re the only person aside from Nicole, Rick, and me whose alibi checked out. Real culprits always have spotless alibis. Ken Seyfried, you’re about to be under arrest. You have the right to remain silent…”

  At that point, I was totally on a roll. Unlike with murder cases, confronting the criminal, saying, “You did it!” was so much fun.

  “You… you….” Seyfried was shaking as I continued, with Rick practically laughing his butt off.

  “All right, Mandy. It was a hoot, but you can stop there,” he said between guffaws, patting my arm.

  “No, I haven’t finished reciting his Miranda rights.” I looked at him.

  “I really hate to tell you this, but no one who stormed into the storage room was carrying Beast as we came out,” he pointed out. “And that includes him.” Grinning like a cat with cream, Rick glanced at Seyfried. “Though, personally, I’d find it more hilarious if he actually happens to be the thief.”

  When the insurance guy blanched, I tilted my head. “Still, maybe he hid it somewhere, like beneath his jacket.”

  “That mask is pretty big. Even if he could’ve covered it with the jacket, it would’ve been difficult to conceal its thickness.” He tsked.

  “Hmm… you have a point,” I mumbled while Jackie snapped her fingers, saying, “Oh, damn it! I thought I was totally right about the culprit and his MO.”

  Then Shannon clapped her hands. “Hey, if the culprit didn’t steal the mask after the storage was locked, he could’ve done his thief job before it was a locked room.” As she talked about the Mysterious Art Connoisseur, she had her eyes on Seyfried.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” He narrowed his eyes.

  “No reason. You just happened to be where my gaze went.” She shrugged nonchalantly.

  “Excuse me, but I’m not quite following.” Heidi knitted her eyebrows.

  “Okay, here’s my theory. Even though we believed the mask was secured in the locked storage room, what if it was already stolen when you locked up the place?” With her arms crossed, she regarded Rick as if she was challenging him. “What do you think, Mr. Rowling?”

  “Hmm… the last to leave was Detective Seagal,” he commented.

  “That’s right!” I chimed in. “And before locking up, he stayed there for a while. It was less than a minute, but long enough to make the mask disappear.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous!” Seagal snapped. “I did that in order to check out the place to ensure the mask was there. After all, it was a necessary security measure since we had outsiders in the room. Besides that, why would I, the detective in charge of catching the Mysterious Art Connoisseur, steal the item I’m supposed to protect?”

  “The same logic can be used about Rick and Mandy,” Nicole interjected. “Detective Seagal, how much money do you think USCAB is worth? Compared to their company’s multibillion-dollar empire, my Beast would be something like a kid’s toy. It’s just a fraction of their net worth, and stealing their clients’ belongings would do more damage to their business than Beast’s worth. Besides that, Beast wasn’t something you wanted to add to your collection, right?”

  Without affirming or denying her words, Rick said, “So far, we’re not collecting art.”

  “Okay. Well, I looked inside the storage to see if Beast was still there as the detective was leaving, and it was safely sitting on the same display table,” Nicole went on. “Like I said, Beast was created hundreds of years ago, and it’s practically impossible to make a passable copy. I knew it was real.”

  “Also, the detective wasn’t carrying anything the size of Beast,” Rick added, prompting everyone to fall silent.

  “So Beast was there before the storage room was locked.” Jackie crossed her arms. “But it was no longer there when it was unlocked. And no one could steal Nicole’s code or the key Rick was carrying.”

  “Hmm… sounds like a tricky case.” Claudia’s eyes twinkled with apparent excitement. “I wish I’d stayed there on a stakeout. Silly me, I can’t believe I was confused with my salon appointment. If only I remembered my right appointment date and time, then I’d be able to identify the thief. Maybe I could even add something like ‘Bollocks!’ when I revealed their identity. I read this mystery series in which all the detectives were cockney punks in London, and I absolutely loved it. Anyway, when I was alive, solving a murder as an amateur sleuth was on my bucket list. I know it’s a heist case and not a murder, but I don’t see any problem with that. After all, when you’re dead, you don’t care about the little details that used to bother you once in a while when you were alive.”

  CHAPTER 9

  “So much for solving this case through discussion,” Radcliffe said abruptly as we all sat in silence. “Hey, Detective, can I leave?”

  “No, you can’t!” Seagal spat, massaging his temple.

  “Actually, there’s something we can do now,” Rick interjected. “Assuming the Mysterious Art Connoisseur is one of us and still here, then Beast should still be here. We can find out who has it by searching our belongings.”

  “That’s a good idea.” Nicole nodded, looking convinced. I had no objection, and Rick seemed relaxed, but discomfort came across others’ faces. Detective Seagal’s was unreadable, but that was probably because he was a cop.

  “Seriously, Nicole?” Radcliffe’s thick lips twisted into a snarl. “Do you really think any of us took your Beast?”

  “I’d rather not regard any of you as suspects, but right now I can’t think of any other solutions.” She rolled her shoulders and massaged her neck.

  Shannon threw her arms in the air, in what looked like a gesture of surrender. “She has a point, Mr. Radcliffe. Considering this house is armored by airtight security, the only possibility is that the thief is still hiding among us. Mrs. Sparks, I’ll agree to your search.”

  “Thank you, Shannon.” Nicole smiled.

  “Shannon looks innocent. She’s very cooperative,” Jackie commented.

  Claudia squinted at the reporter. “I don’t know. It’s often the cooperative ones who turn out to be the real culprit. Maybe she’s tampered with someone else’s belongings to frame them and escape as an innocent bystander.”

  Rick was looking at the ceiling in silence before abruptly muttering, “Oh, yeah… that’s the question.”

  “What’s the question?” I asked.

  “It’s about stealing Beast during this time. Look, Nicole is having more visitors than usual, but there are just eight people here. If we set aside the parts about the ownership of the mask and our occupation, each of us is equally suspicious. Becoming one of eight targets is quite risky, but the thief committed the heist anyway. The question is, why did they choose this situation?”

  “Maybe the thief wanted Beast so badly, madly, and desperately.” Nicole placed her palms by her cheeks. “Beast is a femme fatale of the art scene.”

  Rick cocked his head. “Maybe.” But he didn’t quite look convinced.

  “All right, then,” Seagal said irritably. “Why don’t we start checking everyone’s belongings now? As for me, I don’t have any kind of bags, so let’s start with you.” He looked at Shannon.

  “Okay.” She shrugged and lifted her huge leather shoulder bag. “I’m carrying cameras, recorders, and other highly s
ensitive machines. Please don’t touch them, as they tend to be delicate and prone to breaking down.”

  She took out the machines she’d just mentioned and then a folded tripod, placing them onto the coffee table. The next thing she showed us was a huge, empty bag.

  “Can you open this pocket?” Seagal pointed at a small zipper at one side of the bag.

  Shannon’s eyebrow twitched like she was about to say, “You’ve got to be kidding,” but she did what she was told. Inside the little zipper was a pocket that was large enough to store a mints tin but too small for the mask. “Now you all know I’m innocent, don’t you?”

  “I suppose so.” Shrugging off her sarcasm, Seagal went on to search Seyfried’s business bag.

  “Detective, can we move over there to check my bag?” Seyfried said nervously. “I have confidential documents, and I need some privacy.”

  “Okay.” The detective stood up and moved to the far side of the salon. Considering he didn’t accuse the insurance guy as a suspect after looking through his belongings, Seyfried must’ve been ruled out as the culprit.

  “The next will be me,” Radcliffe said in a singsong tone, then opened his attaché case full of Benjamins. “Don’t even think about stealing my money, okay?”

  “I won’t.” Nicole shrugged, and Rick followed with a “Ditto.”

  “Good.” Radcliffe removed the wad of cash from his case. Placing the money in front of him, he eyed it protectively as the detective inspected the bag.

  It was large enough to hold the mask, but all that remained inside was a thin paper folder and some documents. “I was hoping to get lucky and convince Mrs. Sparks to sell her treasure to me. Unfortunately, a nasty thief took it away for free before I was able to persuade her.” Then he turned to Nicole. “If you’d sold Beast to me, you would’ve at least had some cash.”

  “Maybe.” Nicole fluttered her hand nonchalantly. “Then again, with Rick and the detective here, I haven’t lost my hopes in retrieving my baby.”

  “All right, then.” Seagal glared at Rick, then at me. “It’s your turn.”