The Book of Secrets

by Melissa McShane

  “No—yes. Can I use your van to get these catalogues to the post office?”

  “Why don’t you take Briggs’ car?” Lucia dug in her pocket and came up with two keys and a fob on a simple steel ring. “It’s old, but he took care of it like it was his baby. I’m sure it’s big enough for you to haul your load. Gray Honda Civic, and it’s parked in the lot behind the building. I doubt it’s been towed.”

  thanked her and her “boys,” then put up the CLOSED sign, locked the front door and hurried around the block to the rear of the store. It was a bright, sunny day, but that wasn’t enough to dispel the chill in the air. Exhaust fumes wrinkled my nose as a pickup pulling a loaded, tarp-covered trailer drove ponderously past. I hadn’t paid much attention to the neighborhood when I arrived that first day, and I’d been too busy to pay any attention to it after that, but now I looked around, curious about Abernathy’s neighbors.

  Most of the buildings on the other side of the street were newer than Abernathy’s. In fact, Abernathy’s and whatever lay above it were probably the oldest structures on the street. A market with small windows was on its immediate right, reminding me that I still hadn’t eaten. To the left, big black letters proclaimed that this was the Barden Theater, and handbills and posters decorated its windows. I’d never heard of the advertised movie, but I thought I might stop in some evening, just for fun.

  The parking lot, marked PRIVATE, was nestled deep within the surrounding buildings, which were tall enough to prevent any sunlight from reaching the ground. It looked cold and felt colder. I saw a narrow alley slit off one side and guessed it was the one that hard-to-open door led to. Not that I had any interest in traveling that route, which was filthy and claustrophobic.

  I searched around until I found a gray Civic parked near the exit. Frost crystals still ringed the front and rear windows, but it didn’t look like sitting out in the cold for two nights had hurt it at all. I unlocked it, then stood shivering with my hand on the door. As bad as taking over Mr. Briggs’ office had been, this felt a hundred times worse, going through a dead man’s car. I wondered once again if anyone outside the magical community would miss him. What a lonely life, if he hadn’t even had a sister or lover or children.

  I opened the door and looked inside. Mr. Briggs had kept his car spotless; there wasn’t a cheeseburger wrapper or loose penny to be seen. I hesitated again, then opened the glove box. Owner’s manual for a 2008 Honda Civic EX, proof of registration, a folded map of Portland. Nothing personal at all. I worked the seat latch to push the passenger seat all the way forward, then stepped back. There would be barely enough room for me to shove all those boxes into the back seat and fit a few up front.

  I got in the driver’s seat and had to adjust it forward so I could reach the pedals, though not far—Mr. Briggs hadn’t been much taller than me. The car smelled of pine from the air freshener attached to the air vent, and I breathed in and tried not to feel as if I were driving a stolen vehicle. That parking spot in front of the store had better still be open.

  The parking spot wasn’t open. A familiar Econoline van was using it. Viv, wearing a neon orange vest with fake leopard fur trim and a maroon peasant skirt, stood on tiptoes peering through the store window. I parked across the street and hurried over. “You took my spot.”

  “It didn’t have your name on it. What is your store doing closing in the middle of the day? Suppose I had a book-related emergency?”

  I unlocked the door and ushered her in. “You’d have to go elsewhere. Seriously, Viv, what are you doing here? Don’t you have work?”

  “I only work half days on Saturday. Wow, this place smells like onion.” Viv sniffed ostentatiously. “It looks old. Shouldn’t your boss, I don’t know, set up some displays or something? People aren’t going to want to buy anything from a place that looks this.”

  “I just sell the books,” I lied. “You want to look around? I have to move stuff. Or you could help.” Frankly, hauling the boxes in Viv’s van would be tons easier than using the Civic.

  “Help how?”

  I gave Viv a quick tour of the premises. Viv looked at the stack of cartons with a skeptical eye. “You’re not going to make it to the post office in time.”

  “Why not?”

  “Weekend, remember? It closes at two.”

  “Great. No, I forgot.”

  “We’ll put them in the van anyway, and I can drop them off Monday morning. Your boss sure has you doing the grunt work, doesn’t he?”

  You have no idea. “I’ll probably work my way up the food chain. Let’s get these loaded.”

  It felt so much faster having someone help with the lifting. I paused as I put the final carton into the van and looked across the street at Mr. Briggs’ car. I should probably move it back to the parking lot, in case someone objected to its being parked at the curb for hours, but I was tired and sweating and decided I didn’t care all that much.

  When I returned to the store, Viv had disappeared. I called her name and got no response. I checked the office and discovered the door to the stairs was ajar. “Viv?”

  “Just poking around,” she called out, and seconds later she emerged from the back stairs. “Wondering what’s up there.”

  “I don’t know. I don’t have the key.”

  “Storerooms? Or does your boss live up there? Lots of these older buildings have apartments above.”

  “I… don’t think so. I’ve never seen him go up there.” Perfectly true.

  “Want me to break in? I can do it.”

  “Viv!”

  She patted her vest over her left breast. “I’ve even got my picks.”

  “That’s illegal, Viv.”

  “It’s only illegal if they catch you with them in a place you’re not supposed to be.”

  “I don’t think that’s true. And this would qualify.”

  “Hey, I’m just offering you options.”

  “If I want to know, I’ll ask my boss.” I’d forgotten about Viv’s latest project, lock picking, and I wished I’d come up with a reason to have her unlock the mysterious door. I hadn’t thought much about it, what with everything else that had preoccupied me, but I was curious about what was behind it. Now it occurred to me that I could have had Maxwell or Henry unlock it, if I’d thought about it at all. Too late now.

  Viv followed me into the break room and sat at the table while I heated up the pad thai. “You want some?”

  “I ate already. I’ll just steal a few bites.” That, in Viv-speak, meant she’d eat at least half of what I had. I sat down opposite her and dug in, half-listening for the sound of the front door opening. “So where is your boss?” Viv continued. “You’re not on your own, are you?”

  “He’ll be back soon. Just went to run a few errands.” I hoped Viv hadn’t seen me pull up in a car that didn’t belong to me and start asking questions about those nonexistent errands.

  “At least it’s an easy job. Not a lot of customers, I’d imagine.”

  At that moment, the door opened and closed with a familiar bang. I sighed and pushed my meal in Viv’s direction. “I’d better go see what they need.”

  Two men in trench coats stood inside the door. One of them, a tall, thin man with olive skin and dark hair, was scanning the shelves, his nose slightly wrinkled as if he didn’t like the smell of onion. I could hardly blame him. The other, short and blond, was flipping through the stack of remaindered books on the counter.

  “Can I help you with something?” I said.

  The man turned his attention from the shelves to me. “Detective Acosta,” he said, displaying his badge. “This is Detective Green. We’re here about the murder of Nathaniel Briggs.”

  The room swam, and I grabbed hold of the counter to keep from falling over. “Murder?”

  “Can you tell me where you were two nights ago between the hours of five and seven, miss?”

  Time blurred together in my memory. So much had happened… “I was here until six o’clock. Then I rode the bus ho
me. I live with my family. Mr. Briggs was murdered?” How could they possibly have found out? Didn’t Lucia still have the body? And why between five and seven? He’d been killed sometime around noon.

  “Nathaniel Briggs’ body was found early this morning. We’re trying to trace his movements before that. You were in this store all day Thursday?”

  “No—yes—I was hired Thursday morning.”

  “By the victim?”

  “Yes.”

  The detective took out a little notebook, like they did in TV shows. His partner moved off into the store. I tried to keep an eye on him, but he soon disappeared between the shelves. “Can you describe the victim’s movements on Thursday?”

  Great. Would this guy be able to tell I was lying? Keep it simple. “He hired me around ten-thirty and put me to work typing labels. Around noon he came in and said he had to go out for a while, it might be a long while, and that I should lock up if he wasn’t back by six. He wasn’t. So I locked the store and went home. The next morning, he wasn’t here when I arrived, so I opened the store and went on with my work.”

  “Didn’t you think it was strange that he’d leave you, a brand-new employee, to run the store without assistance?”

  I shrugged. “He told me when he hired me that he wanted employees to show initiative.”

  “And this morning, when he once again didn’t arrive?”

  I couldn’t make this situation sound less strange than it was. “He’d said that sometimes he had to go on buying trips for a day or two and he didn’t want me overreacting if he did. But I was going to call the police tomorrow morning if he wasn’t back. I figured that was long enough. I didn’t want to raise a fuss too soon and then find out it was all perfectly normal.”

  “Hmm.” The detective put his notebook away. “This is an odd store. Get many customers?”

  “A few.”

  The door opened, and Ross Dunlop entered. “I’m sorry, is this a bad time?” he said.

  “No, please look around.” I willed Dunlop to hear my real meaning—don’t do anything stupid—and turned my attention back to Detective Acosta. “Is there anything else you want to know?”

  “Your name and address, please.”

  I gave it to him and he wrote it down. “I’ll be in touch if we have any more questions, but you should probably not leave town.”

  “Am I a suspect?” I could hear someone, either Detective Green or Dunlop, moving around in the shelves; the sound echoed strangely off the ceiling, whispering words I couldn’t understand.

  “You may have more information to give us,” Acosta said, which struck me as more ominous than if he’d just said yes. “Good afternoon, Miss Davies.” He nodded at Green, who’d emerged noiselessly from the shelves, and the two of them left.

  I held onto the counter hard, trying for the third time in as many days to calm my shaking. “Miss Davies?” I heard Dunlop say, distantly. “Were they investigating the murder?”

  “I have to call Lucia,” I said, struggling to get my phone out of my pocket. It had gone in crooked and my trembling fingers couldn’t hold onto it. “She should have warned me.”

  “Sit down and relax,” Dunlop said, guiding me to the folding chair. “It’s all right. You stayed calm, and they won’t suspect you.”

  “But they had the time of death wrong—they shouldn’t have found his body, right? Shouldn’t Lucia have kept it hidden, or disposed of it more permanently?”

  “I don’t know.” Dunlop crouched in front of me and rubbed my clenched hands. “Don’t panic. Just take a deep breath, yes, like that. Now let it out.” I breathed as instructed. “You do that for a minute. I’m going to check the wards.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Dunlop patted my hand. “I’m a stone magus. We can set up resonances in stone that… we think of it as canceling out an invader’s frequency, though that’s no more accurate than saying they come from a parallel dimension. At any rate, the wards prevent invaders from passing through to consume magic or attack people. Abernathy’s is full of magic, so its wards are essential. It occurred to me that someone could have sneaked through the foundations to attack Nathaniel if the wards were weak, so I came to examine them. If that’s all right.”

  “Yes, please do.” I sat in the freezing chair and waited until my shivering was from cold and not nerves. Part of me wanted to watch Dunlop, see what kind of magic went into wards, but I was afraid I might fall over if I tried to stand. Eventually I felt sturdy enough to go back to the office. No, the break room. Maybe Viv had left me some food.

  Viv. I’d forgotten she was there. What was she doing?

  I found her in the office, lounging in the rolling chair. “Sorry about that,” I said. “Did you hear any of it?”

  “Of course. I was practically duty-bound to listen. It’s not every day someone gets involved in a murder investigation. No, wait, for you it is every day.” She was making a chain of paper clips, one end of which was hooked through her ear.

  “I know. Weird, huh?”

  “What’s weird is you told me your boss had left this morning to run errands. As in, you’d seen and spoken to him today. Not something you told the police.”

  Words failed me. “You must have misunderstood me. I just said he was running errands. I didn’t want anyone to worry that he’d left me to handle all this myself.”

  “So when you told that other man you didn’t know how they could have found out about the murder, and why hadn’t someone disposed of the body more securely, that was also something you didn’t want me to worry about? Helena, what are you mixed up in?”

  “I’m not—”

  “You’re one of the worst liars in the world, you know that, right? At least I’ve never had trouble knowing when you’re lying. You have a tell.”

  “I do not. What is it?”

  “What, and have you stop doing it and lose my edge? Come on, Helena, tell me the truth. This is two murders in two days. If you’re involved with the Mob, I think I have a right to know.”

  She was leaning forward, drumming her fingertips on the desktop, and the paperclip string dangling from her earlobe wasn’t as comical as I’d expected. I stared her down, wondering what my tell was. No one had said I couldn’t tell anyone what I’d learned; that had been implied, that no one would believe the story, that people would think I was crazy and maybe even lock me up.

  But this was Viv, who’d known me practically my whole life and kept all my secrets, even the ones she got in trouble for. If anyone was going to believe me, it would be her. And I found I desperately wanted to tell someone what had happened to turn my life inside out.

  “You’re going to think I’m crazy,” I said, “but remember I’ve never lied to you except that one time, and that was for a surprise party.”

  “I live for crazy,” Viv said. “Tell me.”

  So I did. Everything from when I walked into Abernathy’s, to being hired, to discovering Mr. Briggs’ body and the things Campbell and Lucia had told me. When I finished, Viv’s eyes were narrowed in thought. She carefully unhooked the paperclips from her ear and said, “Do you have superpowers?”

  “I don’t think so, except maybe being able to see through illusions. The auguries are all the store’s. I’m just its hands.”

  “That is too damn cool for words.” Viv strolled over to the filing cabinet and looked at one of the folders. “Codes, magic, predicting the future… of course you couldn’t give this up.”

  “I’m not so sure, half the time. There’s so much I don’t know.”

  “It sounds like dead Mr. Briggs chose you for a reason. Though I have to say, it’s suspicious.”

  “What is?”

  “It’s almost like he chose you for your ignorance. Are you sure he didn’t predict his death?”

  “Lucia said we can’t use Abernathy’s for our personal benefit. So I’m reasonably sure.”

  “Then that means he expected to go on living and he wanted you to follow orders. Yo
u wouldn’t know enough to ask the right questions. Or the inconvenient ones.”

  “He did say I didn’t have any bad habits to unlearn.”

  Someone knocked on the office door. “I’m done,” Dunlop said, poking his head inside. “Everything looks fine.”

  “Thanks, Mr. Dunlop.”

  “No problem. And let me know if you learn anything about Nathaniel’s murder? I want the bastard brought to justice.” He nodded, then withdrew.

  “You were going to call someone,” Viv prodded.

  “Right.” I dialed Lucia’s number. Once again, the call went to voice mail. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn she did that on purpose. I summarized the visit I’d had and asked her to call back. “I hope I don’t get into trouble for telling you all that.”

  “What are they going to do, fire you?” Viv said. “Though I wonder why they keep it all a secret. You’d think the more people knew about these invaders, the safer everyone would be. People would know what to be cautious of, for one.”

  “Or people would panic and open themselves to greater danger.”

  “That’s possible.” The front door banged open. “Does it always make that much noise?”

  “It’s like a warning system. I think bells would sound nicer. But that’s so far down my to-do list I can’t even see it.”

  Viv followed me out into the store, where I found Harry and Harriet Keller once again standing arm in arm, examining the cash register. “It’s quite the period piece, isn’t it, dear?” Harriet said.

  “I can’t believe it still works,” I agreed. “Can I help you with something?”

  “We wanted to invite you for supper tonight,” Harriet said. “A sort of welcome to the neighborhood, as it were.”

  “Nothing formal, just a few friends,” Harry said.

  “Thanks, I… that would be nice.”

  Harriet beamed at me and patted my arm. “Who’s this?”

  “My friend Viv. Viv, this is Harry and Harriet Keller.” Viv grinned. I elbowed her as discreetly as I could manage. “Let me write down your address.”