Jayne Castle - Canyons of Night

Slade looked amused. “Do I really need to answer that?”

She sighed. “No. He was a sociopath so I guess it’s no surprise that he had no qualms about the kind of antiques and antiquities he traded. Any luck tracking down his associates?”

“Some. Kane and Gilbert gave me the names of some heavy players in the black market. I came up with a few more from the Bureau’s files. But it takes time to check alibis. I’ve got Willis working on it now.”

“What happens next?”

“As I told Kane and Gilbert, the investigation is ongoing.”

She took a deep breath and braced herself. “Given that status, would you like to have dinner at my place tonight?”

He did not answer immediately, just studied her with a speculative expression.

She flushed, took off her glasses and concentrated on removing a tiny smudge with the hem of her T-shirt. “Sorry. I had the impression that you might be willing to risk a second date. If I got that part wrong, it’s okay. I understand, really.”

“You didn’t get it wrong,” he said, his voice perfectly neutral. “What do you want me to bring?”

Her spirits lifted. “Maybe you’d better bring the beer. I don’t have any and I wouldn’t know what brand to buy for you.”

“Fine. I’ll bring the beer. What time?”

She eyed him closely. “You’re really not worried about another date?”

“What additional damage could you possibly do to my ego this time around that you didn’t do the first time?”

She cleared her throat. “That’s one way to look at it. Why don’t you come over around six thirty? That will give me time to close the shop and pick up a few things at the grocery store.”

“That works. See you tonight.”

He walked past her into the front room.

Charlotte plunked the glasses back on her nose, got unstuck from the floor, and hurried after him.

“Wait,” she called.

He stopped, one big hand wrapped around the doorknob. “What?”

“Thanks,” she said. She stopped. “I appreciate the second chance. I’ll try not to screw things up this time around.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“We’ll keep everything casual,” she promised. “Just a couple of friends getting together for dinner.”

“As opposed to the two-talents-stranded-on-an-island scenario?”

“Right.”

“Is that the way you want it?”

“It’s probably best for now,” she said. Wistful regret shadowed her eyes.

“Why am I getting the feeling that you’re the one who’s nervous?”

“I am nervous,” she admitted. “I told you, when it comes to dating I’ve got a lousy track record.”

“Maybe you should stop trying to analyze your dates’ rainbows.”

“It’s a hard habit to break,” she said.

“Maybe you need more practice.”

“That’s a possibility.”

“See you at six thirty.”

She relaxed slightly. “Great.”

“I’ll bring the zucchini bread.”

“Don’t bother. Thelma Duncan left two more loaves on my doorstep this morning.”

“Rex will be excited.”

A small, distinct clang reverberated from the corner of the shop.

“Rex!” Charlotte yelped. She glared at Slade. “Your dust bunny is destroying my business.”

“Not my dust bunny,” Slade said.

Charlotte whirled around, searching for signs of mass destruction. She saw movement near the back wall and rushed through the tightly packed space. She finally saw Rex. He was perched on top of a dusty glass cabinet that contained an array of small amber and crystal objects. He had the clutch bag open and was in the process of leaning over the edge and reaching into the cabinet for one of the items on the top shelf.

“No,” Charlotte said sternly. “You will not touch that. It’s a Marilyn Stone lady’s compact and it is worth at least eight hundred bucks.”

“Forget the compact, Rex,” Slade said.

Rex abandoned the compact and chortled at Charlotte. He cocked his head to the side in what he no doubt thought was a cute, appealing manner.

Charlotte patted him somewhere in the vicinity of the top of his head. “I know what you’re up to,” she said. “You are trying to pretend that you are a sweet, cuddly little pet, but you are not fooling me. Not for a minute.”

“Let’s go, Rex,” Slade said from the door.

Rex bustled down from the glass cabinet with his clutch and flitted across the floor. Slade scooped him up and tucked him under one arm.

“Tonight,” Slade said to Charlotte.

There was a dark promise in the words. Charlotte stilled.

“What about tonight?” she managed to ask.

“I’ll take you into the Preserve after dark.”

Excitement flashed through her. She smiled. “Great, something to look forward to. Besides the zucchini bread, I mean. It’s been fifteen years since I last broke the law and did some trespassing.”

“I don’t want to spoil the moment but I have to tell you that, technically speaking, you won’t be breaking any laws if you go into the Preserve with me this time.”

“To say I’m disappointed would be an understatement. Why won’t I be doing anything illegal with you tonight?”

“As the duly constituted representative of the forces of law and order in these parts, I’m expected to deal with any illegal activities therein.”

“But there isn’t much in the way of illegal activity due to the fence.”

“Doesn’t mean I’m not obligated to go in and patrol the place once in a while.”

She laughed. “So I’ll be doing a sort of civilian ride-along tonight?”

“Except we’ll be on foot.”

He opened the door and went outside onto the street with Rex. She leaned on the counter for a moment, watching Slade until he was out of sight. Little thrills of anticipation splashed across her senses. You’re getting a second chance, woman. Whatever you do, don’t screw up this time. You can do this.

She straightened and went into the back room to finish unpacking the crate. Now that Slade was no longer around to distract her senses, she became aware once again of the dark energy leaking out of one of the bubble-shrouded antiques inside the shipping container.

She jacked up her talent a couple of notches and reached for the bundled object that she had been about to take out when Slade had interrupted her.

The instant she touched it, she knew that whatever was inside was the object emitting the strong energy. The object was surprisingly heavy for its size.

Carefully she started to unwrap the antique. As she got closer she could make out the dome shape. A chill of awareness and excitement shot through her. The antique was very similar to a snow globe in shape.

But when she peeled away the fine layer of bubble wrap, disappointment settled on her like a wet blanket. She was holding a paperweight, not a snow globe. The antique was made of glass but it was opaque, not clear. She shook it gently. Nothing happened. There was no scene inside, no sparkling snow.

The paperweight was quite old. She kicked up her senses again. Really old, she thought. It was almost certainly an Old World object. In addition there was a large amount of energy in it. The combination made it almost priceless to certain collectors and museums. The paperweight might be a dull-looking object but it held the potential to be the biggest sale of her career.

She put it on a table and picked up the itemized list that had accompanied the bequest. She had already examined it but she wanted to be certain.

As she had remembered, there was no gray glass paperweight with an Old World provenance on the list. Don’t get your hopes up, she thought. A mistake had no doubt been made when the museum staff had packed up Evelyn Lambert’s vast collection. It was easy enough to see how a simple, rather unattractive paperweight had been overlooked and put into the wrong box.

There was only one way to be sure that she had a right to the paperweight. She would contact the Lambert family lawyer to explain the situation. Meanwhile, the first priority was to find a secure place to stash the object. She remembered the old antique safe that her aunt had installed years earlier in the floor. It would be perfect.

She picked up the paperweight. Her senses were still a little jacked. She did not notice that the object was starting to lose its opaque quality until she was just about to set it on the shelf inside the old safe.

The first hints of a small scene appeared inside the glass dome. She had seen similar images in old photos in the Arcane Society Museum. The tiny, exquisitely detailed Old World cityscape was complete, with a stately clock tower and imposing buildings. It was familiar to anyone who had grown up within Arcane.

London, England. Late Nineteenth Century, Old World Date. The era was known to historians and antiquities experts as the Victorian Age.

SLADE CONTEMPLATED THE ANTIQUE OBJECT FOR A long time. She watched him from the other side of the table, aware that he was running a little hot. So was she. It seemed to her that their jacked-up auras, combined with the radiation from the nondescript artifact that sat between them made the atmosphere inside the shop feel thick and ominous, like the energy of an oncoming storm.

After a while Slade looked up and fixed her with his cop eyes.

“You’re telling me that this might be the artifact that Gaines wanted you to find for him? The one he broke in here to steal?”

“I think so,” Charlotte said. “I know it doesn’t look like much but that’s not unusual when it comes to paranormal objects. Watch what happens when I generate a little energy.”