In Plain Sight

Iggy closed his eyes and released Alex’s hand. Relief washed over his face and he leaned back in his chair and sighed.

“Good lad,” he said, patting Alex’s shoulder. “Thank you, Alex.”

Alex grinned and helped him up. Iggy had done so much for him, taking him in and training him to be a detective and a powerful runewright. To Alex, Iggy was a second father, well, third after Father Harry.

He really hated lying to the old man.

12 The Jeweler

Iggy had been so upset by discussion of the Archimedean Monograph that he retired to his bed shortly after he finished his cigar. Alex sat and stared at the fire for a long time after he had gone. Both Iggy and Sorsha seemed to believe that the Monograph was dangerous, perhaps one of the most dangerous bits of rune magic in existence. Alex could see their point, but he also felt drawn to the killer finding rune. He felt certain that if he just took his time, studied it thoroughly, he could crack the code and find the Monograph. He was already beginning to remember some of the flaws in the rune’s design.

“I’ll bet that’s what Quinton Sanderson and Thomas Rockwell thought,” he said to the glowing embers of the fire. “Even money says they’re both invisible shadows on a wall somewhere.”

Sighing with resignation, Alex set the metal ember screen in front of the fire and went upstairs. He had more important things to do than trying to get himself killed over a mythical book that might not even exist. Besides, if he didn’t find out who killed Pemberton and why, he would be spending the foreseeable future in prison.

He intended to go straight to bed, but when he reached his room he fished out the brass key to his vault. Sacrificing a page from his rune book, Alex opened the door into his extra-dimensional space. This close to Empire Tower, the magelights in the space winked on and burned brightly, illuminating the gray walls, the workbenches, and the shelves full of ingredient vials. Alex went to an angled drafting table in front of a high stool. He’d gotten this table from a client in trade for his services and it was a much more comfortable position for creating runes and constructs. Switching on the magelight that hung directly above the table, Alex opened a drawer and pulled out a sketch pad of high quality paper. The first six pages of this pad were occupied by the runes he’d copied from Thomas’ lore book when he first got it.

One by one, he tore each page free from the pad and stuck them to a cork row on the top of the board with thumbtacks. All except the finding rune. That one he put in the center of the table, holding it down with a round magnet. He sat staring at it for a long time, then took out a legal pad and began filling it with notes. It was well after midnight when he finally went to bed.

* * *

His alarm clock jolted him awake at seven and he reluctantly relinquished the warmth of his bed for the chill of his room. He had two days left to find out what had been stolen from the customs warehouse, who had stolen it, and why. The sooner he started, the better. Iggy was still in his room when Alex came downstairs, so he decided to let Mary make him breakfast. After replenishing his pocket money from his safe in the library, he walked the two blocks to the diner.

Word had gotten out about the new cook at The Lunch Box and Alex had to wait a few minutes for a seat at the counter. Mary was so busy she didn’t have time to talk, so he gave her a wave on his way out.

He caught the crawler across town to his first stop, Anderson Tool and Die, which had received a shipment of machine parts from the French company that manufactured their lathes. It was to be their last shipment, since the owner had found a local company that could manufacture the parts for him. Another dead end.

From there, Alex went to a furniture importer who received several crates full of lacquered furniture from Japan. Next was a glazier who made stained glass windows. He’d received a shipment of pigments used in making the colored glass. Some of the pigments were rare and valuable, but he ordered in advance of his need and had only opened the crate to confirm its contents. Everything was accounted-for.

By four o’clock, Alex still had two names on his list. It was starting to feel like this was a dead end. That didn’t bode well for him…or for Danny. If it didn’t work out, Alex would have to try something desperate, something that might ruin his friendship with Danny at best… or get him killed at worst.

He pushed that thought from his mind as he entered Van der Waller’s Fine Jewelry. As soon as he entered, Alex could tell that this business had seen better days. A long row of glass cases filled one wall, but the rings, bracelets, and necklaces in them were spread out in an attempt to make the space look full. The cases had been polished and scrubbed so there wasn’t a fingerprint on them, and the dark green carpet had been vacuumed, but there was no sign anyone had been in today.