“Carful with those things,” Alex said, prying her poison-tipped manicure off his arm.
“Sorry,” she said with fake remorse.
“It’s these jars,” Iggy said, pulling one of five roundish jars about a foot and half tall from the shelf.
A glowing line ran up the side of the jar to some kind of animal head on top. As Iggy turned it, they could see more lines and shapes on the back of the jar.
“It’s only on the one side,” Iggy said, putting the jar back on the shelf with the glowing lines visible.
“Check the other jars,” Alex said, holding the light steady.
One by one, Iggy checked the jars. Each of them had a pattern of lines and shapes on its back, but none of them looked complete.
“They form a pattern of some kind,” Iggy said.
“Try rearranging them,” Jessica said.
It took Iggy a few minutes, but he finally managed to put the jars in an order where the lines on one seemed to be continued on the next.
“So what is it?” Jessica asked, breathless in her excitement. “What does it mean?”
“It means that the ancient Egyptians knew rune magic,” Alex said.
“As for what it’s for?” Iggy said. “Haven’t got a clue.”
Alex pulled out his notebook and sketched the strange Egyptian glyph. Iggy did the same, and then they compared notes.
“Now what?” Alex asked.
“Now we go to work,” Iggy said. “Jimmy Cortez and his Talon friends were trying to uncover lost rune knowledge. We need to figure out what they were after and why.”
“Is this part of it?” Jessica asked.
“I don’t know,” Iggy admitted, stroking his mustache. “I’ll go thank the curator and tell him we’re leaving,” he went on, turning to Alex. “You take Jessica home. I imagine we’ve kept her from her duties long enough. Then you can meet me back at the brownstone.”
Alex nodded, and Iggy headed out through the museum’s vast storage basement toward the stairs.
“Well this was one hell of a date,” Jessica said, leaning against a table full of wooden crates. Alex noticed that she like to lean against things with her hip cocked. She probably thought it presented her figure to the greatest advantage like that.
She was right.
Alex grinned at her as he finished putting away his gear.
“We’ll have to do it again, then,” he said. He offered her his arm and began walking the same way Iggy had gone.
“Yes, we will,” she said. “I am sorry about Dr. Bell, though.”
“What about Iggy?” Alex asked, confused.
“Well, he seems very eager to go over all that ancient rune stuff with you,” she said. She took a quick step forward and turned directly into Alex’s path. He stopped short to avoid running into her. “I’m sorry because he’s going to be disappointed.” She leaned in, pressing herself against him like she had done before. “You see, you’re not coming home tonight.”
Before Alex could reply, she kissed him.
She was right. Iggy was going to be disappointed.
32
Epilogue
The following day a notice was set to appear on the police blotter of the New York Times. It was a small story about an insignificant yet baffling theft.
According to the article, a mummy had been reported stolen from the basement of the American Museum of Natural History. A security guard was suspected of the theft, since he disappeared the same night as the missing mummy. The only evidence left behind were five smashed jars that were part of the mummy’s collection.
Unfortunately, that same day a brawl broke out at a Dodgers game in Brooklyn. The fight spilled off the field and out into the streets. Police were called, and dozens of arrests were made. The event was unprecedented and drove all mention of the museum theft out of the newspaper entirely.
A Quick Note
You made it. You got all the way to the end, thanks so much for reading my book, it really means a lot to me. As an independent author, one thing that really helps me to get my books out to more people are the reviews I get over on Amazon. So if you would be so kind, take a moment and follow this LINK over there and leave me a quick review. I’d really appreciate it. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just a quick note saying whether or not you liked the book.
Thanks so much.
Since this is book 2 in the Arcane Casebook series, most of you will have already read book 1 and if you have, you’ve probably downloaded the prequel novella, Dead Letter. If, for some reason you haven’t, however, you can get it absolutely free, right HERE. Dead Letter is the story of how Alex met Danny and the first case they worked together. Get yours now.
So take two minutes and leave me a REVIEW HERE. And, if you didn’t get Dead Letter before, grab your free copy right HERE.
Thanks again and you rock!
Look for Arcane Casebook book #3, coming in July of 2019.
Also by Dan Willis
Dead Letter
Private Detective Alex Lockerby needs a break and it materializes in the form of an ambitious, up-and-coming beat cop, Danny Pack. Alex and Danny team up to unravel a tale murder, jealousy, and revenge stretching back over 30 years. It’s a tale that powerful forces don't want to come to light. Now the cop and the private detective must work fast and watch each other's backs if they hope to catch a killer and live to tell about it.
Dead Letter is the prequel novella to the Arcane Casebook series.
In Plain Sight
In 1933, an unwitting thief steals a vial of deadly plague, accidentally releasing it in at a soup kitchen in Manhattan. The police, the FBI, and New York’s ‘council of Sorcerers’ fear the incident is a trial run for something much deadlier. Detective Alex Lockerby, himself under suspicion because of ties to the priest who ran the kitchen, has a book of spells, a pack of matches, and four days to find out where the plague came from, or the authorities will hang the crime squarely on him.
A steampunk Civil War story with NYT Bestseller, Tracy Hickman
Lincoln’s Wizard
Washington has fallen! Legions of 'grays' — dead soldiers reanimated on the battlefield and pressed back into service of the Southern Cause — have pushed the lines as far north as the Ohio River. Lincoln has moved the government of the United States to New York City. He needs to stop the juggernaught of the Southern undead 'abominations' or the North will ultimately fall. But Allan Pinkerton, his head of security, has a plan…
The Georgia Alchemist
With Air Marshall Sherman’s fleet on the run and the Union lines failing, Pinkerton’s agents, Hattie Lawton and Braxton Wright make their way into the heart of the south. Pursued by the Confederacy’s best agents, time is running out for Hattie and Braxton to locate the man whose twisted genius brings dead soldiers back to fight and find a way to stop the inexorable tide that threatens to engulf the Union.
The Flux Engine
In a Steampunk Wild West, fifteen-year-old John Porter wants nothing more than to find his missing family. Unfortunately a legendary lawman, a talented thief, and a homicidal madman have other plans, and now John will need his wits, his pistol, and a lot of luck if he’s going to survive.
About the Author
Dan Willis wrote for the long-running DragonLance series. He is the author of the Arcane Casebook series and the Dragons of the Confederacy series.