Page 32 of Artifacts

“What’s up?” Sean looked at Aldric. “Developments?”

“Can we talk in that office in the back?”

It wasn’t a question, not when Darrell was leading the way as he spoke. Aldric hadn’t been able to appreciate seeing Darrell as a patrol officer the night they’d met and had tried to imagine him working at the station, or out on the beat, like something from a TV show. But now, with him filling in his partner— this was how he’d envisioned Darrell on the job.

“A puzzle box?” Sean reared back in his chair when Darrell reached that part of the story. “Like inHellraiser?”

“What?” Aldric didn’t understand, but saw Darrell fighting a smile.

“Movie,” he replied. “Maybe. You’ll get used to Sean, Aldric. He’s…imaginative.”

Sean’s forehead creased. “So you two are friends, now? While working on this?”

“Sean, listen.” Darrell glanced at him and swiped a hand over his mouth. “I haven’t called this in.”

Sean frowned. “Because you still think it’s a prank? On who? Both the widow and this store? Or maybe it’s revenge?”

Darrell flinched a little at that, and Aldric wondered why.

“But seems to me we’re back to robbery.” Sean scratched his red head. “Is this particular box valuable?”

“No. It’s modern, and even the older ones were common. They were used as decorative jewelry cases. Look.” Aldric reached for the guide to the trinkets he’d been studying. “They’re just carved wood, some of it in mosaic patterns. I showed you before. In the safe, when you were checking that it was secure.”

“I can’t recall.” Darrell didn’t meet his eyes. “And they’re not here now?”

“They are. Elliot hasn’t taken them to the depository yet. Do you want to see them?” He directed that at Sean, who was looking uncomfortable. Not waiting for a reply, Aldric led the way to the small, secure room next door to the office that served as the premises’ walk-in safe then keyed in the code to open it.

Inside, he took up the hexagonal box. “This one must be the one in question.” He pressed some of the pearl inlay squares.

“Don’t open it!” Sean ordered, his eyes wide and his hands out as if to brace for an explosion.

“I can’t. I don’t know all the moves. I’ve only managed to open this simple rectangular one, and that was done by pure luck,” Aldric admitted. “Lots of times, if you do make the mechanism work, you don’t know you did it, so you lock it again.”

“This one’s similar.” Darrell picked up a five-sided box.

“Why would you want a similar… Fuck, Dazzle! Sorry, Aldric.” Sean grabbed Darrell’s arm. “Tell me you want a decoy box to take to Fuentes and let him handle this.”

“This?” Aldric asked.

Sean nodded. “I know my partner. He’s planning something crazy because Fuentes has been as useless as tits on a boar hog.”

Darrell snorted but didn’t speak.

“Like a trap?” Aldric’s mind raced as Darrell followed Sean out of the small room, arguing and persuading his partner that they should be the ones to hand the artifact over, not Aldric. Aldric locked the safe, catching references to Sean being similar in build, to a recent operation they’d pulled off and how well they worked as a team.

“We’d need to study the drop zone and we’d need backup stationed at three points,” Sean protested. “How is that gonna happen when Fuentes is ignoring this whole thing?”

“Here.” Darrell freed an old map from a rack on the wall. “You can pull up a map on your cell too and so can I.” He took out his phone.

“We’re in uniform,” Sean pointed out.

“We got clothes in the car. Come on.”

Aldric still didn’t understand when they left the store, promising to be back within minutes. He heard a buzzing noise. Darrell’s phone, left on the table, was ringing. A handsome face filled the screen. The guy Darrell had been trying to talk to at the museum.Mateo, it said. The door opened and the two men were back.

“Darrell.” Aldric indicated his phone, needing to ask about the call.About Mateo.

“Thanks.” Darrell slipped it into his pocket. “Right. We’ll change and go,” he announced.

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