Page 61 of The Fighter
Willow looked from me to Mila and back again. “Is that yourmystery? Marcus had many people killed. Everybody knows that. The man was a psychopath and a cruel tyrant.”
“True, but I’m investigating a specific murder that I think he ordered.”
Willow gave me a small smile. “Are you going to tell me who this prominent and important victim was?”
“I’d rather wait until I have solved the case.”
“All right.” Willow raised her glass to us. “At least let’s give cheers to the fact that they’re finally letting you do some real police work.”
Mila clinked her glass with Willow’s and when I hesitated, Willow frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
“Actually, they didn’t assign this case to me. It’s more like a hobby case that I’m doing in my spare time. Would you mind not mentioning it to Solo?”
“Oh, I see.” Willow scratched her shoulder. “Sure, I can keep a secret.”
I clinked my glass with them and we drank.
“So how is it going with the case?” Mila asked again and reached for the plate with olives.
“Slow. I’m running into a lot of dead ends. That’s the problem with old unsolved murder cases, I suppose. Not only is the victim dead, but so are many of the people who knew the person.” I sighed and popped an olive into my mouth. “If any of you know a psychic who can speak to the dead, let me know.”
Willow grinned while Mila gave it some thought.
“Hmm, I once heard about a woman who claimed she could feel the presence of dead people, but it was Pearl who told me about her, and I think they met when Pearl was in a place of reflection. I’m not sure how stable that woman was.”
Giving a small laugh, I kept digging my fork around my salad. “You should know that I wasn’t serious, Mila.”
She shrugged. “I’m just trying to help, but I guess you’ll have to make do with the things the dead ones left behind. Did you go through the box with Marcus’s name on it?”
“What box?”
“The one in the basement.”
I had been lifting my fork to my mouth, but my hand stopped in mid-air as I stared at Mila. “You never told me about a box with his name on it.”
Her head tilted to one side. “Yes, I did.”
“No. When?”
“Huh. I’m sorry about that. It was right next to the broken piano and the weird-looking clock.” Mila began touching her wristband. “I took a picture because I thought your mom might like it, Raven. You know, with Christina being an archeologist and all.”
The three of us leaned in to study the picture Mila showed us.
“How tall is that thing?” Willow asked.
“Taller than any of us and look at those weird lines and dots. It’s like a secret code of sorts.”
The round shape with the many symmetrical lines had me confused and Willow complained, “Are you sure it’s a clock, Mila? Why doesn’t it just say what time it is? Is this some kind of math thing? I’m horrible at math.”
I leaned closer. “No, I think Mila is right. My mom has something similar in her office but hers has numbers on it. I think twelve is on top and then it goes this way with one, two, three, and so on.”
“Okay, but then what? How do you know what time it is,” Willow asked.
“I don’t know. My mom tried to teach me, but it’s super complicated and all I remember is that the fat arrow shows hours and the long slim one shows minutes, or maybe it was the other way around. Either way, I gave up because you would have to be as passionate about artifacts as Christina to appreciate it. It’s not like the rest of us will ever need it.”
Mila lowered her wrist and it made the picture disappear. “No. Thank god that we modern people have real watches that actually show the time. Sometimes I think that people back in the days were either incredibly stupid for making things so complicated, or insanely smart for understanding how complicated things work.”
