“Is this it?” Hadley murmured to him. Her knee pressed firmly against his leg. She’d scooted closer? When had that happened?
“Do you see her breath?” he murmured to Hadley.
“Yes,” Hadley whispered. “Good God.”
Lowe cleared his throat. “Are we speaking to, uh, Mrs. Bacall?”
“Is Archie here? Or Noel?”
Archie must be her husband, Archibald Bacall, but who was Noel?
Hadley released his arm and straightened her shoulders. “No, but I am your daughter.”
“You couldn’t be . . . Hadley?”
“Yes.”
“You were so small. I can hardly believe it.”
If Hadley was emotional about this reunion, she didn’t show it. She delivered her words with the passion one might give placing an order at a restaurant. “I have an important question for you and little time. You hid four pieces of the mythical Backbone of Osiris amulet. I need to know where they are.”
“The amulet is dangerous.”
“I understand its purpose,” Hadley said. “Just tell me where you hid the pieces.”
“I didn’t hide them. I gave them away to keep them separated.”
Was she speaking in riddles or being difficult? Regardless, they might be going about this the wrong way. Perhaps it was best to follow Dr. Bacall’s original instructions. “Did you make a map of their locations?” he asked.
“A map?” The late Mrs. Bacall laughed with Aida’s mouth. “Yes, I made a map, if that’s what you choose to call it. A record of my great endeavor to keep Archie and Noel from killing each other, I suppose.”
Ah, Noel was the partner, then.
“Listen closely, and I’ll tell you where you can look for my map. You can find it in the Seine’s cold quays, in the fields of gazing grain, on night’s Plutonian Shore, and on a painted ship.”
More riddles.
“You’d do well to leave it be,” the spirit said before a short pause. “My darling. Your hair is blacker than pitch and impossibly thick. Just like mine.”
“Please speak plainly and tell me where you’ve hidden the map,” Hadley answered with a frustrated edge to her voice.
“Why, I have spoken plainly. Think about it a little, and you’ll figure it out. You were always so bright. Seems fitting that you’d follow my trail of bread crumbs. A bit like Isis scouring the earth to find the scattered limbs of Osiris.”
“This is a game to you?”
“Everything in life is a game. Listen, my dear, I can feel a dark presence attached to you. I hope that doesn’t mean I passed the curse along. If I could go back and make different decisions, I would.”
Hadley looked embarrassed.
Her mother’s spirit then asked, “Was the base of the amulet located?”
No one answered.
“The object’s purpose is no myth. That kind of magic is dangerous. The ancient priestesses stored the pieces in different temples for a reason, which is why I followed their example. Your father cannot be allowed near it. If you manage to find the crossbars and rejoin them to the base, under no circumstances whatsoever can you allow him to possess it.”
Unless he was waving a hundred-grand check around. No disrespect to the dead, but Lowe was still alive, and he needed that cash.
“Noel either,” she added. “I did my best to protect your father from him, but I fear what could happen if they were to compete again. Keep it away from the two of them. Please promise me.”
“Why?” Hadley asked, but a strangled sound was the only answer given. Aida jerked and gulped air. And on her next exhalation, the eerie white breath had disappeared.
The late Mrs. Bacall had left the room.
“Whew, that one made me a little dizzy,” Aida said, as if what she’d just done was no more miraculous than standing up too fast after a long nap. The mastiff never once lifted his big head. “Was anything she said helpful?”
“Not really,” Lowe said at the exact moment Hadley answered, “Extremely.”
Lowe squinted. “It was?”
“I’d say so.” She stood and collected her coat from where it was draped on a tasseled silk cushion. “I do believe I know exactly where my mother hid that map.”
TEN
“I’LL TAKE A TAXI,” Hadley told Lowe after they strode into the foyer. She glanced around to get her bearings and spotted the spirit medium and her great beast of a dog entering a birdcage elevator that flanked a grand staircase.
The Magnusson home was spacious and well kept. Impressive, even. Much more welcoming than either her apartment or her father’s house. Livelier, too. She’d wondered what it would be like to live in a home like this, where a radio played from the servants’ hall and laugher seeped through the ceiling from a room above.
“You want to take a taxi,” Lowe repeated.
“If I can just borrow your telephone.”
“Like hell you will. Where’s the map?”
“Why should I tell you?”
“Why?” Lowe tilted his head to catch her gaze. “I’ll tell you why. Because we made a deal.”
“Yes, a deal that I wouldn’t tell my father. And I won’t.”
“No, no, no—this is my treasure hunt, not yours.”
“All right. Go find the map yourself then.”
“I will. As soon as you tell me where to look.”
“Seems we’re at a standstill.”
A girl’s voice called out a name from the second floor. The handsome young Chinese man she’d met at the train station, Bo, passed through the hallway behind Lowe and gave her a curious look before hiking up the staircase.
Lowe stepped closer. Her mind conjured an image of him stroking the flower in her hair, which temporarily disabled the more civilized parts of her brain. He spoke in a lowered voice. “Allow me to propose a compromise. On one hand, you know where the map is, and your mother seems to think you’re smart enough to figure out her puzzle. On the other hand, you’re not even supposed to know about the map or the pieces. I’m the one being paid to do the job, and I’m not so shabby with riddles myself. I did find the base.”
Why did he have to smell so good? “Go on.”
“Two heads might be better than one. So if you help me find the amulet pieces, I’ll talk to your father and ensure that you get the department head position at the museum.”
She snorted. “Like you have the power to do that.”
“I can be persuasive when I want to be.”
“Father’s too smart to believe your silly stories.”
“And too smart to disregard my request if I withhold the amulet in exchange for you getting the job?”
Hmm. He might actually have something there. Clearly after tonight’s public betrayal—and her hotheaded reaction—Father wasn’t interested in bargaining with her. It wasn’t the first time she’d lashed out at him in anger with the Mori, but since he’d lost his sight, he was less trusting of her. Tonight might’ve been the final straw. She could appeal to the board for a chance at the position, but they’d never go against her father’s wishes.
“We work as partners,” she said after a long moment. “I help you, you help me. We keep everything honest between us. No lying to me about the hunt. No working behind each other’s backs. You get the money, I get the job. And all of this is contingent on whether I’m right about the map’s hiding place.”
“Agreed.”
“Do you want to start right now?” she asked.
“It just so happens that a falling chandelier has cleared my schedule.”
She looked up. A copper and stained-glass Craftsman pendant hung from the ceiling. “The night’s young,” she said, giving Lowe a small smile.
He leaned in to murmur near her ear. “I really do like the way you flirt, Miss Bacall.”
Before she could protest, he called out to the kitchen, informing them that he’d be home later. Then he shucked off his tuxedo jacket and exchanged it for a leather jacket snagged from a coat rack. “This way.” He steered her into a hall that led to a covered side porch. On the other side of the railing stretched a driveway packed with cars. But Lowe was striding toward the red motorcycle. “Where are we headed?”