The Bone Conjurer (4 page)

With one last inspection over the skull, she decided to forego doing an Internet search on random skulls. That would bring up more hits than her sleepy eyelids could manage.

Instead, she flicked off the desk light and wandered into her bedroom. It hadn’t felt so good to crawl between warm blankets in a long time. Annja dropped instantly to Nod.

In the meeting room attached to a fiftieth-floor corner office overlooking Central Park, a crew of three cameramen noisily went about setting up for a photo shoot. A top business magazine had declared Benjamin Ravenscroft CEO of the year. They wanted to flash his mug across their pages, and he was obliged to agree.

He’d gotten an e-mail that morning regarding the Fortune 500 list. Another photo shoot was imminent.

The entrepreneur’s company, Ravens Tech, had risen from the detritus of struggling dot coms over the past year. CNN had crowned him Master of the Intangible Assets. Ravens-Tech now held weekly cyber auctions for intellectual property rights, such as patents, trademarks and copyrights. They’d netted six hundred million dollars last year, and this year looked to double that figure.

Just goes to show what a little roll-up-your-sleeves ingenuity can do for a man. And the proper connections, he thought as he waited to be photographed.

“Ten minutes and we’ll be ready for you, Mr. Ravenscroft,” the photographer said.

Ravenscroft waved a slim black clove cigarette at the photographer, who then disappeared inside the meeting room.

Leaning against the edge of his granite-topped desk, ankles crossed and whistling the first few bars of
Eine Kleine Nachtmusic,
the businessman tucked the grit between his lips and inhaled. It made a faint popping sound.

He had the cigarettes imported from Indonesia. He preferred them over regular cigarettes for their intense scent. He’d become addicted to them during his college days when he’d sit through the night, eyes glued to the computer monitor as he shopped his way through available domain names.

He’d made millions nabbing domains. Another intangible. He loved buying and selling things a person could not physically hold, touch or see.

He tapped the calendar on his iPhone. He verified two meetings that afternoon: Accountant and Marketing. Both would be a breeze.

Another tap. The plans for the Berlin office were due to arrive before noon by courier. Where the hell were they?

He eyed his secretary’s desk through the glass wall that separated their offices. With a touch of a button on his desk the electrochromic glass would turn white, granting privacy. A necessary amenity.

Rebecca was on the phone; her red hair spilled over one satin-clad shoulder. She would notify him as soon as the Berlin plans arrived. Lunch with her in the meeting room—her legs hooked over his shoulders—was scheduled for twelve-fifteen.

He hadn’t scheduled Harris in, but he expected him before noon, as well. Not the best time to arrive, with the photographer in the next room, but Ben was anxious to get his hands on what Harris had retrieved.

He twisted and eyed the blurry photograph on the desktop. The skull had been removed from a glass display case, and a glare from the glass blurred part of the photo.

“Good things,” he muttered. “Soon.”

But the day would give him a migraine if he didn’t dose on Imitrex before facing the camera’s bright lights.

And tonight he had to leave the office early to arrive home in time to tuck his daughter in for bed. He and his wife had agreed he’d make a concerted effort to be home at least twice a week to do so.

He hadn’t tucked Rachel in for more than a month.

He sent a text message to his secretary. Send flowers to wife. White roses, two dozen. As he hit Send, Rebecca buzzed on the intercom. Her voice made him want to dash the damned schedule and today’s commitments and lift the frilled red skirt above her hips and take her right now.

“Mr. Harris is here for you, Ben—er, sir.”

“Thank you, Rebecca, send him in.”

Stepping over to assure the photographer he’d be right in, Ben closed the meeting room door and strolled to his desk. He snubbed out the cigarette in an ashtray, inhaling the clove fumes deeply.

He settled into the leather chair that had put him out a mere ten grand. It heated the lumbar area and massaged overall. It also included a heart monitor and blood pressure cuff. It had been worth every penny. A man could forget his whole family sitting in this thing.

But never Rebecca. That’s where the ultravibrating function came in handy.

Lifting his feet, he propped them on the ottoman he kept to the left side of his desk. The slight elevation kept his legs from clotting. He’d spent his early twenties running marathons, pushing his body to the limit. His desk job reminded him daily how quickly the body degenerates without exercise. Hell, he was only forty-two.

He made a mental note to have Rebecca check into treadmills. Then he ditched the idea. He had no time for extracurricular activity. Lunch dates with Rebecca would have to serve as his exercise.

Time was more precious than gold to Ben. But he’d learned to control it. He controlled all aspects of his life. Save the one. Rachel. And that frustrated him no end.

Harris entered the massive office and offered a respectful bow, hands pressed together before his mouth like some kind of besuited samurai. The heavy oak door closed slowly on hydraulics behind him. The white-haired behemoth looked completely out of his element in the ill-fitted navy-blue suit and red tie.

He did not carry a briefcase or box.

Ben leaned forward, waving a hand frantically. “Where is it?”

“Sir.”

Harris bowed again. He fingered the gaudy red tie strangling his thick neck. His glance around the room, as if checking for trespassers hidden behind the potted cactus or narrowed behind the blinds, revealed his anxiety.

“There was an altercation,” he said cautiously.

“I don’t like the sound of that, Harris. Either Cooke was apprehended or he was not. I don’t see anything on your person which would indicate you retrieved the artifact, so I’m going to go out on a limb and guess you failed me.”

“Sir, there was a woman.”

Ben raised his eyebrows. An exhale settled him in the comfortable chair. Relaxation was far from his mind.

“Before or after you began to trail Cooke?” he asked. “I don’t need to hear about your amorous liaisons, Harris. And I certainly hope you were not entertaining the flavor of the week on my time.”

“I would never, Mr. Ravenscroft. Cooke didn’t go immediately home from the airport. He met a woman on the old Carroll Street Bridge. He must have arranged for them to meet before arriving in the States.”

Cooke going behind his back with the goods? The bastard had come highly recommended after Serge had worked his magic. Ben did not tolerate those who tried to screw with him.

“The sniper followed the backup plan, as discussed,” Harris said.

“Good.” The backup plan did not allow for Cooke to live.

“The artifact, unfortunately, was sacrificed in the process.”

“Damn!” Ben slammed a fist onto the desktop.

Harris flinched, tugged at his tie.

Ben tried not to get his hands dirty. He remained invisible in any business transaction. A liaison had been necessary to meet Cooke. He’d sent out an idiot when he should have taken care of this himself.

“The sniper got this.” Harris approached the desk and reached inside his suit coat. He placed a black-and-white photograph on Ben’s desk. “He sent it to me on my cell phone. Then I, er, lost contact with him.”

Not picking it up, but instead drawing the slightly curved photo toward him with the edge of his thumb, Ben leaned over the image. It was blurred, but some details showed on the two faces. He recognized Cooke from the one meeting he’d arranged during an art exhibit at a gallery in the Village.

There was enough clarity to ascertain the figure talking to Cooke was indeed a woman. A dark ski cap hugged her head. Prominent cheekbones suggested beauty. Mouth open, as if talking, she couldn’t have known her conversation was being observed.

Tilting his head to reduce the glare on the photo, Ben sought more in the grainy depths of her eyes. Something about her was familiar. But he couldn’t recall seeing her in person. He attended so many damned parties he felt sure he’d slapped palms with half of New York over the past year alone. If he ever wanted to pursue politics, he’d certainly gotten flesh-pressing down pat.

The door to his right opened. The photographer shoved his head through. “Ready, Mr. Ravenscroft.”

“Five minutes,” he said. When the door closed, the clicking sound of the mechanics bit at the base of Ben’s skull, threatening the imminent migraine. “What happened?”

Watching the door with wary suspicion, Harris finally decided the coast was clear.

“After the sniper shots they went over the bridge railing.”

“He got them
both?
”

“We’re still waiting to verify bodies, sir.”

Ben rolled his eyes and pushed back in the chair. Again, he propped his feet up and clasped his hands on his lap. He didn’t look at Harris. To give him any regard was more than the man deserved right now.

Bodies. He didn’t do bodies. What a fiasco.

“And the sniper is gone?” he asked.

“No, uh…”

“What the hell is it, man?”

“I went looking for him.”

Ben picked up on the man’s increasing anxiety. More so than when he’d initially entered the office. The rancid sweat from Harris’s armpits blasted over any lingering waves of clove.

“Why would you go looking for him? Didn’t you maintain radio contact?”

“He didn’t contact me as arranged. I found him…dead.”

“How?”

“Broken neck. His weapon was still in place. Nothing was removed from the body. I have no idea who did it. I’m sorry, sir.”

“Sorry?” Ben shook his head and glanced out the window. He saw nothing. Not the clear winter-white sky, nor the acres of steel skyscrapers.

The sniper was dead. That was good. One less witness. And yet, an unknown had gone after
his
sniper? That was not good. Add one unidentified witness to the list.

Had Cooke placed his own man on the scene? He couldn’t have, or else why would he kill him?

Ben calmed his racing thoughts.

“You disappoint me, Harris. The operation was thoroughly botched. And not even an artifact in hand.”

“I’m unsure if the exchange was made.”

“You say exchange.” Ben studied the bead of sweat running down Harris’s forehead. “
Was
there an exchange?”

“I feel it was intended, but the sniper reported nothing was exchanged before they went over the bridge railing.”

“What about after, do you suppose?”

“After?” Harris sputtered. “Difficult to imagine either survived. Two shots were fired. Both found their mark. If the bullet didn’t do it, the toxic sludge would have smothered them, surely.”

“The canal is a hell of a lot cleaner than most believe. Men have fallen in before, and emerged with nothing more than a case of hepatitis A.”

Ben took the photo and tapped the edge sharply on the stone desktop. So it all ended right here?

No. There was too much at stake. And now with the unknown who’d taken out the sniper, the risk in not following through could prove deadly. Someone had too much information.

He needed that skull. A life depended on it. He wasn’t about to let it be swept under the carpet until he’d heard confirmation of two bodies. And when the bodies were found, would the skull also be found?

“Do we have a man on the inside?”

“The inside, sir?”

“The police. We need someone on location at the NYPD when the bodies are found. The artifact mustn’t wind up shelved in the municipal evidence closet, never to be claimed or seen again.”

“I’ll ensure it happens.”

“Do so. Did you remove the sniper’s weapon?”

“I did.”

“No clue whatsoever to our mystery killer?”

“No, sir, but I’m looking into it.”

“I want a lead within eight hours. That will be all.”

Harris bowed and turned sharply to leave the office.

Ben tucked the photo inside his suit coat. He drew out his phone and tapped Serge’s number.

“No.” He set the phone on the desk. “Not yet.”

He didn’t want the man involved until the right moment.

Ben gazed at the phone. Could Serge be the mystery man who took out the sniper? What reason would he have to do so? If he guessed Ben was tracking the skull, he would have gone directly after it. To imagine Serge killing a sniper was difficult. It just didn’t fit. He had no knowledge of weapons, as far as Ben knew. He was a big man, but one of those wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly sorts.

The meeting room door opened again.

“On my way,” Ben called.

He pulled open the bottom drawer of his desk and took out a syringe. Tugging his shirt out from his trousers, he grabbed a wodge of middle-age bulge. The autoinjector pierced the flesh. His skin warmed and tingled.

What a way to start the day.

Annja took the subway stairs two at a time to emerge a few blocks away from Columbia University. She spied the Olive Tree Deli and made a note not to forget to eat today. She’d forgone breakfast in lieu of excitement over her current find. The skull, tucked in the reassembled box and nestled in its lamb’s wool, joggled in the pack on her back.

Her cell phone rang and Bart McGilly’s name flashed on the screen.

He started right in. “Annja, one of these days your messages are not going to be funny anymore. You were joking about swimming in the Gowanus Canal. What kind of monsters do your producers think you’ll find in that filthy water?”

“Sorry, Bart. I wasn’t kidding. I’ve still the lingering scum in my bathtub to prove it. I don’t know what’s in that water—and please, if you know, don’t tell me—but it certainly wasn’t a day at the beach. And it had nothing to do with
Chasing History’s Monsters.
”

“Seriously? Annja, don’t do this to me. So there’s a body? For real?”

“Young. Probably late twenties would be my guess. Male. Dark hair and slender.”

“How’d he end up in the canal?”

“Sniper shot to the brain.”

His silence could be interpreted as surprise, but Annja pictured Bart grasping his throat and shaking his head.
There she goes again,
his silent thoughts broadcast loudly over the greater consciousness.

“It’s not like I seek out these sorts of situations, Bart.”

“Oh, really? Because with your record a guy would be inclined to believe that is exactly what you do. What, do you listen to the police scanner? Track nefarious transactions online?”

“Is that possible?” she wondered curiously as she stepped onto the university grounds and followed the sidewalk south.

“Annja.” Bart sighed.

“I got an e-mail from a guy with an artifact he wanted me to look at.”

“So anytime a stranger pings wanting to show you something, you just make a date? Wait. Don’t answer that one. I don’t want to know. I’ll send a team out to check the canal. Do you know who the victim is? Who was shooting at—hell, the
both
of you? Are you okay?”

“It’s just an abrasion, but I almost got a pierced ear out of the deal.” She spoke quickly to alleviate his gasping protest. “After the first bullet, I thought it wisest to get the hell out of there. Down was the only way I could come up with at the time. As for the dead man, his Internet ID was Sneak. At least in the archaeology forum where he found me it is. I don’t know who he is. Didn’t have any ID in his backpack.”

“In his—you removed evidence from the body?”

Bart groaned. Annja imagined him clenching his fists in frustration.

“Had to, Bart. I’m not going to let a valuable artifact get flushed through the canal like a hunk of sewage. Speaking of which—no, I don’t even want to know. A skull was in his backpack, along with a bunch of funky tools. I’m thinking he was a thief because there was a stethoscope and some kind of hand drill. Oh, and lock-pick tools.”

“I need to take a look at the tools, Annja. All of them are evidence. Have you touched them? Of course you have.”

“Sorry.”

“How did you meet this guy?”

“Online.”

“Right. At the Dangerous Dating Depot?”

“Oh, Bart, you made a funny.”

“No, I’m trying to fit myself into the strange world you seem to navigate with startling ease. You said there was a skull?”

“It’s why I agreed to meet the guy in the first place.” Annja turned down a tree-lined sidewalk toward Schermerhorn Hall.

“So you have the skull. What are you doing with it now? Or do I want to know?”

“I’m an archaeologist, Bart. Skulls are our thing. Don’t you know we bone botherers like to tote around various bits and bones to keep us company?”

Another groan. She was having far too much fun teasing him when she knew the situation was serious. A dead thief could account for that.

“I’m taking it to a professor at Columbia right now. Going to have him date it and see if I can begin to place it on a historical time line. If I can do that I might be able to track it to a point of origin. And then we’ll have an M.O. on the thief. Maybe.”

“What makes you think your alleged thief isn’t just a wacko? A killer? What if it’s a random skull? Annja, what if it’s from one of his kills?”

“You surprise me, Bart. I didn’t think you jumped to conclusions so easily. And why would someone kill for a random skull?”

“Why would someone kill and
not
go after said random skull?”

Annja glanced over her shoulder. She was sure she hadn’t been followed because she kept a keen eye to her periphery. No snow today; in fact, it was warmer by fifteen degrees, so it felt almost tropical. In a thirty-degree kind of way.

“It’s pretty hard to go after something sitting at the bottom of the canal. Besides, it’s an infant skull.”

“A baby? Christ, Annja, it doesn’t add up.”

“It does from my end of the stick. It’s an artifact, Bart, not a victim. At least, not from this century.”

“I hate working on crimes against children. It’s so sad. Fine. I’m heading out to the canal. You keep an eye over your shoulder. And please, promise me, you won’t meet any more strangers without having them vetted by me first?”

“I can’t promise…”

“Woman, you are going to give me a heart attack.”

“Hey, that reminds me, we haven’t had a decent meal out lately.”

“Because you’re always trekking across the world, posing for TV cameras and sticking your nose in danger.”

“You love me for it, admit it.”

Bart’s sigh made her smile. She’d successfully redirected him from her dangerous dabbling with the criminal mien.

“Give me a call after you’ve talked to the professor, will you? I’ve got some time tomorrow night. We can meet and you can bring along the evidence you’ve contaminated. How about Tito’s?”

“Sounds like a plan. Me and my contaminants can make it.”

Tito’s was one of their favorite places to meet over a plate of Cuban pulled pork with sweet plantains.

Bart was one of few friends Annja had in the city, and she valued that friendship tremendously. Though she couldn’t deny he was also a handsome single man who, on more than a few occasions, sat closer to her than a friend should, stared into her eyes longer than a friend should and made her think of him much more than the average friend should.

The redbrick front of Schermerhorn Hall popped into view through a line of lindens. “I’ll talk to you later. Thanks, Bart.”