Chapter Five Abra
We spent most of the night devising a plan.
It’s well after midnight when we part to get some sleep.
I’m worried about Rey, but I know Erickson won’t hurt her, even if he thinks she and I are working together.
No, I take that back. He won’t hurt her yet.
If he doesn’t get the figurine back, then all bets are off.
Luckily, I know Ericskson better than he knows me.
Hell, I probably know him better than he knows himself.
In the morning, I make a call to the one person who can give us more information about why Erickson is so desperate to retrieve the figurine.
“Abra, my friend, it’s a bit early for you, isn’t it?” Cicero asks.
“It is. We have some trouble, and I’m hoping you can help.”
“Me? Okay, that sounds intriguing. How can I help you?”
Cicero is one of the few people from my past that I still associate with today.
He’s seen me at my worst and my best. He was there for me when I was a kid struggling to survive on the streets.
He snuck me into his family’s home as often as he could and provided me money for food when I needed it.
He even saved my life once. He blocked a knife to my chest with his arm.
I owe him my life, so when he asked me to steal the figurine from Erickson, I didn’t ask him any questions. Maybe I should have.
“Remember that object I picked up for you the other day?”
“Of course. I appreciate your getting it for me. It’s critical for my project.”
“Yeah, well, there’s a slight problem. The person I picked it up from wants it back. Normally, I’d ignore the request, but there is a young woman who is paying the price.”
Cicero’s silent on the other end, so I prod him. “Did you hear me? There’s a woman in danger and we don’t have time to mess around.”
“Who is she? Is she important to you? Is it one of the Old Ladies?”
“No one really. Rey was there the night I dropped in to pick it up, so he thinks she was working with me and was there to create a diversion.”
Cicero was silent for several moments before he spoke again. “Do you need the item back?”
“No. I think we can free her without it, but I need to know why the item is so important to him.”
“Oh, well, that’s easy. He likely knows that it’s key to finding a treasure.”
I snort. “It’s a treasure map? How is that possible?”
“It’s not a map, per se, but I know it’s key to recovering a treasure that was brought over from France by a noble family who escaped the French Revolution. I’ve been researching the family and discovered that this specific figurine points to the location of the treasure.”
“How?” I ask, getting lost in the story.
“Well, that’s the problem. No one knows. I asked to see it because I wanted to examine it more closely. I haven’t found anything yet, but I was hoping to discover more in the next few days.”
“Why in the next few days?”
“Because the home and property are going up for sale the day after tomorrow via a private auction. I don’t have the necessary funds to purchase the property.
However, I hope whoever wins the auction will allow me access to the home and grounds.
I know our friend is attending the auction.
If he wins…” Cicero doesn’t finish the thought, but he doesn’t have to.
“Erickson is after the treasure,” I muse. “That would explain why he’s desperate enough to resort to kidnapping. Okay, thank you for the information. At least now I understand his endgame.”
“Are you sure you don’t want the item? The mystery isn’t worth a life.”
And that’s why Cicero will always be my friend. He understands that life is more important than any treasure.
“I don’t think we’ll need it. I’m working with my club to come up with a way to rescue her. The only reason I called was to get the lowdown on the item. I couldn’t figure out why he’d be willing to risk so much to get it.” I end the call and head downstairs for breakfast.
After breakfast, we put the plan into action. Putting my phone on speaker, I call Erickson. I use a burner phone that he can’t trace, even though he knows my current and former identities. There's no sense in giving him a way to track me.
“You made a mistake, Erickson,” I say when he picks up.
“You are the one who made the mistake, Lucifer’s Heir, or should I say Abra?”
If he thought he’d shake me by making the connection, he’s wrong. I never kept either of my identities a secret. I may not have broadcast them, but I didn’t try to hide my transformation either.
“Either works, but I rarely respond to Lucifer’s Heir these days. He’s in my past. Abra is my present. I find being a member of a motorcycle club to be a much more liberating experience. I’ve learned a few useful tricks on how to handle a threat effectively. Often those tricks are permanent.”
“Are you threatening me?” he growls.
“If that’s the way you want to take it, then by all means, go for it.
You made a mistake, Erickson. Rey means nothing to me.
She isn’t my partner or assistant. I don’t know her.
The only thing I know about her is that she has three brothers.
I met one of them yesterday. What do you say, I give him a call and inform him that you’ve kidnapped his sister? ”
The sound of Erickson’s ragged breathing tells me I’ve hit a nerve. “If you do that, you’ll have to explain your part in this. Do you want to do that?”
I chuckle. “My part in what? I didn’t kidnap Rey, you did.”
“You stole my figurine!” Erickson bellows.
“You have proof?”
“I have you on video,” Erickson says with triumph. “You didn’t know I had a separate camera installed that caught you picking the lock on the display cabinet.”
I glance up to see Hex frowning. I shake my head.
He may have gotten me on the feed, but I know there is no way he, or anyone, could identify me by that feed.
I’m too good to get caught. There was also the possibility that he’s lying about seeing me on the feed.
I turned off his security when I broke in.
Perhaps he had a separate camera, as he claims, but even if he did, he didn’t catch anything that would indicate I was the thief, dressed in all black with my face hidden behind a mask.
“I hate to give you bad news, Erickson, but I’m not the man you’re looking for. What did you lose, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“You know damn well I didn’t lose anything! You stole it from me!”
“Humor me.”
Erickson growls, but he relents. “It’s a Harlequin figurine created in Sèvres, France, in the late 1700s. He’s dressed in green, purple, and gold, and he’s holding a scroll.”
“Why is this figurine so important to you?” I ask.
“It’s part of a collection a noble family brought over when they fled the French Revolution. I have feelers out for the other pieces. I want the set.”
I frown at his claim. I know for a fact that the piece in question doesn’t have companion pieces.
Sometimes Harlequin is part of a set that includes all or some of the characters from the Italian commedia dell’arte.
But this particular piece had no companions.
What was Erickson trying to pull? Rather than question him and reveal my knowledge of the piece, I play along.
“I might be able to help you find it. If whoever stole it sold it off, then I know just the man who would be interested in purchasing such a piece. If you'd like, I can contact him to verify if he has it. We might be able to make a deal, but only if you release Rey immediately. She’s not involved in this.”
Erickson snorts. “Do you think I’d trust you to fulfill your end if I release the girl? You don’t have the leverage. I do. Now bring me that figurine!”
“You’re wrong about my not having any leverage. It will take one phone call from me, and I’ll have an entire police force knocking on your door.”
“Oh? How do you think you can manage that? Are you going to call the cops on me? What are you going to say? Are you going to tell them that your victim kidnapped your accomplice? What do you think they’ll do with that information?
You think they’ll take the word of a dirty biker over me? I’m a prominent citizen.”
“You may be a prominent citizen, and I may be nothing but a lowly biker, but you made a mistake in kidnapping Rey. You see, she’s not my accomplice, but she is the sister of two New Orleans police detectives.
I can be certain they’ll take her word over yours.
Since neither of us wants to involve the police, here’s the deal.
Meet me in one hour at the Louis Armstrong statue in his park.
Bring Rey.” Instead of waiting for his response, I end the call and we head out to complete the plan.