A Red-Handed Man by N L Cameron

Author:N L Cameron [Cameron, N L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

“There’s an inscription on the cup,” said Jessamine, holding it up for communal examination. “I don’t guess you have any idea what it says?”

Kellan shook his head, as if to say he had never thought to ask. “I’m guessing it’s in Old Slavonic because I was informed before stealing the cup that was the native language of medieval Wallachia, but other than that, I couldn’t tell you.”

“I bet I could piece it together through Google translate,” said Gertrude, who had taken the cup and was now examining the letters quietly. “You wouldn’t believe how good they’ve gotten at being able to translate things in the last five or ten years. You can paste, like, an entire chapter of a book in French into the website and it translates within seconds.”

“Is it readable?” asked Helena.

“Almost completely!” The look of delight on her face suggested that she had done this more than once.

“If I had to guess,” said Kellan, “I’d say it’s probably related to the old legend about the well in the town square.”

Gertrude froze in the act of reaching for her phone. “What legend is that?”

Instead of answering right away, Kellan moved for the pie on the table. When he realized that no one was going to stop him, he cut himself a slice and continued the story between bites. “Basically, the legend states that one day out of every week, Laszlo would bring the cup out of the castle and carry it to the well in the center of the village. There anyone who wanted could use it to draw water from the well and drink from it. Supposedly, the cup or the waters in the cup had medicinal properties—you know how these things go. But if anyone tried to steal the cup, they would quickly wither way into a decrepit husk or calamities would befall them until they were induced to return it.”

“And why did your boss want it?” asked Bettina, with a narrow glance at the other women. “What was he hoping to get out of it?”

“He saw it as a sort of portable security system,” said Kellan. “He thought if he left it in a vault in his estate, it would cause troubles for anyone who attempted to break in. In the event that it was stolen, we would soon find the culprit because the poor fool would be the unluckiest person in the valley. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as well as planned—”

“Because the curse fell on you,” said Helena.

“Right, and now the ghost or whoever is convinced that I and my employer are the thieves and has been tormenting us with the torments he sought to inflict on burglars.”

“Because he views you and your boss as the thief…” said Bettina slowly. “And who might that be?”

Kellan shook his head. “Nice try. I came here tonight because I thought the four of you might be able to help me.”

“I don’t have any particular experience in curse-breaking,” said Helena. “Jessamine would know more about that.”

Jessamine straightened her scarf loftily.

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