Club Deception by Sarah Skilton

Author:Sarah Skilton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2017-07-25T04:00:00+00:00

Kaimi

Finding a buyer for the Erdnase papers was easier said than done. Landon had been right about one thing: Everyone wanted them, but few could afford them. Half the magicians at Club Deception could barely rub two nickels together; just paying the annual membership dues was a hardship. The members who did earn high salaries didn’t make them from magic; they were agents or doctors or lawyers who practiced the art as hobbyists, and couldn’t justify spending six or seven figures on a half-torn set of papers. How would they explain it to their wives? And legitimate curators with public collections couldn’t purchase stolen goods without fear of facing charges themselves.

The first three contenders, Calum, Jonathan, and Nigel Allen (who operated Magic Crossroads, the London equivalent of Club Deception), remained the only contenders in Kaimi’s view, with Nigel as her number one prospect. Rich but unscrupulous, he was her ideal customer. However, Nigel was holding out until the second half of the instructions were added to the set, and according to Landon they didn’t exist.

Nobody knew Kaimi didn’t have the papers in hand yet. She was waiting for Landon to leave for New Mexico for a speaking engagement. Once they were in her possession, she’d off-load them as fast as possible and fly home to Hawaii before he even knew they were gone.

Landon texted her once a day in the evenings for progress reports. She’d ignored him for the past four days.

She told herself it wasn’t shame that kept her silent, but indifference.

To keep her mind off waiting, she accepted Jessica Clarke’s second lunch invitation.

Jessica had inherited an enamel music box and wanted Kaimi to assess its value. Kaimi had contacted a former professor whose specialty was authenticating watches and automatons from Paris. His initial theory was that it might have been manufactured by Pierre Jaquet-Droz over two hundred years ago, and based on Jessica’s description, he was able to provide Kaimi with a checklist of attributes the music box ought to have. Looking at it in person would tell her whether it passed the test.

At noon, she arrived at the Clarkes’, surprised to see Jessica wearing pajama shorts and a tank top, sans makeup. Her eyes were puffy, her smile seemed forced, and when Kaimi handed Jessica a housewarming gift (a personalized cutting board that read, THE CLARKES—MAKING MAGIC TOGETHER SINCE 2016), Jessica’s eyes filled with tears.

Kaimi quickly shut the door behind her. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Jessica shook her head. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“What happened?” Kaimi’s stomach was in knots. Her connection with Jessica was built on a lie, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t fond of her.

“Sorry. I’m a mess. Thanks for coming over on short notice. I made spinach-and-artichoke pasta if you’re hungry,” Jessica warbled.

“Sit down. Tell me what’s wrong,” Kaimi suggested. She placed the offending cutting board out of the way, and she and Jessica sat at the dining table.

“It’s Cal. He’s never home, and when he is home we barely see each other.

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