The table was bare but for four empty espresso cups and two small bronze music boxes. “How remarkable!” exclaimed Francesca.
“What’s remarkable?” Umbry asked.
“That one can find such an excellent espresso in this part of the globe. My compliments to Lindsay.”
“Lindsay doesn’t do coffee,” snorted Umbry, nodding her head toward her partner. “Julia here is our barrista.”
Francesca quickly turned to Julia, a contrite look on her face. “My dear, I’m so terribly sorry for my faux pas. That was by far the finest espresso I have had in quite some time. Can you ever forgive my stupidity?”
Julia was blushing, completely charmed, and very much enjoying the compliment. She was extremely proud of her skill with an espresso machine, a skill that was far too rarely acknowledged. “Francesca,” she replied, “It would be my honor to prepare espresso for you any time. If that means we’ll get to see more of you, then we are the lucky ones.”
Clay watched the smile of mutual appreciation between Francesca and Julia, as well as the much more more difficult to read expression that had now formed upon Umbry’s face. Instinctively he sensed that this would be an excellent time to shift gears.
“We were here for a purpose, ladies,” he said.
The three women just looked at him in silence, a silence that seemed to go on for an uncomfortably long time.
It was Francesca who finally spoke.
“They are so remarkably alike.”
Clay was surprised. He too had noticed the uncanny resemblance between the two young detectives, but this was not a statement he had expected from Francesca. It was very unlike her to comment upon the appearance of others. He glanced at Julia and Umbry to see whether they had taken offense, and found that both of them were merely watching the older woman with rapt attention.
Only then did Clay realize that Francesca had not been speaking about SunMoon at all. In fact, following his lead, she had picked up the two little bronze music boxes off the table and was now examining them, studying both carefully, turning over first one then the other, all the while placing them together in various ways with her long elegant fingers.
“When you see the two of them one alongside the other,” she continued, “they become quite fascinating, don’t you think? Both were clearly the work of the same highly skilled craftsman. Identical in every way but for the insigniae engraved into their lids. I found the one box to be merely amusing, but for the unfortunate circumstance of its sudden appearance in my life. But the two together are something else entirely. I am quite certain that they were designed to convey a message.
Clay looked toward the two young women. “We won’t be disturbed, will we?”
Julia shook her head. “Lindsay is under strict instructions. Absolutely no interruptions until I give the all clear. If Armageddon were to break out sometime in the next forty minutes, he has my permission to knock, as long as he does it quietly.”
Clay nodded. “Good. I don’t want Francesca disturbed while she is working.”
The girls looked at him quizzically. He chuckled. “I’m sure you’ve checked up on her, knowing how thorough you two are, but what you won’t find in your files is the rather remarkable true history of our elegant friend here. Let’s just say that there was a time, before Freddie came into her life, when Francesca was the top forensic cryptologist in the antifascist movement — she had a lot to do with bringing down the National Front.”
“Really?” Julia and Umbry exclaimed in unison, a look of genuine delight on their faces.
Francesca, for her part, was ignoring the entire conversation. Clayton had already told her that these rather unusual young women could be trusted, and his word was quite sufficient for her. The ethic she had learned in the Movement had never really changed. From the world at large Francesca kept her secrets, but every individual within the circle of trust was a Comrade.
“Now, my darlings,” she explained, “There are etched lines upon the Earth symbol that adorns this box, the one formerly in the possession of poor Freddie. The lines have worn away with time, yet may still be faintly discerned. One can see that they indicate a planet in partial eclipse.” She pointed delicately to various places on the box lid, while the others looked on, fascinated.
“The meaning of the etching is clear – the light is meant to come from this direction, whereas this other nearby direction is meant to cast a shadow.” She picked up the other box, turning it at an odd angle. “Illuminated by sun, yet eclipsed by moon. Yes, I see now. There seems to be a slight groove along these two lids… If one slides one groove along the other, just so…”
There was an audible click, as both boxes simultaneously sprung open. The others gasped.
“Most ingenious,” Francesca continued in a matter-of-fact tone. “We found no key because each box is itself a key – the key that unlocks its sister box.”
At that moment Lindsay burst in. “Lindsay!” said Julia. “I told you not to disturb us unless Armageddon had arrived!”
“I’m afraid that Armageddon came early this year,” he smirked. For the first time they noticed the Lorcin L 380 in his hand. He gestured with the gun toward the boxes in Francesca’s hands. “I’ll be taking those, thank you.”
“Don’t give them to him,” shouted Julia.
“Hey wait, you don’t get to say that. I’m the one holding the gun,” Lindsay tried to look menacing.
“Gimme a break, Lindsay.” Julia rolled her eyes. “You come in here waving a lousy Saturday Night Special, and suddenly we’re supposed to respect you or something? If you’re as good at being a bad guy as you were at being a good guy, I’m rooting for our team.”
Umbry decided she’d better do something before her partner got carried away – literally. “Julia, I’m afraid we have little choice, we need to do as the man says.” There was another click, and then Umbry was holding the now closed boxes out to Lindsay.
Lindsay glared at her. “I didn’t say to close them!”
Clay spoke up. “You didn’t tell her not to. Although I suspect your client will be quite satisfied just to know that they can be opened. If I know him the way I think I do, I’m pretty sure he will be able to work out the rest on his own very soon.”
“I hope you’re right Terransky – for your sake!” Lindsay slowly backed out of the room, clutching the two music boxes with one hand and waving the gun around with the other. He shot one last glance at Umbry. “Don’t even think about following me.”
And then he was gone.
“So Lindsay was a double agent,” Julia said. “That would certainly explain his lousy secretarial skills. Clay, how did you know who he was working for?”
Clay shrugged. “There are very few players in this game. I did some research when Francesca first showed me the box. There are records of these things, if you know where to look. Two bronze music boxes — a paired set — surfaced on the antiquities market twenty three years ago. One of them was a match for Frederick’s box, the one engraved with an image of the Earth. The other was described as having a moon and sun engraved into its lid. Not so surprising, since Freddie’s note specifically directed me to you two. Although I didn’t realize at first that you actually had the other box.”
“And now Lindsay — or rather, his employer — has taken possession of both boxes,” Francesca spoke up for the first time since Lindsay’s appearance. “It is fortunate that the young man is so stupid.”
“Why is that?” Julia asked.
“Because, my dear, it would have been extremely easy for him to have reopened the box. He could simply have shot the three of you, one at a time, until I had agreed to open them again. I suspect I would have acceeded to his wish after the very first death.”
“Oh,” said Julia, “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“But Clay did,” Umbry chimed in. She was smiling up at Clay. “That’s why he did the whole routine about Lindsay’s client knowing how to open the box – to create a distraction — a distraction that probably saved our lives.”
“I do what I can,” Clay smiled sheepishly, feeling suddenly shy under Umbry’s admiring gaze.
“I don’t think Lindsay had it in him,” Julia said doubtfully. Just then the cat wandered in. Absently she started to pet it. “Damn, we were so close,” she said. “Well, at least the idiot didn’t run off with our cat.” The cat started to purr as Julia scratched between its ears. “Look guys, I’m glad we’re still alive and everything, but where do we go from here? We don’t even know what was in the two boxes!”
“Oh yes we do,” Umbry said. “I’m quicker than I look.” She held open her hand. In her palm were two tiny sealed envelopes.
Julia beamed. “That’s my girl.”