The Curse of the Lion's Heart Read online

  Then, however, something caught my eye. It was a portrait hanging on the wall at the very end of the hallway. It looked very familiar, and when I crept up to get a closer look, I saw it was the Ainsworth Family Coat of Arms Kate had shown me from the book. I peered up at it, trying to make out the details, and the little motto at the top, but it was hard to read in the dark.

  It wasn’t absolute evidence, but it was something to go on. Jack was most definitely an Ainsworth, no matter how far removed. There were two more doors along that wall that were locked, so I turned to head back in the other direction when my face slammed into a tall, broad chest.

  I gasped, leaping backwards, and felt my heart race with terror as I saw myself staring into the face of the man who had been watching me at the museum. I knew it was him mostly by the clothes, all black, and he had the grey beanie bunched up in his hand. The dark glasses he’d worn earlier were shoved up on his shaggy, black hair, and he was looking down at me.

  He was really tall this close. I hadn’t realized how huge he was. Getting a good look at his face, I was even more scared now. He looked a little bit like Jack, but his chin and nose were sharper, and his eyes were really, really dark brown, almost black. He was sneering at me, his thin mouth almost curling up at the corners like a movie villain and his eyes were looking me up and down.

  “You lost?” he asked. He had more of a nasal drawl to his voice when he spoke, and he tilted his head to the side, his eyes narrow and menacing.

  I swallowed. “I um… was looking for the restrooms? Jack said they were up here?” My voice was high and squeaky with fear, and I wasn’t sure I could maintain a lie.

  “You went the wrong way, love,” he said and grabbed my arm. His hand was ice-cold on my skin and it gave me the shivers. He propelled me in front of him and then stopped when we got to the staircase. “It’s that way,” he said really close to my ear.

  My stomach twisted and turned, but I nodded, refusing to look at him. I ran for the door Jack said was the bathroom, and I slammed it, locking it behind me. Jack hadn’t said anything about this person being in the house, whoever he was, and I was seriously freaked out. The only other person I’d expected to be home was his sister, and I could guess from the guy’s young age, it was not his uncle. I pretended to use the bathroom and then flushed the toilet for good measure. I was absolutely convinced now, even if Jack wasn’t in on the locket theft, this person was. He was really creepy and I could see the shadow of his feet pass in front of the door as I bent down to splash water on my face.

  As I stood back up and looked in the mirror, I saw something behind me and I slapped my hand over my mouth to keep from squealing. It was Elizabeth, and she was staring at me with a concerned expression on her thin face. “Who is that man?” she asked.

  I took a couple of deep breaths to calm down before answering her in a low whisper. “I don’t know. He just sort of showed up.”

  “Be wary of him. I don’t like him. I’m sensing danger all around this place,” she warned, and then she was gone.

  I was getting pretty tired of the way she just popped in and out, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. I used my towel to pat my face dry and then reached for the door handle. I didn’t see the shadow of his feet anymore, so I wasn’t sure if he was still out there waiting for me. I closed my eyes for a minute, wishing hard that he’d be gone, and I opened the door.

  For a second, I thought my wish had been granted, but when I stepped out onto the hallway carpet, he was there, leaning against the wall. “All finished?” he asked.

  “Uh… yeah. You need it?”

  He shook his head slowly. “Talking to yourself in there, were you?”

  My cheeks pinked a little. “Um…”

  He laughed and shook his head. “Only teasing, love. What’s your name?”

  Everything in me screamed, ‘Don’t tell him!’ but I didn’t know who he was, and I was in someone else’s house. I had to be polite. “Lex,” I said, using my most popular nickname.

  “Lex. That short for anything?”

  “What’s it to you?” came a voice from the stairs, and I swear I almost fainted with relief when I saw Jack’s head pop around the corner. He came into view, a towel around his waist and his arms folded tightly across his chest. “What are you doing here, Daniel?”

  “I live here, Jackie,” he said in a nasty tone. “In case you’ve forgotten, my father owns this house.”

  I looked between the two of them. “Cousins?” I blurted out.

  “Unfortunately,” Jack said.

  “Goes double for me. I like your friend though. She’s cute,” he said and reached out, tugging a strand of my hair lightly before I could stop him.

  Jack, however, came immediately to my rescue and gave his cousin a shove. “Bugger off, Daniel. We’re busy,” and with that, he grabbed my hand and we raced down the stairs. I didn’t catch my breath until we were back out in the warm sun, and even with the heat outside, I still had goose bumps all down my arms.

  “I didn’t know you had a cousin,” I said as I lowered myself down into one of the pool chairs.

  Penelope, who was still in the pool, swam over to the side for the gossip. Jack sat down near her, putting his feet in the water, and leaned back on his hands. “Yeah, sorry I didn’t mention him earlier. He lives on the University campus, so he’s not around here a lot. I forget about him from time to time.”

  “He’s kind of a creep,” I said with a shudder.

  “He can be. He just likes to be a jerk,” he replied with a shrug. “Sorry he scared you.”

  “No I…” I stuttered. “It’s fine, I just got lost and then he came up behind me and startled me.”

  “Like I said, he likes to be a jerk,” Jack muttered again.

  Penelope gave me a curious look and mouthed ‘find anything’ when Jack stared back at the house. I gave her a quick nod, thinking of the portrait and Daniel, but still, it wasn’t much to go on. There was no evidence of the locket theft, and it was hard to solve a crime on an old portrait and a bad feeling about someone. The day, aside from the swimming and Jack saving me from his creepy cousin, had been a total bust. I wasn’t in the mood to swim anymore after that, and ten minutes later, Penelope declared she was ready to take off.

  We went back into the cabana to change into our clothes and chat before we decided on a plan B. “So what did you find inside? Did his cousin hurt you?” she whispered.

  “No. I’m fine, and I did find the Ainsworth Coat of Arms hanging in the hall. His cousin is the one I’m most worried about, though. He’s totally the person who was watching me at the museum.”

  “But nothing else?” she asked as she yanked back the curtain, fully dressed.

  I shook my head with a sigh. “Not a scrap of evidence. I know it’s the cousin though, I can just feel it.”

  She shook her head as she reached down to tie her shoes. “Okay so now what? We can’t really sneak around his house without being invited in. Plus, if his cousin really is the bad guy, we don’t want him catching us looking for evidence. Besides, your dad is probably going to want us back soon.”

  “I think we’re going to have to check into the museum stuff,” I said with a shrug. That was my failsafe; paperwork at the museum. It had been the saving grace in all of my previous cases, and since we hadn’t found anything at Jack’s, it was the next logical step. “Can you sleep over tonight? My dad will be fine with it, and when he goes to bed, we can get into the museum and go through all of the paperwork for when the locket was sent out to be cleaned. If we can find some name, or somewhere it exchanged hands, we might be able to prove that Jack’s cousin took it.”

  “Sounds good, I’m sure my mom won’t mind,” Penelope said.

  Plan in motion, we walked out of the cabana and said our goodbyes to Jack. He seemed a little put out that we were leaving so early, but he didn’t argue, and he didn’t offer to walk us back which I was happy about. I wanted to be able to talk to Penelope without h
im there, and the ten minute walk back to the museum gave me just enough time to fill her in on everything else I was thinking.

  “I’m still on the fence about Jack’s involvement,” I said as we strolled down the street. “I mean, you’ve seen him. Jack just doesn’t seem the type to be involved in criminal activity. He’s way too nice.”

  “Yeah but thieves are always tricksters,” Penelope said with a knowing nod. “That’s part of the whole package. It would be just that kind of criminal to throw you off with the unsuspecting nice guy while his partner gets away with the goods.”

  It was true what she was saying, not that I’d ever met a thief, but it made sense. Still, for whatever reason, I just couldn’t bring myself to believe that. I’d let myself be suspicious, but deep down, I trusted Jack. He wasn’t like his cousin at all, even if he did have a set of skills that were somewhat suspicious.

  As we walked, my hand absently trailed up to my neck and I gasped. My necklace, the ouroboros my dad had given me, was missing. I stopped mid-step and looked back up the street where Jack’s house stood in the distance. “Oh no,” I groaned.

  Penelope looked concerned. “What happened?”

  “My necklace is missing,” I said, my voice cracking a little. That necklace was one of the most priceless things I owned. It was important to me, and I tried desperately to remember where it could have fallen off. Squeezing my eyes shut, I replayed the day, and realized it must have come off when Jack grabbed the back of my neck. It was the only time anyone was anywhere near the latch.

  My eyes went wide with the possibility that Jack could have stolen it. I’d made the mistake of telling him all about it, and if he had the skills I suspected he did, he could have taken it without me noticing. I felt my heart plummet. “I think Jack stole it,” I said. I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t believe it, but what other possibility was there?

  “Maybe,” Penelope said slowly, clearly trying to make me feel better, “maybe it fell off in the pool? Or when you were changing?”

  I shook my head. “It’s never fallen off before. Ever. I’ve worn it for years. Jack was the only person who was anywhere near me like that today.”

  “What about his cousin?” she asked helpfully.

  I shook my head, thinking hard. “No. He only grabbed my arm, and honestly I don’t remember if it was still on by the time we got into the house.”

  Penelope’s face was drawn and she pat my arm. “Well, at least ask him about it, okay? Maybe it did fall off and he can go look for it. I’m sure it’s not lost.”

  I nodded, but I wasn’t comforted at all. First a missing locket, and now my necklace? I couldn’t believe in that much coincidence. As much as I wanted to trust Jack, now I was terrified he was lying to me. Now I was terrified that we were friends with an actual criminal.

  We got back to the museum and found my dad sitting at his desk looking exhausted. He smiled when we walked in, but I could tell that whatever happened with the locket hadn’t been good. “You okay?” I asked as I sat down on the uncomfortable guest chair.

  “Ah yes, just going to be a long day. You girls want to head back to the apartment?” he asked, rubbing a hand down his face. “I’m not going to have time to entertain you. I have to meet with the police about the locket and take care of some paperwork.”

  “I’m sorry dad,” I said, genuinely meaning it. I hadn’t wanted to cause him more stress or work. “Do you have any suspects?”

  “We’re looking into anyone who came into contact with the locket. We’ll find it, I promise,” he vowed.

  Penelope and I decided to take his advice and head back to the apartment. She called her mom there and got permission to stay, and with that done, we had our plan set in motion. My dad was going to be tired from his long day, and with any luck, we’d be able to sneak in and sneak out without him noticing we were ever gone. And if he did, well I just hoped we could solve the mystery and make the punishment worth it.

  Chapter Twelve

  True Loyalties

  Holed up in my room, Penelope and I were way too excited to even think about the possibility of sleep. My dad got home sometime after six that night with pizza, and he tried to be entertaining, but it was obvious he was stressed and tired. We stayed in my room for most of the night, and could hear him making phone calls until almost ten pm when the house suddenly went quiet.

  Penelope and I looked at each other, wondering if it was safe, so I decided to peek in his room and assess the situation. I crept down the hall and saw his door was cracked open, and he was lying across his bed, fully clothed, but snoring loudly. He was out. The mission was a go.

  I had my keys safely tucked into my pocket, and we were dressed in all black in order to hide in the shadows if we needed to. I knew that the museum had two security officers, but they did rounds, starting with the top floor at eleven pm. That meant if we timed it right, we could sneak in, get into the staff elevator and get into the office where all of the paperwork was kept before anyone even noticed us entering the building. All we needed was ten minutes, and I was pretty sure we could get in and out in that amount of time.

  It would be tricky to sneak in unnoticed, but with a key to the staff door on my key ring, I knew we could do it. Penelope seemed a little scared as we took to the streets, crossing the empty, dead silent lawns of downtown. Even on a Saturday night, the place was desolate. The bars were on the opposite side of the area, so we could hear music in the distance, but we were completely alone as we rushed across the grass.

  I motioned her to follow me around the side of the building where a heavy, brown metal door sat with the words STAFF ONLY printed on the top. I looked around, but we were still completely alone so I grabbed my key out of my pocket, shoved it into the lock and turned.

  Nothing happened.

  With a frown, I adjusted the key, wiggled it, shifted, and still the lock wouldn’t budge. I realized, with a soft groan, the lock had been changed. It was probably because I’d already been caught using the key to break into the museum, and knew they were probably on to me by now.

  “What’s going on?” Penelope hissed in my ear.

  “I think they changed the lock,” I said. I glanced down at my phone and saw we only had five minutes until 11. Which meant if we couldn’t get in the building soon, the security officers would be back on the ground floor and we would lose our opportunity to get into the office.

  “Problem?” came a quiet voice that made Penelope and me jump.

  I whirled around and saw Jack standing there. He was also dressed in all black, a beanie on his head, and he was tossing something small and silver up and down in his hand. He was smiling at me, too, and my stomach flip-flopped.

  “What are you doing here?” I hissed at him. The image of the necklace flared in my head and I was freshly angry at him.

  “I heard you two talking about breaking into the museum and decided to offer my services,” he said. He came up close to us so he could lower his voice and we sank as far into the shadow of the building as we could. “I’ve been trained as a thief, after all.”

  “I knew it,” I said, letting my anger show. “First you stole the locket, then you steal my necklace, and now you what? Want us to let you break in so you can steal more stuff?”

  “I did no such thing,” he defended, crossing his arms over his chest. “In fact, I came to return this to you,” and with that, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a long chain. Dangling from the end, I immediately recognized the ouroboros, and I gasped, reaching out for it. He held it back though, and narrowed his eyes at me. “I found this,” he said slowly, “on the floor underneath the portrait of my family’s Coat of Arms.”

  My face went bright red and I took a step back. “Like I said, I got lost on my way to the bathroom.”

  “You’re trying to tell me that you, Alexandra Fry, couldn’t remember to turn right at the stairs, instead of left?”

  I glanced at Penelope, but she looked about as panicked as I
felt. I cleared my throat. “I got turned around.”

  Jack hesitated for a moment, and then held the necklace out to me. “I know you know about my family,” he said as I took it from his fingers. “I know you’ve been investigating me, though I don’t know why. I get it that a locket has been stolen from the museum, but I didn’t steal it. Just like I didn’t steal your necklace.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but as I inspected the chain, I could see that the latch was, in fact, broken. I looked up at Jack, feeling terrible. I’d had him all wrong, and I had let my fear cloud my judgment about him. “I’m sorry,” I said.

  Penelope’s eyes went wide and she turned to me. “You’re sorry? But he’s a thief! He just admitted it right now! You were so sure he stole the locket.”

  Jack rolled his eyes and shook his head, not looking in Penelope’s direction. “I said I was trained as a thief, not that I was one. Besides, if I stole the locket, why would I be here offering to help you find it?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, still sounding suspicious, “to throw us off, maybe? To take us inside and tie us up so you can make a clean get-away. Maybe you’re distracting us while your cousin makes off with the goods.”

  “You watch way too many movies,” he complained. “Besides, my cousin doesn’t have any training at all. He’s just a jerk, nothing more.”

  “So says the guy who claims to be a trained thief. Which, by the way, stealing is a crime,” she pointed out.

  I held up my hands. This argument was wasting precious time. “Enough you two, this isn’t getting us anywhere, and we need to get into the building. Jack, do you know who took the locket?”

  He shook his head. “I didn’t even realize a locket was missing until I overheard you today. I just heard you two were going to break in here, so I wanted to help. I swear, I’ll explain everything about who I am, but my guess is that you already know a lot of that.” He paused and looked around the corner. “And I’m also guessing you don’t have a lot of time to get in and out of here before security gets back.”