Read Online The Moche Warrior by Lyn Hamilton - Free Book Online Page B

point here. Thanks for your help.”
    He looked at me. “I don’t suppose you can tell me why you were asking about Smythson.”
    “I’m not sure exactly. Smythson was supposed to be the recipient of something that ended up in my shop and now has gone missing. I’m sure it’s a coincidence, but I was just wondering. The stuff wasn’t picked up in customs, which could have been because he was dead by the time it arrived. It was sent a little over two years ago if I recall.”
    “He died around that time, I’d think,” Sam said. “Was it something old? An antiquity? I always thought he might be in the illegal antiquities market.”
    I described the vase to him. “It was a replica,” I added.
    “Are you sure?” he said.
    “I think so. It had
hecho en Peru
etched in the clay on the bottom, and there was a card with it that clearly identified it as such.”
    “Sounds fairly definitive,” he said. He looked at his watch. “My goodness, I have to run. I actually have a customer who made an appointment to come in. Can you imagine? A real customer.” He laughed and shook my hand, and we went our separate ways. He’d given me a lot to think about.
    On my way back home I stopped in at the hospital to try to see Alex. This time I persuaded the nurse that I was Alex’s stepniece and should be allowed in to see him. They told me his condition was now considered stable, and while he had suffered some memory loss, he was reasonably alert. I edged past the policeman at the door and tiptoed into the room.
    He was asleep, I thought, and for a minute or two I stood just watching him. He looked so pale, and frail, and small. Alex is not a large man, but he has always seemed larger than life to me. He’s not young; he retired a few years ago, but he has such energy and he is interested in absolutely everything. In the early days of my divorce, when I first moved into the neighborhood, he took me under his wing. He specializes in lost souls, I believe, and at the time I was clearly one of them. I hated to see him looking so frail and so old.
    He stirred. “Lara,” he exclaimed. “How good of you to come!”
    “I would have come sooner,” I said. “They wouldn’t let me in. I’ve told them I’m your stepniece,” I added.
    He grinned. It was wonderful to see it. “I’ve always felt we were related in some way.”
    “Alex,” I said. “What happened?”
    “I’m not doing all that well at remembering,” he said slowly. “The police have been here. They asked me a lot of questions. I can recall locking the front door at eight, and then going into the office to close things up.” He paused for a moment, and I was afraid he was dozing off again.
    “Your keys,” he said finally. “I can remember seeing your keys on the desk, and realizing you’d forgotten them. Then… what did I do then?” he asked softly, almost to himself.
    “I phoned. I phoned Moira’s salon to see if they knew where you had gone, but it was closed. I thought you’d discover the keys soon enough, so I propped the back door open with the chair, so you could get in. I was afraid that I wouldn’t hear you in the office, and I thought it would be okay to leave the back door open.
    “I was wrong,” he said. “I vaguely recall thinking I had heard something in the showroom, and I can recall getting up to take a look. I’m afraid,” he said very quietly, “I’m afraid I remember nothing after that, as hard as I try.”
    “That’s okay, Alex. It explains how whoever it was got in.”
    “Was a lot taken?”
    “Hardly anything at all.”
    “Then why?”
    “Good question, Alex,” I said. “Perhaps something scared him or them off before they could take anything.” I wondered if he knew about the body. I was determined not to be the one to tell him, at least not while he was in such bad shape. He began to nod off again, and the nurse came and signaled to me that it was time to go.
    As I turned to leave, he stirred again. “I’m