Keeper: Chapter 9

Advice for the day: Never "borrow" a flash drive without asking. v.

Chapter 9

After a few minutes of reading Jamie had more questions than answers. He was however composing quite a book list. Albe’s synopsis was quite helpful but somewhat shy on details as he had relied on the provided book list to flesh out some of the details.



“He knew he might be killed over this but didn’t think anyone could or would break in and steal his books,” Jamie said to himself leaning back in the chair. From what he could tell the issue Albe was investigating dealt with two factions who had crossed on what was either a cultural issue or a religious one. Jamie couldn’t tell and he was pretty sure Albe hadn’t figured it out either. Jamie looked over at his notebook.



The page was now divided in half. One side listed the books Albe had mentioned. He wasn’t surprised to find there were five titles on the list. Jamie glanced at the shelves. The books were grouped by topic rather than alphabetically which is what slowed down his inventory checking the day before. Perhaps the books around the missing ones would prove helpful.



On the second side of the page Jamie had started a list of the terms he was unfamiliar with. Most of them had been footnoted with references to the missing books. They were also words that appeared frequently in the pack of letters he had found the day before. Jamie glanced at the clock on the wall. It was barely six o’clock. He ran his fingers through his hair and let out his breath in a long steady stream as a plan began to form in his head.



“House?” He asked.



“Yes keeper?” came the ready reply.



“Do you know how Albe ordered his books?”



“Yes Keeper. He made a list, often from catalogs and had me send the list to the book sellers.”



“Could you send a list to them from me, only with yesterday’s date on it?”



“Yes Keeper.” Jamie nodded.



“When do you normally send out the mail?”



“First thing in the morning.”



“Good. What do I need to do?”



“The dated and signed list should be placed on the front hall table next to the calling card holder after it is sealed. That is the normal place for sending out messages.” Jamie nodded. He pulled out a nicer piece of paper than his notepad held and copied the list of missing books down. He used his best handwriting and dated it for the 6th of October. The seal was still in the secretary downstairs and Jamie took the list downstairs, waving it a little as he walked so that the ink would dry. Hopefully it was early enough in the morning that it would seem reasonable that the list was compiled the day before. Then it would have gone out with the normal morning mail regardless of his physical state.



“Not a perfect plan,” he said to himself. “It assumes that others actually know the routine of the House but it will have to do.” Jamie retrieved the key from under the chair and unlocked the secretary. With a little trial and error, and a few burnt fingers, Jamie managed to melt the wax into a reasonable circle and press the seal into it. He looked at the impression. The edge of the J was not as crisp as he would have liked but the impression showed up well in the green wax. Jamie tilted the sealed list a little and caught the glint of metal as the gold threaded through the dark green wax caught the light. The color very much suited Albe. Jamie placed the list on the table, carefully avoiding touching both the calling cards and the holder. Before he returned to the study, he detoured to the kitchen.



“You hungry already?” Del asked with a grin.



“No still full,” Jamie assured him. “I just wanted to get the list of people who left calling cards first.”



“Of course,” Del said. He indicated the list still on the table and then looked at Jamie. A wary smile appeared on his face. “You have a plan?”



“I have the start of a plan,” Jamie confessed.



“Good,” Del told him. “You just let me know what I need to do to help.” From the look Del gave him Jamie had a feeling Del was hoping for the part of the plan involving pain to whoever had tried to kill him. He left and headed back up to the study.



“And I thought brownies were nice. Kind of gives you a new perspective on that whole Girl Scout thing.” He told himself as he moved. When Jamie returned to the library he picked up his list of unfamiliar words and turned to the book shelf. He sighed. “There is nothing like old fashioned research,” he said, reaching for the first likely book. “I really hope it has an index.”



As Jamie perused the shelves he pulled books that looked like they might deal with the list and stacked them by his feet. When he had about eight he retreated back to the desk with his stack. He settled himself in the chair and flipped his notebook to a clean page. Several hours later he was interrupted by Del. The man set a plate with a sandwich on the edge of Jamie’s desk. Jamie looked up at him, blinking owlishly.



“I called twice but you didn’t hear me,” Del explained. “Any luck?”



“Some,” Jamie said. He realized he was hungry and picked up half of the sandwich. “Thanks,” he said.



“Not a problem.” Del turned to go.



“I don’t suppose you know who the Gederan and the Federan are do you?” He asked. Del shrugged.



“I’ve heard of the names before but not much else. Those aren’t the type of folk that mix with my kind.”



“What do you mean mix?” Jamie asked. Del favored him with a sardonic smile.



“As with any society there are high caste and low caste,” Del began. Jamie started to interrupt but Del waved him to silence.



“It isn’t always called a caste system,” he continued. “Sometimes the divide is economic or educational but people, fey or otherwise divide themselves into groups. Like following like. And the groups figure out a system of ways to deal, or not deal, with each other. That is the way of things no matter what you call it.” This time when Del paused Jamie nodded and took another bite of the sandwich.



“Now,” Del said, satisfied his explanation would be taken. “I am one of the workers you might say. We come in several varieties of course but are still in the same general group. The Gederan and the Federan, well they belong to the high court. They aren’t what you would call workers. So I can’t really say I know much about them.”



“I see,” Jamie said. He wondered if Del was allowed to say much about the way things operated. He seemed to use general terms rather than specific. “Well there goes my hope of a short cut.” Del laughed. The laughter sounded a bit relieved.



“I’ll give you a yell for dinner then,” he said as he headed out of the door. Jamie thought about what he had learned while he ate his lunch. “The Federan and the Gederan both want the Lustan for the Lune Merdos.” That was the gist of Albe’s summation. So far Jamie had figured out that the Federan and Gederan were both groups in the high caste of one of the kingdoms of the fey. It sounded like they normally got along but for this one thing they were willing to kill each other. The Lustan was some sort of place. Jamie had found a picture of it in one of the books and glanced over. To his eyes it looked something like Angkor Wat. “Except the carvings look a little more Egyptian.” Jamie had yet to find out what the Lune Merdos was but figured that it was some sort of event. Either way he did know that the Federan and the Gederan refused to share the Lustan for it and Albe had been trying to determine who had the rights to use the temple for that night. Jamie finished the sandwich and put the plate on the edge of his desk. He started to pull one of the books closer but stopped himself. He pulled his laptop closer and returned to Albe’s stored files.



“Nothing on Lune Merdos,” he said after a few minutes. On a whim he decided to Google it.



“Do you mean Luna Muertos?” The search engine asked him, assuming he had misspelled his query. Jamie shook his head. Figuring he wasn’t going to get any better results he clicked yes. After a few more clicks he found out that Luna Muertos was an old term for a lunar eclipse.



“Sounds reasonable,” he said. “I wonder when the next one is.” Jamie typed in a second search. November 2nd was the answer. “The Day of the Dead. I wonder what the odds of that are.” Jamie recalled seeing the November date added to one of Albe’s notes but it didn’t connect with anything. He leaned back in the chair.



“If this Lune Merdos is going down on the Day of the Dead then I have only about three weeks to figure this mess out.” From what he had picked up from his reading if a decision was not made prior to the event then a blood bath would take place as each group tried to take over the site.



“So no pressure,” he said. “Great.”



“Keeper,” House interrupted his thoughts.



“Yes,” Jamie said.



“There is someone here.”



“Here?” Jamie shot to his feet. “Where?”



“Outside. He is peering in one of the windows. I think he might have been there a while but he just now brushed against my glass with his breath.”



“Good,” Jamie said. “Lets see what our visitor is up to.”