“I’ll survive.”
“Are you sure?” Sam immediately corrected, “I don’t mean literally.”
Jason laughed. “Sam, come on. Of course I’m sure.”
Funny thing. Jason did not think, believe, that he had been relying, either consciously or unconsciously, on Sam to keep him safe, but the knowledge that he would be on his own did leave him feeling instantly more vulnerable.
He must have looked convincingly confident, though, because after a second or two of thoughtful inspection, Sam nodded. “Okay. I won’t take any longer than I need to.”
“Take the time you need.” He was belatedly absorbing that Sam had showered and was dressed for travel, so he was planning to leave right away for the airport.
Well, great. The sooner he left, the sooner he’d be back.
“If anything—and I mean anything—trips your alarm, phone Cheyenne PD and Charles Reynolds at the RA immediately. They’re fully briefed on your circumstances. I’ve already texted you both contact numbers.”
“Right.”
“Keep your piece at hand at all times.” Sam glanced pointedly at Jason’s pistol lying in its holster on the nightstand.
“I will.” Jason smiled, ignoring the way his nerves tightened in recognition of the possibility of having to use his weapon. Also recognition of the low-key, unobtrusive protection Sam had exerted on his behalf since their arrival.
He drew Kennedy in for another kiss. “You be careful too. You hear me? You’re the one keeping company with monsters.”
Sam nodded. “I’ll call you tonight.” He gave Jason a final quick kiss and was gone.
Jason lay back down, listening to the sound of the car engine starting outside. He smiled sardonically.
“Suppose I’d said no?” he said.
After breakfast, which largely consisted of a pot of coffee, Jason spent the morning talking to his contacts at Christie’s and Sotheby’s.
“We handled the Blackstone collection back in 2002,” Inez Parker at Sotheby’s told him. “Roughly told, we auctioned off about $350,000 worth of posters, costumes, and props. Mostly to other magicians.”
“Other magicians? Is that so?”
“Oh yes. Magicians are the market for these items. You must be aware that David Copperfield owns the largest collection of magic memorabilia in the world.”
“Yes, that I knew. The International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts. It’s a private collection.”
“Yes. Started in 1991. The only difference between Copperfield and every other magician out there is he has the money to indulge his habit. It’s about a very specific clientele wanting to own a very specific piece of history. A number of items in our auction could have been purchased new for a fraction of the price. The spirit cabinet, the prediction chest…some of these things only dated from the 1970s, so they weren’t even technically of historical significance, but people paid top dollar. Nowadays they’d probably go for twice that.”
“Lack of inventory,” J
ason said.
“Exactly.”
“In the case of a collection like this one—”
“If your thief knows what he—or she—is up to, the sale will either be handled privately or the collection will be held for a couple of years, then broken up and distributed across the major auction houses. If your thief is an amateur, they’ll do something like try to immediately disperse the inventory through a site like the Magic Auction. They won’t get top dollar, but they also won’t have to answer a lot of inconvenient questions.”
“The Magic Auction?”
Inez laughed. “You boys and girls on the Art Crime Team need to get out of the museum once in a while. Check out MagicAuction.com. PayPal accepted.”
“PayPal?”
Inez said thoughtfully, “Then there’s The Magic Auctioneer. Goodman is handling Bill McIlhany’s estate. I think he billed it something like McIlhany’s Magical Mysteries. But given the scope—and provenance—of the collection you’re inquiring about, I suggest you get in contact with Arlo Presley at Potter & Potter. They do an annual Spring Magic Auction. That’s coming up in a couple of weeks. This year they’re featuring two recently rediscovered Houdini scrapbooks. You know what Houdini items go for.”