The Great California Game

“Risk?” I frowned. “Not with the force?”

“Oh, no! But I suddenly knew I should stake bullion profits. Out of the blue!” She was so thrilled. We were so close. “You know what I staked?” She tutted at herself. “Cool as you please! Two per cent! Can you believe it?” She gave a naughty-girl giggle.

I chuckled, shaking my head. “I’d have loved to’ve seen you, Melodie You have such natural grace.”

“Oh, d’you think so?” She fluffed her hair the way they do. “Their faces! Especially Charlie Sarpi’s. After the failure of the Japanese gold commemorative fakes from Europe, he thought his cartel was in the driving seat.”

“I was only sorry Kelly Palumba was unwell.”

“Such a shame, poor dear. Epsilon tried, but I swear that young man’s sometimes quite deranged. Really made a hash of poor Kelly’s stake. He simply knows nothing of property values. She’ll be so mad. He got in, though. Did all right with his silly TV stations.”

“Well, his home ground.” I spoke as if I knew what we were talking about.

“Sarpi didn’t even come close, darling,” she told me mistily. “Only the Commissioner. Jim Bethune’s always in at the finish of course these days. Antiques is a crazy world.”

She was telling me that? I hesitated. “You know, love, I feel as if I’ve known you in at least two previous incarnations.”

“Lovejoy, I feel it too. Deeply. We’ve known each other a lifetime. Is that silly?” She went shy.

“Of course it is.” You have to deny a woman’s suspicions to confirm they’re true, but gently. “If we’d been, well, lovers in a former incarnation, surely we’d probably… ?”

Confusion set in, especially when she agreed with me. I wasn’t too sure I wanted to associate with her, not without a single antique in the whole rotten dump. Sophie Brandau on the other hand said she’d got several.

“Will it last, Lovejoy?” We’d migrated to the middle of the vast settee. “For the Game itself, I mean.”

“No, Melodie. I’ll have to divine for you, explore the, er, ether. That way I’ll reinforce fortune.”

“You will?”

Gold rings clamped on my hands. “Melodie, Melodie,” I chided softly. “You think I’d desert you, now we’ve found each other after all this time?” For a moment I floundered. How long did reincarnation take? Was it like a frog shedding its skin, ten minutes flat? Or was it something to do with the Egyptians?

“I know it! Look what happened last time, darling! That horrible Monsignor O’Cody cleaned up. Seven massive Church debts rescinded. You know what that is in dollars, darling?”

“Yes,” I lied with gravity, sighing. ”Amazing.”

She snorted angrily. “I don’t want to seem a sore loser, Lovejoy. It cost me, like it did the others. Costs hurt.” She gave a thrilled moan. I recognized the woe-filled ecstasy of the gambler. You see it every day in auction houses the world over. “But I think O’Cody’s a nerve. His line bid one point nine per cent of total funds last fall, and lost. Know what? He tried all sorts of persuasion. Indulgences, the Faith, every whining excuse you can imagine —”

“I wasn’t here then, Melodie.”

“You should have been, Lovejoy! You know what he tried to do? Reschedule diocese loan flotations. Jim Bethune appealed to Nicko, got that stopped. I ask you!”

“Good heavens! Did things go that far?” I was completely lost now.

“They did! How could anybody look the De Beer hackers in the eye after that? Jim’d staked his usual three per cent auction levy. Kelly had some new theme park in the pot. And, I mean, diamonds are diamonds, Lovejoy!”

“True, Melodie. Long faces everywhere, I’ll bet!”

“And the rest! Of course, this time there’ll be none of that. Nicko’s had to get quite firm. That’s why I think Gina’s so worried about this manuscript business. Fell like a damp squib when Denzie staked it. I mean, he talked it up—the Second Coming! Worth quite a bit, I suppose, but nothing compared to, say, the Commissioner’s police hack.”

I sighed. “But you try telling them!”

“One default, that’s all it needs, darling. One default, and the whole house of cards falls apart.” She had her arm round me. Her eyes filled my view.

“And antiques, Melodie, er, love.”

“Of course! Jim Bethune could see his whole hack vanishing!” She was stroking my face. “You know, darling, I could easily —”

A distant buzzer sounded. The hound yelped, flew under the settee. Melodie moved away quickly, smoothing her hair. “Look at the time!” she said brightly.

I recognized all the signs of a returning husband. Time to go.

I raised Melodie’s hand to my lips with maximum sincerity, hoping I was doing it right. “Until the next time, love.”

She hurried me to the door. “When, darling? Quickly!”

“Tomorrow? Same time?”

“Yes! I’ve no visitors tomorrow. Take the stairs until the elevator’s gone.”

The lift whirred, on its way. As Melodie’s door closed, I ignored the stairs and scooted along the corridor, guessing doors. A faint clatter guided me. I can always sense the servants’ entrance, my natural habitat. Chanel was doing the coffee mystique as I ghosted in.