Crimes of Magic: The Wizard's Sphere

Copyright 2014, Richard L. King

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Table of Contents

Copyright

Foreword - This is Case Number 2

Chapter 1 - The Beginning

Chapter 20 - The Middle - Trouble at the Bank

About the Author

The Crimes of Magic Series

Sample Chapter From the Sequel: Crimes of Magic: The Yard Sale Wand

Foreword

This book is the second in the Crimes of Magic series. If you haven’t read the first book, Crimes of Magic: The Witch’s Artifact, read it first. It’s a free book on Smashwords:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/467856

Chapter 1

I guided my four year-old BMW 328i into the driveway, parked in my spot and walked up the front steps of my house, the Grey Goose. I went inside and walked up the stairs to my second-floor apartment. I had just returned home from having lunch with my friend, Ward Thompson, so I wasn’t hungry, but a cup of tea seemed like a good idea. Our lunch had started late, and we had talked for over two hours. I wanted to share our conversation with Rachel, so I gave her a call.

Hello, Rachel, I said when she answered, It’s Robert.

"Hi Professor, what’s up?"

Are you in your apartment downstairs, or are you at your office?

"I just got home about fifteen minutes ago."

I’m upstairs. Would you like to come up for a cup of tea?

"It’s only three o’clock, Professor. Your tea time is four o’clock."

This isn’t a full tea with food; this is just a cup of Oolong tea.

"Oooh, Oolong. Sounds good. I’ll be right up."

Come on in; the door’s open, I said when Rachel knocked a couple of minutes later.

Rachel and I had gotten to know each other fairly well when we worked together on her Case of the Witch’s Artifact. As a matter of fact, it was that case that I had discussed with Ward at lunch.

Rachel came in, seated herself at the kitchen table, and I poured us each a cup of tea.

I just got back from lunch with Ward Thompson, I said.

Did you tell him about the Witch’s Artifact case like we agreed you would?

Yes, I did, and he was very interested. Although he’s learned a lot about scientific magic from the Wizard Gabriel, he’s never had to do battle with a couple of magicians like we did on the Artifact case. He had never heard of the Wand of Aerten, the so-called Bender of Destiny.

That was a very challenging case, Rachel remarked. Did you tell him about the fatalities?

Yes, he can keep secrets. Speaking of fatalities, he was worried about our future safety.

But you said that the evil Master Wizard Seth wouldn’t be able to find us, Rachel said.

And Ward agreed that it’s very unlikely that Seth will find us, but he’s worried about future encounters with other nefarious magicians.

I don’t intend to have any more encounters with nefarious magicians, Professor. We almost got killed.

Ward thinks that we’ll most likely have contact with other wielders of magic in the future. He says that the use of magic attracts magic. He says that using magic has more effect on future events than ordinary actions do. He thinks that more people will be drawn to you to help them with magic-related problems.

That doesn’t sound very scientific to me, Professor. It sounds kind of New Agey.

Think about it this way, we know that the actions we take today influence the future. The future isn’t completely predestined. From this instant, there are multiple paths that fate can take, and the path that is taken depends upon all our actions right now. The same is true for the use of magic, except that in addition, the effects of magic ripple out through not only our 3D world, but also through the system code that our world runs in.

Hold on for a second, Professor. I know about Ward’s theory that our universe is like a gigantic computer game. And I know that he thinks that doing magic is hacking the system code of the universe.

Yes that’s just about right, but remember, magic isn’t technically a ‘hack.’ A hack would involve changing the system code, and the system code of our universe can’t be changed. Magic is an ‘exploit,’ which is taking advantage of hidden code that is already there, but you have to have special knowledge to activate it.

So why is doing magic different than doing ordinary future-changing things?

Activating an exploit allows a magician to break the normal rules of our universe so that he can do things that can only be explained to ordinary people as magic. In addition to making magical things happen in our 3D world, the exploit makes things happen in the system that don’t show up here in our reality. That’s one of the reasons why magic is so dangerous. Unless you know a lot more about magic than we do, your magical actions can have unknown consequences. For instance, Seth was able to find the Wand of Aerten because it sent out a ripple in the matrix that we didn’t know anything about here in 3D Portland.

I think I follow you, Professor. A couple of months ago, all this would have been over my head, but I can see how doing magic can have consequences in the future.

Right, and that’s why Ward believes that we’ll most likely be encountering more magic in the future.

I guess there’s nothing we can do about it, but I’m not looking forward to fighting more magicians.

That’s why Ward asked me if it was OK for him to tell Gabriel about our Artifact case. I told him to go ahead.

Is that a good idea? We really don’t know anything about this Wonderful Wizard Gabriel. Can we trust him?

I’m afraid we don’t have much choice, Rachel. We’re in over our heads, and I don’t think we’re up for dealing with more magic without help. Ward has been learning from Gabriel for quite a while. It was Gabriel who taught Ward how to make the Coriolis that he gave to me, and that’s certainly been useful for us.

You’re right about that. I guess it’s only a matter of time before some magician finds us, so it might as well be Gabriel—the devil you know versus the devil you don’t know. Ward is the only one who knows how to contact Gabriel. I hope he puts in a good word for us.

I’m sure he will. More tea?

Sure, I love Oolong.

I told you about my day; how did your day go?

"I finished writing the report for that little job we did last week for my lawyer friend Charlene’s client. Come to think of it, magic was involved in that, too. Maybe we are attracting magic to us."

Thankfully there wasn’t anything dangerous about that little job, I said.

You know, Professor, I think we should officially become partners.

Now that made my heart skip a beat. Then I realized that she was talking about being business partners, but I guess I jumped to the wrong conclusion for a second. I would like to be more than business partners, but we were nowhere near being any other kind of partners. I wondered if Rachel had ever thought about being another kind of partner with me. I certainly had, but she had never given any indication that she had.

I don’t think I’m qualified to be your business partner. I’m not a P.I., and I have no training in law or investigation. I can’t even shoot.

I’ve got all that covered, Professor. All your skills are skills I don’t have, and if we’re going to get a lot of magic work, I’ll need your help.

And I’ll be more than happy to help. I’m retired, and I have the time and money to spend any way I please; and there’s no better use for my time than helping you. But in no way am I your equal when it comes to investigative work. It would be highly presumptuous of me to even think about being your business partner.

Oh come on, Professor, doesn’t ‘Chase and Walker Investigations’ have a nice ring to it?

It just wouldn’t be fair to you, Rachel. How about ‘Rachel Chase and Associates, Private Investigations’? I could be ‘Associates.’

That does sound pretty good, but you’ll need to share in the money we’ll make.

How about I just have a consulting contract with you? I could be an official associate, and you could spell out exactly what my compensation would be. That way, I wouldn’t have to get a P.I. license.

I hadn’t thought about it that way, but it sounds OK. What about your compensation?

How about, after you’re paid for a case, you subtract all your expenses and I take one-fifth of the profit?

That doesn’t sound fair, Professor. Let’s make it one-third of the profit.

No, I insist. It’s one-fifth or no deal.

Oh, OK, twenty percent it is. You drive a hard bargain, but I wouldn’t want you to go car shopping for me. You’ll need business cards.

No problem, I can design a card and have it printed in no time. That reminds me, and I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, but your business card could use a little design work.

Really? It seems fine to me.

It’s very Twentieth Century, Rachel. I’m pretty sure I can design a better one for you.

OK, Professor, design new cards for both of us—‘Rachel Chase and Associates’ it is.

Now realize, I’m not going to take any compensation for cases you do without me. I’ll only be compensated for work on cases involving magic.

OK, Professor, you can be a part-time associate. Let’s shake on it.

So we shook on it. I may have held onto her hand for a little longer than necessary. Rachel has lovely small hands.

I’ve gotta go, Professor. I have a date tonight.

A DATE! I didn’t know Rachel was dating. She never mentioned dating before. It’s true that I hadn’t known her very well before the Artifact case, and I knew that she had been married briefly sometime in the past, but I thought she was more of a loner, like me. This was an entirely new development, something that I hadn’t incorporated into my world view.

Have fun. Who’s the date with? I asked calmly.

Jack Avery, he’s a detective with the Portland police.

Isn’t he the guy that was investigating things on the Witch’s Artifact case?

He’s the one.

We never even met him during that case.

He called me down to the station after everything was solved, just to get my input on the investigation. He called me again yesterday and asked if I would like to go out to dinner, so that’s what we’re doing.

You didn’t tell him anything about magic did you?

No, but I think he believes that something unusual was going on. He didn’t completely buy the whole Russian mob story.

What sort of guy is he?

Maybe I’ll find out tonight. See you later, Professor.

And with that, Rachel breezed out the door.

Today had started out so well—a delicious first breakfast of lox and bagels with coffee, a stimulating lunch with Ward, a lovely tea with Rachel, and now this. What a buzz kill. It was just a date though, right? I wonder how old this Detective Avery is. Probably closer to Rachel’s age of thirty-five than my age of fifty. He probably has more in common with Rachel than I do: law enforcement, mutual interests, similar ages. He’s probably better looking than I am, too. I’ll bet he’s a runner like Rachel instead of a swimmer like me. He’s probably divorced from a short marriage like Rachel, not a life-long bachelor like me.

I’ll bet he’s smart, too. He probably has a law degree from Lewis and Clark Law School. Rachel was going to be a lawyer until she decided she couldn’t be cooped up in an office doing boring paperwork all day. That’s another thing they have in common, probably. I’ll bet he’s well-traveled, too. Maybe he’s lived in New Jersey, where Rachel was born, or in Atlanta, where she went to high school. I’m sure they have a lot in common.

I’ll bet I’m richer than he is, though. I have all that money I got when SimBiotic Arts went public. I’ll bet he doesn’t even own his own house. He probably rents because of all the alimony he has to pay. I wonder if he has to pay child support. Do you suppose he has kids? Does Rachel like kids? I don’t even know. I wonder what kind of car he drives. I’ll bet it’s not a BMW. Ha!

Maybe I should shave my beard. Does it make me look older? I’m not getting any gray—yet. I’ll bet he’s going bald! He would be jealous of my thick dark hair, wouldn’t he? Some women think bald is sexy. Some say it’s a sign of lots of testosterone. I’ll bet cops have lots of testosterone. Maybe I should get mine checked. I don’t think I would look good without my beard. That’s why I grew it in the first place.

I’ll bet he’s a jock. He probably played football at the University of Oregon. He was probably a running back—a tall, lean running back. He’s probably taller than I am, over six feet. I’ll bet he got hurt, though. I’ll bet he tore a shoulder ligament or tendon or whatever shoulders have. I’ll bet he can’t do push-ups anymore. I wonder how many push-ups I can do. Maybe I should work out more, or some at least.

I’ll bet he’s not a good dresser. All those detectives wear frumpy suits. Rachel has a good fashion sense, although it’s a little unique. I don’t see many young women wearing leg warmers over tights with a short skirt on cold winter days like Rachel does. Come to think of it, she does make fun of me wearing pajamas all day, but they aren’t pajamas; they’re lounging clothes. And I put on jeans when I leave the house, so what’s wrong with that? I don’t need to dress up just to play the stock market from my home office. That’s what being retired is all about, isn’t it?

Maybe Rachel thinks it’s weird to be retired at fifty, but isn’t that supposed to be the American dream? Work hard, make money, retire early and do what you love to do. So what do I love to do? What I really love to do is to spend time with Rachel. Working on a case with her is the perfect job.

Maybe she would rather have Detective Avery for a partner. Maybe she’ll sweet talk him into quitting the Portland Police