Free The Ambitious Card (An Eli Marks Mystery) by John Gaspard Page A

said yes, I could call her,” he repeated, smiling at the memory.
    “So? I don’t get the connection to dimes.”
    “Hold your horses, I’m getting to it. At the end of the party, I shook her hand goodnight, which is what we did back then, not like your generation,” he said pointedly.
    “Yeah, whatever. Finish your story.”
    “Anyway, I shook her hand, and when I pulled my hand back, I found that she had slipped a dime into my palm.” He grinned. “You see, at the time, a dime was the cost of a phone call.”
    “Well, that’s sweet. However, that’s not what Megan said in the reading.” I looked at my notes again. “She said, ‘Your late wife is leaving you dimes. As reminders of her love.’”
    “Well, you see, that’s just the thing,” Harry said as he continued walking toward our store. “The last couple of weeks, or maybe more, I keep finding money on the ground.”
    He gestured to the sidewalk in front of us and I half expected to see some coins there.
    “Now, pennies you find all the time. No one bothers to pick them up. I certainly don’t. But I haven’t found pennies. Nor nickels. Nor quarters. No,” he said, reaching into his pocket. “I keep finding dimes. Like that one right there.”
    Harry stopped and pointed to a bit of silver, just visible in the dirt by the curb. I knelt down and picked it up, brushing it off on my pant leg. It was worn and scruffy, but it was a dime. I held it up and Harry took it from my hand, smiling at it. “Come on,” he said as he dropped the coin into his pocket. “We’re late getting the store open.”
    Still not entirely certain about what I had just seen and heard, I followed, lagging a few steps behind him.

      
    Upon approaching our store, I was surprised to see a pirate leaning against the locked door. He was dressed in the full regalia, including three-sided black hat with a skull and cross-bones emblazoned on its side, eye patch, and a sword. I should clarify. I wasn’t surprised to see the pirate. I was surprised that he was on time.
    The pirate, Captain Magic to his young audience, is a kids’ magician. He’s also my friend Nathan, and anyone who knows him would consider him an odd candidate for the role of court jester to the kindergarten set. Perpetually depressed, he’s lived his life under a dark cloud that follows him wherever he goes. He’s a hell of a magician but I’ve never seen him get much joy out of that, either.
    “Morning Eli,” Nathan said in his slow, monotone. “Morning Harry.”
    “Good morning, Nathan,” Harry said with extra cheer. Harry, like many people who know Nathan, was attempting to pull him away from melancholy by being just a little too cheerful himself. It has no effect on Nathan. Never has.
    “Hope you haven’t been waiting long,” I said as I unlocked the door. “I’ve got everything ready for you.”
    “No, I just got here,” Nathan said. “Found a parking place right out front, but I think I rolled over some broken glass, so I’ll probably have a flat by the time we’re done.”
    That sentence was Nathan in a nutshell. He could find the dark cloud under virtually any silver lining.
    I let the three of us into the store. Harry immediately began his morning ritual, which included pulling open the blinds, turning on the lights, and removing the cloth covers from the display cases. Nathan and I made our way through the store, toward the basement.
    Over the last few years, foot traffic in the store has dwindled considerably. We still did a brisk Internet business, with the tricks and devices Harry had invented throughout his career. And a couple items I had come up with were also starting to sell online. The basement housed our workshop, where we both had several projects in various stages of completion or abandonment, depending on our moods.
    “I’ve tested it under a few different conditions so far, with solid results,” I told Nathan as we made our way down the steep and creaky stairs.