From the Tales of Saint Anthony, the Johnny Holiday Mysteries
These short stories follow the lives of people who populate the fictional city of Saint Anthony (Minneapolis, Minnesota), and make their appearance in the first Johnny Holiday novel, The...
Ingrid Magnusson left Saint Anthony immediately after she finished her breakfast.
It was a four-hour drive north and west of the city, to the town of Avon. Her twin sister Helga had called her that morning, demanding that Ingrid come see her. She arrived at around 1:00 pm, and when she got there, she found that Helga had left.
Ian Green, the man who owned the house where Helga was staying, and the automotive garage attached to it, told Ingrid that Helga had to run to Saint Cloud on some kind of urgent business. He told her that she had left only about ten minutes before Ingrid, which meant that her errand, whatever it was, would keep her for at least an hour
More than an hour, Ingrid thought.
She was not happy to receive this information, not in the slightest.
Ingrid had only made the drive because her sister had been so insistent, sounding completely despondent on the phone while imploring Ingrid to come.
Helga had told her that she needed her, using a phrase they had shared between them since they were girls, du är mitt enda hopp, and by using those words Helga knew that Ingrid would feel bound to come, she would have no choice.
Though she felt put out, she did the sisterly thing; she honored the call.
Ingrid had a difficult client scheduled for an appointment at her reading-room that day, Dr. Pierce Johnson, a professor of antiquities at Augburg College, and an old acquaintance of the Magnusson's. Before she left she had not been able to reach her assistant, Angela Guthrie, to give her instructions on how to handle the item she had prepared for him. Instead, she had to inconvenience her partner, Karl Thorrson, who happened to be Helga's husband, with the details of lending out the particularly valuable book.
Dr. Johnson had been something of a friend to Ingrid and Helga, since they first met, when Dr. Johnson was a student in Copenhagen. He was a talented linguist and philologist, though both sisters found him flamboyant, his manners annoying and his temper viscious.
Ingrid knew that Karl would not favor him at all, and this worried her.
In fact, introducing the two of them might put Dr. Johnson in some jeopardy because Karl was not the type of man to suffer the presence of a fool, and Dr. Johnson was the type of man whose foolishness, which could not be suppressed, became magnified in the company of men like Karl.
The book was known as The Albigensian Grimoire, it was a unique manuscript, coveted by practitioners of the occult arts. Dr. Johnson had wanted to examine it for some time; and Ingrid had agreed to let him, long ago, if she ever came into possession of it. Now that it had become available, she was hesitant.
Ingrid had intended to make a final judgement that morning on seeing him, and now, with her absence from the store, this was impossible, and
She would have Karl handle it, and if he decided to kill the man...so be It, she thought.
Ingrid was still ruminating about the matter hours after her arrival in Avon, she couldn't stop herself the entire time she waited for Helga to return. As she grew more irritated, Ian Green was absolutely no help to her. He was positively ignorant concerning Helga's comings and goings. She thought Karl would like to know this, because the man was supposed to be keeping an eye on her.
At 5:00 pm Ingrid decided that she had had enough. She took the back roads to Saint John's University in Collegeville, a Benedictine institution not far from Ian's, and home to the second largest library of ancient manuscripts in North America, a hoard of treasures to a woman like Ingrid.
She went to visit an associate of hers, Brother Peter Loire, a monk who had given her access to the library before. She hoped he would be available for dinner, and then give her another tour of the Arca Artium. There were some documents she wanted to examine, and possibly acquire.
Ingrid was in luck; he was available.
They dined at the guesthouse, then after vespers he gave her the tour she was hoping for.
While the food served at the monastery was bland, the conversation was good, and she found the brother amenable to making an exchange. He told her that he would contact her soon, and that he would deliver the items she desired to her bookstore.
The monk wanted more than money to complete the deal, he wanted money too, but he wanted more, and Ingrid was not surprised because she knew his proclivities and she dealt in all forms of capital, including the flesh he desired...she would get him what he wanted, and she would have her scrolls.
It was late when they concluded their talk, too late to drive back to Saint Anthony, so Ingrid returned to the house in Avon.
When she arrived, her host informed her that Helga had returned and then left for Saint Anthony herself. Then he told her that Helga had suffered some kind of accident.
There was a nervousness in his voice that alarmed Ingrid.
He told her that Karl had called to give him this news, and had ordered him to tell her that she should remain there with him.
This was not a prospect that Ingrid welcomed, and Ian would not be able to stop her if she chose to ignore him, but she did not want to go against Karl; brother-in-law or not...partner or not...he was a dangerous man.
Ingrid decided to wait where she was and find out more before she determined for herself how she would proceed.
She went to Helga's room and fell asleep.
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