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A visitor to the Huxley Hotel in Vancouver two days before Christmas would have seen an unusual sight. It was not unusual to see Grand Master Arkady Balagan in the bar of the Huxley drinking vodka (accompanied, always, by a pickle; Danni had a special note about that for the new bartenders). It was also not unusual to see him in the bar playing chess with Sam. It was, however, unusual to see him doing both at once, but this was a special occasion as Sam was going to be leaving town for a week's holiday, thereby depriving Arkady of his favorite pupil and his most reliable errand runner. That is to say, it was not a happy occasion, so the vodka was a particularly welcome addition to this game. Danni just rolled her eyes at them and kept Arkady's glass full. When, inevitably, Sam admitted defeat, they put away the pieces and sat at the bar so they could chat with Danni as she poured drinks for a steady stream of customers.
"Shall it be as busy tomorrow, as well?" Arkady asked, watching the crowds around the huge tree in the lobby with disfavor.
"Probably worse," Danni answered cheerfully, "'cause of the Christmas ball. Have a safe trip, Sam."
"Thanks, Danni. See you next year!" Sam waved at both of them as he left.
"Are you going to do anything with Pippa for Christmas?" Danni asked when she finished the latest round of drink orders.
"Pippa is not currently speaking with me. Besides, I believe she will be spending the day with her parents."
Danni just looked at him.
"And what will you be doing?"
"I'll spend some time with Nana Faye, and then enjoy my holiday off," she laughed, waving him out of the bar at closing time.
The Christmas ball at the Huxley began just before midnight on Christmas Eve. Rob hadn't been thrilled at having pulled desk duty, but it was part of the price he paid for being "the new guy." His night was brightened by the chance to flirt with Mary, who was one of the actors hired as an elf for the ball. He really shouldn't have agreed to put her ruby and emerald bracelet in the hotel safe, but it wasn't like anyone would be checking. Maybe if he played his cards right, they could go for coffee after they were both off work. Hours later, when he saw the pretty blonde ask one of the other attendants for something, he hurried over.
"Hey, you're off early," he said, smiling.
"Need to get home to celebrate Christmas proper," she replied with no more than polite disinterest in her gaze. Oh, well. It had been a nice fantasy while it lasted.
"Let me check on your item in the safe," he said, and escaped into the back with his colleague, finding the small box labeled "Mary" and adding it to the sack.
Rob didn't expect to ever see Mary again, so when she smiled at him happily just after noon and asked for her bracelet, he was surprised. She was not so happy when he sputtered, "But you've picked it up already! Along with some other items!"
"I've been working, not getting my bracelet. Who did you give it to? What other items?"
"It was you, I swear. I recognized you, and you gave me the brush off!"
At this point, the shift supervisor came over to find out what was happening. After listening, impatiently, to both Rob and Mary, she sighed. "Go see if Mr. Balagan is in his room. Maybe he can figure this out. Otherwise, Ms. McDonald, you will need to file a complaint with me."
Mary quickly glanced at Rob. "Who's this Mr. Balagan? Why would he help at all?"
The supervisor laughed. "He lives in the hotel, plays chess, and solves mysteries. It's worth asking." She looked at Rob, again. "If he's difficult, tell him that if he can't do it, I'll have to call in Mr. Lum."
Rob shuddered. He didn't want to have anything to do with the director of hotel security. "Thanks, we'll do that," he said, taking the slip of paper with a room number written on it and guiding Mary toward the elevators.
"Who's Mr. Lum?" she asked.
"Hotel security. If he has to come in on Christmas, we're both in trouble."
They did not, in fact, have to say anything about Mr. Lum. Mr. Balagan opened his door, asked them why they were disturbing him, and then ushered them both in to the room, his eyes lighting up.
"Why, Mary, would you be bringing such jewelry to a job?" Arkady Balagan stared at the young woman. "It seems rather risky, does it not?"
She smiled nervously. "I was adopted as a baby. The bracelet is the only thing I have from my birth mother, and it's Christmas jewelry, right? Or, at any rate it works really well as Christmas jewelry, since it's emeralds and rubies, so I only wear it on Christmas day, and I didn't want to have to go home to get it."
"Hmm. Well. Rob, you said the young woman picked up jewelry for a guest, yes? Which guest?"
"Umm. Mr. Balagan, I don't know," Rob mumbled.
"Go, find the name and address. You, Mary, you will play chess with me."
"Mr. Balagan, I'm really not much of a player."
"You are the only other player here, so you will play with me. Rob, go."
When Rob returned 20 minutes later with the information, the chess game had changed into basic instruction. Arkady rarely worked with beginning players, but it was proving interesting. The last person he'd played with at this level had been Rosemary, whom he would not think about right now. Instead, he grabbed the note from Rob and called Danni.
"Arkady, what's..."
"Where are you? I am finding a young woman's bracelet. I need you to check on guests who checked out this morning. Though why would someone who lived in the city have been staying here last night?"
"They probably came to the ball and didn't want to go home in the middle of the night. Arkady, I can't just show up at someone's house on Christmas day asking if they have someone else's bracelet! And I'm at Nana Faye's, having Christmas lunch."
"Ah. Give her my regards. Now here's the address...." He smiled at Danni's huff of annoyance, but, as he had known, she agreed to go see these Andersons.
"Now, we wait. Rob, Mary," he tossed them the room service menu, "order lunch. They already know what I want."
A couple hours later, Danni drew in a deep breath and rang the door bell, smile already fixed on her face. "Hello, I'm from the Huxley Hotel, and I apologize for bothering you today, but we've had a report that there have been a problem with the items retrieved from our safe, and I've been asked to confirm in person that you have all your belongings."
"Oh," the middle-aged woman who had answered the door blinked. "I'll check, but I'm certain nothing is wrong. Please come in, no need to stand out in the cold."
Danni waited in the foyer as Mrs. Anderson (at least, she assumed it was Mrs. Anderson) picked up a bag from by the stairs and started emptying it onto a small table. "We didn't unpack when we got home this morning, but I think Mary would have mentioned any problems. No, this is all mine, and this is Mary's bracelet. Hmm. I thought she was wearing it. Oh, I must have been mistaken."
Danni smiled back. "Thank you for checking. I'll call to let them know." She turned her back, pulled out her phone, and hit redial. "Hi, Arkady. Everything is fine here. Yes, there is an emerald and ruby bracelet; it belongs to Mary Anderson."
Arkady hummed at this. Why would Mary McDonald and Mary Anderson apparently own the same bracelet? He stared at his chessboard, Danni's polite small talk with Mrs. Anderson in one ear, and Rob and Mary's comparison of family Christmas traditions in the other, when his eyes were caught and held by white bishops standing side by side.
"Danni, ask Mrs. Anderson if the bracelet was a gift from her daughter's birth mother."
"What? I can't ask her that! Wait," there was a short pause and then the sound of the phone disconnecting. Two minutes later, Danni called again. "Mary just came in wearing her bracelet. The Andersons and I will be coming by with both bracelets. See you soon."
Later that night, after Mary Ann McDonald had gotten her missing bracelet back from her long-lost twin sister, Mary Lynn Anderson, and the Andersons, Mary Ann, and Rob had taken off to visit the McDonald home, Danni poured Arkady another vodka and sat down across from him.
"You did a good thing today," she said, smiling. "Sam and Alcina will enjoy hearing about this one."
"All this bother about Christmas," he muttered, "and it's not even the right day!" He looked at her. "I should be happy, yes? Puzzle solved, Sam isn't demanding a game, Hugo is not even in the hotel, Pippa is not hounding me with conspiracy theories, all should be well!"
Danni generally avoided talking about why Arkady never left the hotel, but this seemed a good time to break her own rule. "It's your first Christmas without Rosemary," she said softly, "and this is when she would have celebrated, even if you celebrate in January."
Arkady threw her a difficult-to-decipher look. He paused for a moment, as if he were debating what to do next, and then reached for the chessboard and quickly set it up.
"Sam said you mentioned wanting to learn more about chess," he said. "Now is a good time for a first lesson. White always moves first."