‘I don’t understand,’ Ruby said. ‘What could be so valuable that you’d die rather than give it up?’
Gerald thought of the golden rod that had been hidden in the diamond casket.
‘I’ve got something to say…’
For the next five minutes the only thing to be heard around the campfire was Gerald’s voice as he described in quiet detail the brain-splintering vision that he’d experienced when Green touched the rod to his forehead. He tried to give a sense of the sub-atomic annihilation, of his very core being atomised and sprayed throughout the universe. He maintained eye contact with a spot thirty centimetres in front of his boots for the duration of the story.
When he finished there was silence.
Gerald looked to Hoskins. ‘I’m a direct descendant of one of the original fraternity members, of Gaius. The visions I’ve been having, the effect the golden rod had on me, you asking whether I’m ready or not—does this mean I’m some sort of chosen one?’
Hoskins looked Gerald long and hard in the eye. Then he burst into laughter.
‘Chosen one!’ he howled with glee. ‘Bit full of yourself, aren’t you, sunshine? Chosen one…pffft!’
‘I just thought that, you know, since you wanted to know if I was ready, and you didn’t ask my cousins to do it, that I might be—you know—special?’
Hoskins pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his eyes. His belly still heaved.
‘Special? We didn’t ask Zebedee because he’s as slow as a fat woman in the biscuit aisle. And we didn’t ask Octavia because she couldn’t find her own bum using two hands.’
‘What? So I was last man standing?’
‘Basically, yes.’ Hoskins saw the hurt in Gerald’s eyes. ‘Oh, get over yourself. I’m a descendant of Marcus Antonius and you don’t see me jabbering on about special powers. Your great aunt thought you were destined for great things, that the gods had plans for you. That’s why she paid for you and your parents to migrate to Australia just after you were born—to keep you out of harm’s way. But I don’t hold truck with all that nonsense.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me this before?’ Gerald asked. ‘What’s with all the riddles and mystery? Where’s the trust?’
‘Don’t talk to me about trust!’ Hoskins bellowed. ‘Your flamin’ great aunt wasn’t a big one for trusting anyone, excepting herself. And look where it got her. I guarantee Geraldine knew the location of the lost city, but she wasn’t telling. Wouldn’t pass on the family secret. We could be there now, protecting the casket from the marauding hands of Mason Green. Sixteen hundred years it’s been hidden and now we’re going to lose it. Thanks to her.’ Hoskins glared at Gerald. ‘That is, unless you’ve got some amazing insight you’d like to share with us, chosen one.’
There was a shocked silence around the campfire. Ruby moved to put an arm round Gerald’s shoulders. ‘I believe you, Gerald. We’ve seen you go into a trance. You are kind of special.’
‘I think he’s very special,’ Kali purred from behind a curtain of flame and sparks.
Gerald looked at the bandit girl smiling at him with controlling eyes, then across at Hoskins still seething in the smoke. He had a growing sense of being used. It was time to take the lead.
‘So the fraternity doesn’t know where the casket is hidden?’ Gerald said.
‘It could be anywhere in southern India,’ Hoskins said.
Gerald turned to Kali. ‘And you’ve been trying to find out how much the Guptas know about it.’
She raised a finger to her chest, all innocence. ‘Who? Me?’
‘It was you who broke into Constable Lethbridge’s house and stole his notebook. You wanted to know what Mr Gupta told the police after the Noor Jehan diamond was stolen—whether he gave any hint about another casket. And you found something, didn’t you?’
The smile vanished from Kali’s eyes, but she said nothing.
‘Something in that notebook convinced you the Guptas must know about the emerald casket. But you needed to find out more. So you decided to kidnap Alisha. Maybe ransom her in exchange for some information from her father. But you didn’t count on Interpol following us. And when Agent Leclerc helped free Alisha, you dropped this.’ Gerald unzipped his pocket and pulled out the dagger.
Kali gasped. Her face lit up. She took a step towards Gerald.
But Gerald wasn’t handing anything over.
‘Then you thought you better have another crack at Alisha at the Taj Mahal. Where you also thought it was okay to shoot at me.’
Kali was unrepentant. ‘Did I hit you?’ she asked.
‘No.’
‘Then you’ve got nothing to complain about.’
Gerald stared at the girl across the fire. ‘But we escaped. So finally you hijacked the train. And here we all are. One big happy family.’
No one around the campfire was smiling.
‘Instead of kidnapping Alisha and taking pot shots at me, why didn’t you just tell us about the fraternity?’ Gerald said. ‘We could have worked together.’
Hoskins scowled into the fire. ‘You were too close to the Gupta girl. I didn’t know if you could be—’
‘What? Trusted?’ Gerald interrupted. Hoskins refused to meet his eye. ‘Tell me,’ Gerald continued. ‘What did you do with the thin man?’
Kali sat up stiffly. ‘We left him by the carriage. He’ll have a headache when he wakes.’
‘And a treasure map straight to the casket, thanks to Alisha,’ Ruby said.
‘And the key to the emerald casket in his pocket,’ Gerald added. ‘We could have had that.’
Kali shrugged. ‘Some things can’t be helped.’
Gerald tossed the dagger into the dirt at her feet. She seized it. But before she could twist off the end Gerald pulled the folded paper from his shirt pocket.
‘This page you cut from Lethbridge’s notebook convinced you that the Guptas were close to finding the emerald casket. Lethbridge writes like a kid but he takes good notes. Let’s see: Mr Gupta said coming to London following the theft of the Noor Jehan diamond has caused him considerable inconvenience. He is about to buy a big gem in India and can’t afford to be away. He has been trying to locate it for many years—an emerald.’
The crackling of the embers was the only other sound as those around the fire took in Gerald’s words. He continued: ‘Mr Gupta said the emerald would join the diamond as one of the key pieces in his collection.’
‘Key pieces,’ Sam said. ‘To open a lock, maybe?’
Mr Hoskins tossed another peppermint in his mouth. ‘When Kali found that in the constable’s notebook we knew Gupta was after the casket. We had to find out more.’
‘You should have just turned over the page,’ Gerald said.
‘What do you mean?’
Gerald held up the piece of paper and flipped it over. ‘It’s Lethbridge’s notes from his interview with Sir Mason Green,’ he said. ‘It makes for interesting reading.’
Chapter 20
Gerald laid the page on his knee. It flickered in the yellow firelight.
‘Lethbridge’s interview has all the usual stuff, but then there’s this one sentence: I asked Sir Mason whether he would be available for any further questions and he said other than chairing a meeting for an Indian tsunami relief charity, he’d be at his desk all day.’
Sam looked at him blankly. ‘What does that tell you?’
‘On its own, not much. But remember the report from Interpol we found in Lethbridge’s hotel room? It said the casket was hidden in a village that had been buried under the sea and only recently revealed after the tsunami. I didn’t get to see the name of the town because Lethbridge was coming back. Then I saw in Lethbridge’s notes that Green was going to be at his desk all day. Do you remember that old detective movie, and what we found on one of the envelopes? “Mama la ram”.’
‘That still doesn’t help me,’ Sam said.
‘When I saw that Green was interested in the area affected by the tsunami, it sort of
clicked into place. Ruby’s travel guide lists only one town starting with M-a-m-a: Mamallapuram. Or, minus a letter or two, Mama la ram.’
Hoskins almost choked on his peppermint. ‘Mamallapuram! That’s a fishing village on the Bay of Bengal, about two hundred kilometres from here. It was almost wiped out in that tsunami.’
‘Exactly,’ Gerald said. ‘Ruby’s guide said the town is recovering by attracting tourists. They go there to see a famous temple but also the local stone carvings. And then I remembered this.’ He pulled another piece of paper from his pocket.
‘What’s that?’ Ruby asked.
‘The paper we found in the fake stone casket in Delhi.’
‘You kept that?’
‘I keep all sorts of things,’ Gerald said. ‘The casket was identical to the one we found under Beaconsfield. How could that be? Unless the people who made it had access to some designs. Read the line at the bottom.’
Ruby took the paper from Gerald. ‘This quality product was proudly manufactured by Kumar & Sons of Tamil Nadu.’ She shrugged and went to hand the paper back.
‘No,’ said Gerald. ‘The small print at the bottom.’
Ruby squinted in the dim light. ‘It’s an address,’ she said. ‘In Mamallapuram!’
‘The artists of Mamallapuram have probably been selling those caskets to tourists for hundreds of years,’ Gerald said, ‘with a design based on a casket that arrived there around 400AD.’
‘The emerald casket is in Mamallapuram.’ Hoskins shook his head in wonder. ‘After all this time.’ A look of determination set in his eyes. He clicked his fingers at Kali and jerked his head towards the tents.
‘Go get the Gupta girl,’ he said. ‘It’s time to ask her some questions.’
Gerald could tell this wasn’t going to be a conversation that Alisha would enjoy.
Alisha sat on the log as if it was an imperial throne. She faced all the accusations hurled at her with an air of contempt worthy of any king’s daughter.
‘That man was about to stab you through the hand,’ she declared to Gerald. ‘The only way to stop him was to tell him what he wanted to hear.’
Ruby wasn’t convinced. ‘You know exactly where the casket is hidden. You’ve known it all along.’
Alisha cast an imperious look at Ruby. ‘It’s called using your imagination. You should try it some time. And it worked. Otherwise Gerald might not be alive now.’
‘What? From nowhere you just happened to pluck out the name of the temple as the hiding place. What was it? Surya?’
Alisha couldn’t hide a glimmer of pride. ‘The sun god,’ she said. ‘I have no idea if such a temple exists, but I was so much more convincing with that little detail, don’t you think?’
Murmurs swept around the fireplace.
‘I believe her,’ Sam said.
‘There’s a surprise,’ Ruby said. ‘You were out cold—you didn’t hear her.’
‘I thought you two were best friends forever.’
‘Well, things change.’
Gerald had been silent during the interrogation, leaving Ruby and Hoskins to take turns playing bad cop and even worse cop. Alisha had been composed, but the last comment from Ruby seemed to pierce her armour. The hint of a tear formed in one eye. It budded, blossomed and rolled down her cheek.
Ruby glared at Alisha, then turned her back.
‘Alisha,’ Gerald said. She lifted her chin and looked at him. ‘Answer me honestly.’
‘Of course,’ she said.
‘When was the first time you heard that the casket has an emerald key?’
‘When that man in the train was about to stab you.’
‘And the emerald that your father was trying to buy for his collection—does it have anything to do with the casket?’
‘He has never said anything about an emerald. He never discusses that sort of thing with me.’
‘There was no emerald in the display case at your house where he keeps the Noor Jehan. Does that mean he never bought it?’
‘That is the only place he keeps his gems as far as I know.’
‘And you swear that you’re telling the truth.’
Alisha blinked up at Gerald’s face. Her cheeks were bathed in tears. ‘I swear.’
Gerald turned to Mr Hoskins. ‘We should leave for Mamallapuram in the morning.’
‘That’s it?’ Ruby said. ‘You say she’s telling the truth and everything is magically okay?’
Gerald stood and stared down at Ruby. ‘I think Alisha’s father has been searching for an emerald that forms part of a collection of three gems. The Noor Jehan diamond is one of them—all three are the keys to the caskets smuggled out of Rome by my family. My guess is Mr Gupta never got the emerald because Sir Mason Green beat him to it. And now Green has the key and the location of the lost city. But he doesn’t know where in Mamallapuram to find the casket.’
Gerald took a deep breath and lowered his voice to a determined whisper. ‘My great aunt was murdered on the orders of Mason Green. He tried to kill us too, remember? Somewhere in that sunken city is a casket that Green wants. I don’t care if it’s a magic zombie formula or a pile of gold that would choke a horse, I am going to stop him from getting it.’
He turned and walked towards the tents. He was exhausted. He needed all his strength if he was going to beat Green to the casket. And the prospect of seeing the thin man again did not bode well for a good night’s sleep.
Gerald woke to music. He sat up from his bedroll of a rough grey blanket and ran his fingers through his knotted hair. He stuck his nose under an armpit and sniffed. The recoil almost cricked his neck. He reeked. Sam was still snoring on the other side of the tent. Ruby was curled up beside him. Gerald pulled on his boots and crawled out through the tent flap. It had rained through the night and the sky promised more for the day.
The campsite sang with the sounds of early morning preparations. The horses, hobbled under a tree, feasted at their feedbags. The hollow thwack of an axe echoed from near the fire. Hoskins was converting a block of wood into kindling with a few practised strikes. A blackened pot sat in the embers and Kali stirred the contents with a long-handled ladle. Fingers of smoke trailed into the morning air. But it was the music that captured Gerald’s attention.
In a clearing, away from the tents and the horses, Kali’s mother sat cross-legged on a mat, her back perfectly straight. She plucked a stringed instrument that rested against her knee. Gerald was amazed at what he heard—it was a musical tapestry, notes weaving together in superb patterns.
The woman’s eyes were closed and her head nodded in time with the music. Her fingers danced up the neck of the sitar, teasing the notes from the strings. Gerald could have listened for hours.
‘That sounds amazing.’
The woman looked up. ‘Thank you. Clears my mind for the day.’
‘It’s a nice thing to wake up to.’
‘I’m Neeti,’ the woman said.
‘Kali’s mum?’
‘And, for better or for worse, wife of that grumpy so-and-so over there.’
‘You’re married to Mr Hoskins?’
‘I know. The sacrifices you make.’ She started another tune, a lilting concoction of sounds. Gerald was amazed at how much music she could create from just one instrument.
‘You don’t trust us, do you?’ Neeti said.
‘It’s not a matter of trust,’ Gerald said. ‘It’s just so much to take in. This whole fraternity thing.’
The woman nodded. ‘For what it’s worth,’ she said, ‘we trust you. And your friends do too.’ Her fingers skipped across the frets.
Gerald was surprised by the remark. Then he realised the others must have been talking about him after he went to bed.
‘Yeah, maybe,’ he said. ‘But I can’t ask them to come along for this next bit.’
Neeti shrugged and went back to her music. ‘As you wish.’
Gerald was transfixed. ‘How many strings does that thing have?’
‘Twe
nty-three.’
‘Twenty-three! How do you play that many?’
Neeti laughed. ‘You only play six of them. The others are sympathetic. You don’t touch them. The vibration from the main strings sets them off. That’s what makes the beautiful harmony. Listen.’ Neeti plucked a series of notes and Gerald watched fascinated as a set of strings underneath vibrated with perfect resonance.
‘To make music,’ Neeti said, ‘truly beautiful music, you need the main strings to be played with confidence and the sympathetic strings to support them. Without both working together, it’s a mess.’
Gerald nodded. He glanced across to the tents and saw that Sam, Ruby and Alisha were stretching their backs following a night on the ground.
Neeti played on. ‘Gerald Wilkins?’ she said.
‘Yes?’
‘Your song is not yet sung.’
Gerald looked back to his friends. He realised there was work to do.
He went back to the tents.
‘Where have you been?’ Sam asked.
‘Getting a music lesson.’
‘Huh?’
‘Never mind. Look, I’ve got to find this emerald casket. No matter what’s inside it, I can’t let Green get it first. You can say no if you want, but I’d like you all to help me.’
Sam and Ruby didn’t hesitate.
‘I’m in.’
‘Me too.’
Alisha looked at Gerald with uncertainty in her eyes.
‘You want me as well?’ she asked.
‘Yes. Especially you?’
‘Why especially me?’
‘Because if you’ve been lying to us, you know exactly where the casket is. If you’re not lying, you’re a friend. And at the moment I need all the friends I can get.’
Sam nodded across to the fire where Hoskins and Kali were preparing breakfast. ‘What about the rellies?’ he asked. ‘Are they friends too?’
Gerald exhaled. ‘I still don’t know about Hoskins. If my great aunt didn’t fully trust him, I’m not sure I should either. But at the moment, I don’t think I’ve got much choice.’
Over breakfast it was decided that Kali would take Gerald, Sam, Ruby and Alisha to Mamallapuram.
The Emerald Casket Page 20
