Sight Unseen
Page 31
‘I may as well. Seeing all the fuss there’s been about it.’
‘OK.’ Umber cleared his throat. ‘The initial inscription reads: Frederick L. Griffin, Strand-under-Green, March 1773. That’s the same on both fly-leaves. But on this one, from the first volume, it continues underneath, in the same hand, though written many years later, I assume: For my ward, John Griffin, in memory of those two of Junius’s most trusted friends and assistants who predeceased him: Mrs Solomon Dayrolles, his loyal amanuensis; and Mr Robert Umber, his valiant courier.’
‘What does it mean?’
‘It means Frederick Griffin came into possession of the book in March 1773, which we know is when it was sent to Junius. Then, towards the end of his life, Griffin passed the book on to his ward, dedicating it to the memory of two people who had helped Junius in his letter-writing campaign.’
‘So … Frederick Griffin was Junius?’
‘Looks like it.’
‘And these two were his helpers?’
‘Apparently.’
‘But one of them … has your surname.’
‘Yes.’ Umber smiled. ‘So he does.’
‘A relative?’
‘An ancestor, I imagine.’
‘Did you know about him?’
‘Not until last night.’
‘But … how can that be?’
How indeed? Umber truly had no answer to give. He was not sure he ever would have.
‘David?’
It was, he realized with a shock, the first time Chantelle had ever addressed him by name. Something had changed between them. He was the Shadow Man no longer.
‘David?’
EPILOGUE
It is a little after noon on the first Friday of April, 2004. Shower clouds are in chase of one another above the early spring landscape. Sunlight and shadow feint and dodge between the standing stones at Avebury. A short, tubby, middle-aged man dressed for hiking moves at a slow, reflective pace across the northern inner circle of the henge. He stares thoughtfully at the pair of stones known as Adam and Eve as he passes them, but he does not stop.
A few miles to the east, at Marlborough Cemetery, a burial is in progress. The mourners are gathered at the graveside, heads bowed, as the priest recites the prayer of committal. He is speaking softly, but in the prevailing silence his words carry across this other expanse of standing stones. ‘Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed …’
Some miles to the south, a police cordon has been slung across the start of a track through Savernake Forest known as White Road. Two cars with Wiltshire Constabulary badges on their doors have pulled onto the grass verge of the main road next to a blue and white Volkswagen camper van. Three emergency vehicles have drawn up along the track itself behind a parked Bentley, which men in white overalls are inspecting with painstaking care.
Several miles to the east, at Ramsbury, a telephone is ringing in a picturesque cottage at the western end of the village. There is no-one at home to take the call. The answerphone cuts in. And the ringing stops.
Many miles to the south, off Jersey, a telephone is also ringing, in the master cabin of a vast, sleek-lined private cruiser as it noses out from St Helier Harbour into the sea lane. It is ringing. And soon it will be answered.
But not before British Airways Flight 714 to Zürich has lifted off the runway at Heathrow Airport and soared into the sky.
It began at Avebury. But it did not end there.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The known facts about Junius, the pseudonymous eighteenth-century polemicist, are faithfully represented in this novel. All quotations from his letters are accurate and the production of a specially printed vellum-bound edition of them for Junius’s personal use is well documented. The historical consensus is that the letters were the work of War Office clerk Philip Francis, but certainty on the issue is impossible. The question of how Francis was able to deploy a handwriting style for Junius in such elegant contrast to his own, entangled as it is with speculation about whether he employed an amanuensis, and, if so, who that amanuensis might have been, has never been satisfactorily resolved.
So it is with the controversy over whether George III, while still Prince of Wales, secretly married Hannah Lightfoot and fathered by her a son, George Rex. A certificate of their marriage at St Anne’s Church, Kew, on 17 April 1759, bearing the apparently authentic signatures of George, Hannah, Dr James Wilmot and, as one of the witnesses, William Pitt, at that time Secretary of State for the Southern Department, can be inspected at the Public Record Office, located, ironically, in Kew.
The certificate was denounced as a ‘gross and rank’ forgery by the Probate & Divorce Court in 1866 when considering a petition by Dr Wilmot’s great-granddaughter, Lavinia Ryves, for recognition of her related claim to be the legitimate granddaughter of George III’s younger brother Henry, Duke of Cumberland. But the verdict, which flew in the face of the testimony of the leading handwriting expert of the day, can hardly be considered conclusive, given what the consequences would have been of pronouncing the certificate genuine. In strict legal logic, Victoria would have been required to vacate the throne. Some things are not meant to be. And some things are not allowed to be.
One of many strange events bearing on the mystery is the theft of the parish records from St Anne’s Church, Kew, during the night of 22/23 February 1845. The motive for the theft remains, as was presumably the intention of those who commissioned it, unknown.
As for the bizarre similarity between the topographies of Avebury and the Cydonia complex on Mars, all are free to make of that what they will.
About the Author
Robert Goddard was born in Hampshire and read History at Cambridge. His first novel, Past Caring, was an instant bestseller. Since then his books have captivated readers worldwide with their edge-of-the-seat pace and their labyrinthine plotting. His first Harry Barnett novel, Into the Blue, was winner of the first WH Smith Thumping Good Read Award and was dramatized for TV, starring John Thaw.
Robert Goddard can be found on the web at www.robertgoddardbooks.co.uk
Also by Robert Goddard
In order of publication
PAST CARING
A young graduate starts to investigate the fall from grace of an Edwardian cabinet minister and sets in train a bizarre and violent chain of events.
‘A hornet’s nest of jealousy, blackmail and violence. Engrossing’
DAILY MAIL
IN PALE BATTALIONS
An extraordinary story unfolds as Leonora Galloway strives to solve the mystery of her father’s death, her mother’s unhappy childhood and a First World War murder.
‘A novel of numerous twists and turns and surprises’
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
PAINTING THE DARKNESS
On a mild autumn afternoon in 1882, William Trenchard’s life changes for ever with the arrival of an unexpected stranger.
‘Explodes into action’
SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
INTO THE BLUE
When a young woman disappears and Harry Barnett is accused of her murder he has no option but to try and discover what led her to vanish into the blue.
‘A cracker, twisting, turning and exploding with real skill’
DAILY MIRROR
TAKE NO FAREWELL
September 1923, and architect Geoffrey Staddon must return to the house called Clouds Frome, his first important commission, to confront the dark secret that it holds.
‘A master storyteller’
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
HAND IN GLOVE
The death of a young English poet in the Spanish Civil War casts a shadow forward over half a century.
‘Cliff-hanging entertainment’
GUARDIAN
CLOSED CIRCLE
1931, and two English fraudsters on a transatlantic liner stumble into deep trouble when they target a young heiress.
‘Full of th
uggery and skulduggery, cross and doublecross, plot and counter-plot’
INDEPENDENT
BORROWED TIME
A brief encounter with a stranger who is murdered soon afterwards draws Robin Timariot into the complex relationships and motives of the dead woman’s family and friends.
‘An atmosphere of taut menace…heightened by shadows of betrayal and revenge’
DAILY TELEGRAPH
OUT OF THE SUN
Harry Barnett becomes entangled in a sinister conspiracy when he learns that the son he never knew he had is languishing in hospital in a coma.
‘Brilliantly plotted, full of good, traditional storytelling values’
MAIL ON SUNDAY
BEYOND RECALL
The scion of a wealthy Cornish dynasty reinvestigates a 1947 murder and begins to doubt the official version of events.
‘Satisfyingly complex…finishes in a rollercoaster of twists’
DAILY TELEGRAPH
CAUGHT IN THE LIGHT
A photographer’s obsession with a femme fatale leads him into a web of double jeopardy.
‘A spellbinding foray into the real-life game of truth and consequences’
THE TIMES
SET IN STONE
A strange house links past and present, a murder, a political scandal and an unexplained tragedy.
‘A heady blend of mystery and adventure’
OXFORD TIMES
SEA CHANGE
A spell-binding mystery involving a mysterious package, murder and financial scandal, set in 18th-century London, Amsterdam and Rome.
‘Engrossing, storytelling of a very high order’
OBSERVER
DYING TO TELL
A missing document, a forty-year-old murder and the Great Train Robbery all seem to have connections with a modern-day disappearance.
‘Gripping…woven together with more twists than a country lane’
DAILY MAIL
DAYS WITHOUT NUMBER
Once Nick Paleologus has excavated a terrible secret from his archaeologist father’s career, nothing will ever be the same again.
‘Fuses history with crime, guilty consciences and human fallibility…an intelligent escapist delight’
THE TIMES
PLAY TO THE END
Actor Toby Flood finds himself a player in a much bigger game when he investigates a man who appears to be a stalker.
‘An absorbing display of craftsmanship’
SUNDAY TIMES
NEVER GO BACK
The convivial atmosphere of a reunion weekend is shattered by an apparent suicide.
‘Meticulous planning, well-drawn characters and an immaculate sense of place… A satisfying number of twists and shocks’
THE TIMES
NAME TO A FACE
A centuries-old mystery is about to unravel…
‘Mysterious, dramatic, intricate, fascinating and unputdownable’
DAILY MIRROR
FOUND WANTING
Catapulted into a breathless race against time, Richard’s life will be changed for ever in ways he could never have imagined…
‘The master of the clever twist’
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
LONG TIME COMING
For thirty-six years they thought he was dead… They were wrong.
‘When it comes to duplicity and intrigue, Goddard is second to none’
DAILY MAIL
BLOOD COUNT
There’s no such thing as easy money. As surgeon Edward Hammond is about to find out.
‘Mysterious, dramatic, intricate, fascinating and unputdownable… The crime writers’ crime writer’
DAILY MIRROR
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SIGHT UNSEEN
A CORGI BOOK: 9780552164924
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN: 9781407055343
First published in Great Britain
in 2005 by Bantam Press
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Corgi edition published 2005
Corgi edition reissued 2011
Copyright © Robert and Vaunda Goddard 2005
Robert Goddard has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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