The Emerald Casket (12 page)

Alisha shook her head. ‘Nothing. Not a sound. One moment I was waving at Gerald and the next he was dragging me through the streets.'

‘He said nothing? Not even a threat?'

‘Not one word.'

Leclerc stroked his goatee and stared across the alley. ‘
Trop bizarre
,' he muttered.

‘Who was he?' Gerald asked.

Leclerc squinted up at the balcony where the bandit had vaulted to freedom.

‘Just some thief,' he muttered. ‘The local police will track him down, I am sure. Now, Monsieur Wilkins, what are your plans? Do you intend to travel outside Delhi?'

‘No plans, really,' Gerald said. ‘Alisha's father was talking about some trip to a game reserve down south.'

‘Um, excuse me, officer,' Sam said. ‘Inspector Parrott said he contacted you because of the thin man… you know, Mason Green's thug. What has someone trying to kidnap Alisha got to do with that?'

‘I have been following you since your arrival in Delhi,' Leclerc said. ‘Tonight was a lucky coincidence for your friend.'

‘Lucky?' Alisha said. ‘How can being dragged through this place by some madman be considered lucky?'

Leclerc sniffed. ‘Lucky that I was here to help you.'

Sam knelt down and picked up one of the pot-plants. ‘You're a good throw,' he said to Leclerc. ‘But don't you have a gun?'

‘Guns, Monsieur Valentine, have a nasty habit of producing corpses. I was trying to capture, not to kill.' He pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket and handed it to Gerald. ‘My number,' he said. ‘Please keep me informed of your movements. I will be in touch.' Leclerc turned and limped out of the alley.

‘What a cheery soul,' Sam said. ‘So the guy who grabbed Alisha is just some random thief?'

Ruby moved into the circle of light. She held the bandit's silver dagger.

‘I don't think he was that random,' she said. Ruby pointed the tip of the blade to the ground. On the butt of the dagger's hilt, clear even in the dim light of the streetlamp, was the impression of a triangle, formed by three forearms. In the centre burned a flaming sun.

‘Seen this somewhere before?' she asked.

Chapter 8

G
erald was dumbstruck. His family seal. Again. And this time on the handle of a kidnapper's knife.

‘Still think it's all a coincidence?' he said to Ruby.

Gerald took the dagger and held it up to the light. It was about thirty centimetres long. The handle was a dark wood, set with coloured stones. The blade glinted silver under the lamp.

‘This could do some damage,' he said, waving it in the air. He went to hand it back to Ruby but she shook her head.

‘Souvenir,' she said.

Gerald nodded and pulled his backpack from his shoulders. He put the knife inside. He wandered across to the twisted pile of metal that was once a balcony and kicked among the debris. He stooped and pulled out a section of bamboo pole. Wrapped around it was the sling the bandit had used to bring down Leclerc. What Gerald had thought were three balls were actually flat river stones: gunmetal grey, smooth and cool to the touch. He held one in his palm. Carved into one side was the triangle of his family seal. He let the stones clatter to the ground. He lifted his head and stared into the heavens.

The night was still incredibly hot—hot enough to dry the sweat from his shirt after the drenching it received in his mad dash through the market. And hot enough to tip his simmering brain to boiling point. A month ago he didn't even know he had a family seal. Now it was turning up like mushrooms after rain.

He felt a tug at his elbow. ‘You might like to see this as well,' Ruby said. She gave a nod in Alisha's direction. ‘I didn't feel like explaining everything to the princess.' Ruby held out a black rectangular object.

‘What is it?'

‘It must have fallen from the kidnapper's pocket,' Ruby said. ‘Open it.'

Gerald looked down at the black notebook in his hand. He flipped open the cover. In child-like printing on the first page was written CONSTABLE D. LETHBRIDGE.

‘Please don't say anything about coincidences,' Ruby said.

‘That was the guy who broke into Lethbridge's house?' Gerald said. ‘And now he's trying to kidnap Alisha?'

Ruby held up her hands. ‘I don't have any answers. Let's find our way out of here.'

Gerald slid the notebook into his backpack. He couldn't shake the feeling that Mason Green's tentacles were somehow tied up in the night's events.

Alisha was on her mobile phone calling Miss Turner, making up excuses as she led them to the main thoroughfare.

‘Do you smell that?' Gerald asked.

‘What?' Sam said. ‘The bit that smells like fried food, the bit that smells like Ruby's feet or the bit that smells like cat's pee?'

‘No. It's like after a really hot summer's day. It smells like—rain.' Even in the middle of this chaotic city, the rich loamy smell of a looming summer storm was unmistakable. Gerald had a sudden pang for home.

They rounded a corner and could see there was a commotion up ahead. A group of people had gathered and there were shouts of alarm. Gerald and the others edged through a tight section between several stalls when the crowd split apart. People were diving in all directions, screaming in panic. In an instant, it was clear why. The crowd fell away to reveal an enraged elephant rearing up on its hind legs and trumpeting furiously into the night. The animal that had been blessing people so peacefully outside its temple had gone berserk. Its handler waved his bamboo pole and shouted. But he may as well have been a fly buzzing about the elephant's ears. With a flick of its trunk the elephant flattened a row of trestle tables, sending pots and skillets flying.

Gerald grabbed Alisha by the arm. ‘Quick,' he shouted. ‘This way.' They ducked into a tight alcove protected by stone walls on either side. They craned their necks around the corner.

‘Sam! Ruby!' Gerald yelled. ‘Over here.'

The Valentine twins were stranded in the middle of a torrent of people. Sam grabbed Ruby's hand and barged his way across the flow, straining to hold on as the frantic crowd swarmed past them. The elephant was only metres away, its eyes wide with fury. It head-butted a wooden cart into splinters. It trumpeted again. The sound ruptured the screams that filled the alleyway. Sam and Ruby were only steps away. But just as Gerald leaned out and grabbed Sam by the shirt to reel him in, a man blinded by fear slammed into Sam and Ruby's clenched hands. Sam's grip flew loose and Ruby was swept back into the mob. Then, as if a tap had been shut off, the flow of people drained away. Ruby was alone in the middle of the alley. The elephant was barely ten metres from her. For a moment, they held their ground and looked at each other. It was not an even match. The elephant flattened its ears and lowered its head. And charged.

Ruby stood, dazed, unable to move. Sam cried out to his sister. Gerald went to dive into the alley to grab her. But he was too late.

Alisha got there first.

She flung herself into the path of the elephant and tackled Ruby hard around the waist, sending them both into a stack of cane baskets on the other side of the lane. The animal rampaged past without breaking stride and disappeared into the maze of the marketplace beyond.

Gerald and Sam flung baskets out of the way and found Alisha face down on top of Ruby with the tips of their noses centimetres apart. For a second, the girls just stared at each other.

‘I guess this makes us even,' Alisha said to Ruby.

She didn't reply.

The ground around Ruby's head was suddenly dotted with splashes of water. Fat, ripe raindrops spattered into the dirt. Within seconds the heavens had opened in a tropical downpour. The monsoon had arrived.

Sir Mason Green was taunting. Cajoling.

‘Gerald, you risk missing out on a truly great treasure. It could all be yours. Don't you want it?'

‘Not interested,' Gerald mumbled.

‘Really? Then why do you keep inviting me back?'

‘I don't. You keep imposing yourself. You're just a figment of my imagination. So save your non-existent breath. I don't need any more treasure. Billionaire. Remember?'

Green arched an eyebrow. ‘There is a difference between want and need, Gerald. And this treasure is unlike any you can imagine.'

‘If it's so great then why don't you just take it? How come you want me to join in?'

Green paused and tilted his chin.

‘So much more fun when there's a bit of competition. Wouldn't you agree?'

‘Only if both people want to be in the race. And I don't.'

‘As you wish.' Green turned to go, then paused. ‘But I thought you might be more curious to know.'

Gerald refused to take the bait. He wasn't going to buy into his mind's folly…

‘To know what?' Gerald couldn't resist.

A smile showed on Green's face. ‘That you are so very close to one of the caskets.'

Gerald shook his head on his pillow. ‘No. What about Egypt and France?'

Green's face started to shimmer and distort. ‘It's in India, Gerald. Just waiting for you…'

Again, Gerald woke to the sound of water. But this time it was the torrential rain sheeting down outside. He pulled back the shutters; he may as well have been on the inside of a waterfall.

He sat on the end of the bed and sighed. His dreams were becoming more ridiculous each night. Gerald dragged his backpack onto his lap. He reached in and pulled out Constable Lethbridge's notebook. He turned it over in his fingers and tried to work out what it could mean. The person who had broken into Lethbridge's house had also tried to kidnap Alisha. Sir Mason Green had to be behind it. But what would he want with Alisha? Or a police notebook?

Gerald flipped open the cover and leafed through the pages. They were filled with Constable Lethbridge's laboured handwriting. Page twenty-three contained a description of the robbery of the
Noor Jehan
diamond, and page fifty-seven had interview notes with the porter from the Rattigan Club. Gerald grinned when he saw the porter had described him as a ‘young miscreant with a common accent'.

Page after page of detail about the robbery and Sir Mason Green's involvement. But then Gerald noticed something. The notebook went from page eighty-four (a description of the Reading Room at the British Museum) to page eighty-seven (Lord Herring's strong desire to stop talking with Constable Lethbridge). A page was missing. Gerald folded the notebook back and ran a finger along its spine. A page had been sliced out with a sharp knife or razor.

‘What's missing?' Gerald pondered out loud. He shoved the book back into his pack.

Gerald found Sam in the lounge on his favourite pile of cushions, munching toast and jam.

‘You know, Gerald,' he said between mouthfuls, ‘this whole luxury thing—it's the way life's meant to be. People getting you breakfast, making your bed, picking up after you.'

‘Isn't that what parents are for?' Gerald asked.

‘Yeah, of course. But servants do it with style. And they don't expect you to say thanks. Or help with the washing up.'

‘So you've found your place in the world, have you?'

‘Oh yes,' Sam said, stuffing more toast into his cheek and nestling back into the cushions. ‘This is where I belong.'

Gerald poured himself some orange juice and took an apple Danish from a tray brimming with pastries. He picked up a remote, switched on the television which filled one of the villa's walls and flicked through the channels, not looking for anything in particular. He settled on a music video station and dropped into a lounge chair with his breakfast.

‘I've been thinking,' he said.

‘Always dangerous. What about?'

‘We should look for one of the caskets.'

‘What!' Sam almost dropped his toast. ‘Are you insane?'

‘It's obvious, isn't it?'

‘What? Your lack of sanity?'

‘No. My family seal. The way it keeps turning up. It must have something to do with one of the other caskets.'

‘Why would you think that?'

Gerald wasn't about to describe his imaginary conversations with Sir Mason Green after what Sam had said about his sanity.

‘Just a hunch,' Gerald said. He opened his backpack and pulled out the bandit's dagger. He rubbed the silver butt against his shirt. ‘Gaius Antonius had this symbol on his ring. He was the bearer of the diamond casket. It's on a knife that some bandit used to snatch Alisha off the street. And it's on this.'

He retrieved the card that the fortune-teller had slipped into his pocket the night before.

Sam gave a ‘So what?' shrug.

‘Don't you see?' Gerald said. ‘One of the caskets must be in India.'

‘But that map in Green's study,' Sam said. ‘There was no link to India. And you don't care about the other caskets, do you?'

Gerald thought back to his dreams. Before this whole billionaire thing had happened his dreamscape had been restricted to the terrain of his sketchbook. Fighting dragons or rescuing girls. But ever since Sir Mason Green had started invading his sleep, the dreams had taken on a clarity he'd never experienced before. And he hated to admit it, but he was desperate to know what was in the other caskets. The power of the golden rod that had surged through him that night in Beacons-field— he wanted to know what lay behind it. He
needed
to know. And if he was honest, there was something else as well.

He wanted to feel that power surge again.

‘If we can find those other caskets we'll stop Green from getting them,' Gerald said to Sam, not very convincingly.

‘Not worth interrupting a holiday for,' Sam said, helping himself to pastries.

‘Well it is to me,' Gerald said. ‘I think we should find the tower on this card.'

They were interrupted by the sound of laughter. Shrill, uninhibited laughter. Gerald and Sam looked through the windows to see Ruby and Alisha holding hands and dancing in crazy whooping circles in the pouring rain.