The Rings of Poseidon (25 page)

"Do you need to love, Steve?" asked Gill.

"Not in general, I think I'm probably quite
self contained." He paused. "But I do need to love you," he
whispered. "I want to make you happy."

"Well," she said slowly. "You've managed to
make me feel a woman again. But I missed your attentions last
night. I want you right now instead." and she started unfastening
her jeans.

"That," whispered Steve, "is good enough for
me".

Manjy took her letter and her notepad to the
dunes overlooking the beach and she too could hear the faint sounds
of the swimmers. She sat down with the letter open in front of her,
but she was not even looking at it. She was miles away and deep in
thought.

Her father was unreasonable only in twentieth
century European terms. He wouldn't have been considered so in
nineteenth century England or twentieth century India. She had been
born and brought up in Britain. So had he for that matter, but she
was more 'British' than he was, whatever that meant.

One thing was clear, however. Unless she was
prepared to cut herself off totally from her family she would have
to compromise. The right husband would satisfy her father's
cultural ties while letting her follow her career and bring up any
children to fit in with the society they would live in. The 'right'
husband would have to be a well educated professional who was also
born and educated in Britain. Were she to demand such a partner in
the right way she might get the man she wanted. What's more, she
would have the unexpected support of her grandmother.

Manjy lay back in the sunshine and wrote the
letter carefully in her head. She decided that two letters were
called for. One to her father, the other to her grandmother. Things
looked a lot better than they had at the start of the dig and she
fell asleep smiling.

Steve was just putting away the last plates
and thinking about an egg and cheese salad for supper when he saw
the police constable cycle across the field. The others were all
across at the excavations and there was no way for him to avoid the
man. Steve was still very uneasy around the police and they were
not planning to tell the whole truth. He would have rather had
someone else tell the lies.

There was no help for it. He went out to meet
the policeman. "Hello," he said.

"Evening sir. Constable Breck. Are you in
charge?"

"No, I'm just the maintenance man cum cook.
You want Ms. Graham. I'll go get her if you like."

"If you would please. A couple of sightseers
at the stone circle found a body and there's reason to believe it
was Professor Harrington. He was connected with this excavation, or
so I believe."

"A body!" Steve was surprised that it had
been discovered so quickly and he accidentally struck the right
note.

"That's right. And a car that belonged to
these excavations. We think the man was Professor Harrington. Do
you know him?"

"Yes. He was the man who organised the
University end of the operations. He was here yesterday. I'll go
across and get Ms. Graham for you, unless you'd like to come across
with me."

"I believe I will. I'll leave my bike here
and walk across with you." He leaned his cycle against the
Portacabin and strolled with Steve, unhurriedly with a big even
stride. "Did you know Professor Harrington?"

"Not very well," said Steve. "I'd met him a
couple of times so I knew who he was but I can't pretend to have
known him well."

"I see. What was he doing on Hoy?"

"Just a routine visit to make sure all was
well. He was overall supervisor of three projects. I think it was
three. Several anyway."

"I see." The manner suggested small talk and
the constable was taking no notes, but Steve suspected he was
mentally storing away the information for future reference.

" Here we are," said Steve. "That's Alicia
Graham over there." He pointed. "I'll get her for you.

Ali!" he called as he approached. She was
inside the second house, but looked up when he called. "The police
constable would like a word with you." Alicia climbed out of the
house and walked over, dusting herself off.

"Excuse me, but I've got to start supper,"
said Steve. Although interested, he was more concerned to extricate
himself and left them to talk.

"How can I help you?" Alicia asked the
policeman.

"Well ma'am. Two tourists at the stone circle
over to Rackwick came across a parked car belonging to this
excavation and a body. We think the body may be that of Professor
Harrington."

"A body!" Alicia's words were exactly the
same as Steve's, but her surprise was more pretended.
Afro-Caribbeans generally treat the law with caution because it
tends to treat them with suspicion, but Alicia was better educated
than most and this was Hoy not Hackney.

She had certainly come across rude and
suspicious policemen in the backstreets of Birmingham, where the
police went about in twos or drove by in 'panda' cars. This, on the
other hand, was a large, friendly man with the slow Islands accent
and trousers still in cycle clips.

"The professor did drive off in the car last
night and when he didn't turn up this morning I had Mr. Benderman
call at the hotel. Mr. Benderman was told that the Professor had
gone out somewhere in the car. I thought he was just sightseeing.
Was the body in the car?"

"No ma'am. If it had been we would have been
more certain of the identity. Could you identify the body for
us?"

"I suppose so. Oh dear. What did he die
of?"

"We don't know for certain until after an
autopsy, but it looks like natural causes."

"Do you want me to come now?"

"The body is in the church hall in Linksness.
If you were to come along right away, we could send the body for
autopsy in Kirkwall this evening. A helicopter will fly over and
pick it up."

"I see. Well we haven't the car, of course,
and I've never driven the Landrover. It's a lot bigger than a car
but on these quiet roads I should be all right. All right, I'll
come along now."

Alicia left Frank in charge and walked over
to the cabin to get the keys from Steve.

"I'm just going in to give some information
to the police. I'll be back shortly and I'll fill you all in then,"
she said.

"Right you are," said Steve. "Why don't you
stick your bike in the back and hitch a lift with Ms. Graham?" He
suggested to the constable.

"Do you know I think I will," he said, and
opened up the rear door to fit the bike inside.

The church was at the far end of the village
and the hall was next to it. The body lay on a table with a sheet
over it. Alicia parked the Landrover and both she and the policeman
walked into the hall and over to the body. The constable turned
back the sheet, revealing the face and head of the Professor. The
hooded robe had gone, leaving the wool sweater. Had the police
taken the robe? Alicia thought not, but decided against any remark
about his dress.

"That's Professor Harrington," said Alicia.
"Where did you say you found him?"

"The stone circle at Rackwick."

"He must have gone there out of interest. He
spoke of it yesterday,"

"He seems to have gone there very early
today."

"Perhaps he was watching the sunrise or
something. You know, like druids," said Alicia.

"Was he involved in things like that,
ma'am?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, but I've never
heard any stories to that effect. An archaeologist would be
interested in solstice sunrises and such things, though, and it is
still June. The solstice is not long gone."

The policeman had not mentioned the robes or
the other equipment, like the thurible or dagger. Perhaps the other
two had taken them to avoid further questions. Alicia knew that any
hint she knew of them would imply that she had seen the Professor
after he left the site the previous night, so she carefully said
nothing.

"By the way," she added as the constable
covered the body and they turned to go, "He took a ring from the
excavations last night for safekeeping and further study. I don't
think it had much cash value but it was very interesting in terms
of the site. It was something we dug up and I wouldn't want to lose
it. Can I get it from his things?"

"We'll go to his hotel room and see if it's
there," said constable Breck, without saying whether he'd return it
or not.

At the hotel they were let into the
professor's room. His toilet bag was out on the bedside table and a
suit and raincoat were hanging up on coat hangers on a hook behind
the door, but there was nothing much else to be seen. The small
suitcase contained nothing unexpected. She would have liked to
search properly but she was supposed to be looking for a ring, so
there was little excuse to look for papers or letters.

"I wonder if the ring is in his suit. He was
wearing that last night." She tried the jacket pockets and felt a
small book, like a diary or an address book. As the policeman
looked behind the bedside table to see if the ring had fallen
there, Alicia transferred the book to her own back pocket.

"Nope. Not there," she said and patted the
raincoat pockets noisily.

"I don't think it's in this room, ma'am.
You're quite certain he took it?"

"Several people were there at the time. I'll
ask them and make sure I'm not mistaken," she said. "I'd better get
back to the excavations."

"And I'd better get along too. I have to
phone and arrange the autopsy."

They locked the door behind them and returned
the key. Alicia contained her curiosity about the book while the
constable took his bike from the back of Landrover. Then she said,
"Goodbye," clambered in and drove back to the camp.

By the time Alicia got back to the camp,
supper was in progress, with most of the diggers sitting outside
with it. The air was still mild and though the sun had sunk behind
the higher side of the island it had not properly set and it was
still day.

It wasn't until after the meal that Alicia
had chance to look at the book she had sneaked out of the
Professor's suit. Frank took the gang off to the pub over the
fields leaving Alicia, Steve, Gill, Manjy, Alan and Carol sitting
in the grass outside the cabin.

"How did it go?" Steve asked.

"I think it went all right." She continued,
"I mentioned the professor taking the ring and we had a look for it
in his room. While the policeman wasn't looking I found this." and
she produced a pocket diary.

"What is it?" asked Alan.

"This is the first look I've had myself,"
said Alicia. "It's a small diary ... with a lot of addresses in the
back ... He's written in the phases of the moon ... and some other
astrological references I don't understand. I just recognise the
symbols."

She flipped through the diary. "A lodge he
belonged to meets every other Monday ... He's made three trips to
Spain already this year."

"Perhaps he went to gloat," Steve
remarked.

Alicia ignored him. She muttered, "Let's look
at the addresses." Then she said more loudly, "The address section
includes Ian and Juliana Davies with a Warwick address ... and a
lodge phone number - The Order of the Morning Light ... the address
of the solicitor in Spain ... another address in Vejer de la
Frontera ... the phone number of a hotel in Vejer ...This needs a
lot of thinking about."

"I wonder if the rings were hidden somewhere
in southern Spain. He seems very interested in it," said Manjy

"I've thought of something else to worry
everybody," said Alan.

"What's that?" asked Steve.

"He was going to carry out a ritual in front
of the bird watcher and the woman. Right?" Several heads nodded.
"That means he didn't mind them seeing the ritual. Right?"

"So far," Steve agreed and the others nodded
again.

"That was either because they already knew it
or they couldn't do it. If it was the last, no problem. If it was
the first and they know where the other rings are, we could still
be in trouble."

"Oh dear," said Gill.

"'Oh dear' is right if he's right," said
Steve, frowning.

Alicia was half listening as she turned the
pages of the diary. "The lodge seems to have met on the first
Monday of most months," she said. "He was off to Spain again the
week after the next lodge meeting."

"Did he have a dig going on there?" asked
Manjy.

"No, but he had a house," answered Alicia.
"And he went to Boloña three times this year."

"He'd have stayed away from where the rings
were hidden, surely," said Frank. "So as not to draw attention to
the place."

"He didn't feel threatened," objected Gill.
"He was arrogant and absolutely sure of himself. Steve may be right
about gloating or he might have wanted to keep tabs on developments
there, just to protect his interests. Anyway, I'm beginning to get
a feeling."

"Can I have a look at those photographs of
the Roman ruins again?" asked Manjy.

"They're lying on my bunk in my room," said
Alicia. "Go and help yourself."

Manjy got up and went into the caravan. She
emerged a moment later with the wallet of photographs. She flopped
down again and Gill moved closer so that she could see as well.

"We've all looked at those and they don't
really tell us anything we want to know," said Alicia.

"Well," said Manjy, "These are photographs of
the ruins of Bella Claudia and we all agree they might signify
nothing more than a mere professional interest in archaeological
excavations. Several photographs have writing on the back of them,
but one has an arrow and a circle on the front as well. Does this
photograph," and she held it up, "mean anything more than a
coincidence?"

"Of course it does," said Gill. "What you
mean is 'Does it mean that's where he hid the rings'?"