The Spanish Helmet (39 page)

My son is now two years old. We arrived in Gálatas Nueva a year before he was born. Yet no other Spanish have come. Are they no longer searching for Terra Australis? To have given up would have been foolish. Granted, Gálatas Nueva is not the imagined great southern continent that we dreamed of, but the land is also not low on resources. The wood grows in abundance and on a scale not to be found in Spain. We have also seen many fine gems and rocks, aside from the jade jewellery that is made in Whareakeake, we have also seen gold.

The sea offers up the best fishing I know, with a wonderful variety of fleshy white fish and shellfish of all sizes. There are whales coming past, not too distant from the land, and seals even sleep on the beaches around us. Any nation that settled here would be pleased with the island’s riches. Indeed, I am more than pleased with my lot.

There has, it must be said, been some brawling among a few of the men. Two were killed. The incidences seem to be isolated however, and for the most part, everyone is settled in and showing no signs of interest in returning to Spain. We are, now, deserters. If we did return, we would likely be executed. A good thing it is then that life here is so good.

Everything was packed and ready to go. Matt’s suitcase sat at the end of the hotel bed but it wasn’t going to be rolled out the door for at least an hour yet. Matt was early. That was a problem, because he had to fill in time, and he had hoped to find an excuse to not do what he knew he had to do. He picked up the phone and dialled.

‘Hello?’ Her voice sounded as sweet as ever.
Damn.

‘Hi Aimee.’

‘Oh my God, Matt.
Thanks for calling. Are you OK?’

‘I promised I’d let the DCI know if I found anything.  So here I am.’

Matt wanted to come off as scathing, and it seemed to work.

‘Oh. What did you find?’

‘We found the journal.
The Journal of Francisco de Hoces, Captain of the San Lesmes.
He reached New Zealand.’

‘That’s great. Wow, Matt, this will change everything.’

Matt struggled to be angry at Aimee. He continued to tell her about the previous days’ events and what they had found. As time ticked by, the conversation got warmer and warmer. Before long, Matt had all but forgotten about Aimee’s betrayal.

‘I never knew how dangerous Warren was, or I would have told you. Do you understand that I was just doing my job?’ Aimee asked.

‘I guess I do. I was just doing mine too. But I fell in love with you. It hurt so much to find out you were only using me for your investigation.’

‘I wasn’t. At first, I flirted to get closer to you. But then I got to know you. I couldn’t stop myself from loving you.’

‘That only makes it a little better. How could I trust you again? How can I trust anyone?’

‘You would have to give me a chance. Give us a chance. Without trying, we can never go past where we are now.’

They talked for a few minutes about the situation. Matt realised that Aimee was hurting too. She seemed so genuine about her emotions. He thought of the night on the golf course. His jacket still had light grass stains. That night had been real. That was the real Aimee. He loved her, and needed her by his side.

‘I need time.’

‘Take it. But don’t give up on the idea.’

They ended their call on promises to keep in touch. Matt wanted to believe that Aimee meant what she said. He wanted to believe they would be with each other. But he had doubts it would ever be more than words. He needed to sort his own thoughts out too.

The hour had passed. He grabbed the handle of his case and rolled it out the door, in search of Julia.

  * * *

The short flight from Zurich to Heathrow wasn’t something that bothered Matt too much. But he was fidgety.
Nervous.
He had his reasons of course. In his satchel, tucked under his seat, was a document that would change his life, his career, forever. Next to him, Julia was also fidgeting.

‘We have another hour, Matt, let’s look at the journal some more.’

‘Not here, not now. I think it’s best to try and keep this private until we have a true understanding of what it means.’

Julia looked disappointed. Matt didn’t care though, this was too important for its value to be diminished through leaks, or worse, espionage. And since Matt’s experiences of the last few weeks, he wasn’t ready to give away too much anymore. You never knew who was sitting next to, or near you, on a plane. Up until now, the only people that had an inkling of the importance of the documents he carried were the Swiss librarian, Aimee, Andreas, Julia and himself. Of those, only three of them knew the gravity of the content. He studied Julia’s face, as she looked out the window. He had to admire how someone so innocent and normal was able to hide such an intelligent, clever, and witty intellect. She never ceased to surprise him.

Time flew along with their aircraft and before long, Matt and Julia walked side by side towards the arrivals lounge. They had cleared European customs in Zurich, so here all they had to do was collect the bags and get to the train station. Matt watched as the gate to the arrivals lounge drew closer to them with each step. His heart raced as they turned the corner through the exits and two uniformed police officers stood in front of them.
Different uniforms, same feeling, the second time in two days that Matt was greeted by police.

‘Dr. Matthew Cameron?’ The tall, kindly looking policeman asked him as they approached.

‘Yes,’ Matthew said with as much calm as he could muster. ‘And this is my colleague, Julia McKenzie.’

The shorter, plumper of the two officers turned to Julia. ‘Miss McKenzie,’ he said as he extended his hand.

Julia reached out her hand to shake his but he didn’t take it. The taller officer also turned to Julia now, and continued to speak. ‘Julia McKenzie, you’re under arrest on charges of theft and of conspiracy to induce bodily harm. You do not have to say anything unless you wish to do so, but I must warn you that if you fail to mention any fact which you rely on in your defence in court, your failure to take this opportunity to mention it may be treated in court as supporting any relevant evidence against you. If you do wish to say anything, what you say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?’

Matt watched Julia crumple. Her normally composed expression was replaced with one of shock and dismay. Unlike him, it was crystal clear that Julia had no indication that this was going to happen. She had been taken completely by surprise, which was exactly how it had to have been. The Interpol police in Zurich had said as much.

Julia turned to him and stared pleadingly into his eyes. ‘I don’t understand,’ she said. But Julia wasn’t answering the police officers question, she was directly addressing Matt. ‘What have you done?’

‘You know what you’ve done.’ Matt blurted the words out, struggling to fight back his emotion. ‘I don’t have to explain myself to you. If anyone has some explaining to do it’s you.’

With that, Matt turned to his luggage trolley, catching a glimpse at the multitudes of amused onlookers, and quickly composed himself.

‘But I have important work to do, Julia. I don’t have time for any more of your games.’ He turned to the officers and nodded, thanking them for their duty.

With that, the officers farewelled Matt and flanked the soppy mess that Julia now was and walked her towards the terminal exit and the waiting patrol car.

  * * *

Matt stood and watched, completely struck by the moment, as the three departed looking more like a strange carnival race than three professionals in their fields. The events of the previous day’s visit to the Zurich police station played over in his head.

Matt was overcome with emotion when he first saw the photo of Warren’s accomplice. After composing himself, he turned to Andreas.

‘That’s Sir Alan McKenzie.
Julia’s father.’

Andreas looked miserable. Matt felt it.

‘So Julia stole the mirror. She’s been in on this.’ Matt hadn’t said anything more about it. His brain just whirled into top gear.

Julia had been feeding info to Warren. That’s why Warren suggested he take Julia along. She had been in on it all along. How long?
The betrayal went so much deeper than Matt had imagined possible. Had their years of working together all been part of a scam?
God, she’s got a copy of the journal, I have to get it back.

Everything had only come together when Aimee and Hemi caught up with each other to swap notes following his recovery. They had realised that the only person who could have tipped Warren off, if it wasn’t either of them, had to be Julia. After a bit of digging, they found out that Julia’s father, the honourable Sir Alan McKenzie and Warren were the founders of the Clan of Truth. Together, they had plotted to get their hands on more tourist land for the McKenzie
empire
. Greed had killed Warren Rennie and resulted in Julia’s career being ruined. Matt couldn’t begin to imagine how it would affect her when she learned that Warren was dead.

As he watched Julia stoop into the back seat of the police car, he pinched himself. He was awake alright. The journal existed. He felt it in his satchel, the memory stick too. Yes, this was reality.

‘First my mother, then Warren, Aimee, and now Julia.
How many people have I put misplaced trust in?’ he muttered to himself, as he gave the trolley a shove to move it from its stationary position off in the direction of the train station.

Rose finally leaned forward and lowered her coffee-cup onto the table. She stared at Matt with a dumbfounded expression.

‘I’m so sorry,
luv
,’ she said. ‘You don’t deserve all the heartache this journey must have caused you.’

‘Thanks Rose, still here I am back at home, safe and sound.
My favourite landlady and my loyal friend.’
Matt stroked Meridian’s lovely little head and thought perhaps he should go away more often. Meridian practically never settled down on his knees, but right now, there was no moving him from his perch, dribbling and purring in Matt’s lap.

‘And you got to meet your father and half-sister, so even though you’ve lost some, you’ve won some too, right?’

‘Sure.’ Matt smiled.
Typical of Rose to see the best in every situation.
‘I met a girl too.’

‘Aimee?’

‘How’d you know?’

‘Every time you mentioned her, your face lit up.’

Matt was embarrassed to be so transparent. He had only mentioned Aimee as a companion on his search. The romance had been left out.
So had the betrayal.
Now he explained the whole situation to Rose.

‘Sounds to me like love, Matt. You shouldn’t let go of a chance for love like that. Give it some thought.’

‘I know you’re right, Rose. As soon as I get through this journal and sort out a few changes at work, I’ll get in touch with her.’

‘Then get to work,’ Rose said, standing up to take the empty cups to the sink, where she rinsed them before placing them carefully in the dishwasher.

Matt sighed. ‘Just as soon as I get this lump off my knee, I want to put the stuff on the memory stick through some translation software. See what exactly it is I’ve found here.’

‘I thought that automatic translations were supposed to be shoddy and hopeless.’ Rose teased Matt, reminding him of the French websites that were machine-translated into English, which he always laughed at. They had often chuckled over some of the lost meanings, or odd new ones, together.