Ghosts of the Vikings by Marsali Taylor

Author:Marsali Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Accent Press
Published: 2016-11-28T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

I wouldn’t have flung myself into his arms if they hadn’t opened to receive me as soon I got within hugging distance. They were warm and secure around me. Gavin kissed my cheek, then my mouth, and let me go again, tucking my arm under his. ‘How’s it all going? Has Freya Peterson arrived?’

‘She’s busy searching right now. I don’t suppose you know how long senna pods take to work?’

‘No, but I can find out. Has someone got senna pods?’

‘Kamilla had. She used them as a diet aid.’

He laughed at the disdain in my voice. ‘She should have gone on the Cass Lynch diet, climbing a mast six times a day.’

I remembered Kamilla sparkling in her scarlet frock. ‘She didn’t need to diet at all. She had a beautiful figure.’

‘She was young too,’ Gavin said thoughtfully. ‘Early twenties?’

‘Something like that.’ I hugged his arm against me. ‘Oh, I’m glad you’re here. There’s just too much going on – Kamilla, and this skullduggery with the treasure. I can’t wait to be out at sea in peace.’

Gavin gave the tumbling white waves a droll look. ‘Even in this?’

‘Blissfully quiet compared to a day with an opera company,’ I assured him. ‘Have you had any lunch?’

‘Keith made some soup on board. It was very welcome, even if the mug kept trying to knock my teeth in every time we hit a wave. I’ll go and join Freya first, and get a proper look at Moreau’s metal detector.’

I remembered Vincent’s comments earlier. ‘His father runs a jewellery shop, or workshop, specialising in replica antiques. It was him who made Maman’s Helen of Troy gold stuff. You don’t suppose he’s ostensibly selling replicas to cover a trade in the real thing?’

‘It’s a good theory, but whether someone like Moreau junior, who has a reputation as an opera singer, would involve himself in that kind of trade, is another matter. Why should he? He’s getting enough work to keep himself going, unless he’s addicted to something expensive, like gambling or drugs.’

‘According to Bryony, he’s odd. Possessive. Kamilla ran away to the States to get away from him. But according to him, all was roses.’ I gave him a brief overview of Maman’s, Bryony’s and Adrien’s own accounts of their affair. ‘I’m not sure who to believe. Maman, I suppose, that they’d had an affair four years ago, but after that ...’

‘All that’s easy to find out.’ Gavin made a face. ‘Well, when I say easy, it will mean a lot of talking to people all over the place, but it can be found out. I’ll get on to that one.’ He brooded for a moment. ‘I don’t like the sound of that poison ring at all. I’ll get Freya to take it off him.’ He stopped and pulled out his mobile. ‘What’s the signal like here? Oh, four bars.’ He sent a text, waited a moment for the reply, then put the phone away. ‘What’s the skullduggery with the treasure?’

‘Of course, I didn’t manage to tell you about that this morning.

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