The Emerald Casket by Richard Newsome

Author:Richard Newsome
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9781921799426
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2010-08-17T04:00:00+00:00

After lunch Gerald assured Ruby that he had abandoned any plan to find the missing casket. He didn’t mention that he’d phoned Agent Leclerc, trying to find out more about the Interpol report. It was only after the third call went through to an answering machine that Gerald gave up and settled on chasing tigers.

They spent the afternoon lounging around the Guptas’ indoor swimming pool. The monsoon lashed down outside, sluicing over the clear barrel-shaped roof high above. Sam was entertaining them with a variety of poorly executed dives from the high board.

‘This one I call the dying swan,’ he said from three metres up. He launched off the platform as if he’d just been shot and landed in an explosion of spray and limbs.

‘More like the brain-dead twin,’ Ruby said. Her li-lo bucked in the wash. Sam launched himself up from the bottom of the pool and torpedoed her into the water.

He was halfway up the ladder to the diving platform when Mr Gupta wandered into the pool enclosure. He was followed by Mr Fry and a sheepish- looking Constable Lethbridge.

‘I’m afraid there’s been a change in plans,’ Mr Gupta announced.

Alisha looked up from her deckchair. ‘What’s happened?’

‘It appears the Archer jet is no longer available.’

‘What!’ Sam spluttered from the ladder. ‘Why not?’

Mr Fry gave Lethbridge a sidewards glance. ‘Shall you tell them?’ he said. ‘Or shall I?’

Lethbridge swallowed. Somehow, even with a lobster-coloured complexion, he’d gone pale. ‘I was at the airport with Mr Fry,’ he said. ‘Giving the plane the once over. You know, for—’

‘Security.’ Sam finished the sentence. ‘Yes, we know that. What’s happened?’

‘I was on the tarmac, see. Walking around the plane, just checking for anything unusual. The pilot had the engines on, warming them up, I guess. Then, over on a patch of grass, I see the pigeons…’

‘Pigeons?’ Ruby said.

‘Beautiful, they were. Lovely birds. Very intelligent, you know. They can fly huge distances back to their homes. Never get lost. Did I mention that?’

‘So you thought you’d take a closer look,’ Mr Fry said, his eyes dark as death.

‘Must have been fifty or more of them,’ Lethbridge continued, his voice dream-like. ‘Each one a beauty.’

‘Get on with it,’ Fry said.

‘I only wanted to have a look.’ Lethbridge choked. He couldn’t go on.

‘He got too close, the birds took off and the whole lot got sucked into the engines,’ Fry said. ‘Feathers and drumsticks everywhere. The plane’s grounded for a week for repairs.’

Lethbridge looked devastated.

But not as devastated as Sam. ‘A week!’ he said. ‘How are we getting to the tiger reserve now?’

Mr Gupta puffed out his chest and a smile spread across his face. ‘I have an excellent solution,’ he said. ‘There are many commercial flights to the south—’

‘So we have to fly in a normal plane?’ Sam whined.

‘No,’ Mr Gupta said. ‘You don’t get a real feel for a country from thirty thousand feet in the air. Now that Alisha is taking a greater interest in her heritage, I was thinking of an alternative means of transport.

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