Treasured Dreams (30 page)

‘Huh … they say'—Filippo licked his spoon—‘thirty-five per cent of the population died in Europe alone from the plague. Over twenty million people.'

Nox raised his eyebrows at him.

‘I went to school.'

Nox couldn't remember ever learning about the plague in any class he attended, although he had skipped a majority of his school lessons. ‘They had no idea what caused the disease to spread.'

‘That's right, it wasn't until the 1900s that they worked out it was fleas on the rats that carried the disease.'

‘Exactly. So in the 1300s, the people thought it was the wrath of God, punishing them for their sins. They were flocking to the churches with their valuables, begging to be absolved of their sins.'

Filippo sat forward on his chair. ‘So what was on that confession?'

Nox let out a slow breath. Then he recited the inscription on the scroll, word for word.

June 21
^st
1348

We are being punished for our sins. Black Death so vial and colossal has possessed our land. The sinners offer treasure in exchange for absolution because they believe a man of God will save them. But I cannot. They fall at my feet and I step away to watch them die from afar. I refuse the dying their last rites for fear of being struck down.

But I will be mankind's saviour. I will use this wealth to create a church in a safe land. I have paid three men very well to keep my secret safe. They will captain three ships
—
The Flying Seahorse, Occhio del Vento and Aquila di Mare. We will sail to Egypt and pray it is free from God's poison.

I leave this confession with a diary of all I have taken. These possessions will be used to create a new home for those who outlive this wrath. Paradise awaits anyone who meets me there.

This is the end, but I give you a new beginning. I am your man and forever will be, by the grace of God, yours in safekeeping,

Tommasello da Lucca

Nox's eyes shifted from the hold they'd had on his antique ring during the recital back to Filippo. ‘I've been looking for the diary he talks about ever since the day I found that scroll.'

‘You never found it?'

‘No. But Archer did.' Nox clenched his jaw.

Filippo's eyes widened. ‘Oh yes, Rosalina told me about it. It lists all the treasure. That was how they worked out that only one third of the treasure was on the Flying Seahorse.'

‘So they know there were three ships?'

Filippo frowned. ‘I don't know about that.'

‘Did they know the ships were going to Egypt?'

‘I don't know.'

Nox squeezed his fist and glared at him. ‘You need to find out‘

Filippo clenched his jaw, squaring out his bearded chin. ‘If you'd told me about this scroll days ago, I'd have known what to ask.'

Nox hurled his bowl at Filippo. The prisoner ducked and the dish hit the tiles behind his head, shattering to pieces and tumbling onto the bed along with several blue tiles.

‘What was
that
for?' Filippo wailed.

‘You need to remember who's in charge.'

‘How can I forget? You're treating me like a caged animal.'

‘You're lucky I don't kill you.'

‘You can't kill me.'

‘Don't be so sure about that!'

‘You need me, Nox. And you know it.'

Nox turned and strode towards the door.

‘Nox!' Filippo's stern voice bounced off the tiled walls. ‘I don't want food from rubbish bins.'

Nox twisted to him. ‘You don't want the alternative—believe me.'

Filippo's squinted his eyes. ‘What's the alternative?'

‘Nothing. Absolutely nothing for days on end.'

‘Fuck that. I'm talking about buying food. And decent food, too.'

Nox cocked his head. ‘I don't have enough money. You get what you get.'

‘I have money. Release me, and I'll get it.'

Chapter Thirty-Three

Alessandro watched their departure from the Maldives with a peaceful sense of melancholy. The scenery was magnificent from his view in the spa and its beauty affected him like no other. The Maldives was nature at its finest.

As the sun set into the pristine aquamarine waters, he and Ginger sat in the bubbling water and sipped her signature drink—the Cosmopolitan cocktail. After Archer pulled up anchor and they cruised away from the beautiful secluded beach, with its sugar white sand and waving palm trees, Alessandro made a promise to himself … he would return to the Maldives with Ginger very soon.

It was the perfect place to propose to her.

They'd been at sea one week now and would be cruising into Australian waters within a couple of days. Alessandro had never been to Australia; he'd never been outside Italy until he'd joined Archer's treasure-hunting expedition. He still couldn't believe he was doing it.

This experience was a world away from his real life.

It suddenly occurred to him that he may never want to go back to his job teaching uninterested students the glory of ancient history. He was surprised that the thought didn't worry him.

After four, he and Ginger settled inside to do their customary afternoon activity—scrutinise Wade's notes. As they refilled their cocktails several times over, each of them scanned a different book looking for something, anything that made sense.

Jimmy was taking his turn at the bridge and Archer was sleeping. Rosalina, as usual, had the yacht filled with delicious aromas from the meal she was preparing for tonight.

‘I wonder if we're looking at this all wrong,' Ginger said.

Alessandro glanced at her. She had her hair out today and it cascaded in luscious blonde waves over her shoulders. He fell into the blue pool of her eyes. ‘What do you mean?'

She pumped an elegant shoulder. ‘I don't know. It just seems weird that we've been staring at the books for days, weeks, and got nowhere.'

Alessandro huffed. ‘I know. It's infuriating. Wade certainly did a great job of encrypting things.'

Ginger jolted. ‘Hey, will the Egyptian professor be back from New York yet?'

‘Oh gosh.' Alessandro glanced at the date on his computer. ‘Yes, he should be.' He jumped up. ‘Rosalina, do you think Archer would mind if I used his office to make a call?'

‘Of course not.'

Ginger reached for Alessandro's hand and they strolled to the study together. He bent down and opened the safe door, then he put on his white cotton gloves to remove the blue cylinder. Ginger grabbed a red cushion off the lounge, and Alessandro centred the precious piece in the middle of it.

The lapis lazuli relic was exquisite. The intense blue shades of the stone appeared to radiate from within. Hints of fine gold veins weaving across the surface added to the luxurious tones. The gold caps at each end that replicated woven rope were in perfect condition. One of these caps had a gold ring attached to it. It too was decorated in Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Alessandro found it impossible to believe this piece could be thousands of years old.

Archer's diary was on the desk and Alessandro flicked to the day they'd taken the monkey statue to Accademia di Belle Arti. The professor's number was at the top of the page with several circles drawn around it.

He dialled the number and the professor answered almost immediately. ‘
Ciao Alessandro, dove sei stato
.'

‘Sorry Professor, we had to leave on important business.' Alessandro deliberately spoke in English so Ginger wouldn't be excluded from the conversation.

‘Surely it's not as important as this.'

Alessandro put the phone on speaker so Ginger could hear. ‘I agree, but like you, it was something we couldn't miss. How did you go with the cylinder?' The professor had objected, to the point of insistence, at Alessandro not leaving the cylinder or the statue at the museum, but Alessandro had given his word to Archer that he would remain with the statue at all times. And he had every intention of doing just that. After the professor had calmed down, they took dozens of photos, and Sezoine promised to work on deciphering the images until they could speak again.

‘Do you have the cylinder with you?'

‘Yes, we do.'

‘Okay, for this demonstration I'll call the gold ring the top.'

‘Yes, I understand.' Alessandro pointed at the gold ring. It looked like the type of link that would allow a pendant to glide along a chain. Although this piece was much too big to be a pendant of any kind, so the significance of the ring was lost on him.

‘Please manoeuvre the cylinder so you can look through the hole of the ring.'

Alessandro understood and rolled the cylinder sideways. ‘Done.'

‘At the bottom do you see a circle with a man wearing a crown?'

Ginger pointed at it. ‘Yes, we see it.'

‘That, my friend, is King Ptolemy the Third.'

Ginger sucked the air between her teeth as if she understood the significance of the name. Alessandro wrote the name down in Archer's diary and they grinned at each other.

‘King Ptolemy the Third was a particularly aggressive king and he made it his business to march far and wide, claiming land and wealth as his own.'

‘Interesting.'

‘What is interesting,' Sezoine continued, ‘is the man kneeling at the king's side.'

Alessandro pointed at the engraved figure. It looked like the kneeling man was reaching out.

‘That's a scribe. When can you return the cylinder to me, Alessandro?'

Alessandro cleared his throat. ‘We cannot be certain at the moment. Why?'

‘I believe we'll find a scroll inside the cylinder.'

‘Let's open it,' Ginger said.

‘No!' Sezoine's voice was fearful.

‘Why not?'

Sezoine let out a sigh. ‘Because the inscription on the outside also details the contents are protected. Only the rightful owner can open it.'

‘Meaning?' Alessandro let out a breath.

‘Meaning another ambush could be waiting inside.' The seriousness in the professor's voice was unmissable.

Ginger huffed.

‘In that case, Professor, we shall have to wait until we return to Italy.'

‘Return? Where did you go?'

‘We're treasure hunters, Professor Sezoine,' Alessandro said. ‘We go where the clues take us.' For the first time in his life, Alessandro liked that he was the man in charge.

After Alessandro said goodbye and hung up the phone, he opened his laptop and typed in King Ptolemy the Third. After half an hour of research, they went to find the others. The sounds of laughter had them walking towards the saloon where they found Jimmy and Archer. Rosalina was in the kitchen and by the look of the flour everywhere, she was making pastry.

‘I'm so glad you're all here.' Alessandro pulled out one of the bar stools along the kitchen bench for Ginger to sit. ‘We've just spoken to Professor Sezoine.'

‘Oh right, the blue cylinder,' Rosalina said. ‘I forgot all about it.'

‘Yes, we nearly did too.' Alessandro weaved Ginger's hand into his. ‘Ginger reminded me.'

‘What did he say?' Archer asked.

‘He wants us to bring the cylinder back.'

‘I bet he does.' Jimmy jutted his chin out. ‘Why?'

‘He believes there's a scroll inside.'

‘Well let's open the bugger.' Jimmy huffed.

‘We can't; he thinks there'll be another booby trap,' Ginger said.

‘Pfft. Yeah right.' Jimmy jabbed his stubby finger on the bar top. ‘He's just saying that.'

‘Maybe not, Jimmy. Since we nearly lost our heads the first time, I've done a little research. Over the years, scrolls have been completely destroyed by carelessness. What the ancient Egyptians did was put little vials inside the container with the scroll, and when the container is opened without the correct sequence, the vial shatters and liquid spills over the porous paper, ruining the parchment.'

‘Well that blows that idea then. It'll just have to wait until we get back,' Archer said.

Alessandro nodded. ‘I've arranged to call Professor Sezoine the moment we return to Italy.' He glanced at Wade's notebooks still dotted around the room and sighed. They were getting nowhere with all the information that was both painfully obvious and discreetly concealed in the notes. In a way, Wade had created his own booby traps. ‘Shall we have another review of Wade's notes?'

‘Sure,' Jimmy said. ‘Nothing like scrambling our brains before dinner.'

Alessandro collected a notebook from the floor and flicked to the middle pages. Book number twenty-four. He turned to the front pages and noted the four countries. Australia. United Kingdom. Spain. Egypt. He flicked the pages through his fingers, allowing them to fall in a kaleidoscope of words and pictures. The book fell open at a page with a drawing of a man fishing and then a can, like the types of cans that contained tuna or salmon. Wade had even drawn a ring-pull on the top.

‘Here it is again,' Archer said, seeking Alessandro's attention. ‘This is the second time I've seen a reference to diamonds. The first one was a list of diamonds detailing their cut, colour and carats. Here's a picture of a diamond ring.'

‘Remember, the
Awa Maru
not only carried gold bullion, it also carried diamonds. As well as ivory, jewels and antiques,' Ginger said.

Alessandro sat forward. ‘That's right. What number book do you have?'

Archer flicked to the middle pages. ‘Sixteen.'

‘Okay, where are the books before it?'

Everyone called out their numbers, but none of them had the preceding four books. Alessandro slipped off his chair and went through the books until he located them. Book thirteen had Solomon Islands listed as the third country down. ‘This confirms your book has Solomon Islands information in it.' Out of curiosity, he checked the books prior to his. By coincidence, his book also had Solomon Islands in it.