Treasured Dreams (6 page)

When Rosalina had made the stock earlier, she'd removed the meat from the bones but left the pieces whole as much as possible so they wouldn't dry out. Now, as she shredded the meat with two forks, it fell apart beautifully.

‘That's all the stock into the rice now, Rosa.'

‘Okay, so add the peas. And then we'll add the duck and parmesan, and it'll be ready.'

‘Is that it?' Ginger's finely plucked brows raised on her forehead.

‘Sure is.'

‘Cool.' Ginger's gaze lingered on Rosalina for a moment, and Rosalina sensed she was pondering over something. Rosalina bit her tongue. She feared it was going to be another awkward conversation about her long-over relationship with Alessandro. She'd been trying to put that foolish one-night stand behind her for decades. Finally, a smile teetered on Ginger's lips, and the younger woman turned back to the pot. ‘This was so easy. I reckon I can handle duck risotto anytime.'

Rosalina let out a silent sigh. ‘I told you it was easy.' She rose to her feet, hopped to the crockery cupboard, and searched for a serving bowl large enough for the risotto. She fished out a large white dish with gold-trimmed edges.

‘Here, use this dish for the risotto.'

‘Sure. Let me grab it.' Ginger placed the bowl next to the hotplates, and Rosalina hopped back to the bench. ‘I can finish this if you like. Why don't you head on upstairs? I'll bring this up in a sec.'

‘Okay. Thanks.' Rosalina reached for her crutches and made her way to the stairway. Then, with both crutches hooked under one arm, she used the handrail to hop up the stairs.

The men were seated at the new bar. Discreet blue lighting filtered from beneath the marble bar top, accentuating the decorative pattern in the stainless-steel sheeting. It was the first time Rosalina had seen it at night, and she was delighted with her choices.

Archer swivelled on his chair and jumped off to greet her.

‘Hey babe.' He kissed her cheek, and then pulled out a chair at the head of their new dining table. He lifted the crutches from her and leant them against the railing. From where she sat, she could take in almost all the deck as well as the marina that was lit up like a pretty Christmas parade.

Within seconds, Jimmy placed a glass of red wine in front of her. ‘Here you go, baby cakes.'

It'd been a while since Jimmy had called her that nickname, and right now it felt so normal.

‘Thanks, Jimmy. It's so lovely up here.' The renovations were almost complete, and it looked like the bar and spa had always been there.

‘We should have done this a long time ago.' Archer read her own thoughts as he slipped back onto his bar stool and spun towards the back of the yacht.

Rosalina admired the three polished timber steps leading up to the new spa that was still empty. The high polish on the teak timber reflected the blue lighting. ‘They've done such a good job in just two weeks.'

‘That's what you get when you pay bucket loads of money,' Alessandro said, and the way he said it made Rosalina glance at him. Neither of them had grown up with the opulent lifestyle they were living on
Evangeline
, and for the first time she wondered if Alessandro was jealous of Archer's wealth. Alessandro was prone to jealousy from time to time. He was ever the gentleman, though, and would rarely show the unsavoury emotion.

‘Jimmy and I've been helping, too.' Archer raised his glass at Jimmy.

‘Too right. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we get moving again.'

Rosalina cocked her head at Archer. ‘Moving? Where are we going?'

Archer glared at his mate, and Jimmy mouthed,
what?

Archer clenched his jaw and cleared his throat. ‘We were going to discuss it after dinner,' Archer said. ‘Is it nearly ready?'

She nodded, but her mind was already chewing over what Jimmy and Archer had been planning. ‘Ginger should be up in a moment.'

As if on cue, Ginger announced her arrival. ‘Who's hungry?'

Rosalina had her back to Ginger, but she could hear the smile in her voice.

No sooner had Ginger placed the risotto in the centre of the timber tabletop than the three men had slotted into chairs around it. Archer slipped into the booth seat at Rosalina's right-hand side, and his hand found her leg. He leant over and kissed her cheek, and she could tell he was trying to smooth over Jimmy's gaff.

It seemed the boys had a plan, and Jimmy had already blown it.

‘Is Helen joining us?' Rosalina asked.

Archer's mother rarely joined them for dinner. Although she was gradually improving, she was still a long way from escaping the tortured mind that had trapped her for decades.

Archer squeezed Rosalina's knee. ‘Not tonight. She was sleeping when I checked in on her.'

Rosalina wasn't surprised, but she was always worried about Helen eating enough; the elderly woman was still very thin. Fortunately, since they'd found her at the nunnery, Helen had gradually been gaining weight.

‘Alex, can you please slice up the sourdough?' Ginger asked.

‘Sure,
il mio dolce
.'

Alessandro reached for the bread and removed it from the tea towel.

Rosalina admired her own baking. The five decorative slices she'd made in the dough before she'd put it in the oven looked perfectly measured in the golden crust. Sourdough had a lovely depth of flavour, which was why she believed it went so well with risotto, especially with a slathering of butter. Real butter, not that ghastly margarine spread.

Alessandro cut the loaf into thick slices and juggled a steaming piece onto her bread plate. Rosalina quickly buttered it while it was still warm, and licked her lips as the butter melted.

She decided to open the conversation as Ginger spooned the risotto into their bowls. ‘Okay, fellas. How about you tell me what's going on?'

Both Jimmy and Alessandro looked in Archer's direction, and he in turn bit into the sourdough poised at his lips and hastily swallowed the mouthful. ‘Okay. We've been going through my dad's scrapbooks, trying to decipher his scrambled notes.'

Rosalina nodded. Before Archer's father, Wade, was killed by a shark, he'd discovered several significant treasures and ever since they'd found thirty-four notebooks filled with Wade's musings, they'd been trying to work them out. They were detailed with drawings, notes, paper clippings, words circled, words underlined, and words crossed out. There were names, places, dates … it was all random and mostly indecipherable. And yet, every one of these notes had meant something to Wade, which potentially meant they were important clues to finding a treasure.

The notes covered many treasures that Wade had been in the process of tracking down. All they had to do was work them out.

‘Do you remember how each notebook had four countries listed inside the front cover?' Archer said.

Rosalina placed a spoonful of risotto in her mouth, nodding as she enjoyed the delicious roasted duck meat mixed with creamy rice.

‘Okay. So we started by looking for any references to Singapore in the books. We only did this because we know for a fact that the
Awa Maru
was docked there. Alessandro, how about you carry on?'

Archer practically tossed the conversation to Alessandro, and by the look on his face, the Italian wasn't expecting it.

Alessandro swallowed a lump of food and cleared his throat. He was in professor-mode now. Rosalina had come to recognise it. He had learnt to relax a lot since he'd joined them in their treasure hunting, but give Alessandro the opportunity to detail anything and he was guaranteed to deliver it as if it were a university lecture.

‘While we couldn't work out much from his notes,' he said, ‘we did notice there were nearly as many references to Singapore as there were to Saigon.'

Alessandro would've been in his element if he'd had a whiteboard to scribble on as he spoke. ‘I obtained the
Awa Maru
's tabular record of movement since the day she was built. During the course of her four short years, she only visited Saigon once.' He held up his forefinger. ‘On 24
^th
February, 1945.' He paused to drink his wine.

‘How'd ya get your hands on that?' Jimmy huffed.

Alessandro shrugged his shoulders. ‘During the Second World War, the Japanese Imperial Navy were arguably the most powerful navy in the world. Once they were crushed under the US navy, who at the time were considered underdogs, their impeccable tabular records became the subject of comprehensive scrutiny. Everyone wanted to establish what the Japanese did wrong. Fortunately for us, the records are readily available.'

‘So what's the significance of the Saigon visit?' Rosalina asked.

Alessandro picked up his fork and used it as a pointer. ‘By those early months of 1945, the war was drawing to a close, but the United States was growing concerned about the number of prisoners of war held by the Japanese. You have to remember that the Japanese merchant fleet had been nearly entirely decimated. That meant the Japanese were having trouble getting supplies to their own troops, let alone the prisoners.'

‘Come on, professor, stop with the history lesson and get to the good part.' Jimmy was always in a hurry.

‘Rosalina and Ginger need to know all the facts.' Alessandro thrust his chin out and waited until Jimmy spooned a mouthful of risotto into his mouth before he carried on. ‘So by utilising neutral Switzerland, the US arranged for the
Awa Maru
to carry Red Cross relief supplies. The Japanese agreed, of course, because they saw it as an opportunity to load up the ship, which could carry much more than just the supplies, with other cargo. In particular, their precious gold bullion.'

‘Not just gold bullion,' Jimmy added. ‘Also diamonds, ivory, jewels, antiques, and all sorts of other precious babies.'

‘Sounds like a lot.' Ginger grinned.

Alessandro swallowed another mouthful of food. ‘It was substantial. And not only would it have weighed a great deal, it would have required significant space.' Alessandro waggled his fork as he spoke. ‘It would've been difficult to load it onto the ship without many people knowing about it.'

Rosalina noticed the twinkle in his eye. ‘I assume you know who else knew about the treasure?'

‘
Corretto
.' Alessandro's eyebrows bounced together. ‘I believe Kimoda Yukimura's brother knew.'

Jimmy nodded, as if this was earth-shattering proof of where the treasure was.

‘How did you work that out?' Rosalina cocked her head at him.

‘Kimoda joined the Japanese navy, but his brother, Hiro, became a pilot. In 1941, he started flying the Nakajima A6M2 fighter bombers. By 1944, he was the squad leader. However, in 1944 he lost a few toes in an air battle—'

‘Eeew, ouch.' Ginger said it like she'd felt his pain.

‘—and Hiro was switched over to flying the Kawasaki Ki-56.'

Rosalina cocked her head at Alessandro. ‘How did you get this information?'

Alessandro's dark eyebrows wiggled. ‘The Ministry of the Navy of Japan was responsible for the development and training of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service. Their pilot training was rigorous, selective, and meticulously documented. Much of these records were seized by the end of the war. Fortunately, many of the details are on public record. It's taken weeks to process. Ginger helped.'

Ginger and Alessandro shared a look. Rosalina had forgotten that Ginger could read and speak Japanese. Although the blonde seemed so ditzy sometimes, she possessed many intriguing skills.

‘So why is the plane-type significant?' Rosalina asked.

‘Because the Kawasaki Ki-56 planes were freight transport planes. They could carry up to fourteen passengers and eight tonnes in weight.'

‘Ahh.' Rosalina had a sinking feeling she knew where this conversation was going. She glanced across the table and noted that everyone seemed to have finished their meal. ‘Should we move to the lounges?'

‘Sure.' Archer slipped out of the booth seat, and as he helped Rosalina with her crutches, she noticed Jimmy swipe the last slice of sourdough before he left the table.

Rosalina settled into one of the new lounge chairs, and everyone but Alessandro sat too. Alessandro stood at the front of the group with a pen gripped within his fingers.

‘Are you right there, professor? Want to take a seat?' Jimmy waggled his half-eaten sourdough at him.

‘
Bene, grazie
.' Alessandro took Jimmy's ribbing all in his stride. He cleared his throat, ensuring he had all their attention.

‘With the help of my colleagues at the war museum, we traced the movements of the Kawasaki Ki-56 planes. There were only 121 of these planes built during 1940 and 1943. But by 1945, only thirty-four were still operational.'

‘Come on, Alessandro, you're really dragging this out.' Jimmy was becoming impatient now.

Alessandro pursed his lips and glared at Jimmy. ‘Do you have somewhere you need to be?'

‘No. But we don't need to know all the boring details.' Jimmy huffed.

‘They're not boring to me,' Ginger said.

‘Nor me,' Rosalina agreed.

‘
Precisamente
. Shall I continue?' He waited, and Rosalina had the feeling he could do this all night long.

Jimmy rolled his eyes, and his shoulders sagged. ‘Whenever you're ready.'

‘Okay, so the
Awa Maru
, with Kimoda Yukimura as the captain's steward, was in Saigon for three days from 25
^th
February to the 28
^th
February 1945. Nine Kawasaki Ki-56 freight planes were also there on 27
^th
of February. I have no indisputable proof that Hiro Yukimura was flying one of those planes.' He paused for effect.

‘But?' Rosalina proffered.

‘But only one of those planes was also in Singapore on the 28
^th
March, 1945. That's the day the
Awa Maru
left on its final fateful voyage.'