Vivian Conroy - Deadly Treasures

She smiled at the policeman who surveyed her with narrowed eyes. A second one had come in, younger, with unruly blond curls. He said, ‘Everybody knows why the dig was so important.’

‘Oh?’ Alkmene hitched a brow. ‘When I was there just now, I did not see anything particularly exciting.’

‘Well, there has to be something, or else they wouldn’t have written threats on the wall for him to get out, would they?’

The constable at the desk shook his head at his colleague. ‘Don’t tell the lady nonsense, Eddy.’

Eddy looked innocent. ‘It isn’t nonsense. There were words carved there in the planking of the tool shed. Mr Woolsbury had me come in and look at it to deduce who had put it there.’

The older constable scoffed. ‘And could you deduce it, Eddy?’

Eddy hung his head. ‘Not really. But I’m working on it.’

‘Sure you are.’ The constable got up and waved his hand at the younger man. ‘You better get back out there to see about that stolen bicycle Ms Rivers complained about.’

‘It isn’t stolen. She just misplaced it. She always does.’

The other growled, ‘If I say so, you go.’

The young man grimaced. ‘All right.’ He turned to Alkmene and said, ‘You will hear about it soon enough. Everybody knows about it. Especially Mr Page. He has been looking for the Black Castle gold for ages.’

Alkmene’s eyes went wide. ‘The Black Castle what?’

Chapter Four

The older constable came for them with a raised hand. ‘Out of here, Eddy. I won’t warn you again.’

The younger man inched back as if he was really afraid to be slapped by his superior. He muttered a greeting to Alkmene and took off.

His older colleague stared after him with narrowed eyes. ‘Young people. Know absolutely nothing about police work. Or local history. Just tidbits that stir their imagination. Gold!’

He shook his head as he returned to his desk. He leaned over his typewriter and attacked the keys with determination. It was plain Alkmene would get nothing more out of him. She had to hope Jake would hear something about the real purpose of the dig in his inquiries into Trevor Price’s work before he had been cut off by his lung problem.

As Alkmene walked back out, into the sunshine, her mind raced. The viscount had said Duncan was excavating a medieval village. Now there was suddenly talk of something like the Black Castle gold. It sounded potentially sensational.

Had Duncan lied about his true purpose here? Just to his father, or also to his employer Trevor Price?

Was that why Duncan had not been happy when someone from the archaeological circles in London had appeared to see him? Had he believed his whole scheme would fall through?

Had he wanted to return to London with a major find to prove that he was more than just a titled man with money who liked his little hobby? That he was a serious contender in the field?

But how secret a scheme had it been when the younger policeman, Eddy, knew all about it? Even claimed everybody around here knew about it? Especially some Mr Page.

Maybe she had to ask who he was and go see him right away?

But before she was two paces away from the police station, the dismissive constable appeared behind her. His hand on her shoulder made her start.

‘You better be careful what you get into.’ His expression was solemn. ‘That excavation has caused no end of trouble in the village, you know. We’d all be glad to see those people leave again.’

‘I saw locals there working,’ Alkmene countered. ‘I’d think the village would welcome the offer of extra work.’

‘Oh, but some have worked there and have been fired, for supposedly taking something.’ The policeman leaned over to her, a strange fire in his deep-set eyes. ‘The threat left on his tool shed wasn’t the only thing that happened, you know. After Woolsbury fired the innkeeper’s son, accusing him of theft, the villagers were not happy and they waited on Woolsbury one night as he walked from town to his cottage and beat him up.’

Alkmene gasped. ‘Beat up a big man like Duncan?’

‘If there are enough of you, you can overcome any man. Two black eyes he had the next morning and no end of bruises.’ The policeman sounded almost smug. ‘He wanted us to investigate who had done it and punish them, but how would we know? He himself had seen no faces, it being half dark and all. And as he had drunk quite a lot of liquor, his testimony about their number and appearance wasn’t worth a penny. How can we find those people not even knowing how many there were or what they looked like?’

‘Perhaps you are not trying very hard either, knowing they would be your own people?’ Alkmene suggested.

He pulled back his shoulders. The sun glinted off his polished uniform buttons. ‘We do a good job here, we do. And now you’d better be leaving. There’s nothing left to do here for you. The gentleman will make his statement about what happened that night, and then we’ll see what we are going to do about him.’

Alkmene realized that neither Duncan nor she had made friends on the local police force. She retreated to Peartree, who still sat on the bench, chewing on an apple.

She sat down beside him and nodded at the apple. ‘A gift?’ She wanted to steer the conversation in the direction of doe-eyed Sarah, but Peartree pointed at the village store opposite with the inviting assortment of fresh vegetables and fruit laid out in crates on a table. ‘I pinched one to sweeten the wait.’

Alkmene hitched a brow. ‘You didn’t pay for it? No wonder the locals don’t like the invasion from London.’

Peartree laughed softly. ‘They started the hostilities, not us. Damage done to the site, things gone missing. They even waited for Duncan one night and beat him up.’

‘Yes, the constable just told me. Was it really because Duncan had fired someone?’

‘Two,’ Peartree said unperturbed. ‘One was a farmer’s lad who broke a pot that Duncan had managed to get out of the earth whole. He was fussy with those things, always thinking he could do everything perfect and others could do nothing at all.’

‘And the other?’

Peartree pointed with his half-eaten apple at the inn. ‘The brother of that girl who was making the doe eyes at him. I think he’s called Mark or something. He was just a kid. But Duncan took him on because he saw some talent in him. But all the kid was good for was big talk. He claimed to know where the gold was hidden.’

Peartree fell silent as if he had said too much, but Alkmene leaned back against the bench’s mossy railing and said in an indifferent tone, ‘I know about the gold.’

Peartree took a bite of apple and chewed. There was juice on his chin. He rubbed it away with his wrist. ‘So the kid talked about the gold like he knew where it was. It also seemed Duncan turned up something made of gold; the next day it was gone. Duncan claimed Mark had stolen it and Duncan wanted to press charges.’

Peartree laughed softly. ‘The dumb fool actually wanted a search made of the inn and livery stables and barns for the missing item, certain the lad had hidden it there. Do you think the local police are going to search the house of one of their own for something gone missing from some fancy city crew?’

Alkmene shook her head. ‘Not likely. So the missing find was never recovered.’

‘No. It wasn’t.’ Peartree finished his apple and carelessly tossed the remains down on the cobbles. He crossed his ankles like he was sitting in his easy chair at home. ‘I think the kid never had anything. Duncan only accused him to get rumours started that there really was a golden item dug up. People had started to say there was none, as he made no progress at all. He felt pressured to turn up results and he believed such a tale would aid him.’