And one final thing, before I turn in. Elizabeth congratulated me afterwards for my quick thinking, which put a big smile on my face. I think that, since I’ve stepped up a bit after Stephen’s death, I’ve been surprised at what I’m able to do. Elizabeth rubs off on me in a very good way. I hope I rub off on her in a good way too. She was very impressed anyway. ‘A very calm reaction in a situation of great pressure, if you don’t mind my saying?’ I told her I didn’t mind her saying that one bit. Because when Garth had revealed to us the secret of the box – the fact that the box I’d been keeping under my sink was highly illegal and worth millions and millions of pounds – it’s true, I did make my mind up quickly. To tell them I had left it out for the binmen.
Because I hadn’t left it out for the binmen, you see. The box is still under my sink. Though I have taken the bottle of drain unblocker out of it.
Elizabeth says she now has a good idea who murdered Kuldesh, and the box will help to prove it. And she also has one other plan for it.
‘I was wondering if it might be Mesopotamian,’ says Elizabeth, as Jonjo examines the box on his desk.
Jonjo Mellor’s office is exactly what you might hope. Two walls lined floor to ceiling with books, a wall of mullioned windows overlooking the University of Kent campus, and every surface covered in vases, skulls, pipes and a ‘World’s Greatest Uncle’ mug.
To make room to inspect the box, he has cleared as much of his writing desk as he can. There are now piles of papers on the chairs and on the floor. His computer is on the windowsill, next to a bronze cow.
‘If that’s a guess, it’s a good one,’ says Jonjo. He is brushing specks of dirt from the box with a fine brush. ‘I’d say you’re spot on.’
‘Stephen spoke about a museum in Baghdad,’ says Elizabeth. ‘He rarely wasted words, even when they were easier to come by. He and Kuldesh must have identified it between them.’
‘It’s an extraordinary find; I will have to report it,’ says Jonjo. ‘But might we sit with it? Just for an hour or two? I have never seen a piece like it.’
‘Stephen talked about pieces on which you could see fingerprints and scuff marks,’ says Elizabeth.
‘Well, he was talking about this,’ says Jonjo. ‘All present and correct. And it was smuggled in by heroin dealers?’
‘Unwittingly, I think,’ says Elizabeth. ‘They thought they were just importing the heroin. So it will have come from Afghanistan.’
‘Makes sense,’ says Jonjo. ‘Wherever there is turmoil, people try to protect their assets. Or sell them.’
‘And it was religious?’ Elizabeth asks.
‘This long ago, everything was religious,’ says Jonjo. ‘All the gods and devils were loose. This, I would say, was a sin box. It would have been outside an important tomb, to ward off the spirits. It will have been looted many years ago. The Iraqis will know for sure.’
‘So what’s the next step?’ asks Elizabeth.
‘I inform the Foreign Office of what we have,’ says Jonjo. ‘They come and collect it, authenticate it, liaise with the Iraqis, and it’ll be in Baghdad within the year. We might ask them if we could display it for a while though.’
‘I won’t wait a year,’ says Elizabeth.
‘I’m sorry?’ says Jonjo.
‘I won’t wait,’ says Elizabeth. ‘I must level with you, Jonjo. I have a proposition, and I won’t take no for an answer.’
‘Goodness,’ says Jonjo.
‘I want the box to go to Baghdad,’ says Elizabeth. ‘And I want Stephen’s ashes in it.’
‘His ashes?’
‘He as much as asked me,’ says Elizabeth. ‘I realize that now. So, once we are done here, I will be taking the box back with me, and I will be keeping it until those arrangements are made and are acceptable to both parties.’
‘I don’t think you should take the b–’
‘I don’t much mind what you think,’ says Elizabeth. ‘And I hope you know that doesn’t come from disrespect. But that is how things are going to be done. Do you think you might be able to swing it?’
‘I suppose I can try,’ says Jonjo, not sounding convinced.
‘Excellent,’ says Elizabeth. ‘That’s all I ask. That you try. The only reason we have this box is because Kuldesh and Stephen chose to protect it. Kuldesh, don’t forget, lost his life trying to protect it.’
‘Still no nearer to finding out how?’ says Jonjo.
‘I’m hoping that the box has one final story to tell,’ says Elizabeth. ‘One final evil spirit in its sights.’
‘Very cryptic,’ says Jonjo.
‘Might there be a back channel we could explore?’ Elizabeth asks. ‘To get the box to Baghdad sooner?’
‘Well … it wouldn’t be correct procedure,’ says Jonjo.
‘The right thing to do so rarely is,’ says Elizabeth.
‘But I’m sure there are ways,’ says Jonjo. ‘Would you be happy to leave that with me for a few days? And the box?’
‘Of course,’ says Elizabeth. ‘I know it’s in safe han–’
The insistent, shrill pulse of a fire alarm fills the air.
‘Blast it,’ says Jonjo. ‘Sometimes it stops after a few seconds.’
They wait a few seconds, but the alarm does not stop. Jonjo looks at the box and looks outside.
