Page 60 of Tattered Huntress
‘I promise, Otis.’
‘It’s not that I think you’ll deliberately keep it for yourself, or that you’re a thief. It’s just that I know how these things can get lost when you’re busy. Before you know it, several months have passed and you’ve still not given it back. Then several years. And then…’
I sighed. ‘Otis, I promise that I will return it as soon as I can. It will be top of my list once the treasure hunt is over.’
He nodded, although the vigorous flapping of his little white wings made his continued discomfort clear.
I watched him for another few seconds as Jamila’s words about kindness flitted through my head. Then I came to an easy decision – one that we all could live with. ‘Tell you what,’ I said. ‘Let’s stop this now. We’ll sit out the rest of the hunt.’ Yes, I wanted to win and yes, I needed the money. But some things were more important.
Hester screeched, ‘What? Why would you do that?’
‘We’re a team. This is making Otis uncomfortable and we have to respect that.’ I smiled. ‘It’s not a big deal.’
‘Yes, it is!’ Hester yelled.
‘She’s right,’ Otis agreed, his eyes wide and glassy. ‘It is a very big deal.’
‘Nah.’ I waved my hand dismissively. ‘Everyone will work out that this house is probably the location of the key part. That’s five teams trying to break into the same place at the same time – it’ll be carnage. We’re bound to get caught by Greenwood’s security guards. Walking away is the wisest thing we can do.’
Hester put her hands on her hips and glared at Otis but hedidn’t seem to notice. His attention was fixed on me. ‘That’s not where the key part is,’ he whispered. ‘It’s not in Wales.’
‘What?’
Otis dashed away an unexpected tear, then started twiddling his thumbs as if he desperately needed something to distract him from his emotions. ‘Our last owner, the one who was murdered by a sorcerer, was a merchant. She dealt in antiquities.’
‘Okay,’ I said slowly.
‘She wasn’t very good at paperwork and I have a head for detail, so sometimes I did the books for her.’
‘Not easy with tiny hands and massive books,’ Hester butted in.
Otis nodded. ‘Not easy at all. But that’s not what’s important. One of the last shipments she sent out was a crate of Scottish antiques. A nobleman had purchased a property up near Dundee and he wanted to furnish it with as much Scottish tat as possible. He already had a Cornish home that was filled with Cornish items, a Welsh home full of Welsh stuff and a London home for his international collections. He liked keeping everything orderly and in its place. He threw a hissy fit when some Wedgwood china was included in the Scottish shipment because it wasn’t from Scotland.’
I swallowed. Surely not. ‘There was a key part in that Scottish shipment?’ I breathed.
‘Not that I’m aware of, but we weren’t the only merchants he used. He worked with all sorts of dealers.’ He paused. ‘His name was Lord William Greenwood. He must have been the current Lord Greenwood’s great-grandfather or something.’
Suddenly I understood. ‘What you’re saying is that unless someone in the Greenwood family has moved objects around, the key part will still be at the property in Dundee because it’sthe only Greenwood home in Scotland and the key part is a Scottish artefact.’
Otis nodded. ‘Pretty much. William Greenwood was an avid collector and he had a lot of antiques. Alotof antiques. I know it was many decades ago and they could have been shipped around since then but it would be a nightmare to move them all. The antiquities from William Greenwood’s time are probably still in the properties they were bought for.’
My heart thumped with the thrill of this new information. None of the other teams would be privy to this; it was insider knowledge on an epic scale. We’d probably be the only ones to head to the Dundee property first and we’d have a chance to grab the third key part long before anyone else realised it was there.
Enjoying the buzz of zippy adrenaline, I clapped my hands – then I suddenly stopped. We were dropping out; we were no longer participating in the hunt. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ I said. ‘We’re not taking part. Nothing has changed. We’re a team and everyone’s opinion is important.’
Hester opened her mouth, her tiny apple cheeks turning red with fury.
I shook my head before she could speak. ‘Everyone gets a vote and anyone can veto. We’re not going.’
Otis stuck his hand nervously upwards.
‘What is it?’ I asked.
‘We should go,’ he said. He bit his lip. ‘You were prepared to pull out because of me.’ He thumped his chest and sniffed. ‘You care about what I think and nobody has ever done that before, apart from Hester. You don’t know how important that is to me. It means I can trust you to return the key part after we’re finished. We should go.’ His voice hardened. ‘Weneedto go.’
I gave him a long, measured look. ‘I’ve made my peace withnot winning the treasure hunt. I wasn’t bluffing, Otis. It wasn’t a ploy.’
‘I know.’ His expression was serious. ‘That’s why I’m telling you to go.’
