Page 44 of The Trick of the Treasure
“I did leave our address with them, too. At least they didn’t throw it away in front of me. Are you saying I should go back to the docks?”
“I’m sayingweshould. And that we could do worse than speak to Lloyd, father and son, aboutallthe crew, including Johnny-possibly-David. He was with the treasure chest in—”
She broke off as a vision of the real chest flashed through her memory, lying on the strong room floor, open and empty. And before that, closed and empty. Her eyes widened as she stared at Solomon.
“Oh, Sol…”
“What is it?” he asked, clearly unsure whether to be excited or alarmed.
“It’s a different chest,” she blurted. “The original has initials carved beneath the lock. The one in the strong room doesn’t.”
Solomon caught his breath, staring back. “Are you sure?”
“No, but we really,reallyhave to look at it again.”
*
Inevitably, Garrick greetedtheir request to see inside the strong room again with haughty skepticism.
“Mr. Lloyd is not at home and left me no instructions about making the strong room available. Come back this afternoon.”
“No,” Solomon said frostily. “We shall see Mrs. Lloyd. Now.”
Reluctantly, the butler showed them into the morning room, where Mrs. Lloyd was writing letters.
Solomon repeated their request to Mrs. Lloyd, who also looked somewhat doubtful.
“The strong room?” she repeated. “Do you think it will help?”
“We think it will. We want to examine the chest.”
“Well…I shall have to come with you.”
“Of course.”
Mrs. Lloyd led the way across the hall to the staircase under Garrick’s expressionless gaze. Childishly, Constance wanted to stick her tongue out at him.
“Wait here,” Mrs. Lloyd said, abandoning them outside the strong room door, while she continued up the next flight of stairs.
Beside Constance, Solomon flexed his fingers, a sign of excitement she recognized. She brushed her knuckles against his and he smiled. Mrs. Lloyd was not long in returning with the familiar ring of keys.
“I have just realized I cannot help you,” she said. “Only my husband and my son know how to open the strong room, or even which key to use.”
“If you will allow me, I believe I can remember,” Solomon said.
“He showed you?” The words seemed involuntary, blurted in sheer surprise.
“He did.”
Solomon found the large, complicated key and turned it the requisite number of times before finding and lifting the flap that revealed the second lock. Constance glanced at Mrs. Lloyd, who seemed to gazing everywhere except at the door.
Because in fact, she already knew how? Or because she genuinely wasn’t interested? Perhaps Lloyd had somehow trained her to be so, with his humiliating withholding of treats and information.
Solomon swung the door open and Constance walked in, deliberately ahead of Mrs. Lloyd. She crouched down, feeling the rough old wood of the chest, repeatedly fingering the wood beneath the broken iron flap of the fastening.
She raised her eyes to Solomon’s. “Nothing is carved there. No initials. Nothing.”
*
