Page 46 of The Trick of the Treasure
“No,” Mr. Grey replied. “I’m sure it has long gone, but some clues might be left behind.”
Christine’s mind was swirling with alarm. Somehow, this would be her fault. She really needed to speak to Sydney before they went haring off to the ship.
“You had better collect your father,” she said instinctively. Surely it washisdevious hand, not Sydney’s, that she sensed in all of this, whether a secret insurance cheat or some other, more Machiavellian maneuver. He would have to get himself out of it.
She had never seen the so-called treasure. For all she knew, it could have been glass beads and base metal that would neverrevive the family fortunes. Barnabas had gambled everything on this trip that everyone else had told him was foolish.
As his inquiry people and Sydney went rushing out of the house, she stood still on the landing, deep in thought.
“What on earth is happening, Mama?”
Jemimah and Rachel stood on the stairs above, leaning over the banister.
“I really don’t know. It seems someone might have played a trick on us. Your father’s clever detectives believe the treasure was never in our house.”
Jemimah’s eyebrows flew up. Then she laughed. “No wonder we weren’t allowed to see inside the chest,” she said cynically.
Like Christine, she assumed the trick was Barnabas’s.Was it?
“Oh, no, it wasn’t Papa who tricked us,” Rachel said. “Don’t you remember how furious he was? He reallydidmean to show me the treasure that morning.”
“Of course he did, dear,” Christine said hurriedly. “I’m sure it’s Mr. Grey and Mrs. Silver who have misunderstood everything. To the schoolroom with you, Rachel. I shall be along in a moment. Jemimah…”
She waited until Rachel had dragged herself back to the top of the stairs and Jemimah stood beside her on the landing before she continued in a low voice, “Don’t go telling people all this.”
“As if I would,” Jemimah said innocently.
But there was a spark of mischief in her eyes that was almost excitement. And God help them all, she was Barnabas’s daughter.
Christine caught her arm. “Jemimah, you’re not playing some kind of foolish trick on your father, are you? Imagining you are avenging some other trick, or out-tricking him?”
“Of course not!” Jemimah laughed, more amused than shocked.
“Because if we don’t get this treasure back, it affectsallof us. Do you understand?”
Jemimah tugged free. “Talk to Sydney, not me.”
Chapter Ten
“Tell us aboutthe ship’s crew,” Constance said to Sydney, as much for Solomon’s quest as for the resolution of this increasingly bizarre case.
They were in her carriage, en route to one of Barnabas Lloyd’s lesser clubs to collect him before going to the ship.
“The crew?” Sydney said. “I don’t really know anything about them. Captain Tybalt dealt with them.”
“Your father gave Tybalt free rein to pick his own men?” How odd, when he went to such lengths to control other aspects of his life. “He must place a lot of trust in this captain.”
“Oh, they’ve sailed together for years, off and on,” Sydney said without much interest.
“Is he ever a guest in your house?” Solomon asked.
Sydney looked at him as if he had grown horns. “Of course not.” He was silent a moment. “Come to think of it, I don’t believe he’s ever been in the house for any reason. I’ve certainly never seen him there. My father contacts him when he needs him for expeditions, and he sees to the seaworthiness of theQueenand engages the crew.”
“Always the same crew?” Constance asked quickly.
“Don’t know, to be honest. Old Silas Cauley—he of the treasure map—had certainly sailed with Tybalt and my father several times before ill health caught up with him.”
“How many men were there on the crew for this last expedition?”
