Mariah Mundi and the Ghost Diamonds (25 page)

They walked in single file up yet another flight of narrow stairs. At the top they came to a small landing. It was dark. A small green lamp shone about their feet. Lucius mumbled to himself as he turned the key and pushed against the brass plate. The door opened and flooded the landing with bright electric light.

‘Come in,’ exclaimed Zogel loudly as the guard pushed Mariah into the room. ‘I thought while we waited I could show you something of interest.’

Mariah looked about the room. It was like the inside of a palace. Fine Ottoman carpets littered the floors in between long sofas, and on every wall there was an electric light covered in a large glass shell. The colour of each light changed with the movement of the ship. In the middle of the room was a balcony rail that surrounded two wooden flaps edged in brass. Again, Mariah noticed there were no windows, just row upon row of tiny blacked-out portholes on every side. He found himself smiling with surprise.

‘Knew you would like this place,’ Zogel said quickly, as if he wanted to tell them a great secret. ‘Even though I hate the sea, I love the ship. I was even thinking of having it built into my garden – but then again, Palmetto City has enough ships of its own.’

‘Has Captain Charity agreed to give you the diamonds?’ Mariah asked.

Zogel looked towards Lucius in the hope he would answer for him. There was a long, uncomfortable silence.

‘I thought I would show you something that would interest you,’ Zogel said. ‘It’s my latest invention. That’s what I specialise in – inventions, things that make the world a better place.’

‘Charity said all you invented was things to kill people and kill them quickly,’ Mariah replied, his voice rasping with anger.

‘A matter of opinion. If the guiltless Captain were here I would explain myself to him. Those are strange words from a man who has used my inventions for his own glory. I wonder if he has had a change of heart? What I invent brings wars to an end and stops the suffering of the unfortunates who get stuck in the cataract of greed. I provide a service.’ Zogel smiled as he stepped forward and nodded to the guard. ‘What I want to show you is not a weapon of war, but something I thought would distract you from the idleness of your temporary confinement.’

Zogel pressed a small button on the balcony railing and the two oak doors began to slowly slide apart. Mariah stared down, aware that Sacha had stepped closer to him. He could feel her breath on the back of his neck. He shrugged uncomfortably, not wanting her near.

As the floor opened the room was filled with a bright, deep purple light. There was a sudden hiss of steam as a platform in the cavernous room below came nearer. As Mariah shaded his

eyes from the brightness he could make out the shape of what looked like a wooden boat.

As it got nearer he realised that it had a roof with two glass domes at the front. The vessel looked like the face of a giant frog edged in brass. At the rear was a large propeller.

Zogel impatiently tapped the balcony rail as the machine came closer. He pressed the button again and the platform stopped.

‘See – what an invention! An electric submersible, faster than a shark.’ He laughed.

‘For under the sea?’ Sacha asked.

‘Precisely, my girl. An invention of exploration and not war. What would Captain Jack say to that?’ he asked.

‘I’m sure you would find a way of using it to destroy your enemies,’ Mariah replied.

‘Sceptical as ever, young Mariah. I show it to you because that is how you will be taken to the harbour and that is how the Ghost Diamonds will be brought back to the ship. No one will ever know what has happened because no one will see.’

Zogel pressed the button again and the submersible slipped back into the hold and the doors closed.

‘There is, however, one thing I forgot to tell your dear Captain … .’ Zogel laughed as he spoke.

F
ROM
his hiding place in the small copse of yew trees by the side of the town hall, Jack Charity could see the
Iren
zee
in the bay. The growing storm broke waves as high as houses over its bows. The long anchor chains trailed from the ship and into the dark sea. They strained as the waves grew and the swell became more intense. In the dark shadows of the trees Charity waited. He took a fob watch from his pocket and counted the seconds go by. The church clock reminded him of the time as it chimed the seventh hour after midday. All around the wind blew stronger, rattling the branches like sabres above his head and shrieking through the chimney pots of the houses on King Street. In the room two floors above him, a light came on and the figure of a man came to the leaded window.

Charity looked up. He wanted to be sure before he moved from the cover of the trees. Moving from under the branches, closer to the wall, he watched the man pull on his cloak and place a thick gold chain on his shoulders. The man looked younger than Charity, thinner and yet weary. His hand shook slightly as he fumbled for the clasp on the mayoral chain.

Ebenezer Wolf, Charity thought as he pulled the scarf over

his face, walked to the wall and began to climb the cast-iron pipe that went up through the canopy of yew trees to the roof. Soon he had climbed to the top of the town hall. A long stone balustrade circled the roof. Here and there thick glass skylights were wedged into the dripping grey slates. Charity pulled the first tile and opened up a small hole into the roof. He stacked the slates neatly before sliding inside. He had done this as a boy and remembered the way.

It wasn’t long before he was standing outside a door in the darkened passageway on the third floor. A silver-white light outlined the door. Inside he could hear a man speaking to himself. The voice repeated the same words over and over, each time changing the speed and tone, as if practising to get the speech perfect.

Charity knew the man was alone. He reached for the door handle and turned it quietly, then stepped inside. He locked the door behind him.

The room was warm and dazzlingly lit with several candelabra filled with candles. A coal fire burnt brightly in a large marble fireplace. It looked to Charity like a grand office. There was a day bed and a wardrobe in the corner and two chairs by the fire. A large cluttered desk stood next to the window, and by the desk was a man. He was wearing a long red cloak with an ermine collar. Around his neck was a mayoral chain of links and charms.

‘Say nothing,’ Charity said to the man as he pointed the pistol at his head.

‘I’ve got nothing to steal – only this chain. Is it worth the gallows for that?’ the man asked.

‘I’m not here to steal – just for you to keep your word. When I remove my mask you will not speak.’

‘Agreed,’ the man said nervously as Charity pulled the scarf from his face. There was silence as the man thought he looked

at a ghost. ‘Jack … You’re
dead
!’ he said, unable to believe who held him at gunpoint.

‘Twice dead in one day, Ebenezer Wolf. But I am very much alive, dear friend. I need your help.’ Charity put the gun back inside his coat.

For several minutes Charity told Ebenezer Wolf everything of the conspiracy. He spoke of the Society of Truth, Zogel and Bardolph. The Mayor sat in his chair and listened as he chewed his lip, one eye kept on the large oval clock above the door.

‘If this is true, Jack, then no one is safe,’ said Ebenezer as he tapped the leather on the top of the large desk that separated the two men. ‘There is nothing I can do tonight – it is the banquet.’

‘You will be asked to sign over the Prince Regent to a man called Bardolph. Walpole will say that I am dead. As you can see I am very much alive.’

‘And a wanted man. They say you murdered your guests,’ Wolf replied as he stood up and walked to the fireplace. ‘I couldn’t believe it – not Jack Charity.’

‘An elaborate plot, Ebenezer. Three of the most influential people in the world murdered in one night in my hotel.’ Charity then took a small, bread-like slice of hexagenamite from his pocket and placed it on the desk. ‘They planted this in the Golden Kipper,’ he said as he prodded the explosive with his finger. ‘Smutch was wise enough to hide it away. A mouthful of this and death quickly follows. It is how they murdered Hoetzendorf and the others.’

‘Was that Bardolph?’ Wolf asked nervously.

‘Baron Hoetzendorf and the American Ambassador were members of the Society of Truth. But I sense someone other than Bardolph had them killed,’ he replied. ‘I have to find Mariah and clear my name – but whatever happens, refuse to sign over the Prince Regent.’

‘It may be harder than you think, Jack,’ Ebenezer Wolf said nervously. ‘Walpole has insisted I see him tonight. I don’t think I can refuse. They have already asked me to sign the certificate of your death and hand over the hotel.’

‘But you have to refuse. I am not dead,’ Charity protested.

‘It is only a matter of time,’ Wolf said as he tapped nervously on the mantelpiece. ‘Walpole will find you – he is bound to. He knows too much about me … If it came out … I was indiscreet – a foible of foibles, an idiosyncrasy that I thought would do no harm …’

‘Just stall them until the morning. Please – for an old friend.’

‘Until the morning and then it will have to be,’ Wolf replied as he dropped his head and stared at the carpet. He couldn’t look Jack Charity in the face. ‘We all do stupid things in our life. The only thing is you never expect them to be held against you. I was trying to help a friend – and now Walpole has enough to blackmail me. It was injudicious, I –’

‘Don’t tell me what happened. Some things are best left unsaid,’ Charity interrupted. ‘I pray that by the morning I will have enough to put Walpole in prison. Then whatever you have done will matter not.’

‘If that could be so, Jack,’ he replied downcast. ‘I would gladly swap your place on the gallows for my life.’

Ebenezer Wolf was about to go on when there was a sharp knocking at the door. He gestured for Charity to be silent and then pointed to the wardrobe by the day bed. Charity crossed the room quietly, opened the door and hid inside. It smelt of pine needles, snow and fur coats. He listened as Wolf went to the door.

‘Ebenezer! Ebenezer!’ came the voice from outside the room. Charity recognised Walpole’s desperate screams. ‘We have to speak to you before the banquet. It is of great importance.’

Charity could hear Ebenezer crossing the oak floor, the metal weights on the hem of his oversized cloak dragging clumsily on the wood.

‘Just a minute,’ he said as he slowly turned the key.

‘You were talking – who to?’ Walpole asked as he pushed his way into the room, followed by Grimm and Grendel.

‘It was my speech for tonight. You know me, Inspector. Always nervous of these things. Ever since a lad at school.’

‘I know you very well, Ebenezer. Far better than you would like the world to know,’ Walpole grunted manically as he pulled his sagging cuffs. ‘I hope the
business
we mentioned will be able to take place tonight?’

‘Tonight?’ Ebenezer Wolf asked anxiously. ‘Tonight? Are you sure it would be best?’

‘The sooner the better, Ebenezer, and then perhaps I will forget all I know,’ Walpole replied as Grimm and Grendel kept watch on the door. ‘I would be obliged if the little scrap of paper could be given your mark by midnight.’

‘It will have to wait until the morning, there is much to be said and important guests,’ Ebenezer Wolf went on. ‘Come back first thing and it will be done.’

‘If it is beyond midnight then know my tongue shall wag. By breakfast you will be out on the street and disgrace shall be a mantle on your shoulders,’ Walpole whispered in Ebenezer’s ear.

‘Then we shall go to the banquet together,’ Ebenezer said with a sudden and unexpected change of heart. ‘I know what shall be done. Wait a moment until I get my speech from my desk. I shall have a police escort to the banquet – that shall protect me from any foul play. I shall be like Hamlet’s father and this place shall be my Ellsinore. The law shall not be delayed and the insolence of office will soon be gone … Who would my burden bear? ’

‘Very well, my Lord Mayor,’ Walpole joked sarcastically, not knowing what Ebenezer Wolf had meant. ‘I shall even let you take my arm, right regal-like. Mister Grimm and Mister Grendel shall lead the way and I will introduce you to the Honourable Bardolph – he has all the papers. I’m sure you could be cajoled to sign them at the end of dinner?’ Walpole said amiably as if he spoke to a madman.

Ebenezer Wolf cast a glance to the wardrobe and smiled as if to say goodbye. He reached to the desk and folded the parchment on which his speech was written into the shape of a long envelope. He looked up and tucked it into his jacket pocket. Turning, he looked once more towards where his old friend was hiding.

‘
Oh juice of cursed hebenon
–
We have no friend but resolution
and the briefest end
,’ Ebenezer Wolf whispered as he walked away.

Walpole took Ebenezer Wolf by the arm and led him from the room so he could not escape.

Charity listened for the door to close and the treading footsteps to fade. Sliding the catch of the wardrobe, he slipped back into the world. He felt in his pocket for the slice of hexagenamite and then, when he realised that he had left it upon the desk, looked there. It had gone.

‘Ebenezer …’ he said, realising his friend had taken it. ‘He cannot do this …’

Charity ran from the room to find him, but as he turned the corner of the passageway he realised he could go no further. He would be arrested – the Prince Regent would be lost. It would be his life for that of Ebenezer Wolf. All would be taken away, he thought as he gripped his hands into tight fists.

From the great hall he heard the clanging of the dinner gong. It clattered through the empty corridors of the town hall calling all to silence. Charity ran along the corridor. He knew the

place well. To his left would be a door that would lead to the balcony above the great hall, and there would be shadows there in which he could hide and look upon the gathering below. In the darkness, he would work out a plan. Something in his heart told him that Ebenezer Wolf would eat the hexogenamite so that he could not be blackmailed.

Charity knew that if Walpole had the secrets of another’s heart then it would not be long before he would tell the world. As soon as Ebenezer Wolf had signed the document and was no further use, Walpole would let slip some casual words and the secret would be out.

He remembered Ebenezer’s sudden change of heart and the words he had said: ‘I know what shall be done.’

Charity slipped through the door and into the shadows of the balcony. The great hall was filled with cigar smoke that spiralled in wafts of choking fumes from below. The dim glow of the candles formed crescents of light that surrounded each table. They were like islands set in a dark, impenetrable sea. On each chair, like decorated seals, sat the wise and mighty of the town. Every man waited to be fed as an army of skivvies fussed to fulfil their desires.

Charity didn’t know what to do. There was no way he could speak to Ebenezer without being seen by Walpole. The Mayor sat at the high table overlooking the hall. Below him on the table next to the door were Walpole and Bardolph. The hall was filled with a hundred men.

Around each table the hubbub of conversation grew louder. Walpole looked about him uneasily. Grimm and Grendel sat with Bardolph in silence. Delivered to each table was a plate of goose, its long singed neck dangling over the side. One such steaming plate was processed across the dining hall and presented to Ebenezer like an offering. As each table took their goose, he nodded for all to commence the banquet.

Every man ate hungrily. Charity knew each one by name. They were the fat officials who did more for themselves than the people they served, the bankers and politicians who thought they owned the borough. Some were the idle rich who knew not the hunger of the streets around them. Charity knew if he were to approach Ebenezer he would be seen and arrested. Though his heart was broken he knew he had to stop Ebenezer from taking the hexogenamite.

Ebenezer in his ermine cloak ate in silence, his eyes fixed ahead as if he stared on a distant land. Every now and then he nodded as the man next to him spoke eagerly at his side. Ebenezer didn’t reply. Charity watched as his thoughts tore his heart. He knew that to do anything would cost his life.

Suddenly Ebenezer got to his feet and banged upon the table.

‘This is my last speech,’ he said loudly, smiling at the surprised gathering. ‘For that I am grateful. I have lived a lie and I was to be exposed – by the Inspector of Police and his companions.’

Not a man spoke as Walpole got to his feet. ‘The Mayor is mad,’ he shouted.

‘Let him speak,’ said a man in a blood-red fez hat.

‘And that I shall,’ said Ebenezer as he went on. ‘We are caught in a time when good men are accused of bad things and bad men prosper. I was to be blackmailed –’

‘Lies!’ shouted Walpole as he vaulted onto the small dais and took hold of Ebenezer and tried to force him to the ground.

‘Jack Charity is not dead and was framed for the murders. The killers are in your midst,’ Ebenezer said as he pulled his hand from his pocket. As Walpole strangled him Ebenezer Wolf swallowed a chunk of hexogenamite.

‘No!’ screamed Walpole as he pushed Ebenezer away.

‘If you have tears – prepare to shed them now – for death

will have its day.’ Ebenezer clutched his stomach and gripped the walls with his stiffening fingers.

The crowd shrank back in silence as the swirling cigar smoke wisped to the high vaulted ceiling like a blue smog.

‘Charity is innocent. May these be my last words,’ Ebenezer said as he started to foam as the mouth. ‘What I have done in my life should not be held against me. Walpole would have blackmailed me to say that Charity is dead when he is not –
he
lives
!’