Splintered Icon (36 page)

I was screaming inside. 'Well?'

She looked at me and smiled. The smile broadened. Then she put her hand over her mouth and giggled, and then she was leaning against the wall and laughing. Then her laughter drifted into something like hysterics, and it was infectious, and she was sliding down the wall, and in spite of ourselves we were laughing at her out-of-control laughter.

'For Christ's sake, woman!' I managed to say.

She paused, looked at me, spluttered, threw her head back and shrieked some more. And at last, when she had regained control, she said, 'You owe this to Doctor Dee, Harry, the Elizabethan 007.'

'You mean...?'

She gave me a warm, happy smile and said, 'I'd go for the Aston Martin.'

THE END

Acknowledgements and Notes

That Raleigh's 1585 voyage to North America had a hidden purpose is a serious if controversial proposition, due originally to Simon Cassidy. The secret calendar of Dr John Dee is central to this proposition and I am indebted to Simon Cassidy and Duncan Steel for discussions about these and similar matters. The machinations involved, along with the amazing significance of calendars throughout human history, are superbly described in
Marking Time,
by Duncan Steel (John Wiley and Sons, 2000).

I am grateful to Daniela Rohr for an introduction to the legal complexities which would lie behind claims of ownership of the holy triptych of the novel. Mike Bartle gave me valuable information on Elizabethan sailing and shared some of his knowledge of ocean canoeing with me. The staff of the Jamaica Archives in Spanish Town, and of the public library in Armagh, Northern Ireland, were extremely helpful, as was Sue Wales, administrative officer of the Bodleian library. Alecia Hyatt of Tropical Tours at Ocho Rios helped me with Jamaican patois, as did Apostolis Christou with Greek. And I am indebted to Jay Tate, formerly of the British Army, for a description of what it is like to be shot in the arm: much as I enjoy carrying out first-hand research for my novels, this was one area where I preferred to rely on the experience of others.