‘You cannot do that!’ said Amaanat, alarmed.
‘Your monastery might be on the mountain, but you don’t own it, do you? I can get permission to explore it easily enough.’
‘There is only one route up the mountain, and you cannot reach it without going through our monastery. We will not let you do that.’
‘Then we’ll climb around you. Or even fly over you. I checked, and you’re well below a helicopter’s maximum altitude.’ She let him think about the situation for a moment. ‘You want to keep the Midas Cave a secret, don’t you?’ she asked, more conciliatory. ‘I can give you my personal assurance of that.’
‘You will not tell anything that you learn to others?’
‘I told you, all I want to do is finish my mother’s work. I give you my word.’
Another long silence from the other side of the world, then: ‘We will not tell you more about the Midas Cave over the telephone. Only in person.’
‘Wait, that’s not what—’
Amaanat seemed to anticipate her objection, interrupting even with the time lag of the satellite transmission. ‘If you come to the monastery — and keep your promise that you will not tell others of the Midas Cave — then your questions will be answered. And your mother’s.’
‘You want me to come to you? In Nepal?’
‘If you decide to come, telephone and tell us when you will arrive. We will be waiting.’ The line’s hollow echo ceased abruptly.
Nina blinked in surprise. ‘What the hell just happened?’ she said.
But the more important question was unspoken: what was she going to do about it?
‘You want to do what?’ Eddie demanded.
‘I want to go to Nepal,’ repeated Nina. ‘The monks at Detsen monastery know about the Midas Cave. The abbot said he’ll tell me the secret — but only if I go in person.’
‘Are you fu— frickin’ kidding?’ She had sent Macy to play in her room before starting a discussion that she knew would become heated. Even so, Eddie only barely managed to hold back an obscenity. ‘You can’t go to Nepal!’
‘Why not?’
‘Because it’s fu— sod— really stupid! How do you know they’re not having you on?’
‘Eddie, they’re Buddhist monks,’ she said. ‘I don’t think they’d ask me to fly to the other side of the world for a joke.’
‘I don’t mean they’re joking. I mean they might be lying.’
‘Seriously?’
‘They lied to your mum.’
‘Yes, but to protect the cave’s secret. Now that I know it’s there, they’re willing to tell me about it, in return for my keeping quiet.’
‘And what if they decide to make sure you’ll keep quiet by pushing you off the mountain?’
‘Yeah, I’d thought of that. But I’ll let the IHA know where I’m going, even if I don’t say why, in case anything does happen to me. And you’ll know too, of course,’ she added.
‘Of course,’ he echoed sarcastically. ‘So you’re going to jet off to Nepal for a week on your own?’
‘I won’t be gone a week! Three, four days, tops. Fly out, travel to the monastery, see whatever’s in the cave, leave.’
‘Nepal isn’t exactly known for its network of motorways and bullet trains.’
‘I already checked,’ she said. ‘I can fly into Kathmandu and charter an internal flight to Bajura or Jumla. There’s a road to within about ten miles of the monastery, and I can ride or hike from there.’
‘Oh, just like that?’
‘Eddie, I have done this before,’ she protested.
He shook his head. ‘It’s still a stupid idea.’
Nina knew she wouldn’t convince him with logistics alone. ‘This is really important to me, hon,’ she said, her voice softening. ‘It’s… it’s a connection to my mom, one I didn’t know I had until now.’ She glanced across to the photograph on the wall of herself with her parents. The image brought back thoughts of the day it had been taken, the strands of which she tried to follow to other memories of her mother. But time had blurred and fragmented them, turning their life together into a dissociated collage…
‘I’m losing her, Eddie,’ she admitted. ‘As I get older, and further away, she’s fading in my mind. I don’t want that to happen. I want to do something that’ll bring us close again — something that’ll honour her memory.’ She gestured at the stacked notes. ‘She worked on this for years, and was so close to finding the truth. If I go to Nepal, I can finish what she started. There’s something else, too,’ she added, sensing that he was about to raise another objection. ‘You remember at the movie premiere, when Marvin asked “What have you done for us lately?” That really hit home.’
He frowned, perplexed. ‘It was just a joke.’
‘Maybe, but it felt true. What have I done lately? I wrote my books, and I did the interview circuit and some lectures, but… that’s all. I’m an archaeologist, and I’ve said it before: it’s not just what I do, it’s who I am. And for the past few years, I haven’t done any new archaeological work. I haven’t been able to be who I am.’
‘That’s ’cause you’re something else an’ all,’ he reminded her. ‘You’re a mum. A good one, too — a bit weird, mind—’
‘Thanks.’
‘—but you’ve always been there for Macy. Isn’t that more important?’
She gave him an icy look. ‘Sounds like you’re saying I should give up everything to stay home and look after my baby.’
Eddie was wrong-footed by the accusation. ‘That’s not what I’m saying, and you know it.’
‘No? I never stopped you from doing what you felt you had to do after Macy was born. Well this is what I do, Eddie. It’s a part of me, something I can’t deny. And I can’t fight it for ever. I’ve got the itch.’
He gave her a half-smile. ‘There’s a cream for that.’
Nina returned it. ‘I knew the moment I said it that you’d come back with something like that.’ But the joke had cut through the rising tension. ‘Look, I know you probably think I’m crazy. But I need to do it. I need to know. You understand that, don’t you?’
Eddie nodded reluctantly. ‘Yeah, I understand. And I do think you’re crazy… but I knew that when I married you.’ He sighed. ‘You’re definitely, absolutely going to go, aren’t you?’
‘How can I not? But you and Macy’ll be able to do whatever you want without me fussing around. I’m sure that’ll be great fun—’
‘If you’re going, I’m going.’
Nina was startled. ‘You want to come?’
‘I don’t want to come,’ insisted Eddie. ‘But I know what you’re like. If I don’t keep an eye on you, you’ll get distracted by some ancient relic and start chasing around the world on a massive treasure hunt.’
‘No I won’t. I told you, as soon as I’ve seen the Midas Cave, I’ll come straight back. But if you come, what about Macy?’
‘We’ll have to ask Holly to look after her.’
‘What if she can’t?’
‘Then maybe, just maybe, it might be a good idea for you to wait a while before doing this,’ he said pointedly. ‘For that matter, maybe you should see what Macy thinks. She might not want her mum and dad to go away for three or four days.’
‘Are you going away?’ came a small voice. They both turned to see Macy peeking around the doorway.
‘We might be, love,’ said Eddie. ‘We haven’t decided yet.’