I even realized, from something someone said, that within the club there was a form of secret society, which I never fully grasped the objective of!
The two paranormal investigators, with me there, vaguely told me of some of their discoveries that could well rival major discoveries at the time, which were never reported, and which they had vast amounts of evidence and documentation of.
It had activities that gave colossal amounts of new findings, and I was astounded at the connections and potential assistance they had and provided.
Chapter 10
The streets and lanes glowed in the last rays of sunlight, surrounding the headquarters of Reality Investigations, and it looked as though it was altering into a form of modern ghost town.
Pale golden shadows swept out from city structures, in gigantic shapes, probing out into the skyline.
Marple grabbed a bottle of whisky and poured me and him glasses full of whisky, and he firmly screwed the cap back on the bottle and put it away, and we sat back at the fireplace, and listened to a distant vehicle and vocal tones absurdly mingle and I realized Marple had something.
A few minutes later the phone’s ring disturbed him, and put him off what he was doing, and it had him going through the clients that he might have overlooked, but it eluded him, and he rushed over and answered it.
He listened and agreed with the caller and put the phone down and sat back in his seat, drinking his whisky, listening to crackles from the fire, and I discussed our past adventures, and he promised me more.
About an hour later I heard someone enter the building below, and his secretary announced an arrival through an intercom.
Marple put out his pipe and briskly considered the case, from different perspectives, and I spotted he was confused over what we were dealing with, and he eventually laughed, confusedly, and eventually just relaxed into his seat.
Outside the traffic and voices seemed to vanish, like into mist, and I sat in deep thought, and it became more intriguing!
His secretary rushed up the stairs and swiftly let the man in the room, without knocking, and I was staggered when I looked around and saw Dr Barrymore, as he shifted wearily forward, and I realized straightaway he was dreadfully ill and he could now hardly even walk, and clearly had serious medical conditions.
I examined him quickly wondering why he had gone to such lengths to get there, and it made me gasp, and I considered the war once again, and the dangers ahead, and wondered if the current events and intense bombings had helped his demise.
Dr Barrymore rushed into a seat, rested, exhausted, trying to recover, but not properly, and I noticed he had some documents he held firmly in his fist.
He observed us sitting around the table drinking and removed chewing tobacco and chewed off a lump, placing the remainder in his interior pocket.
Marple rushed over and got a drink for him, and returned, and placed it in front of him.
“What’s happened?” Marple asked. “What have you?”
“It’s that eighteenth century document and treasure!” he announced, and we looked up, from staring in the fire.
He rested, and continued, “The information on the artifact I’ve been looking for comes from accumulated sources, only known by me, and the individual sources, which have been proven to have occurred in 1568…”
I was still surprised in what he said, and as I had forgotten of what he had told me at our last meeting, and Marple seemed to come to and recall what transpired.
“According what I’ve found,” Dr Barrymore continued, “Valuable jewels were left near where it was concealed!”
“Near the artifact?” Marple instantly asked, confused. “Was that some form of clue?”
“Perhaps! For centuries the lost jewels have been thought to exist by a few explorers, who have carried out searches.”
“So you still want us to help you find it?”
“I’ve recently located a form of map!” he gasped, trying to rest.
“What do you want us to do?” I asked, curiously.
“I discovered something of significant importance that could be of great interest to mankind! Yes! I will need your help!”
“Mankind!” Marple gasped, and sat back examining him, and silently gulped, and lit his pipe.
“According to legends some people have been found dead after searching for it…”
“They’re just legends?” I joked, smiling.
He nodded, and examined me a little more closely.
For a moment I considered there being a danger and wondered why it would still exist, and doubted the value of the objects, as all the archaeology and museum discoveries were currently usually worthless, except to historians like him.
I knew that he had been given a major clue to its location, and I watched him open the document and remove something from its interior, and hand it over to Marple, and I sat next to Marple, examining the ancient tattered piece of parchment, where there were lines and words scribbled over it, as though the person had been doing something and was in a great rush to finish it!
“What date do you make it?” I asked, amazed at its age.
Before Dr Barrymore replied Marple replied, “Around 1568!”
“So it’s a 1568 map?” I asked Dr Barrymore, and he agreed.
I thought about it but still did not know what it meant, and I wondered what he wanted us to do!
Marple finally finished examining it and placed it on the table, and looked over and asked, “So you want us to find the place on the map? With our experienced investigators…”
“Yes! Marple! I’d really like that! I also want you to search for it when you do, and phone me for any information, which I may be able to provide! I’m sure the treasure is still there, and I’d really just like it to be found!”
What I could not understand was why he was so confident with so little clues, and I wondered if he had been checking such things and proving their authentication, and it occurred to me that if everything he said was true then the accounts of its deadliness could also be true!
Chapter 11
What was incredible was I realized I had not solved anything in my first case and what had happened to me at Craigmillar Road, and I could not grasp what would happen, as every puzzle and mystery seemed to be or was being solved everywhere else, by some means, and Marple forced me into taking another visit there, and ordered me to solve it as quickly as possible.
I realized he had read my report on what had happened and had entirely missed what had occurred and what I meant, and I could not explain any further anything of what had happened and he never seemed to think anything had happened to me, and I realized again that even though he had a great interest in investigating the paranormal he never believed it, and consistently explained it with logical solutions, and he believed that he could explain virtually anything, and as I made my way back to the house at Craigmillar Road I realized that I would really like to find something of that nature, and which he could not answer!
The elderly woman was delighted to see me and did everything to welcome me in and not put me off the case, and at dinner we discussed the case and she told me what had been happening since I left and she told me that the haunting had continued occurring every night at the same time, and had increased since my visit, and that neighbors in the surrounding buildings and streets had witnessed strange occurrences like it, and she showed me mentions of it in newspapers and other publications.