Upon my first entrance of the building he had me rushed up the stairs to his office, and introduced as Mike Malone, previously a news reporter, to the new investigators, and I was given a seat.
Marple held a meeting with the investigators there discussing the end of the war, and at the end of the meeting introduced me to a new distinctive/strange case, which baffled me, as I had been sure I had done everything, after the past affairs, and the alien discovery, and what must surely be the greatest scientific discovery mankind ever encountered.
He bestowed the case at the end of the meeting with little knowledge of what it was fully about, other than it was of interest to him to see how I handled it, as my first case in London, and to see if I was doing what he wanted, and to see what I would come up with, and left me in confusion, as he gave me little.
After examining the few facts I became convinced it was just someone playing a festive season drink induced prank, dressed as a department store Santa Claus, and all that was mentioned was a woman had phoned claiming a department store Santa had scared her at her home.
Although what happened reminded me of what had happened on my first case and a woman had phoned claiming to have seen ghosts, and I sensed something, and saw Marple had reacted in the same way, but I did not know why.
Furthermore, before I undertook it, something else emerged, and a new client, McMurdo, phoned Marple, with another strange case, to Marple’s surprise, and they arranged a meeting, and I stayed to see what he was so desperate to do, and I wondered what was going to happen, and what the outcome would be, and slowly detected Marple had excitedly become interested, and that money was surely involved, and I wondered if it was because it Christmas or the company opening its new headquarters.
I sat at the fireplace and watched Marple put up his Christmas tree in the corner of the room, introducing the festive season, and he poured us full glasses of his best whisky, and jumped into his seat, and I saw the last of the sunlight vanishing.
I studied buildings looking for bomb damage from the war.
As I shifted my seat closer to the fire his new secretary shoved open the door and rushed in and introduced McMurdo, and I was surprised to see him enter in his dirty dusty work clothes, from the top of the stairs, weary and exhausted, looking nervous.
He looked as if he had just finished working at a building site, and I could not grasp why he was so nervous, and what he wanted.
I considered if there was money in the building trade, now that the war was over, with all the damaged buildings, and them rebuilding the city.
I was slightly disappointed, as I expected more, and expected he would be wealthy, and I considered why Marple thought there was money involved, and spotted Marple looked disappointed for a few seconds, and he gave McMurdo a seat at the fireplace, which he gladly took and rested in, and excepted a glass of whisky.
After a while Marple asked him what he wanted, and he shoved his hand into his inner pocket, and apprehensively removed what looked like the remains of a folded up crumpled rag, which I identified as some form of ancient paper, and he nervously sat holding it while looking at it and his drink, and I suddenly spotted he had encountered something of immense danger, and I wondered what could do such a thing to such a man, and I considered the events that had occurred due to the war.
“This is a very ancient document!” he announced, and Marple looked up as he opened it up, and looked startled.
He stared at it, and Marple continued, “I’ve some experience of dating documents! Even though it looks far too old and unique for me to recognize…”
He took the ancient piece of paper and marched over and handed it over to Marple, and backed away to his seat.
Marple had a look of surprise and confusion, and asked him, “Perhaps you should tell us what happened, and why you need us — including what you told me on the phone, in more detail, and we perhaps may help you!”
“Alright I shall!” he replied, and relaxed more. “I work on the underground line… We’re extending the underground train line… We drill out the muck and rocks! With all the bomb damage and extra work we’ve been running behind schedule… So they’ve employed more workers, and we work later hours…”
“Where are you working?” I asked, curiously.
“Near London Bridge!” he replied, looking out at where the river was. “We were digging the rubble out the tunnel and increasing the size of part of the tunnel when the tunnel wall collapsed in… Revealing a large hidden cavity in the side of the tunnel… The ground inside the cavity collapsed and fell into a deep cavity below…”
He held his head, and quickly pulled himself together, and straightened up, and continued, “It was not just a cavity though… It was part of some buried away ancient construction, and we found a large cavity deep below. We were sure it had tunnels and ancient artifacts…”
“Of great value?” I replied.
He nodded his head, and I wondered what he was talking about, as why the hell would ancient underground artifacts, tunnels, and cavities be so significant, and to such a guy, at the most archeologists would be called in to explore it.
Again I wondered what he was so frightened of, and I was more confused than I had been.
I recalled underground tunnels and hideouts being in other cities, and realized that there could be some there!
To my surprise he replied, “The origins of that piece of paper was told to me to be nearly two thousand years old…”
Marple looked at it, clearly still wondering what he was after, and why he was so frightened.
McMurdo continued, “According to accounts and legends I found! Valuable treasure was concealed near where something was concealed!”
“Near where what was concealed?” I gasped, looking startled.
Marple looked at him calmly, and I looked deep into the fire, and listened.
“I found that ancient map hidden on a skeleton in the cavity! It will not be long before the cavity will be buried away, as we have to finish the repairs and railway line…”
“What do you want us to do?” I replied, cautiously.
“I’ve just come into new information that could allow you to locate it!”
I could not grasp if it actually existed, and sat considering it, and everything he said.
“According to myths,” he continued, “many people have been found dead searching for it down there! There could be something of great danger, where it’s been concealed!”
“What’ll we do then?” I asked, curiously, looking over at Marple, waiting to see if Marple said anything.
“You’ll have to wait until I’m ready!” McMurdo replied first, and stood up. “I could have a major clue to its location, and I’m sure I can discover something of significant importance! I will need your help to recover it!”
“We’ll do that!” Marple replied firmly.
When he had left the building, and returned home, I started to doubt what he was after was of value other than to archaeology and museums, for historical value, and I was sure he was just trying to get us to go out our way to get it for him, and I wondered if it was also because it was of great danger.
Chapter 2
My first investigation in London seemed strange, which I could not identify, and the elderly widow client left me confused, as she claimed she had seen Santa Claus in her house in the middle of the night, and she claimed he had a strange ghostly appearance, and I could not identify why.
So I questioned her over again, and took it she had witnessed something unusual in the night, while leaving her bed, upon hearing noises below, and there seemed to me to be no case to investigate as no crime had been committed, and she said she was not bothered about him being there to my surprise, and nothing seemed to suggest he had done anything, and I wondered why she was not bothered about him being there, in her house at night, and why she had reported it, and she never replied why.