“Well, yes, that’s all true, but at that point there was no way to know… I mean, it was only what we found out later… I mean, there was no way you could have…”
“Yes?” She was looking at him with her eyes wide and her chin resting on her clasped hands. “There was no way I could have…?”
“Okay,” he said, laughing. “I admit it, you were right after all. If only I’d listened.”
Along with the drinks came the total bar tab. Gideon looked at it. “Seventy-two pounds,” he said with a wince. “Ah, well, I guess I owe it to them. I sure spoiled their day.” He took a moody sip from his glass. “I didn’t do anything for mine either.”
“Oh, well,” Julie said, “look on the bright side.”
“You’re sure good at that,” he said with a smile. “Looking on the bright side. So tell me, what is it?”
“Well,” she said, her eyes twinkling, “looks to me as if you’ve gone and come up with the biggest scam since Piltdown Man after all.”
This aspect was not lost on Lester Rizzo, whom they ran into at the airport snack bar the next morning, waiting for their flight to London.
Lester wedged his ham and cheese sandwich and paper cup of coffee into one big hand so he could churn Gideon’s with the other. “Gideon, my man-”
“Lester, I’m really sorry I spoiled your party last night.”
Lester stared at him. “Are you kidding me? That was the best book launch in history. Outstanding! It’ll get picked up all over the world. It’ll put Javelin on the map. I mean, we’ll have to eat his stupid book, but what the hey, that’s life.”
“Well, you know, I do plan to put in a chapter on the whole affair in Bones to Pick, so that should-”
“Chapter? Screw ‘chapter.’ We’re gonna do a whole book on the thing. I already came up with the title. Ready?” He cleared his throat. “ Shame! – that’s shame with an exclamation point – Shame! Murder, Lies, and Skuldiggery in Gibraltar. And then under that: Bad to the Bone. Well, I’m not sure of that last part. It might be Science Gone Wrong instead. So what do you think?” He bit off a corner of the sandwich with an audible snap of his teeth and looked happily, expectantly, at them.
Julie spoke first. “I believe that’s ‘skull dug gery,’ isn’t it?”
“It’s a pun,” Lester explained. “Dig… archaeology… see?”
“Oh. Yes, I see.”
Lester was not pleased. “Well, what do you think, Gideon?”
“Umm…”
“And I already know who’s going to write it.”
“Oh? Who?” Gideon asked in all innocence.
“You, of course!” Lester said with a honk of a laugh. “The only thing is, we need to come out fast with this because there’s gonna be lots of competition, so I need the manuscript in three months. That’s not gonna be a problem, is it? I mean, you know more about it than anybody. Interested?”
“Uh, well, to tell the truth, Lester-”
Lester circled in closer. “I was figuring on doubling your last advance, ” he said conspiratorially.
“No, it’s not that. It’s just not something I-”
“Oh, gosh,” Julie said, “they just announced our flight for the second time. We’d better get going, Gideon.”
“Whew. Thanks, kid,” Gideon said once they’d made their quick good-byes and were headed for the gate.
“Maybe I could triple it!” Lester was bellowing exultantly after them, the words muffled by a mouthful of ham and cheese. “I’ll be in touch, buddy!”
TWENTY-SEVEN
They had been assigned the same seats, 17A and 17B, for the British Airways return flight to Heathrow, so as the plane banked on its ascent, they were once again treated to a panoramic view of the Rock and the clustered settlement at its base.
“There’s the Moorish Castle,” Julie said thoughtfully. “The prison. Is that where Rowley is now?”
“I imagine he’s still in a holding cell at New Mole House,” Gideon said, “but that’s probably where he’ll spend the rest of his life. It’s their one and only prison.”
“How awful. Can you imagine what must be like inside? What the cells must be like? No windows, no daylight, just cold, damp, six-hundred -year-old stone walls…” She shuddered and turned away. “Not that he doesn’t deserve it,” she finished.
“Mmm,” Gideon agreed just as he caught a whiff of Irish whiskey and sensed someone leaning forward from the row behind. Oh, boy, he thought.
“Actually,” the plummy familiar voice from Seat 18B intoned, “it’s closer to seven hundred years than six. It was constructed in 1335, on the site of a still older Moorish structure. And the term Moorish Castle, although in common use, has no basis in fact. More properly, it’s the Tower of Homage, which was part of an extensive, intricate complex of walls and courtyards-”
“Oh, dear,” Julie whispered.
“-presumably with some defensive capabilities, but primarily – and this aspect is quite interesting…”
Gideon sank back his seat and closed his eyes. It was going to be a long three hours.