Artifact (28 page)

Lane didn’t meet us at the hospital. A pair of new shoes had been dropped off with “Jones” printed in thick black marker on the box, though, so I knew he had been there. They were heels in my size.

He didn’t return to the Fog & Thistle Inn, either. His luggage was gone from the room, and an envelope had been left for Douglas Black with double the amount of money needed to pay for our room. I heard that the local police station had also “misplaced” his arrest file.

I can’t say I blamed him. There were bound to be lots of questions, and if he could avoid them…well, who in his position would have done any differently? The last thing people at the inn had observed about the two of us was that we’d had a fight, so he had a legitimate, unsuspicious reason for being gone.

I savored the strong peaty flavor of yet another local Scotch on my tongue and enjoyed the warm fire on my toes. I was finally thawing out.

It was the following evening, and I was sitting in front of the fireplace at the inn with a blanket on my lap and a single malt Scotch whisky in my hand.

The police were quick to grasp the situation, and I had only spent a couple hours at the station. That left me the rest of the day to visit Rupert at the hospital, have a long phone conversation with Sanjay and a short one with Nadia, and to properly dig for a treasure beneath the tree.

Malcolm had a bit of a shock when he saw the initial damage done to his site, but once the situation was explained, he agreed to excavate the tree in search of the lost Indian jewels.

Perhaps he wasn’t completely altruistic. There are complicated laws governing treasure trove, and as the person with official government permission to be digging up that stretch of the coast, Malcolm might have thought he could fund more Pictish digs with the windfall from locating a lost treasure. He sorely needed it. Fiona had decided to leave, and I couldn’t blame her.

Douglas Black came over to where I sat with Malcolm, Fergus, and Angus, and asked if we needed another round.

Our drinks were quite full, but he soon got down to the real reason he was hovering.

“The missus was wonderin’,” he said. “How did you realize it was Derwin that was tryin’ to do the harm?”

“I didn’t know until the last minute,” I admitted.

“She thought it was me!” Malcolm said heartily, not trying to keep his voice down. The pub was so full with locals who had heard about the adventure that there weren’t enough tables to go around, and Malcolm was enjoying being a minor celebrity. “I’ll take that as a compliment, Jaya. I do love my stones.”

“I did have the right motive,” I said to Mr. Black, “but the wrong person. If going after the treasure wasn’t the motive, then I realized the digging for treasure could seriously disrupt the dig. Malcolm had put so much time and energy into his obses—I mean, into his passion, that it made sense for him to be passionate enough to kill to protect it.

“When I learned Malcolm had an alibi, I realized that Derwin had the same interest. And having studied geology, he was worried about what digging in the cave underneath the dig would do to the structural integrity of the site. Once Derwin was suspicious of Rupert’s activities, he used his knife to get at the hidden bracelet in the floorboards of Rupert’s room. That’s why he tried to kill him. He also had binoculars that he used to spy on all of us. When I saw him walking back up to the crew after I found the cave, I thought he was returning from using the facilities at the inn. If I’d been more suspicious, I might have noticed then that he was watching me.”

“He’s claiming to the police that he never meant to kill Rupert,” Malcolm said. “Only injure him so he’d leave the dig. He can’t claim that about Knox. Such a shame. I thought he had real potential.” Malcolm looked down into the fire.

Douglas Black shook his head incredulously.

“Never trust a fellow who dusnae smoke real cigarettes,” he said.

“Daft,” Fergus mumbled. “A treasure worth a fortune in ‘is hands, ‘n he puts it back, ‘n goes ‘n kills instead.”

“He’ll be in hospital for a time,” Angus said. “Nae pretty recovery for tha’ one.”

“And Rupert’s finally getting the medical attention he needs,” I added. “He should be out of the hospital soon, as long as his father doesn’t kill him.”

“Dougie!” a female voice called from the back. “Yer not askin’ about the treasure!”

Angus stifled a smile. Malcolm laughed out loud. “Ach,” Fergus mumbled.

“I’m gettin’ there, woman!” Mr. Black grimaced.

“The treasure Jaya found is safe under guard at the police station until it can be transferred to a museum,” Malcolm said. “My treasures are still in the ground.”

“Miss Jones found her fayrie treasure,” Fergus said approvingly, grinning broadly and revealing his gray teeth.

The British and Indian authorities would no doubt take ages to sort out what would happen to the Rajasthan Rubies. I still had the original artifact that had set off this whole adventure, but even if I had been tempted to forget to mention the bracelet to the authorities, I doubted Rupert would let me. Not now that I was heading back to San Francisco and close proximity to Lane, rather than staying in Britain with him.

Rupert hadn’t been able to sneak off with the treasure, so the jewels were all safely at the police station. At least I had every reason to believe they had all of the jewels….There was only a slight possibility it wasn’t the storm that had disturbed the spot at the edge of the tree after we left in search of Rupert. And it was most likely only our overactive imaginations that made it look like the antique box we found so close to the surface had been opened recently. Just because some of the dirt around the hinges looked a little disturbed….

Could a reformed jewel thief resist?

There was still a king’s ransom of treasure left. Ruby-laden gold ornaments for all kinds of adornment, in the same beautifully ornate style as the bracelet I had first seen only a week ago. And more importantly, the diary of Willoughby Gregor. The history, and the knowledge, had been left for the world.

I had a few minutes with the diary before the police confiscated it for safekeeping for the proper authorities, whoever they were determined to be. The story we had pieced together was true. And it wasn’t only a story. It was a life. Many lives. Their loves, losses, successes, risks, and beginnings. Willoughby Gregor, a merchant with the East India Company, who married Ameena Bashir, an adventurous young woman who knew of a rumored treasure that had been hidden away. She didn’t survive the Sepoy Rebellion or make it out of India alive, but the fortune she found for her beloved husband and daughter did. The first page of Willoughby’s diary said more than anything else: For Elspeth. His daughter.

Willoughby hadn’t revealed the treasure to anyone else, even though Elspeth had died first. He had removed some of the pieces for his estate and family, dropping one piece during a fierce Scottish storm, but not the vast majority of riches. But I had to wonder….

Willoughby didn’t destroy that sketch showing the location of the treasure after Elspeth’s death. He wanted someone who understood to find it.

As for me, the one who found the treasure? I’d found something much more than I was expecting. The one item Lane had left behind was a piece of paper with the address of an apartment in Berkeley. I didn’t know what I’d find there, but I knew who I’d find. And I could hardly wait.

Author’s Note

Though
Artifact
is a work of fiction and the characters and treasure in the book came from my imagination, the historical details about Scotland and India are true.

In Scotland, the story of the Picts is presented as scholars have pieced it together. Though this particular archaeological site does not exist, Pictish standing stones are being unearthed to this day. The cliff-side setting is an accurate portrayal of that region of the Highlands of Scotland and the nearby Dunnottar Castle is a dramatic site to visit. The legends of the Tuatha de Danann and the
bean nighe
are alive and well in Irish and Scottish folklore.

In India, the styles of Mughal artwork described are real, as are the challenges art historians face in separating factual depictions from artistic license. The battles and social norms of the British East India Company also existed as they are described in the book. The British East India Company transformed itself from a trading company into a military power, assuming a greater military and political role after the 1757 Battle of Plassey, with the British Crown taking over direct rule of India a century later, after the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857. Indian independence was achieved in 1947. There were many violent conflicts leading to lives and treasures being lost, but during certain periods of time there were also marriages between British men and Indian women. It’s entirely possible that the story in
Artifact
may have played out in unrecorded history…

Reader’s Discussion Guide

1. Written in first person, the reader only sees what Jaya sees. Was she a reliable narrator, or did she have blind spots you could see?

2. Would you make the same choices as Jaya? Would you have hopped on a plane to Scotland if you were the only person who believed someone dear to you was murdered? Would you have bailed Lane out of jail after he revealed his secret?

3.
Artifact
is a fair-play “puzzle” mystery where the reader is given clues to solve the mystery. Did you solve it? What types of misdirection obscured the truth about the treasure and the killer?

4. What was the most surprising plot twist? Did you find the plot twists the most memorable parts of the book, or were you more drawn to the characters and their relationships?

5. Superstition is used to reveal non-supernatural truths. How did Scottish legends and folklore shed light on the secrets of the buried treasure? Were you familiar with any Scottish folklore before reading
Artifact
?

6. Being part of two cultures and spending parts of her life in each, Jaya describes feeling like an outsider. Do you think that’s one of the reasons she and Lane have a connection? And is that why her music is such an important part of her life?

See the scenic settings of the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries on Gigi’s Pinterest boards: http://pinterest.com/GigiPandian

Learn more about the history of British India and Scotland at the British Library’s online gallery: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery

About Gigi Pandian

Gigi Pandian is the child of cultural anthropologists from New Mexico and the southern tip of India. After being dragged around the world during her childhood, she tried to escape her fate when she left a PhD program for art school. But adventurous academic characters wouldn’t stay out of her head. Thus was born the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery Series. The first book in the series,
Artifact
, was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant.