Liverpool Revisited

by Michael White

  “Bugger.” said Billy. “We’re back to the hard ones again!” He paused looking at the ornament, the old riddle now forgotten. “So if it’s out it can’t get in, turns around and then when it’s in it can’t get out?” Sue nodded as if this was a fair summary. “I know one thing. It’s giving me a bloody headache, that’s for sure!” Sue patted him on the arm and they moved back to the bench, Sue peering at the notebook as they went.

  “It’s the turnaround bit that’s important” she said. “That changes it from one thing happening to the opposite thing happening. Give me another word for turn!” Billy rubbed the back of his head.

  “I’m not a bloody walking dictionary” he said, sitting down on the bench again but then closed his eyes to think. “Twist.” he said eventually. “Or tip or tilt. Move or spin.” he paused again. “Turn seems a bit definite though.” Then his eyes nearly popped out of his head. “It’s a key, Sue! It’s describing locking and unlocking a door!” Then they were on their feet again, back to the ornaments in search of one that in any way resembled a key. Sue however noticed that Billy was lagging behind a little this time. Sue continued looking but Billy had stopped.

  “What’s up with you?” she said, and Billy Sighed.

  “I think there’s one shaped like a key in the other garden centre.” he sighed to himself. “The one we have just come from.” He looked a little sheepish. “In fact I know there is. I can even remember exactly where it is.” Sue smiled and made for the exit.

  “Come on then!” she shouted over her shoulder. “What are you waiting for?” Billy sighed again but followed her out of the garden centre, crossing the car park just as quickly as she did.

  ***

  They arrived back at their point of origin and made their way back out to the garden ornament section. They almost instantly spotted a small ornament in the shape of a key. A younger couple however were hovering over it, giving it admiring glances.

  “They’d better not bloody buy it!” said Sue, to Billy’s surprise. It just went to show how involved she had got with the trail of clues. He wasn’t sure himself where this was heading, but he had to admit to himself that he was more than just a little curious as to what the next clue was going to be. Billy and Sue waited as the couple fussed over several other garden ornaments before moving away into the shrubs section, their trolley still empty. Sue sighed a breath of relief. Billy dutifully tipped up the key ornament, whilst also noting that it seemed to be the only one in that shape, and Sue gave a small cry of triumph and began scribbling on her pad.

  “What does it say?” he said, not even waiting for them to sit down now.

  “It’s a short one.” she said. “Hardly even worth writing down, really.” She saw Billy getting increasingly impatient next to her and read the riddle. “What is it that is deaf, dumb and blind, yet always tells the truth?” He laughed as she read it. “What’s up with you?”

  “I know that one!” he said, “I was at school I think when I first heard it.” and he turned to point at a large ornament that seemed to display several woodland animals gathered about what was obviously meant to be a picture frame or the like. It seemed to have a piece of reflective glass held in it, which was winking brightly in the sunlight. “It’s that one.” he laughed. “It’s a mirror!”

  With that the pair of them rushed over to the ornament and looked at the bowl held on the top. It appeared to be some kind of bird bath. Carved into the bowl in the by now familiar scrawl they saw the words, “End of journey”. Quickly tipping it up Billy saw Sue squint at what was obviously some message on the base of the object.

  “There’s a fair bit here.” she said. “There’s another riddle though. It says, “What is it that you must give before you can keep it?””

  Billy seemed perplexed. “Why does it say, “end of journey” on the top then when there’s another bloody riddle on the bottom? That doesn’t make any sense does it?”

  “The other bit is a list of numbers.” Sue seemed to come to a decision. “Put it back down flat, Billy.” she said, “And go and get a trolley. We’re buying it!”

  Billy looked at the price tag attached to the side of it. “It’s seventy five quid!” he shouted, looking shocked.

  “You could always take a chance and ask for a discount.” she said, raising an eyebrow. Billy however knew this tone of voice perfectly well. He went to get the trolley. By the time mid-afternoon arrived the ornament was installed in the garden and they were musing about the riddle and the collection of numbers scrawled on the base.

  ***

  “Would you like to see it, Sarah?” asked Sue. Sarah nodded eagerly.

  “Would you mind if I took a few pictures of it for the article?” she said and Billy responded that pictures would not be a problem, whilst at the same time holding the porch door open for Sarah and Sue to exit into the garden. Sarah was quite surprised by the ornament. For starters it was about three feet high, much bigger than she anticipated, but then, she thought, it is a bird table after all. About the stone base several carved woodland creatures were gathered around the shape of what was obviously meant to be a mirror, or a part of a mirror. It was not quite square. More like a glass shard than anything. She thought that it managed somehow to look kind of cute but also at the same time look vaguely disturbing in some intangible way as well. “Is that a real mirror?” she asked and crouching down closely to get a better look, saw that it was.

  “It is.” confirmed Billy. “Reflects the light if the sun catches it.” He moved closer to the rockery where the ornament had been installed and grabbed the top, tilting it. “Here’s the inscription on the bottom.” Sarah stared at it in wonder and took a picture of it. Checking the picture was okay by examining the camera display she nodded to Billy who let the ornament stand upright once again. Sarah noted the writing inside the bowl that clearly said, “End of Journey” and took a picture of that too, then a few more of the ornament in situ, as well as a few of the bucket that started it all.

  “I don’t get it though.” said Sarah. “Why does it say end of journey when it clearly isn’t. There’s another riddle there, isn’t there?” Sue smiled.

  “Indeed.” she said. “That was our problem. We now had three different bits of information to work on. Now it was getting really quite difficult. This made Billy smile too.

  “Though now we know the answer it was quite simple, really.”

  “Sort of.” said Sue. “It’s a bit like a narrative, you see.”

  “Narrative?” queried Sarah, not understanding.

  “Yes. Narrative. Or a message if you like. It was the answers to the riddles...”

  ***

  “Okay.” said Billy as they sat in the garden enjoying a cold drink, the ornament now sitting proudly on the rockery in front of them. “Let’s recap what we have so far.” Sue produced her notepad and turned over several of the pages before arriving at the correct one. She began to read.

  “The riddle on this one says, “What is it that you must give before you can keep it?”, and on the top it also says, “End of Journey”. Add to that we have a set of numbers on the base as well that read, “70866.05, 75957.4-” Billy frowned.

  “It’s the end of the journey but there still being another riddle to solve doesn’t make sense, does it? As well as the numbers. What the bloody hell are they all about?” Sue shook her head.

  “No idea. We know they’re not map references, anyway.” The pair of them had tried that the day before after Billy had suddenly come up with the idea of them being some sort of grid reference. Longitude and latitude. However when they had fired up the computer at home and put the numbers into Google Maps it had drawn a complete blank, which had scuttled Billy’s idea that the whole thing was like a treasure map of some sort.

  The pair of them sat in the sun for a while and Billy went to recharge their glasses before taking his seat once again. “Go right back to the start.” He said. “If this is the last one then what we have found so far may have a bea
ring.”

  “Okay.” said Sue, flipping over a few pages in her notebook. “The first one was a clock. Then the wheelbarrow, and the difficult one, which was a shadow. After that we had the candle and the bed which both led to the next one which was the thorn. Then it was the key, and finally a mirror. Plus the last one, which we haven’t got any idea about as of yet.” they both sat in silence for a while. Billy sipped his drink.

  “If you want to read a bit more into it you could almost make a story out of them objects.” He said, but then seemed to discount it. “Nah. I think I’m just reading too much into it.” Sue put the pad down and waited, but Billy had obviously thought better of it.

  “Go on.” she said. “At least give it a go. You never know.”

  “Okay.” said Billy.” The clock. That means time. Perhaps that this trail or hunt, or whatever you want to call it might take some time.” Sue nodded.

  “Makes sense.” she said. “Go on.”

  “Next was the wheelbarrow. That to me represents work. Time and work. Then we had the next clue which was a shadow. Perhaps that means something hidden. Remind me what the next one was.” Sue looked at her notebook.

  “That’s where it got interesting. We had the candle and the bed but both led to the same clue, which was the thorn.”

  “Yes.” said Billy, thinking. “That fits in with our theory of there being several trails leading to the same place in case some pieces got sold or what have you. So. The candle would mean light, and the bed rest. Both could I suppose mean wait and see what’s next. The thorn means a problem or a difficulty. The last one, the key of course means unlocking or opening, I imagine. Can’t see it being locking something up. Opening is a more reasonable explanation.” He paused to think for a while. “The mirror is the only one that doesn’t make sense. Reflects. Shows yourself. Nope. Doesn’t make any sense at all!”

  “That all sounds right to me, Billy.” Sue said. “I hadn’t spotted that. Well done!” Billy smiled weakly.

  “We’ve still got another riddle and those bloody numbers though.” They returned to silence as the afternoon wore on. After some time Sue opened her notebook once again.

  “What is it that you must give before you can keep it?” she read. “Well it can’t be an object, can it? You can’t give something away and then keep it. So it must be like an idea, or perhaps a thought. Not that you can give a thought away now, can you? She noticed Billy was staring at her and he burst into laughter.

  “Now you’re bloody talking to yourself!” he laughed, and Sue joined him. “I think this has taken over our lives, you know! We haven’t done any family trees all week!” Sue smiled back at him.

  “Well, you know what I’m like. Once I get a bee in my bonnet...”

  “Oh yes. Too right.” said Billy. “Never mind. When you’ve figured it all out I’ll treat you to a Chinese.”

  “Promise?” said Sue, raising an eyebrow. She was particularly fond of Chinese food and always looked forward to a treat.

  “Promise.” said Billy, raising his glass as if to toast her. Sue chuckled and they returned to silence, taking in the sun, trying not to stare too much at the ornament in pride of place on the rockery, the little mirror built into it twinkling in the sunlight.

  Billy suddenly felt himself turn cold. His face must have given him away for Sue was looking at him with concern.

  “What’s the matter, Billy?” she asked. “Are you alright?” Billy turned to her, and now a smile played at the edges of his mouth.

  “That’s it, Sue!” he yelled.

  “What?” she asked.

  “It’s only the bloody answer! “What is it that you must give before you can keep it?” It’s a promise. That’s the final clue. Whoever has set these riddles is promising us something.” Sue leaped up and put her arms around him, planting a big kiss on his forehead before settling herself down.

  “Put it all together again. Right from the beginning.” said Billy. “Time. work. Something hidden. Light or something revealed. Or a rest, or time to think, perhaps. Then a difficulty, something opening, then a promise.”

  “The mirror still doesn’t fit in with everything else though, does it?” she said.

  “It doesn’t does it?” said Billy. “Bugger. What next?”

  “There’s just the mirror and the numbers. That’s all that left.” As the sun began to head to the horizon they sat in the garden, but nothing else came to them. Eventually they retired indoors, and after tea off they went to bed. Sue, however, found it particularly difficult to let the final part of the puzzle, if indeed it was, rest. Billy read for a while but found himself slipping off and so put down his book and kissed Sue goodnight.

  “I think I’ll read just a bit longer.” said Sue, but Billy found himself grinning as he turned over to sleep, having noticed the notebook propped up on Sue’s bedside table.

  Sometime later Billy came awake with a sudden start. At first he couldn’t quite place what was happening but slowly he realised that it was Sue shaking him awake.

  “Billy!” she hissed. Billy sat upright, his ears now concentrating on what was surely the sound of a burglar coming up the stairs or the like. All he could manage, however, was a surly grunt.

  “Wha-” he said, and Sue shook him again.

  “I’ve got it!” she said. “I need you to get the computer running. I think I know what the numbers are.” Billy glanced at the clock on his bedside table.

  “It’s bloody half past one in the morning!” he mumbled, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

  “I know that!” hissed Sue, and then she waited until Billy had more or less woken up. “It’s all about the mirror!” she said, finally. Billy nodded, letting her know that he was more or less completely awake now. “The numbers ARE longitude and latitude readings, I think.”

  “But they don’t go anywhere.” sighed Billy. “We checked on Google Maps, remember. “ Sue smiled, as if she knew something that Billy didn’t.

  “I know.” she said. “But if you saw them in a mirror they would be reversed, wouldn’t they?”

  Silence fell across the room.

  “Jesus.” said Billy, sitting bolt upright in bed now. “That’s true. I’ll go start the computer up.” He got out of bed and pulled his dressing gown on, mumbling to himself as he made his way downstairs. “That’s bloody clever!” Sue heard him say as he disappeared down the stairs. She got out of bed and followed him down.

  The computer seemed to take an age to start up. Eventually it was ready and Billy loaded up the page for Google Maps. “What are the numbers again?” he said and Sue looked at her notepad once again.

  “Well, they are written down here as, “70866.05, 75957.4-” But if you reverse them they would read,” Sue picked up a pen from the computer table and began to scribble. “50.66807, -4.75957”. Try that.” Billy dutifully typed the numbers in and pressed enter on the keyboard. The start page showed a picture of the British Isles, which spun then blurred and slowly came to a halt above Blundellsands, then jerked north and floated above Formby, then zoomed in further until it was hovering directly over a house. A small label popped up above what seemed to be the shape of a large house. It read, “The pottery”.

  “Well I’ll be damned.” said Billy, turning to Sue and hugging her. “You clever, clever bugger you!”

  In the barely lit back room the computer screen continued to flicker slightly, illuminating the table it was sat on, the map upon its screen showing the final location of the mystery. Both of them at that point wished that morning would come a lot sooner than it normally would.

  Part Three: The Wenceslas Red

  “I’ll tell you, morning couldn’t come quick enough, Sarah!” said Billy, and Sarah just continued scribbling in her pad, caught up in the story.

  “That bit with the mirror was really crafty!” she said. “I really don’t know how you worked that one out.”

  “It’s a bit odd really.” said Sue thoughtfully. “It’s almost as if you try to stop t
hinking about something and then the answer seems to pop into your head all on its own.”

  “I have a friend who does that.” said the journalist, putting her pad down. “If she’s ever lost anything then she just stops looking for it and it seems to turn up on its own within minutes.” Billy laughed.

  “Didn’t seem to work with Lord Lucan or Shergar.” he said and the two women laughed. Sarah took up her notepad again.

  “So what happened next?” she said, pen poised.

  ***

  The night passed slowly. Billy and Sue attempted to get some sleep but spent most of the night tossing and turning. By five o’clock Billy finally gave up on even trying to pretend to be asleep and got up to make some coffee. Sue joined him just as the kettle had finished boiling. “I don’t suppose we could drive out there much before nine, could we?” Billy shook his head.

  “It would be rude to get there any earlier.” he said. It was a given now that they were going to visit the mysterious end of the trail, labelled on the map as, “The pottery” and on the ornament as, “end of journey”. It was just a case of passing time until a decent hour to drive out there. Billy had already carefully noted the post code and location of the house from the computer, though it wasn’t actually that far away at all. Twenty minute’s drive at best.

  So they sat drinking coffee and trying to out-stare the clock until seven o’clock arrived, at which point Billy went to have a shower and get ready. Sue did the same a little later and slowly but surely nine o’clock arrived and they set out. Sue felt butterflies in her stomach as they drove across town, Billy behind the wheel neither rushing nor dawdling either.

  “What are you going to say when we get there?” asked Billy.

  “Oh, it’s me doing the talking now is it?” Sue replied.

  “Well you’re the one who solved most of them.” he said, smiling.

  “It was team work.” she said. “We both did it.” She paused to think for a while as their journey continued. “I’ll think of something.” she said eventually. They settled back into silence and before long they turned into what seemed to be a short cul-de-sac. Sue consulted the map print-out and pointed down the road. “It should be over there on the left.” Billy pulled the car up to the kerb and as they coasted to a halt they both noticed a high hedge of fir trees that ended in a large wrought iron gate. An ornate stone plate on the gate read, “The Pottery”. Billy turned off the engine and they sat there for a while, gazing at the house name plate.