Moonlocket

by Peter Bunzl

  “If you’ve discovered anything about my mother,” he said rather brusquely, “then you must inform me of it.”

  “Of course.” The inspector produced a folded piece of paper from the manila folder. “When I was a boy, I was a big fan of the vaudeville – are either of you familiar with it?”

  Robert shook his head.

  “It means sideshows,” Lily said. “Revues, magic performances – that sort of thing.”

  “Very good!” said the inspector. “I used to collect the lobby cards for every act I saw back then. There was one in particular which I adored.” He unfolded the paper and showed it to them.

  Robert’s eyes widened. It was an old theatre poster, depicting a family – man, woman, son and daughter – each one decked out in a unique stage outfit. Above them on a scrolled banner were written the words:

  “You recognize him, of course,” the inspector said, tapping the picture of the father. “This was the man you saw?”

  “Yes,” they said in unison. It was Jack.

  “Except he was stubblier and older – more dishevelled,” Malkin added.

  “Fifteen years at Her Majesty’s pleasure will do that to a man,” Constable Jenkins said.

  The inspector pointed out another figure in the picture. “And how about this lady? Have you ever met her, Robert – it would be years ago, if at all?”

  “Why, that’s Jack’s wife!” Lily exclaimed. “Her name was Artemisia Door. She was a renowned medium, who Jack met in a theatre revue.”

  “She looks more of a small to me,” said Malkin poking at the poster with his nose.

  “Medium just means she talked to spirits and ghosts,” Lily explained.

  “Oh.”

  Robert was feeling more and more funny. “Where is this going?” he asked the inspector.

  “Just answer the question, please,” the inspector told him.

  So he examined the woman’s face. “Never seen her.”

  “It was a long shot. She died ten years ago. I only thought…on the off chance…” The inspector moved his finger down the flyer to the two children standing in front of Jack and Artemisia. “It’s their children I’m more interested in. Have you met this fellow, their son, Finlo?”

  Robert shook his head.

  “Or their daughter, Selena?”

  Robert held his breath.

  “Take a closer look.” The inspector handed him the flyer. “Do you recognize her?”

  Robert peered at the inky printed face of the girl. She looked exactly like a younger version of the woman in the locket, the woman he remembered.

  “Why,” he whispered, softly, “it’s my ma.”

  Robert’s face had turned very pale and he looked aghast. Lily knew how he felt – it was horrible to find out a secret about yourself like that, a secret that has been buried for years like a seed and that one day blooms into the open.

  The inspector nodded. “I thought so. But I wanted to make sure. We think your ma, Selena, is still a stage performer today. She’s no longer in touch with Jack or Finlo, but we’ve reason to believe she’s in London.”

  “Why?” Lily asked.

  “That I can’t tell you, I’m afraid, but let’s call it a concrete hunch.”

  The constable was writing something in his notebook.

  “Can I keep this?” Robert asked, gripping the flyer of the Door family tightly in his hand.

  “Of course,” the inspector said.

  “Thank you.” Robert put it in his pocket. Then he realized something. “If my ma’s Jack’s daughter…” he said, “that makes me…”

  “His grandson.” The inspector uncrossed his legs and straightened the creases of his trousers. “There’s something more, Robert… When she was but a few years older than you are, Selena gave her father up to the police for his theft of the Blood Moon Diamond. The stone was never recovered,” the inspector confided. “We’re certain that, before she died, Artemisia Door – Jack’s wife – hid the diamond, and we’ve come to believe Mr Door suspects Selena of having a clue to its whereabouts.”

  “What kind of a clue?” Robert asked.

  The inspector shook his head. “I’m afraid we don’t know. And unfortunately we found nothing in the shop to indicate Jack’s next move. Very disappointing.” He stroked his beard thoughtfully. “If you know anything more, or have something of his, then you must tell us. Anything he left behind?”

  Lily shook her head.

  “And you, Robert?” the inspector asked.

  Immediately, Robert thought of the Moonlocket around his neck. It had to be the clue the inspector was talking about – the map to the location of the Blood Moon Diamond.

  He reached up and fiddled with his shirt buttons, feeling the locket’s bumpy surface against his hand. Should he mention it…? He didn’t want to give it up, not yet. It’d been his ma’s, after all – perhaps she too once wore it close to her heart? His gut instinct was to keep it, at least until he’d learned more.

  He didn’t trust the police, not after what had happened with Roach and Mould last year, and the investigation into his da’s death by the local force that had come to nothing. No, he’d keep quiet about the locket for the present, investigate himself and reveal his discoveries when the time was right. If only there was some small thing he could provide them with to show he was cooperating…

  Then he remembered the card. He took it out and handed it to the inspector.

  “Jack gave me this. He hid it on me without me even noticing.”

  The inspector examined the Jack of Diamonds. Then turned it over and looked at the back. “It’s the brand of cards he favours.”

  “Does it mean anything?” Lily asked. “Anything specific? He’s not coming to get us, is he?”

  The inspector laughed reassuringly. “Don’t worry about that! You didn’t give him your names or address, did you?”

  “No,” Robert said – but, with a start, he remembered he had given Jack Lily’s name.

  “Then,” said the inspector, “he probably hasn’t even realized who you are. D’you mind if I have this?” He was already putting the playing card in his folder. “We might be able to take a fingerprint from it.”

  Robert shrugged. “I suppose so.”

  “Good! Good!” the inspector replied. “And you may keep the flyer. Now that we’ve pooled our resources – as we like to say – I’m sure we’ll catch the blighter in no time!” He stood. “Oh, and one more thing – if Jack or even Selena or Finlo come calling, it’s imperative you telegraph me straight away, do you understand? Those Doors are far more dangerous than you could possibly imagine. Especially if they’re cornered and desperate.”

  Robert nodded and so did Lily.

  “Good. My address is on my calling card. In the meantime, stay safe, and don’t let anyone into the house. I promise we’ll send someone local round to check on you tomorrow morning.” The inspector tucked his manila folder under one arm and tipped his hat, and then, ushering the constable out first, he took his leave of them.

  “He was a shrewd customer,” Malkin growled, once the door had closed behind him.

  “But you told him all we knew,” Lily added. “Except about the Moonlocket. Why did you still decide to keep that quiet, Robert?”

  “I don’t know,” Robert said. “It just didn’t feel right to give it to them.”

  He stepped towards the window and stared at the constable and inspector getting into the police steam-wagon sat in the drive.

  Robert pressed his hand to the Moonlocket again, flattening it against his chest. He’d been right to keep it to himself. The inspector would only have taken it, like everything else was always taken from him.

  He didn’t need their help. The locket was his and he was going to find out what it meant. It was a map to the location of the Blood Moon Diamond, that much was clear now. That’s why Jack needed it. But why had his ma left the locket behind? And why had she left him, as if he didn’t even matter? As soon as he found he
r that’s what he’d ask.

  In the meantime he intended to use the locket to recover the diamond. But not only that – he was going to recapture Jack too. Because that would prove to her that he mattered. That would prove he mattered more than anything in the whole wide world.

  When the police steam-wagon had finally disappeared up the drive, Robert flipped the Moonlocket over and opened the catch, staring at the portrait inside once more. The woman the inspector had pointed out on the flyer was definitely Selena. She was slightly older in the miniature locket painting, of course, but there could be no mistaking they were one and the same person.

  So she had left her family to come and live with Thaddeus, after she’d given her father Jack up to the police. Then she had left Thaddeus and him behind too – but why? Was she not happy with Da? And if that was so, why did she leave the Moonlocket behind, when it was so important? Robert closed it. He felt a little sick.

  “We should show the locket and envelope to John when he gets back,” Malkin advised. “Maybe he can work out the map, or what Queen’s Crescent means and the cryptogram – he was always good at cracking codes.”

  “I’m good at cracking codes too!” Lily said. “But we need the cypher key really to work it out.” She stopped. “Or, we could take it to London to show Papa. It’s a good excuse for us to go and visit him. Maybe we could look for your ma at the same time, Robert? Anna might help us; I imagine she knows plenty about the Doors from her article.”

  “Your papa would only hand the locket over to the inspector,” Robert said. “And it’s the only clue we’ve got.”

  “We’d make them return it,” Lily promised.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Then we’ll have to do some investigating ourselves. Did your da ever mention Jack, or anything about codes or maps?”

  “Never.” Robert stroked the engraved surface of the Moonlocket. “If only we could understand what all this meant. It’s almost as if there’s a piece missing.”

  Lily took an almond thin from the plate on the coffee table and bit into it as she thought. “I’ve got it,” she said, spraying biscuit crumbs at him. “The locket’s a crescent moon…”

  “So?” Robert said.

  “So there’s no such thing as a crescent moon,” Lily mumbled with her mouth full. “It’s a trick of the light. An illusion. In actuality there’s only a whole moon.”

  “Because,” Robert said, “the rest of it is hidden in shadow.” He picked up a biscuit and broke it into two halves. “So what you’re saying is there’s another piece of the Moonlocket hidden somewhere? Another part of the map and code?”

  “It makes sense.” Lily examined the edge of the locket. “These lines could match up to a missing piece, which would be…”

  “…shaped like a gibbous moon.” Robert finished her sentence and, at the same time, the last of the biscuits. “And if we had both parts, we might have a solid clue to finding the Blood Moon Diamond, and my ma.” He brushed the crumbs from his fingers. “It’s definitely not at the shop. If it was, Da would’ve kept the pieces together.”

  “Maybe we can deduce what these code words mean anyway,” Lily said. “They must have something to do with the Door family, wouldn’t you say?”

  “I know!” Robert said. “We can look in Jack’s autobiography!”

  Lily clapped her hands. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

  “Yes, why didn’t you?” Malkin said. “And where, pray, is this legendary tome?”

  “In my room, of course!”

  Lily searched through the pile of books on her bedside table, while Robert and Malkin collapsed on the bed, leaning their backs against the yellow wallpaper, which was pinned with plentiful illustrations from the pages of Lily’s penny dreadfuls. Each one had been judiciously hand-tinted with red watercolour paint by Lily to make the crimes they depicted look even more bloody.

  “Here it is! The Notorious Jack Door: Escapologist and Thief Extraordinaire!” Lily pulled a book from the bottom of the pile.

  Malkin yelped as the rest of the tomes balanced on top of it came tumbling down around him in a rain of flapping pages.

  “What does it say?” Robert asked.

  Lily flipped through the pages, scanning the text. “Just as I remembered – I’m afraid it’s mostly about lock-picking. Nothing on codes, and barely anything about his family. It mentions his wife Artemisia and their son Finlo. But there’s nothing about Selena. That’s why I never thought…”

  Malkin had climbed out from under the pile of books. He snuffled in beside Lily and licked a few pages of this volume for good measure. “He could have expunged her from his life?” he suggested. “After she gave him up to the police?”

  “You could be right,” Robert said. “In which case Jack’s manual is worse than useless.”

  “Mama used to have some books on magic and the theatre,” Lily said. “And Papa has some on codes. They’ll be in the library. And we can see if there are any maps in the atlas that match the one on the locket while we’re at it…” She looked down at Malkin, who had settled on her bed as if he intended to laze about all evening.

  “Malkin,” she said, but he didn’t respond. “You’d better get up and help, or I’ll turn you into a fox-fur scarf.”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” Malkin blustered.

  “Then you’ll come with us, and aid our investigations.”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  “Unquestionably not,” Robert said. “But it’ll be fun – you can go through the books on the lower shelves.”

  “Oh, goody!” Malkin leaped to his feet with a roll of his eyes. “In that case, what are we waiting for?”

  Lily’s mama and papa had collected a lot of books in their lives. The oak shelves of the library were crammed two deep with tomes from floor to ceiling, and even more volumes lay sideways on top of the others. Most of these were scientific papers that explained how mechanicals worked, but if you knew where to look and understood the erratic filing system, there was a lot of information on other subjects as well.

  “Right,” said Lily. “Let’s get down to business. One person can research codes, another maps, and the last one the theatre. Who wants to take what?”

  “I’ll take whichever one of those subjects is on the lowest shelf,” Malkin said. “Since I can’t reach the high ones.”

  “Maps then,” Lily told him. “All the atlases are down there. Robert, you had best take theatre, since the Doors are your family. I shall take codes and cyphers, my area of expertise.”

  And they were off.

  Malkin pulled the atlases out of the lower shelves and flipped through the lower pages with his teeth, looking for maps that matched the one on the locket. But he soon became distracted by a big book called Henry McGuffin’s Amazing Atlas of the World and by trying to find out which country was the chewiest.

  Lily pushed the stepladder up against the far shelves, where the books on cryptography were kept. She got down as many as she could carry, even balancing one on her head as she’d been taught long ago at her old boarding school, and brought them to the long polished table in the centre of the room. But after searching through every one, she could find no key that could help her decipher the two words on the back of the locket.

  Robert wasn’t having much luck with his research either. He’d examined various theatrical books for pieces on spiritualism or escapology, and finally checked The Secrets of Stage Conjuring by Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin for any mention of the Doors, but there was none in any of them. It was almost twilight – outside the window the moon was rising in the gloaming – but he was not yet ready to give up his search.

  Malkin had long ago abandoned the atlases and map catalogues in distaste. He would, he decided, rather be chewing on a real cat than a catalogue – at least they were chase-able, which was a lot more fun. “Let me know when you’ve finished your perusing and blunderings,” he muttered. “Then we might indulge in something a little more productive.
”

  While he waited, he gave a few other books on the lower shelf a jolly good gnawing, though they were not to his taste. John would surely be upset if he ever discovered his handiwork, but Malkin carried on mauling at them despite this. He was five large mouthfuls into shredding a particularly distasteful volume called Why Modern Mechanicals Don’t Think As We Do by a man named Victor K. Plunk, when Robert jumped to his feet and shouted: “Look at this!”

  Lily glanced up from an encyclopaedia page about morse codes. “Have you solved the cypher?” she asked hopefully.

  “Better than that,” Robert said. “I’ve found a photograph of where the Doors used to live…”

  It was a pamphlet called A Popular History of Modern Magicians by Sir Edward Le-Mesmer, with a short biography on the whole Door family, and it included a large black-and-white photograph that showed Jack and his wife, Artemisia, outside a terraced house with their son Finlo and daughter Selena.

  The house was covered in tiny fronds of ivy, from which clean windows peeped out, shining in the sun. Three steps led up to a smart front door, and in the front garden, behind a row of black railings, a flourishing apple tree grew. The Doors stood in front of the house in a row, arms around each other, all smiling.

  This was his family. Robert couldn’t quite wrap his head around it.

  Then, fixed to the wall on the corner of the house in the picture, he spotted a street sign. He peered closely at it, but couldn’t quite read what it said.

  Lily took a magnifying glass from a drawer beneath the library table and handed it to him, and in the eye of the lens the words became clear.

  “Queen’s Crescent – like the envelope!” he shouted. “And there’s something underneath, I can’t make it out…”

  He let Lily look. She held back her hair and examined the picture, squinting and holding the magnifying glass up close to her eye.

  “London Borough of Camden.” She slammed the glass down. “That’s it! That’s where the Doors used to live. Queen’s Crescent, Camden – there must be all kinds of clues in that house, Robert. We might solve the cypher, find the other half of the locket, or even discover where your mother is. We need to visit it right away and investigate!”