“I don’t blame you for jumping to conclusions. It’s understandable under the circumstances. It could have been Paul.”
“It’s not that. It was…when I heard the gun shots…I thought…I thought it was you! I thought you were dead and I felt as if my whole world had fallen apart. You are so sweet Erik. The way you handled everything down there…”
He smiled. “You were pretty impressive yourself.”
“I was more scared than I let on, I have to confess,” she said. Erik was going to confess the same but then decided not to. He didn’t want her to think that he was a vulnerable coward, even though he probably was.
“I really don’t understand what Britt-Marie was doing there. She could have asked me to borrow the keys to the house. There would be no need for her to creep around like this, or maybe she wasn’t. She may not have seen that it was us and fled to escape an encounter with more burglars. But then she should have told me she was still here.” Erik sighed. “I don’t know. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“There’s no point in speculating. We can talk to her in the morning.”
“We may not have to wait that long.” Erik suggested with a sneaky smile. “Let’s have a look in her rucksack. It could give us some answers.”
“No, don’t. It’s her personal possessions. We can’t just rummage through without permission.”
“She broke into our house. She trespassed on our property. She may be a close friend of the family but she doesn’t work here anymore.” Britt-Marie was almost like a mother to him but at that point he was angry with her. “She has no right to be in here without telling us. If she’d asked if she could borrow the keys I would have gladly let her but she didn’t even mention it. I think we need to know what’s going on. The way I see it, I have the right to look in her bag. I should really have called the police, she could have killed us but I didn’t because she’s a friend. Instead, I’m checking her bag now!” He walked over to the desk and opened the zipper to the large compartment. It was full of things including a torch, a raincoat, a knife and a plastic bag from the local supermarket with something in it. He emptied the rucksack out on to the desk next to him. The plastic bag landed with a thud. He turned his attention to that first. He doubted that it contained her weekly shopping. Emma leaned over in anticipation. As he opened it he could not believe his eyes. He had seen something similar once before, in the museum in Heraklion. He wasn’t sure how to react. His heart was beating faster. He looked up at Emma, savouring the moment. With a small grin on his face, he said as calmly as he could: “Emma, I have some news!”
“What? What is it? Show me!” She stood up and walked over to look. Her face had taken on a new glow and she was smiling widely in response to his grin. She had her suspicions. “Is it what I think it is? Is it?” He didn’t say anything but simply opened the plastic bag again, just enough to enable her to see.
“Oh my god! It really is! It’s the other half of the tablet!” She was jubilant, ecstatic. She sat down but was up again almost instantly. She could not sit still, dancing around as if she was performing some sort of ancient ritual. He laughed with her. He had never seen her so excited, which was in stark contrast to a few minutes ago. Somehow Britt-Marie had got hold of the tablet. He had no idea how but he was grateful nevertheless for Emma’s happiness. Her search, which had resulted in their meeting and indirectly Paul’s criminal act and his grandmother’s death, had come to an end. He gave her a look which he hoped would tell her how he felt about her. She stopped dancing and stood in front of him, suddenly serious. He could see she was tired.
“Would it be alright if I slept in your room tonight?” she asked as if she had been able to read his mind. “Frankly, I wouldn’t like to be alone right now.”
“Of course, my bed is big enough for two…” he said without hesitation.
▪ ▪ ▪
They had both been tired when they went to bed the night before and had forgotten to pull down the blinds in Erik’s bedroom. As a result the sun rise filled the room with an orange mist. Emma was lying on one side of the bed. She turned around and expected to see Erik next to her but she was surprised to find him on the floor, sleeping like a baby. She had been so tired that she had not noticed earlier. She smiled to herself. He was certainly a gentleman. She was grateful for that, although it had not been necessary. She would not have minded him there, on her side in the bed. In fact, she thought it would have been rather pleasant with a strong pair of arms around her and his warm body next to hers. His naked body as he walked into the lake the previous summer entered her mind once again. It was a pleasant thought that was soon replaced by memories of the upsetting events of the previous night.
Her mind wandered. The thought of the tablet made her heart jump. They had found it! Before going to bed, Erik had told her that as a precaution he had placed it in the family safe downstairs behind a painting in one of the reception rooms. He had told her the code for it. It was still very early in the morning but she couldn’t contain herself; she had to look at it. She got up, put on her dressing gown and slippers and walked downstairs without waking Erik. It was still in the plastic bag when she opened the safe. With great care she carried the tablet upstairs to the guest bedroom which she had used previously. It had a small desk upon which she placed the artefact. As protection she used some rather unsuitable knitted gloves which she had brought with her in case the Swedish spring weather surprised them with a late winter. She carefully took the tablet out of the plastic bag, turning it so that the Egyptian hieroglyphic side was up. She was excited. For the first time she would be able to read the entire text! A message from more than three thousand five hundred years ago was about to be revealed!
Before starting the translation she decided to get her transcript of the other side of the tablet. It would help in seeing the context. With a pen in her hand and a note pad at the ready, she began. Egyptian hieroglyphs were not something she normally struggled with. She had translated many texts in the past, mainly as part of her coursework, and she had always achieved top marks. This time it was different. The text was partly damaged and some of the symbols were completely incomprehensible.
It took longer than expected to get through the first column of text and it required some degree of imagination to work out the various symbols but eventually she had a complete sentence:
“The rage of the gods caused the rain to come down with violent fury. The darkness lasted for several [days] and the gods expressed their discontent by producing vigorous storms, with powerful winds and hail unleashed from the sky. The temples and pyramids were flooded by a wall…”
She could not contain her excitement. This was describing the events surrounding a natural disaster. It must’ve been the effect on Egypt of the Thera Volcanic eruption, as they had discussed in January on Crete, she speculated. She could simply not see any other possibility. She had always wondered why there were so few records of this in Egypt but this was clearly an example of one. Granted, it was still not adding much over and above the existing Stele of Ahmose but reading this together with the next part of the known half of the tablet, it was clear that what was described was a Tsunami as well, which could have been caused by the volcanic eruption. It stated:
“…of water which swept in over the land with godly force. Smoke was clouding the sky. By day, the darkness was persisting with no [torch] being lit and by night a pillar of fire could be seen in the [west]. With his council, His Majesty descended in his boat to observe the devastation of the victors…”
So far so good. ‘A wall of water’; a clear reference to a tsunami. She thought she heard something and looked over at the door. She jumped. Erik was in the door watching her.
“Have you not learnt how to knock? How long have you been standing there?” she said teasingly with a smirk.
“About a minute. Good morning to you too!” He returned her smile. “I wanted to check that you’re alright. I heard noises. But you were so focussed I didn’t want
to disturb you.” He was wearing only underpants, his perfectly formed body in full view. “I think we need to go and check on Britt-Marie. I’m a bit worried. After all, we were given the responsibility for her care and we have ignored her since last night.”
Emma was suddenly concerned. “Oh god, you’re right. Let’s go down there now.” In all the excitement over the tablet she had almost forgotten about Britt-Marie. They got dressed quickly and went downstairs. It was nine o’clock in the morning and they suspected that Britt-Marie, who had always been a morning person, had already woken up. Erik knocked on the slightly ajar door. There was no reply. They exchanged looks and Erik opened it fully with a worried expression on his face. She was not there. The bed was empty. Perfectly made but empty. The room bore no trace of Britt-Marie. It was as if she had never been there the night before.
“She must have gone home.”
Erik was relieved. She was well enough to get up and get out of there. Emma would have wanted to continue her translation exercise but other matters were more urgent. They had to get over to her to see to that she was alright and to talk to her about what had happened. Having put the tablet back in the safe and after a quick breakfast they got into the car. Emma was half expecting to see a crashed car in a ditch or an accident scene; worried that Britt-Marie had not been fit to drive. Then she realised that as far as she knew Britt-Marie had not had a car with her the night before. How on earth had she managed to leave the house without a car? It was too far to walk. She didn’t share her thoughts with Erik. In any event, by the time they arrived at Britt-Marie’s house, it was clear that she had not had to worry. Britt-Marie was there, wearing gardening gloves, pruning the roses in the front garden. She had removed the bandage that the doctor had put around her head and had managed to largely hide the wounds with her hair. She waved at them as they parked up as if nothing out of the ordinary had taken place the previous night.
“Come on in! Let’s have some tea!” She was walking towards them, taking off her gloves. “My parents are in town shopping at the moment.” They followed her to the kitchen where they sat down whilst Britt-Marie put the kettle on for tea. She magically produced some home-made buns and cookies which she placed on the kitchen table, together with mugs. When it was all set, she sat down opposite them. “I assume you have come here to talk about what happened last night? I thought you would bring my rucksack by the way; have you seen it?”
Erik looked awkward when he replied: “Yes, we picked up your rucksack. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring it now. It was very inconsiderate of me.”
“Don’t worry Erik, the contents belong to you now, and I’m happy for it!”
“Well, it’s actually the contents of your bag that we wanted to ask you about.” Up until then, Britt-Marie had been calm and collected. At Erik’s words she jumped up and picked up the kettle which had started to boil. As she poured the water she glanced at Emma, as if to evaluate what she knew about the rucksack.
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean, Britt-Marie.” For some reason Erik raised his voice. “You had the tablet! You gave it to Paul! As far as I know you might’ve killed my biological mother as well! How else did you get this in your possession?”
At this, Britt-Marie first looked at them with eyes filled with guilt, walked to the nearest chair and then sat down. She slowly put her elbows on the table and put her face in her hands. She started to cry; heavy sobs, almost as if she was coughing. It was several minutes before she had recovered enough to respond.
“I’m… I’m so sorry for not having told you the whole story Erik.” She hiccupped and offered them the buns in a way which made clear that unless they had some she would not speak. They obliged. “Where should I start?”
“Why don’t we start with my biological mother? Was anything you told me about her true?”
“Yes, all of it. I didn’t lie to you Erik. I just omitted my involvement in the more recent events… and the fact that I had the tablet. I was also aware that your grandmother wanted to steal you from Anne-Lise but I had no idea she would kill her. You have to believe me on that.”
“But you knew that she was dead?”
“Yes… no… I suppose I had my suspicions but I didn’t know for sure. I never asked her. I thought she went back to Denmark. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t entirely displeased by Anne-Lise’s disappearance…” She started to cry once again.
“Why? She was your friend!” Erik squeaked. Britt-Marie composed herself, looking down at the table while she continued.
“She had been my friend. Britt-Marie stared into oblivion. She stole my mother away from me. My mother paid no attention to me when Anne-Lise was in the room. I was like a second class citizen. I could not dance. I embarrassed her. It was only a childish jealousy thing though; nothing sinister.”
“And then?”
“And then your father had an affair with her.”
“My father was and is a married man. He was married to my mother for god’s sake! He still is.” He looked at her, face red and eyes burning. She was still looking away, seemingly indifferent.
“When Anne-Lise came to the estate he got obsessed with her and started seeing her in secret.” She paused again, looking disgusted. “But when she fell pregnant he conveniently forgot about her, pretending that he had nothing to do with it. Their relationship was not widely known. No one suspected he was the father of her child. Your grandmother found out soon enough though. I told her. I wish I hadn’t. I still remember that day. It was so strange. I’ve never seen her happier. I had to ask her why she was smiling and that was when she told me about her plan to keep the baby for herself, to rectify her daughter’s childless state.”
Erik didn’t say anything. He was now uncharacteristically pale. The story was not complete.
“So you had nothing to do with her murder?” Emma asked.
“That’s right. As I said, I didn’t know she was buried in that chest. I didn’t even know she was dead! I’m disgusted that Mrs Stenbock could have done something so terrible.” She grimaced. “I know it was her. I know she did it because…” She hesitated for a moment and took a sip of her coffee. “…Mrs Stenbock entrusted me with some other strange items. I had no idea where they had come from. As I said, I didn’t know that Anne-Lise was buried in the space in the wall. She said they were valuable and that I had to keep them safe in my parent’s house; that she had to keep the items out of Torpa when her husband died around the same time. I was flattered by her confidence in me. I thought that I was doing her a favour. Some of the items were beautiful so I kept them on the shelf here. She specifically said she didn’t have a problem with that. I thought nothing of the half tablet though. It was ugly. I kept it in the attic in a cardboard box with the other less aesthetically pleasing items. I had completely forgotten about it. It was only when you and Paul started to go on about an ancient tablet that was broken in half that I suddenly remembered it after all those years. It took me some time to remember it. My memory isn’t as good as it used to be, I’m afraid.” A weak laugh escaped her.
They all sat quietly for a while, contemplating her story. Emma didn’t doubt that she had told the truth. It was unlikely for a person as honest, nice and helpful as Britt- Marie to have come up with an elaborate lie or to have done something criminal. In the end she had done nothing wrong. She had not been part of the criminal acts committed all those years ago.
Emma had not said much during the whole conversation but decided to ask the question she had been puzzling over: “But why didn’t you just give us the tablet?”
“I thought you might wonder about that.” She looked at them both, first Emma, then Erik. “I realised that I had the tablet shortly after the camera had revealed the chest within the blocked up wall and I confronted Mrs Stenbock about it all. I cared for you and wanted to offer the tablet to you but I didn’t want to do that without asking her first. After all, the old items she had entrusted me with were hers. I thought she
may have forgotten about them. It was thirty years ago. I would have given it to you but when I confronted her about it she was adamant that we should keep it secret. In fact she begged me and then started to threaten me. She explained that by giving me these items she had created a fail-safe for herself if she ever got caught. She would blame me, incriminate me and make me the scapegoat for whatever was hidden in that chest. I was in possession of items which had come from the old chest. It wouldn’t be difficult to prove that. She would use them against me and say that I had obtained them from the chest. I was angry with her and thought about disobeying her orders but my loyalty towards the old woman was too great, I couldn’t do that to her. I still didn’t know what the chest contained and I didn’t ask her, afraid of what she would say but I suspected that it was something dreadful. At that stage Anne-Lise didn’t cross my mind. Not even when the newspaper declared that a body had been found did I suspect it was her body. It was only when you showed me her picture shortly after the discovery of the chest that I realised. I was absolutely horrified, especially given that I was still in possession of all the items which your grandmother had retrieved from there over thirty years ago. Given my bad feelings towards Anne-Lise, which were known among some of the servants, I knew I was not an unlikely suspect. I had to get rid of the artefacts somehow.”
“But how on earth did Paul get hold of the tablet?”
“Erik, your grandmother may have been old but there was nothing wrong with her head. She came up with the idea that we should offer the tablet to Paul in secret. I helped Mrs Stenbock to write an anonymous letter to Paul with the arrangements, asking him not to reveal it to anyone or else there would be consequences. What I didn’t know was that your grandmother was planning to frame Paul for the break-in she was setting up to steal the chest. She was probably thinking that by giving the tablet to Paul she killed two birds with one stone; she got rid of it and incriminated Paul. With the tablet in his possession he would appear guilty of the theft. I have no doubt that she then used one of her old contacts in Stockholm to arrange the burglary, naming Paul as the employer.”
The Atlantis Keystone Page 27