Re followed her and craned his neck. It was an eightsection centrepiece on the ceiling, like a golden flower from which hung the chandelier. Every alternate petal had a mirror on it. But between those mirrors, like a cross of four petals, were paintings of four single harlequins, in various attitudes. They were almost faded and the images were getting blurred, but they were harlequins, no doubt.
‘Omigod!’ Isabel exclaimed. ‘There they are, laughing at their own reflections, looking down through the chandelier.’
Without a word, Re began rolling the carpet back and Isabel hastened to assist him. They rolled it right to the centre and stared. A perfect square pattern similar to the replicated cube pattern by the door, was hidden right below the chandelier. Re squatted down, fingering the edges of the square. ‘How do we pry this open?’ he wondered.
‘We’ll need permission to pull up the wooden flooring.’
‘Permission?’
Isabel nodded. ‘After all, it’s the Venetian Room and a very important dinner will be held here tomorrow night. Even Dan won’t be able to take a decision on this.’
‘Then what?’ asked Re.
‘Dan will have to speak to Mark, our VP. Let me call Dan,’ decided Isabel.
But half an hour later, Dan walked in looking flustered. ‘This is very embarrassing,’ he confessed. I can’t seem to get through to Mark. Apparently, he is in some private meeting, and he said he couldn’t talk, and now his phone is switched off!’
Re raised an enquiring eyebrow. ‘So?’
‘So we have to wait till we get permission.’
‘Dan, you know what the time is? It’s almost 9.30. We have barely two hours before there’s another “disaster” in Salzburg. We can’t afford to wait.’
‘Give me half an hour,’ Dan pleaded. ‘I’m sure the meeting will be over soon.’
Re and Isabel exchanged looks. She nodded.
‘All right. We’ll wait, we don’t have much choice, do we?’ Re said.
‘Thank you!’ Dan appeared relieved. ‘Is that where the clue is? Wow, I wish I had time to watch and appreciate your progress, but I have to get back to my office. The security chief needs to have a word with me about tomorrow. I’ll revert the moment I communicate with Mark.’
Re nodded, as Dan hastened away. ‘What do we do now?’ Re asked, frustrated again.
He hated wasting that precious half-an-hour. And what if they weren’t granted permission at the end of it?
‘We do what we need to do,’ Isabel said. ‘Wait a minute.’ Before Re could comment, she exited the room but reappeared minutes later carrying something.
‘A tool kit!’ she announced, with an impudent chuckle. ‘Luckily, I know where things are kept in this Schloss.’
‘You’re indispensable!’ Re smiled, appreciatively. ‘Come on!’
Isabel shut the huge wooden door while Re chose some tools. Trying not to make much noise, he tried to pry into the gap with a hammer and chisel. The knocking echoed softly through the room.
‘Shhh,’ Isabel hissed, as she stood by the door to keep watch. ‘There are people moving outside.’
Re nodded and tried to muffle the sound with his kerchief.
She whispered again. ‘Are you done?’
‘Non, chérie. I’m just a journalist, not a carpenter,’ he replied in a bigger whisper. ‘Besides, it’s stuck! It’s more than seventy years old, remember? Have patience.’
‘Someone’s coming, cover it, cover it!’
Quick as lightening, Re rolled the carpet over the floor and thrust the toolbox out of sight under the tiled oven. Just in time, because the door opened and Martina peeped in.
‘Hello! I thought everyone had gone home. I heard a sound here, so decided to check.’
‘Hi, Martina, what are you still doing here?’ Isabel asked.
‘Making notes in the Library. Tomorrow is a big day, and I won’t have access to the Library. So I thought I would finish my reference work tonight and take a day off tomorrow.’ She smiled.
Re noticed again how the smile reached her eyes.
‘You two seem to be busy, so I’ll say good night,’ the artist said.
‘Good night!’ they chorused and Isabel closed the door, standing by again on guard.
Instantly, Re rolled up the carpet and set to work. He had to work slowly and carefully, so as not to chip the floor. It was another half-an-hour before he noticed a slight shift in the crack. His heartbeat quickened. He knew they were very close to unravelling the next clue. Would this be the last? If only they knew how many more they had to find!
A shove and suddenly one of the squares gave way. Re plucked it out carefully and began work on the second one. Then, he stopped and stared.
‘Is it there?’ Isabel asked anxiously from the door. ‘Re!’
‘It is!’ He extracted a roll of oilskin sheet and held it reverently up to her.
‘Oh, thank heavens!’ She ran to him and squatted down. ‘Unfold it!’
‘Let’s cover this up first, in case someone turns up,’ he suggested.
He fitted the flooring, jamming the squares back into place as best as he could, then rolled the carpet smoothly over the floor. It looked as innocently undisturbed as ever.
‘Want to do the honours?’ he asked as before, and was rewarded with the brightest smile.
‘Need you ask!’
Isabel carefully unrolled the oilskin and straightened out the sheet of paper inside. It was a little damp and, at some places, Max Reinhardt’s black scrawl was beginning to smudge.
‘Bravo! Doing really well. Just three more to go.
Birds, ducks, monkeys and trees,
Spring on me the Bee’s Knees,
Past deer, cherubs and pointing men
Stepping stones and standing women
Across the silky, wavy length
Where the real key lies in the borrowed strength.’
Isabel read it out in a voice filled with controlled emotion.
***
Stefan stepped out of the Max Reinhardt Suite. The meeting had gone exactly as he had envisioned it. Tense, almost panicky. It was only to be expected. The SSS was actually in charge of protecting the heart from people who hated the memory of the Archbishop, because they knew that when he requested that his heart be buried in the chapel, it was actually placed there to balance the energy of the Schloss. If that was disturbed, the four elements around the Schloss would be disturbed as well. This energy also connected to the city. The city was driven by the intense energy of the four elements and the balance of the elements was maintained by the energy in the old monuments and key structures in the town. The theft of the Archbishop’s heart from the Schloss Leopoldskron had disturbed this balance. The Mozart house incident was proof. Some believed it and some did not, but the SSS not only believed it, they would go to any extent to restore the balance of the energies in the town. Beginning with finding the stolen heart! The Secret Society had a task and they would perform it, come what may.
Unfortunately, he had a task too. Finding the heart was one thing. But looming large before him was the question of the second Pillar. His men were on guard at all major spots, but the feeling of unease had him in a vise-like grip. Where would the enemy strike next?
***
‘Just three more to go,’ Re said, staring at the clue. ‘That’s a relief !’
‘Three more to go! That’s not easy.’ Isabel sighed.
‘Change your attitude ma chérie, and you will change the course of life.’ Re grinned.
Isabel nodded. ‘You are right.’
Re glanced at his watch. It was eleven.
‘What plans must they be making to create another disaster in Salzburg?’ he wondered.
‘Did you say “disaster”?’ Isabel repeated, more to herself than to him.
‘Yes, that’s what he did when he said he would destroy the Pillars of Salzburg. Altough he didn’t physically destroy it. At least not the Mozart house.’
‘What did we say the
Mozart house symbolizes?’
‘It’s the great Mozart’s birth house, that itself should be good enough. But other than that, it represents culture.’
‘It also represents life. In terms of seasons, wouldn’t you say it represents spring?’
Re’s eyes widened. ‘I think I know what you are getting at.’
‘Precisely. Remember Leopold Firmian’s Fours in the Marble Hall—Arts, Culture, Seasons, Life.…these pillars which are threatened represent the Fours in the Marble Hall!’ Isabel intoned with suppressed excitement.
‘You could be right!’ Re exclaimed. ‘So what do we have left now? Summer, Autumn and Winter. If Life has already been represented, then there’s Death. Death could also signify Winter.’
Isabel nodded in understanding.
‘Do you have some plain paper on you?’ Re asked suddenly. ‘I mean, I have these sheets with the clues, but…’
‘Don’t you dare go scribbling on them! They are invaluable pieces of history!’ Isabel was flabbergasted that he could even suggest it.
‘Once a historian always a historian,’ Re sneered.
‘Once an investigative journalist, always one!’ she snorted back.
‘Touché! Now for that paper. We’ll find it in the Library.’
They shut the door of the Venetian Room, crossed the landing to the Marble Hall, and entered the Library. The boards creaked and in the dark of the night, with just the low lights serving as illumination, the Library, with its twenty-eight pillars, emanated an assurance of security.
Isabel found a sheet. ‘Do you have a pen?’
‘Eh bien—asking a journalist if he has a pen? Drôle!’
He handed her a shiny gold-plated pen and she stared at it for a few moments.
‘That’s a gift from my Mom, so please return it to me.’
‘I will, but what are you expecting me to do with it?’
‘Okay, here’s a thought. Can you draw me a rough map of the Altstadt? The old town? All the important monuments? I know there are many, but the prominent ones?’
Isabel nodded. She laid the paper out at an angle, took time reflecting, then systematically began drawing out a plan. She drew the river Salzach flowing from the right to the left, along with three bridges. Then on the left side of the page she drew a cross, marking it ‘Cathedral’.
‘Let’s begin with the cathedral, because that’s where we began the Trail. Right on top is the Mozart house in Getreidegasse street. And this here, on the left, is St Peter’s Abbey with its cemetery. There are other important spots like the Archbishop’s residence, the fortress, all important landmarks of history.’
Re watched her intently. Her drawing was pretty good and he could see the entire lay of the land.
‘Great. Can you pass me the pen now? So, if I draw a parallel line from Mozart’s place to make a “four” on the map, what do I get?’
Isabel was intrigued. She leaned forward to see the monuments on the first line.
‘Residenzplatz, and St Peter’s with its cemetery—the oldest in Austria and where only the real Salzburgers have their graves reserved.’
‘Death and Winter!’
‘Also, Mozart’s sister Nonnarl has a plaque at the cemetery.’ Isabel thought for a bit and said in wonder, ‘The cemetery as the next Pillar? Wow! But how would he destroy it?’
‘That is the difficult part to figure out,’ Re admitted, leaning against the table. ‘In the Mozart house he used poisonous spray… wait a minute…the four elements!’ Re almost shouted. ‘Air, water, earth and fire! He used air to create a disaster in the Mozart house. Now we will have water, fire and earth!’
Isabel’s eyes gleamed. ‘You are right! It could be any of the three. My God, we have to tell Stefan.’ She rose at once.
‘Do you have his number?’
She shook her head. ‘We’ll have to go to the police headquarters and explain it all to him in person.’
‘Let’s go, then. You do know where the place is?’
Isabel smirked. ‘I can go blindfold to it. You forget it’s been my favourite haunt for the last month.’
Re thrust the sheet into his pocket and glanced at his watch, as they clattered down the stairs and into the open. It was 11.35. They still had time to get Stefan to increase security staff at the cemetery.
There was a cold October nip in the night air. The Schloss shone scarlet and white in the festive lights, and the Meierhof alongside stood like a pale pink dream structure. Re could see the light on in Dan’s office.
‘You get the car and I’ll get Stefan’s number from Dan’.
***
‘The cemetery!’ Stefan shook his head in disbelief. ‘I don’t know. What would he want with the cemetery? There wouldn’t be any people to harm—just the dead! Anyway, even going by your logic of the four on the map, there’s still the Residenzplatz and the Franciscan church in that line. Those to me are far more effective targets. Let me deploy some men to those spots right away first.’
Isabel glanced at Re, raising an eyebrow, implying that she knew he wouldn’t be convinced, but would try anyway. ‘But Stefan—’ she began, turning to him.
The officer was already on the phone, barking orders.
Re glanced restlessly at the watch. Ten minutes to twelve. What if they were right? Paradoxically, what if they were wrong? Stefan might be right. What would someone achieve by destroying the cemetery? Even if it was the oldest in Austria? It would only lead to destruction, not disaster. Unless… the four elements, he thought again—air, earth, water and fire. He turned swiftly to Isabel.
‘Didn’t you say there was a major source of water somewhere near the cemetery?’
‘Yes, of course. The Almkanal has a huge outlet right in the cemetery. Since 1960, it is the Almkanal water that powers the cable car to the Festung. Why do you ask?’
Re rose, his whole body taut with anxiety. ‘Isabel, the target is the cemetery. That’s the second Pillar, without the slightest doubt. Because, of the four elements, it is water that is going to be used this time. Water from the Almkanal that will flood the entire Altstadt if it’s not curbed.’
For a moment, Isabel and Re stared at each other, as the horrifying consequences of such a happening impacted on their minds.
‘Stefan, you’ve got to listen!’ It was Isabel’s panicked tone that caught Stefan’s attention. He instantly paused and turned to the two as Re grabbed the chance and repeated his warning.
***
The Almkanal was the main water system that ran in a canal under almost the entire town. It was old, but the city relied on it. A huge wheel churned out the water, like a mill, right next to the cemetery in St Peter’s Abbey. It was big and wooden, enclosed between two buildings—almost hidden unless one followed the sound of the water churning. One could follow the path of the water till it swept under the city. If, by chance, one of the outlets was to be left open, the entire area would be flooded. But the doors were locked. Especially the one that overlooked the cemetery.
The man with the cap pulled low moved quietly between the well-tended graves, the metal black crosses glistening in the night, and the colourful flowers curtsying in the sudden wind against the wrought-iron grave markers. The man passed the graves and stood before the six-foot-high, wooden, planked door. The sound of gushing water was loud and clear, like giant buckets of water being ceaselessly poured.
***
Minutes later, the car was speeding through the silent streets towards St Peter’s Abbey. The occasional groups of tourists and young people were hanging out around the pubs. Re wanted to shout at them to return to the safety of their houses. But he steadied himself. He shouldn’t panic. They would reach in time. The danger would be averted. It had to be!
Stefan didn’t speak while he drove them, fast, a tense expression on his face. Re looked straight ahead and Isabel wrung her hands restlessly. Would they make it in time? For the umpteenth time Re glanced at his watch. ‘It’s midnight. We are almost there, a
ren’t we?’ Re asked.
‘Almost,’ Stefan replied. ‘Let’s park here. We’ll have to walk the rest of the way.’
‘I can hear something.’ Re’s voice was a whisper.
Suddenly all of them could hear what he meant. The steady sound of water gushing, the sound increasing like a slow roar. Re jumped out of the car and found his feet submerged.
‘Run!’ he exclaimed, but the others were already on their way.
Re followed the flow of the water, his feet plunging into the gurgling rivulets that sparkled in the moonlight.
‘The bakery side of the cemetery,’ Isabel shouted.
Re didn’t care which route. All he knew was that he had to reach the graves. The sound of the water grew louder and he stopped, shocked.
The entire cemetery seemed to be swallowed up with the hurtling water, in its huge speed to reach the streets. Water gushed through the paths between the graves, tumbling over the gravestones, crushing the flowers and shrubs on its way, bending the metal crosses and leaving a slippery trail of unleashed damage. Re edged forward to check the source of the gushing water. And there it was—at the high end of the cemetery. A big square opening in the dark wall, like the mouth of a monster opened wide, screaming and regurgitating an endless river of liquid. It sucked in everything that dared to obstruct its way, like a hungry fiend.
Isabel screamed. Re knew that he would never ever forget the sight.
Part III
EARTH
Chapter 1
5th October
tefan, there’s the door to the canal!’ Re shouted. ‘The pipeline seems to have been smashed. We have to try to curb the force of the water within it.’
The door had been neatly cut off from the hinges and flung aside. Water gushed from the torn pipe, an unstoppable torrent of destruction.
‘The flow is too powerful,’ Stefan shouted back.
Re held Isabel’s hand on one side and Stefan’s on the other, and they waded up the pebbled path between the gravestones. Their legs felt the strong tug of the water but they held each other’s hands in a tight grip, lest one of them be washed away.
‘Let’s try to hold the door horizontally against the bottom half. The water is gushing straight down. Perhaps we can try to block the flow and break the intensity,’ Re said. ‘The water is already knee-high in the cemetery. Isabel, I think you’d better climb onto one of the gravestones.’
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