The Atlantis Keystone (36 page)

“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.”

“So if you gave the tablet to Paul, how come you ended up with the tablet again and what were you doing creeping around with it in your rucksack last night?”

“Well, we had arranged with Paul that we would give him a photograph of one side of the half tablet, just to show him that we were telling the truth. He was initially very doubtful, mistrusting us, but the photo made him very keen to go ahead. We would then send him a photo of the other half and also give him access to the actual half tablet. I had no problem with that, in fact, I was rather happy to get rid of it by that point. Believe it or not, I really wanted you to have it so I arranged for Paul to pick it up. I placed it in the old house and instructed Paul to come and collect it. I even revealed the existence of the old escape route, instructing him to enter the house that way and telling him where I had hidden the tablet; in the east section bedroom inside the sofa. I knew that sofa well. It was hollow underneath, perfect as a place to hide things. Anyway, that was where I had intended for Paul to pick up the tablet.”

“But he didn’t?”

“Well, I thought he had and I had almost forgotten about it until the other night when I came over to you for dinner. You told me that Paul was missing and suspected dead. You mentioned that Paul had given you the photo of the tablet and that it was only of the one side, the Linear A side. That was when it occurred to me that he may not have actually taken the tablet and that it might still be hidden in the sofa. Thinking about it, he would have been foolish to actually take the tablet. He would never have been able to travel with it and it could have incriminated him. Also, how could he have explained his possession of it anyway? I couldn’t stop thinking about the tablet and decided to go and fetch it. I was going to give it to you; to save you from looking for it. I was going to tell you that Mrs Stenbock had given the tablet to me. After all, that was the truth. I took the underground passage to go and get it. I had entered the house that way many times over the years. I picked it up from the sofa and then started to venture back the way I came in. But then something made me change my mind. I thought that perhaps it would be best to leave it hidden there in the old house after all and perhaps that would strengthen my position. I turned around to go back and that was when I heard voices in the house. I panicked… I didn’t want to get caught red handed sneaking around with the tablet on my back… and the rest you know.”

“But why were you running when it was only us?”

“I couldn’t see anything and I didn’t know for certain that it was you. I couldn’t afford for anyone else to catch me with the tablet and I certainly wasn’t going to allow it to be stolen! There in the darkness of the basement I started to imagine all sorts of things. As I said, I was scared of getting caught red-handed with the incriminating goods in my bag. I was sure you had called the police to arrest me, so I ran. I was sure the escape route would help me.”

Erik had started to cry. It was silent weeping but he was shaking. Britt-Marie went over to him and put her chubby arms around him, stroking his hair.

“Now there; I have told you everything! You should be happy? You can call the police now. Just go ahead and tell them everything. I just wanted to protect your grandmother – and me – but it all went wrong.” She felt better now that she had told them everything. The lying and the secrecy must have been difficult for her. Her face had relaxed and she looked at them calmly. When none of them said anything she continued, almost as if to herself: “You could almost say that Mrs Stenbock dug her own grave. She was the instigator but she was also the victim in the end… That’s what I call irony…” She chuckled but then turned serious again. “Or maybe they won’t believe me. I was in possession of the tablet. I also had a possible motive to kill poor Anne-Lise. Mrs Stenbock is now dead so she cannot confess it all.” She was suddenly devastated and started crying again. “Who will believe me now? I had nothing to do with Anne-Lise’s death. I promise. But all the evidence is stacked up against me.” Erik, who had stopped crying and instead had started to look increasingly worried about Britt-Marie’s state of mental health, stood up and gave her a hug.

“I believe you, Britt-Marie. I have known you all my life. I know you are the most honest and decent person in this whole episode. You have always been there for me and I will be there for you now. I will tell it all to the police. I’m sure they’ll believe it.” They were still hugging.

“You know I love you and that you are like the son I never had.”

“Yes, I know. And you are like the mother I never really had.”

Britt-Marie released him from her embrace. He picked up the phone to call the police.

Emma silently hoped that Paul’s innocence would be possible to prove. The academic world needed him. She was still angry with him for keeping quiet about the tablet all those months. She suspected that he had gladly kept the tablet to himself to allow him to work on the decipherment undisturbed. Although he had left her all those clues to lead her to the tablet, she suspected that he had done it that way to buy time. Paul could have told her that he had the tablet already in August… but she supposed he was frightened that someone would find out and ‘there would be consequences’. He had provided her with a picture of one half of the tablet but it was still not clear to her why he had not provided a photo with the other side at the same time. His T-shirt in that room in the east wing of Torpa proved that he had been in there in August. He had not brought the tablet with him but he may have copied it or taken a picture of it. She was still puzzled by that.

I
t was not quite nightfall but the sky was almost black outside. Thunderous clouds stretched as far as the eye could see promising an imminent explosion of lightning and rain. Emma was glad she was inside. It was only a matter of minutes before the heavens would open and start its display of anger. Erik was still at the police station, probably filling in forms and answering questions. She was grateful that he had spared her that experience by dropping her off at the house. Britt-Marie had gone with him upon the request of the police officer he had spoken to on the phone. Taking advantage of the unexpected moment of solitude, Emma was sitting at Erik’s desk with her computer, ready to continue where she left off earlier on the translation of the tablet. To her relief, she had managed to open the safe and the tablet had still been there, still in the plastic bag.

Having translated the first line earlier that morning, she set out to do the next, which was a little bit shorter than the first. It didn’t take her long:

“…The east and the west were silenced. Temples and houses were destroyed by the great flood, leaving its few remaining inhabitants with nothing. Hail covered the ground and [everything around] was…”

She reflected on the significance of these words. Again, they were consistent with a terrible natural disaster. Emma knew that the volcanic eruption at Thera must have been absolutely devastating. Such a tragedy would not only have impacted on the immediate surroundings of the Eastern Mediterranean. Its effects would have been felt all over the world. The resulting climate change would have had a destructive impact on farming and all aspects of life. She recalled seeing reports even in England that excavated Bronze Age villages had seemed to decline about that time. No wonder then that the impact on nearby Egypt was felt. She was not sure whether the tablet described the effects of the eruption on the Minoans or on Egypt. She read the next known section from the other side of the tablet: