Avery pulled back, leaving her to her thoughts, and Olivia was relieved when her phone rang. Harlan. She excused herself from the table.
“Hiya. Is everything okay?”
“No! Yes. I have news, Liv! Big news, and if possible, I need Nahum’s help.”
Twelve
Jackson studied the group of people gathered in Chadwick House’s study, wondering how best to manage all the information they had to follow up. Initially they had struggled for leads, and now it seemed they had too many.
It was Sunday evening, and Nahum and Olivia had returned from Cornwall, Harlan from Mortlake with what was, quite honestly, shocking news, and Barak, Estelle, and Lucien, had cracked the manifesto at Moonfell. Sort of. All of them looked tense, not surprisingly. It was too much. However, they needed a plan, and they needed to stop arguing. Right now, Nahum and Barak were standing by one of the bookcases, locked in fierce debate as what to tackle first. Harlan and Olivia were in chairs by the fire, chatting quietly. Estelle and Lucien were seated at the table with Jackson, its surface covered with notes.
“Clearly,” Jackson interjected, trying to calm Nahum and Barak down, “we must split things up between us, which includes the others in Italy, and Maggie, too.”
“Which means,” Harlan said, breaking off his conversation with Olivia, “telling her about the tablet. Is that wise?”
“I trust her! Don’t you?”
“Sure, but it’s the tablet! It’s huge news!”
“So is Belial,” Lucien pointed out, “and we trust her with that. She is the lead detective of the Paranormal Policing Unit.”
“Plus,” Jackson said, “we don’t know what effect that tablet may have on things in general. It could carry paranormal repercussions. She needs to know, which is why I have invited her tonight. She’ll be here soon.”
“I have no problem with that,” Nahum said, shrugging. “She’s always helped us in the past. Like making sure we don’t end up with criminal records, despite the body count.”
“Good.” Jackson massaged his temple. Keeping secrets was his job, but keeping them from his friends who could provide valuable help was annoying. He was tired of monitoring his conversations as to who knew what. “I suggest you get her up to speed, Harlan, when she arrives.”
“Sure, will do. It will be a relief, actually.”
“Well,” Barak said, taking a seat at the table, “we must go to the British Museum tomorrow. That cannot be avoided. We have to sign the paperwork, and I want to see that treasure! We were holed up in France at the time.”
“I want to see it, too,” Estelle added. “It’s not like we’re wasting time. It’ll be over by midday.”
Jackson gestured to Harlan, Olivia, and Nahum. “You three are going, too?”
Nahum nodded. “After that, I will happily go to JD’s place with Liv to see the Emerald Tablet that is now a cave.” He stared at Harlan. “You’re not winding us up, are you?”
“No! It really is a giant, emerald cave. I would never kid you about that!”
“Which means that we,” Estelle said, including Barak and Lucien in that, “can focus on what we saw in the spell at Moonfell.”
They had already updated all of those present with the images the spell had lifted from the manifesto. Jackson wished he’d been there to witness it. Everyone now took a seat at the table in the centre of the room, keen to formalise their plans.
Olivia tapped the loose papers covered in scrawled names. “These were in that spell?”
Lucien nodded. “Yes. The letters lifted off the page, rearranged themselves, and made the names. They just hung in the air! But it was too fast to catch all of them. We missed some.”
“We missed a lot,” Barak virtually growled. “There were dozens of them. Maybe hundreds.”
“But potentially,” Harlan pointed out, “that could be a list that has accumulated over decades. Centuries, even. They could be dead by now.”
“Not if they’re directly related to the manifesto we found. It’s only a few decades old. Jacobsen’s signature was on it.”
Estelle drummed her fingers on the table. “That’s an interesting suggestion, Harlan. The parchment and the ink are old and imbued with angelic magic. Odette said so, and I don’t doubt her. One of the images showed piles of parchment on a desk, and scrolls stacked on shelves. Therefore, any individuals that contributed to their making, storage, or anything else, were probably part of The Brotherhood years ago, and could well be dead now. The spell pulled up everyone’s names.”
“It’s a fair point, Estelle, but we shouldn’t assume,” Jackson mused. “Any names you recognise?”
“Amato’s, but that’s all,” Barak said.
Harlan grinned. “I recognise one. The Lambertis. That’s the family in Venice who own the fancy palazzo.”
“The family mentioned in the old text JD found?” Olivia asked, becoming excited. “Which means we’re on the right track.”
Jackson made notes as they talked. “I’ll let Gabe know.”
“Let me,” Harlan offered. “They should be in Venice now. I set them up in an apartment belonging to The Orphic Guild, and I want to make sure everything is okay. Plus, I need to chase up Romola.” As he spoke, the doorbell rang, and he rose to his feet. “And that’s Maggie, so I’ll get her up to speed, too. Drinks, anyone?”
A chorus of requests rang out, and Harlan left them to it.
“I want to identify that city,” Barak said. He stood and started to pace. He’d been visibly unsettled ever since Jackson had arrived. The big man was always so calm, but not anymore. “I have a feeling it’s where Jiri is.”
Belial’s commander. “Why? It could mean anything,” Jackson said, swivelling to watch him pace.
“Jiri was always in the thick of things. He wouldn’t skulk in a country house, or a small village. He would want to be near entertainment, easy travel, everything.”
Nahum nodded. “That’s true.”
“But it was an ancient-looking place,” Estelle pointed out. “It could be long destroyed by now.”
