He saw through the window that the gang was there and he was the last to arrive. Emma spotted him first through the window, and he suddenly hoped she had been looking out for him. On entering, she bumped her hip up against Dan, forcing him to move along in the booth. Steve Chambers lifted his chin in acknowledgement and Andrea’s eyes were on him all the way to the table.
Ben snatched up a menu as he sat down. “What did I miss?”
“The eggs, over easy. Plus bacon good enough to make an angel weep,” Steve said.
“Sounds good.” Ben dropped the menu.
“Erk, grease.” Andrea stuck her tongue out.
“A-aaand that’s where the flavor is.” Steve saluted her with his coffee.
“Sad but true.” Ben looked up as the waitress appeared like magic, wrote down his order that included a toasted bagel, and also poured him a coffee. He waited until she was gone, then leaned forward to interlock his fingers on the table.
“I spent a bit of time hunting through more of the attic but didn’t find anything any more illuminating. That’s the bad news, so I guess the good news is, that I found nothing that indicated the notebook was ever returned, or ever found. Wherever Doyle hid it, then that’s where it could still be today.”
“Ditto,” Dan added. “I had my tech teams send out searches far and wide looking for anything that might indicate the Cartwright expedition notebook of 1908 ever came to light — we got nada, zero, zilch.” Dan’s brows waggled. “And that’s good; means we are still good to go.”
“We’ll need anti-malarial shots,” Steve said
Dan nodded. “Good thinking.”
“Wait, what? I thought you guys meant that we were just going to find the notebook.” Ben frowned.
“We sure are… to begin with.” Dan reached forward to grip his forearm, his dark almond eyes intense. “Let me ask you a question: if you went to the hardware store to buy a shovel, are you doing it because you want a shovel, or are you doing it because you want a hole?”
Ben nodded slowly. “A hole, obviously.”
“Exactly,” Dan went on. “So the objective of finding the notebook is not just to find the notebook, though interesting and valuable, but to find out the secrets contained within it.”
“Yeah, I see that. But this is leaping a few paces, or rather miles, from what I was thinking,” Ben replied. “We should take it one step at a time.”
“And we will.” Dan looked earnest. “But come on, man, you gotta admit, this is the most intriguing thing, like ever. Imagine if that hidden place in the jungle actually exists.”
“And every speck of logic says it probably doesn’t,” Emma said with a smile in her eyes. “But then again, just imagine for a tiny second that it does… and you were given a way to find it.” Her eyes gleamed. “And I think your ancestor, Benjamin, would want his namesake heir to be the one to do it.”
Dan opened his arms, sharing his best entrepreneurial smile. “Look around you, buddy. Each of us has an abundance of a few very important things — enthusiasm, youth, curiosity, and time.” He grinned. “What say we use it — strike while the iron’s hot?” He shrugged. “All on my ticket, for all of us, and gold class all the way.”
“Whoa; hey, what do you get out of it?” Steve asked, one eyebrow up.
Dan snorted. “Listen; I sold my tech company five years ago for $180 million bucks. Since then, I’ve been bored, bored, bored. I’ve spent my time parasailing, rock-climbing, deep sea diving and jungle trekking, and I always come back feeling unfulfilled. But this… this, is a real adventure. Something with intrigue, danger, hidden clues, and a purpose; I gotta tell you, I feel alive again.” Dan raised his hands and looked skyward, evangelically for a moment before lowering them flat to the tabletop.
“Me too,” Emma added her hand on top of his.
“Me three.” Steve laid his on the pile.
Andrea raised her hand, smiled, and then slowly laid it on top of Steve’s.
Ben saw the fire in his friends’ eyes. And truth be known, he felt exactly the same. The thought of retracing an ancestor’s steps, and perhaps finding something unique and wondrous, was compelling to the point of being irresistible.
Andrea then placed one thin arm on the table and then rested her chin on the palm. “So, why don’t we just go and knock on the door of this place in England, and get their permission to start looking? After all, you said you have proof it belongs to you.”
Emma shrugged. “She’s got a point, Ben. You’ve got a lawyer’s letter telling you it’s your property. Let’s just knock on the door of Arthur Conan Doyle’s estate.”
Dan held up a finger and waggled it. “Umm, yeah, about that; we did some investigation on the Doyle estate; in a nutshell, it doesn’t exist anymore. His final home, this Windlesham Manor, is a freaking retirement home now.”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Steve started to chuckle. “With all that gray hair, there’ll be no resistance to a little onsite digging.”
Dan sighed. “If only it were that easy. Windlesham Manor sits on 20 acres; more than 870,000 square feet. That’s a lot of places to hide something under the earth.”
“Good God, that’ll be impossible.” Emma’s mouth hung open.
Dan nodded, his lips compressed. “We either need more clues to pinpoint it, or we need to have the Manor’s approval to go looking around — and that might take some time.”
Steve bobbed his head. “I’ve got a friend over there, a zoologist, who could get us in. But like you said, the bottom line is we need more clues to narrow our search.”
Ben ran a hand up through his hair. “Yeah, I can have another look through the Cartwright history, but I’m just not sure there’s anything else significant to find.”
“Well, let’s think this through logically.” Dan interlaced his fingers on the table. “You told us that Doyle valued it so greatly he didn’t want it lost. That’s why he kept it rather than simply sending it back to your ancestor’s estate if there was a chance there was no one to either receive it or appreciate its importance. Right?”
“I guess so,” Ben replied.
“So, if he valued it so greatly, he would have wanted it safe, and close. My gut feeling is it’ll be in the manor or real close by on the grounds. I don’t think our search area will be all that big.”
“That sounds a little more promising.” Emma beamed.
“Kinda makes sense,” Ben added.
“Well, doesn’t matter anyway.” Dan grinned sheepishly. “I’ve already booked our flights.”
“Jesus.” Ben straightened. “For when? I still haven’t told my mom.”
Steve chuckled. “What, are you still 12?”
“Two days time, Friday morning.” Dan held his arms out. “Now or never, buddy.” He turned and pointed. “Steve, you contact your friend in England and let them know we’re coming. See if he —”
“She,” Steve added.
“Of course.” Dan gave him a wry smile. “See if she can get us an invite into the Manor. The rest of you, pack, get your shots, and grab your passports.”
Emma snorted. “I suddenly feel like Dorothy being lifted up by the tornado and swept away.”
Ben laughed. “Well, we’ve got a few days, and I think Mom is going to need another cake when I tell her.”
Emma grinned back. “Sure, but she’ll be fine when she knows I’ll be looking after you.”
CHAPTER 06