He gave a little chuckle.
"In essence, it's really very simple," Lord Alfred continued, "I am about to go and hide this little trinket somewhere on the premises."
He produced from his pocket a small jewellery box which he turned to face the camera. Slowly, he opened the hinged lid to reveal a large, deep blue sapphire which sparkled as he carefully rotated the box in such a way as to ensure that the light reflected and glinted appealingly from its many expertly-crafted facets. The jewel was truly beautiful. Matthew tried to stifle a gasp, but both Charles and James heard him. It was almost as if the figure on the screen had heard too.
"You recognise this, my dear Matthew? Of course you do. It's the sapphire that you said you were going to buy for your dear mother's birthday back in the days when you had some money. As I recall, you decided instead to spend the money on a holiday for you and one of your many girlfriends. I wonder how long she stayed around? Well, no matter. Anyway, as you can see, I bought it instead, and now I'm going to hide it. And now we get to the part that will interest you."
He leaned forward and spoke carefully and slowly, almost conspiratorially.
"Matthew, my son, and Charles, my solicitor, this is a contest. Together with this little gem I will leave all the necessary information explaining how to affect the transfer of my estate to whichever one of you discovers it. With the exception of James' five million, find the sapphire and inherit the lot. But there's nothing in this game for coming second. Absolutely nothing. The winner takes all."
He smiled and waited a moment to allow his words to sink in. He let loose a hoarse cackle as he resumed:
"So I imagine you're probably already wondering where its hiding place could possibly be. Well, I'll tell you: anywhere. It could be anywhere in the environs of Heston Grange. Absolutely anywhere. In fact, the words 'needle' and 'haystack' come to mind. But, since you know me to be such a benevolent old fellow, I'm going to introduce a little culture to the proceedings by giving you a piece of poetry to assist you in your search. This is one of my favourite poems and I'm really rather proud of this. Are you sitting comfortably? Then listen, my dears; listen very, very carefully."
He was obviously relishing this whole presentation.
"The poem is as follows."
He cleared his throat and began.
In another life the old chap would have made a good actor; he had read very well.
"Suitably enigmatic, wouldn't you say? So there you have it, my dears. Pay close attention to all my words and, if you have the intelligence to work it out, these cryptic lines will lead you to the location of this all-important little blue stone." He held it up once again. "And, to be fair, the clues are not really that difficult; I'm sure you will see through them eventually." He chuckled again. "Well, I think that covers everything — oh, my mistake, there is one thing more; I almost forgot. You see, I couldn't resist putting just a small sting in the tail, so this little game of mine also carries a time limit. If neither of you have been able to discover the whereabouts of the sapphire exactly two weeks from the date of my demise, then my instructions are that my entire estate is to be sold and the proceeds shared equally between the Federation of British Artists and the Society of West End Theatre. There now, that's given you some food for thought hasn't it? You do remember what 'thought' is, Matthew? Who knows, maybe you're about to finally give some attention to your poor old dad's words of wisdom. Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat but I have to go and initiate a rather intriguing game of Hide and Seek. Thank you for your kind attention. Goodbye."
He rose from his seat, held the jewel before the camera one last time then, dropping it back into his pocket and giving a final cheeky smile to his audience, walked out of the frame in the same direction from which he had entered it. The film ended. The screen went dark and James began to open the curtains.
Other than the sound of the curtains gliding along their smooth rails the room was silent. The words of the poem rang in Charles' mind and he thought back to the night of Lord Alfred's death. With his final breath His Lordship had mentioned these cryptic lines. Charles hadn't known what he meant then but he did now, and cryptic they certainly were. Not surprisingly, Charles was now thoroughly intrigued as to exactly where the clues hidden within these lines would lead. How crafty Lord Alfred had been to devise such a scheme! And where was that large sapphire hidden? His thoughts were suddenly jolted back into the present as he became aware that Matthew was breathing loudly and deeply.
"That old bugger always had it in for me," he snarled.
Chapter 6
What followed was an awkward quietness in the room which was suddenly shattered as Matthew leapt to his feet, knocking over the side table as he did so, on which stood the remains of his glass of sherry. As it hit the floor the delicate glass shattered, and the expensive carpet was spattered with the dark liquid and shards of broken glass. Ignoring the looks of surprise on the faces of the other two men, he stomped across the room with a face as dark as thunder, threw open the door and stormed out, slamming the door behind him, and leaving Charles and James momentarily stunned. He passed briskly along the numerous twisting corridors, eventually reaching the main entrance hall with its elaborate chandelier, and then out into the courtyard and the clear, crisp morning air. He walked up to his silver cobra, cursing under his breath and, as the frustration rose within him, he clenched his fist and brought it down firmly onto the bonnet. Why? he wondered. Why? Why? He should now be the proud possessor of a vast fortune. Instead, he found that he was having to play some ludicrous game — a game which he could quite possibly lose and end up with nothing! Was his father even allowed to do things this way, he wondered. He realised he already knew the answer. Whatever else he might think about his now deceased dad, there was one thing he would say for him — he was meticulous and thorough in whatever he put his hand to.
Just then, a thought struck him. In the film, the poem had mentioned something about a sun-bleached stone. Could that possibly be referring to the small disused family graveyard in the grounds? If that was where the sapphire was hidden Matthew was going to go and fetch it right now and bring this stupid farce of a contest to a swift conclusion. Without wasting a second, he turned on his heel and ran out of the courtyard, disappeared round the corner of the house and moved rapidly into the gardens beyond, in the direction of the cemetery.
"James, I'm so sorry," said Charles. "I had no idea his reaction would be quite so violent."
Having cleared away the pieces of broken glass, James had removed his jacket and was now on his hands and knees trying to sponge the sherry stain from the carpet.
"Oh, that's alright, sir. I think we both knew that master Matthew was hoping to hear something slightly different."
Charles' brow furrowed, and he asked, "James, naturally I am very excited at having been included in his Lordship's Will, but why? Why me?"