It took almost a year to get there, with all of the trading and raiding to be done, but having reached Mikligardr, Bjarni was quite taken by the glories of the Byzantine Empire and decided to join the Varangian Guard. Varangian is an Old Norse word meaning “sharers of an oath,” and the Varangians were Vikings, most of them from Russia, although other Vikings joined, too. While Vikings had once been a threat to Constantinople, as they were everywhere they went, by Bjarni’s time that had changed. The Varangian guards were troops loyal to the emperor, guarding the palace and the armories. They were mercenaries, of course, and the pay was exceedingly good, too, with plenty of opportunity to acquire loot on the side, and so Bjarni signed up. Bjarni, it seems, was accepted by the others, being a good man with the two-handed Viking axe.
The guard was paid but once a year, and Bjarni and Svein stayed around to collect thrice. With the pay, and his other Viking activities, Bjarni accumulated quite a fortune. He also acquired some relics. A pagan to the end, despite the fact he served the Christian emperor, he nonetheless adopted the habit of his friends in the Varangian guard, and acquired a piece of the True Cross, which he kept in a purse at his side. Still, while other guards wore a small cross around their necks, Bjarni wore the hammer of Thor. Bjarni, one might say, was hedging his bets.
Svein the Wiry wanted to go home now, and so, in many ways, did Bjarni. The problem was, they had no way of knowing whether or not Einar was still in control of Orkney. Svein suggested a spell might work and had an idea. He’d heard-tell of Vikings going to Jerusalem and swimming across the river Jordan in order to make a spell, so that’s what the two men did. This was several decades before the First Crusade, you understand, of 1099, and the Fatmids, who were reasonably tolerant toward other faiths had begun to reestablish control. Bjarni, as he intended, swam across the Jordan, and upon reaching the other side, tied the brush on the river bank into a magic knot, reciting a spell as he did so. The spell was to ensure that his enemy Earl Einar would be dead by the time Bjarni got back to Orkney. That accomplished, Bjarni agreed to turn toward home.
At some point over the next eighteen hours, Maya’s lovely necklace disappeared. Police were called. There was evidence of a break-in. A couple of pairs of Robert’s cufflinks and a diamond bracelet of Maya’s also went missing at the same time. Lester, Simon, and I lost nothing, possibly because we didn’t have anything worth stealing.
I don’t think Maya suspected me of the crime, but I’m certain Robert was not as convinced of my innocence. The police, having reconstructed the event, believed that someone had been watching the house. Timing was carefully studied. We had all helped ourselves to whatever breakfast we wanted. Simon left the house first to go off to his consulting work. I went shortly after that, to follow Willow and Kenny again, although I would never admit that. Sightseeing is what I called it. Around eleven, Lester drove into Kirkwall to look for antiques, and Maya had also gone into Kirkwall to do some grocery shopping. Robert, the last to leave, had taken off just before noon to do whatever rich men do when they are ostensibly on vacation.
Maya was back before 1 PM, and from then on there was always someone in the house. It was not until later that the robbery was detected. Drever, who’d come and gone a few times during the day, discovered signs of a break-in at the back, but he’d pretty much tramped all over any evidence before he noticed it. He did, however, raise the alarm. Robert discovered his missing cufflinks, and then Maya realized the necklace was gone.
Allowing for a few minutes leeway in the time everyone came and went, there was an interval of less than an hour when the house was empty. Maya was convinced it was the people in the derelict house across the way. “It’s that man,” she whispered to me. “The one I told you about, the weird one. They have a perfect view of this house.”
The police, in the person of Detective Cusiter, who gave me a pained look when he saw me, didn’t think so. The elderly resident was in a wheelchair, and completely incapable of the crime, and he in turn swore the other man, the one that frightened Maya, had been with him all day. He said neither had seen anything untoward at the Alexander house. It seemed to me that I was the most likely suspect as far as Cusiter was concerned. He interviewed me for some time about where I had been. I had no alibi for that one hour period. “You do find yourself in the immediate proximity of criminal events on a regular basis,” was all he said when we were done.
Maya cried, of course. The rest of us went around looking somber and whispering to each other. “I have a weakness for cufflinks,” Simon Spence said. “I hope they don’t think I needed an extra pair or two and helped myself.”
“You may recall when we left dinner last night, I was trying on the necklace,” I said. “If anyone is a suspect, I’m it. I’m afraid I even have a key to the place.”
“We all do,” Lester said. “I’m an antique dealer. I could have stolen that necklace to sell. It’s worth something, you know. Actually I suppose you do know, Lara.”
“Yes.” Did I detect a note of suspicion in his voice on that last note? I didn’t mention that Maya thought it was worth considerably more than it was. Lester would have flipped if he knew there was a possibility that Robert paid a hundred grand for it. As a regular adviser on antiques to the Alexanders, Lester might have taken that personally. I would have. Then again, maybe he’d sold it to Robert at the inflated price, which wouldn’t speak well of him.
The person who seemed to have made up his mind about the identity of the thief was Drever the Intimidating, and the person he made pretty clear he thought was the culprit was a certain antique dealer from Toronto. Every time I turned around he was eying me with suspicion, and from that moment on, he dogged my every step.
In the middle of all this drama, Clive called. His tone was the one usually reserved for imparting juicy gossip and this time was no exception. I knew it was going to be good, too, because it had to be after midnight his time. “You aren’t going to believe this, Lara,” he began.
Right now I wasn’t inclined to believe anyone or anything, but I didn’t say so. “Try me, Clive,” was what I said.
“Blair Bazillionaire is out of jail!”
“You’re kidding. Did he make bail after all this time?”
“Not bail. He’s out, a free man. They’ve dropped the charges!” He paused, waiting for me to beg for details. I begged. “He has an alibi. Someone came forward at this late date and provided it. Guess why this person didn’t show up until now.”
“I don’t know. Married woman, maybe?”
“Bingo! You got it in one. Married woman comes forward, says the reason she didn’t speak until now was because she was afraid of her husband and didn’t think the charge was really going to stick, and anyway she was too embarrassed for reasons I will get to in a minute. Now she realizes she has to do what she has to do, no matter the cost, et cetera, et cetera. Rob says that’s why Blair has been ragging the puck, firing his lawyer, and starting anew. He was stalling for time and probably sending secret emissaries to this woman to convince her to confess. Now, bonus points for guessing the name of the woman in question.”
“I have no idea.”
“Oh, come on, Lara. Get into the spirit of this.”
“Camilla Parker Bowles?” I said.