The body of one Douglas “Dog” Sykes was found in a field north of the city a few weeks after I got home. There was no sign of his Doberman, and no identification or money on him. The police had believed he robbed Trevor of the money he received from the second sale of the Mackintosh, then was robbed and killed in turn. That theory held until over a million dollars was found in a locker, the key to which was hidden in Trevor’s shop. Now the police have turned their attention back to Blair.
Leanna the Lush, then, is key to the resolution of who killed Trevor. Right now she and Dez are in divorce court. I would not want to be in Leanna’s shoes for anything. She provided her lover Blair with an alibi, probably sincerely convinced he was innocent, only to find him arrested on a different set of charges. Technically this leaves an axe murderer at large, but the police aren’t looking too hard for one, convinced that Blair was guilty of that crime, too, and that Leanna was lying. I think she was, too, but I am not entirely convinced she knows it. She always seemed a little befuddled to me, and her powers of observation suspect. She doesn’t seem to have noticed, for example, that both her husband and her lover had identical pieces of furniture, but maybe Dez wouldn’t let even his wife see it. I think it’s possible that Blair killed Trevor, and then met Leanna for their usual assignation, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she chose to forget he was not there the whole time. But even if she is lying outright, what should she do? If she retracts her statement about Blair’s whereabouts during the time period Trevor died, she might find herself up on a perjury charge. If she doesn’t, she can hardly be staying mum because she continues to believe Blair is an upstanding citizen. Dez has made it very clear he won’t take her back.
Sigurd Haraldsson moved into a nursing home where I believe he is comfortable. The Wasteland is up for sale. He writes to me from time to time in an increasingly shaky hand, and I’m always glad to hear from him. His move was made possible by the fact that Thor is living in Percy’s room in Emily Budge’s home. I introduced them, I’m pleased to say. Emily lets Thor use the basement for his workshop, and he has made her home very beautiful, as the photographs she sends me attest, and he has no trouble coming up with the rent. It is no crime to make a fake. It is only a crime if it is offered for sale as the genuine article, if there is a real attempt to deceive. It seemed to me, though, that Thor’s talent could be put to better purpose. I talked to some architects I know, and when they need custom furniture, they send the plans to Thor. His work is exceptional, worth the extra cost for the freight.
Thor apparently is happy living with Emily. I can believe it. Emily will be fussing over him all the time, serving him those lovely sandwiches with no crusts with his tea. Emily, at the age of sixty-four, got her driver’s license, bless her, and she drives Thor over to see his father several times a week in the van that Sigurd gave her. She also takes Thor to visit Svein and Oddi who now belong to a pleasant farm family who let the dogs run free, and who are always happy to see Thor.
Willow has recovered completely, although she had a really severe concussion that worried us all. She and Kenny plan to marry. They’re going to live in Edinburgh and spend as much time as possible in Orkney. I envy them that. I’ve had to admit that much of what she told me was true. Oh, there were exaggerations and omissions and questionable explanations, but at the heart of it, she didn’t lie. I suppose there are parallels here to Bjarni’s story, and the necessity to work hard to find the nugget of truth amid the fiction. In Willow’s case, I proved not particularly adept at separating the wheat from the chaff. The truth of it is this: she discovered that Trevor had a relative in Orkney when the legal process to determine who was to inherit the proceeds from the sale of the contents of Trevor’s store got underway. As she had in fact told me she would, she decided to go and see this relative of Trevor’s, that is to say Kenny, and make a plea for some of the money. She didn’t tell me because she was going to Edinburgh, not Orkney and didn’t expect to see me.
It was the scroll that changed her plans. She found it, and rightly determining it came from Scotland, took it with her. Kenny, who could read runic script, told her what it said, and the two of them headed for Orkney. They didn’t meet on the ferry, but according to Willow that is where they fell head over heels in love. She didn’t tell me any of this because she was rather embarrassed about it at first, and then there was a period of time in which we both viewed each other with suspicion. I think it would be good if Willow got the million dollars found in the safety deposit box, because after all, Trevor did sell the real Mackintosh, and Dez really paid for it. I think it will be some time before that is decided, though, but I don’t think Willow will be overly upset if she doesn’t see any of it.
Kenny really did know Lester from the university. Lester was investigated for months, but no involvement in Alexander’s drug business was found. Lester told me that he hadn’t revealed to me that he had sold a Mackintosh writing cabinet to Robert that first day we met in his shop, because he believed that what his clients did or did not purchase and for how much was a confidential matter, and you know I have to agree with him. He did what he could to help me by suggesting I go to the gala, and by introducing me to Robert and Maya. It did have the required result eventually, and he has apologized about it a hundred times. He had no idea Robert had sent the writing cabinet to Blair.
What is to happen to the cauldron is still up in the air. Under the law of Treasure Trove in Scotland, objects like the cauldron have to be reported, and authorities will decide on their disposition. Simon Spence tells me it is an extraordinary find. In it scientists found traces of a hallucinogenic substance, which may explain what happened to Bjarni in the tomb. Spence believes it was used in rituals in ancient times, one in which sacrificial victims were beheaded. The severed head that speaks was an important symbol in ancient mythology, according to Simon.
As far as Bjarni’s saga itself is concerned, though, it raises more questions than it answers. The cauldron, which scientists believe does indeed come from Northern Europe, predates Bjarni by at least a thousand years. The tomb in which Percy found it—and soil analysis does place the cauldron in that tomb—is three thousand years older than that. Does that mean that when Bjarni’s saga was first written down a fragment of a much earlier tale insinuated itself into the story? Did Bjarni come upon an isolated cult that was still practicing rituals from a much earlier time? Did he simply find, or perhaps more likely, steal the cauldron and make up the story about his capture in the forest to explain his extended absence to his traveling companions? We will never know.
Despite that, Spence is coming around to believing much of Bjarni’s tale, even if no one will ever prove it, in no small measure because of a runic inscription found in the tomb of the orcs that essentially says “Bjarni Haraldsson was here.” It’s possible that someone in relatively recent times saw the runic inscription and perhaps even the cauldron and invented a story to go with them, rather than the other way around, so Bjarni’s story remains one that you can believe or not as you choose.
The cauldron is priceless, of course, not that Emily Budge or Sigurd will ever see any money from it. Neither of them seems terribly upset about this, bless their hearts. They just want to see that it is placed somewhere it will be appreciated. They have agreed that if it is donated, the donor recognition will be to both Sigurd and Thor Haraldsson and Magnus Budge. It is very beautiful, now that conservators have had at it. Much of the silver gilt is still there, and there are embossed panels that show a scene in a forest with stags and a disembodied head that looks as if it is about to speak. Bjarni’s story gains more credence with me every day.