The Deadly Game(16)

‘The sooner the better,’ said Jake. ‘This weekend. Spend the first day searching around, and some serious digging on the Sunday.’

Robert shook his head again.

‘You’re mad,’ he said. He tapped the list. ‘Some of these places will have hundreds of acres of ground, maybe thousands. You could dig for a year and not find anything.’

‘That’s why I was going to spend the first day checking the places out.’

‘And look for what — a big cross and a sign saying ‘“Dig here for ye ancient book”?’ commented Robert sarcastically.

Jake looked uncomfortable.

‘All right, it’s a big task, I’ll give you that,’ he admitted. ‘But have you got anything better?’

Robert grinned and stuffed the list into his inside pocket.

‘I certainly have,’ he said. ‘A sniffer dog.’

Jake looked at Robert, baffled.

‘A what?’ he asked.

‘A sniffer dog,’ repeated Robert. ‘One of the guys I play rugby with, Andy Beamish, is part of a search and rescue team, and he uses a sniffer dog to find things like people trapped under rubble, dead bodies, explosives and drugs, even pirate CDs. These dogs are amazing!’ Then his face clouded. ‘The trouble is, we’d need something with the scent for the dog to find.’ He let out a heavy sigh. ‘A pity you never kept the packet that last book was in. That would have been ideal! The smell of the oilskin, or whatever it was wrapped in.’

‘But I’ve got one!’ burst out Jake excitedly. Then he stopped himself and looked quickly around, but no one in the store seemed to react to his sudden outburst. He leant forward. ‘I’ve got one,’ he repeated excitedly, but this time in a whisper.

‘Where from?’ asked Robert, puzzled.

Jake told him about the ancient cover mysteriously appearing on his kitchen table.

‘And you’ve got no idea who put it there?’ asked Robert.

‘No,’ said Jake. He grinned. ‘But the main thing is, I’ve got it! And we can use it for this dog!’

‘Excellent,’ said Robert. ‘Right, I’ll get in touch with Andy and see if he’s free this weekend. I did have something arranged for Saturday, but I can change that.’

Jake frowned.

‘I didn’t expect you to come as well,’ he said. ‘Not after what happened last time, nearly getting yourself killed.’

Robert fixed Jake with a firm glare.

‘Are you expecting to get attacked again?’ he demanded.

‘Well . . . no,’ said Jake. ‘I hope not.’

‘Well, even if you were, you wouldn’t keep me away from this,’ Robert told him firmly. ‘Like you say, this could get Lauren back to England. And if so, I want to be part of it.’ He tapped his inside pocket where he’d put the list of places. ‘Right, I’d better start checking who the landowners are, and get on to them and get their permission to start digging.’ He grinned. ‘This could be brilliant!’





Chapter 9




After he left Robert, Jake phoned Michelle.

‘Good news,’ he told her. ‘The friend I was telling you about says he’ll sort out the digging permission for us. And also, he’s going to fix up a sniffer dog.’

‘A what?’ asked Michelle, puzzled.

‘A sniffer dog,’ repeated Jake. ‘He says the area we’re looking for is too large for us to have a chance with random digging, and if we’re serious about finding anything from King Arthur’s time, a sniffer dog will be just the thing we need.’

‘Excellent!’ said Michelle. ‘I’ll bring a camera. If we find anything it’ll go a long way to backing up our story.’

‘Good idea,’ said Jake.

‘Oh, by the way, a change of plan,’ said Michelle. ‘Has your friend got transport?’

Jake thought of Robert’s noisy old van.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Why?’

‘I was thinking of popping in on some old friends of mine on the way there,’ she said. ‘I haven’t seen them in ages. They’re in Salisbury, so I thought I’d see them on Friday and stay the night, and then go on to Glastonbury from there. I’d invite you, but you don’t know them, and it’ll be boring for you, old friends catching up. I wouldn’t have mentioned it if you hadn’t said about your friend coming as well. If he can take you, that would be great.’

‘That’s fine by me,’ said Jake. ‘We’ll meet at Glastonbury on Saturday.’

‘I’ve booked us in at the Grail and Thorn,’ she said. ‘The booking’s under my name, Faure, if you get there first.’