‘But we haven’t!’ hissed Lauren. ‘And if Brigstocke had it, then it’s gone! Whoever killed him will have forced him to tell them where it was in the shop, and they’ll have taken it!’
Jake shook his head.
‘I don’t think Brigstocke had it. If he did, he would have told them. Why hold out under torture like that for a book? The fact they did those dreadful things to him means they weren’t getting the answers they wanted. Brigstocke didn’t have it.’
‘So where is it?’ agonised Lauren.
Jake stared into his cup of coffee, at the dark liquid, the touches of froth on the side. Think, he urged himself. Think! The de Courcey family were given The Index for safe keeping after Glastonbury was destroyed. Where would they have put it? In plain sight, in the library? Or would they have hidden it somewhere? The book was precious, very precious. They wouldn’t have taken a chance on leaving it in the library for anyone to see.
Suddenly a thought struck him. Something Guy had said when they’d been in the cell at the police station.
He looked at Lauren, his eyes suddenly alive, agitated.
‘I think I know what happened to The Index!’ he said.
Lauren studied him, a doubtful expression on her face.
‘You’re sure this isn’t just coming out of desperation, Jake?’
‘No.’ He leant towards her. ‘Guy told me his family backed the wrong side in the Civil War, so they supported King Charles I and his cavaliers.’
‘Yes.’ Lauren nodded. ‘So?’
‘Well, it’s common knowledge that Catholics sided with the cavaliers. And we know that a de Courcey ancestor headed up the Order of Malichea at Glastonbury in the 1500s. So what does this tell us about the de Courcey family?’
Lauren thought about it.
‘That the de Courceys were Catholics,’ she said.
‘And wealthy Catholic families in the time of Henry VIII, certainly later Henry, and when Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne, often kept their religion secret to avoid persecution and having their wealth taken from them,’ said Jake.
Lauren stared at Jake, and now her face looked as excited as his.
‘And wealthy Catholic families had special hiding places in their houses to keep items of their religion.’
‘Not just items,’ Jake reminded her. ‘They even hid their priests.’
‘Priest’s holes!’ nodded Lauren. ‘Hidden chambers.’ Then her face clouded over. ‘But surely, such a hiding place at de Courcey Hall would have been discovered by now, after all these years.’
‘Yes,’ agreed Jake. ‘And who’s likely to know if such a place was discovered, and what happened to the stuff that was in it?’
‘You’re thinking Gemma and Dan Hayward?’ queried Lauren.
Jake nodded. ‘I am.’
Lauren frowned.
‘It’s a long shot,’ she said.
‘Everything about this business has always been a long shot,’ said Jake.
‘And if The Index had turned up, Gemma and Dan would have seen it. Especially Gemma. She’s got a real nose for finding things out.’
‘Yes, but she wouldn’t know what The Index was. We do! We know what we’re looking for!’ said Jake. ‘We have to talk to Gemma!’
Chapter 18
Jake checked his watch as they left the café.
‘Half past six,’ he said.
‘We can’t go back to our flat,’ said Lauren. ‘If the police have found Brigstocke’s body and put out a search for us, that’ll be the first place they’ll look.’
‘I suggest we head back to Sevenoaks,’ agreed Jake. ‘We’ll go and see Gemma and see what she can tell us, if anything. Then we’ll stay at a hotel near there for the night.’
‘And the priest’s hole?’
‘We’ll go to de Courcey Hall first thing tomorrow morning and start looking for it.’
‘That won’t be easy. It’s National Trust, remember. They’re not going to let us start poking around.’
‘They might if Gemma’s able to give us some information about where it might be, and the Trust don’t know about it.’
Lauren looked doubtful.
‘There’s a lot of ifs there,’ she pointed out. ‘If there is a priest’s hole. If Gemma tells us where it is. If the National Trust let us look for it.’
‘You got any better suggestions?’
‘No,’ she admitted.
Jake and Lauren arrived at the caravan park on the edge of Sevenoaks at eight. They followed the driveways until they came to South Avenue, and number 36. They rang the bell and Dan Hayward opened the door.