Ari pinched the bridge of her nose and stared at the report spread out on the kitchen table. Jason had hurriedly cleared away mugs, bowls of half-eaten cereal and various bits of crockery and cutlery to make space. She sat in the wooden chair, trying to focus on the reports he’d printed out. Jason couldn’t bear to read things on a computer screen. Oh no, not him.
Her brother stood over her, waiting. He shuffled his feet and cleared his throat and every movement was a barb in her brain.
‘Go away, Jason.’
‘I just want to know what you think.’
‘What I think? Ithinkyou lied to get me back here.’
‘I didn’t lie. Nico, did I lie?’
Ari glanced over her shoulder to see the familiar form of the broad-shouldered French diver who was her brother’s best friend and right-hand man. It had always been the four of them – Simon, Jason, Nico and Ari, comrades in arms.
Now there were only three.
Nico shook his blond head and grinned. ‘You’re not sucking me into this, Jase. I know better. Ari, it’s good to see you. A bit of sanity around here will be a bonus.’
She smiled, and the next thing she knew, Nico drew her into a hug. He kissed each cheek in greeting.
‘I’ve missed you too,’ she told him. ‘Is this really legit?’
He tilted his head to one side, pursing his lips while Jason gave an affronted growl which they both ignored. ‘The archaeology unit in Brest seemed to think so. They were all over it. There’s a woman heading them up, not the most pleasant of people, but she knows her stuff.’
‘She called us treasure hunters,’ Jason cut in. The tone said it all for him. He was disgusted.
‘Well, wearetreasure hunters,’ Nico replied calmly. He was so patient with Jason. Nothing fazed him. She envied him that. ‘And you found treasure.Bravo.’ He returned his attention to Ari. ‘Have you eaten,chérie? I can make you some lunch. An omelette maybe. The chickens run wild here. We’re plagued with eggs.’
The other thing about Nico was his legendary ability with food.
‘Please,’ she said and, right on cue, her stomach rumbled.
But Jason wasn’t going to be put off. ‘No food until you’ve read that and looked at the— Here, this one. Look at it.’ He shook a large black and white photo at her, the coin on it blown up, the image sharply defined. A woman in profile, with long hair elaborately dressed with what looked like seashells and pearls. And something else. Possibly eels. Or snakes. Ari couldn’t make out the writing, it was too worn.
‘It’s beautiful.’
‘And sixth century. Exactly the right period.’
She didn’t want to start the usual lecture about only looking for things that confirmed the story he already wanted to tell. It wasn’t worth it.
‘So who is she?’ Ari asked.
‘You know who she is.’
‘Probably some governor’s wife or—’
‘Ari, come on. It’sher.’
The problem was actually not the image. She’d already seen the dating information on the printouts and it was pretty conclusive that the coin dated from the right time period for the legendary city of Ys. As to the woman’s identity, that was just conjecture, but she wasn’t going to be able to shake Jason of that conviction. She knew that. The problem was it became too easy to spin the facts into his narrative, rather than follow them to their natural conclusion.
‘All this means is that it’s from the right period,’ she said with a sigh. ‘We know there were settlements here from the earliest periods, long before the sixth century. It doesn’t prove Ys existed.’
‘We were diving here.’ He ignored her and poked at the map, not far off the headland north of them, the Pointe de Castelmeur. There was a cave system there, a treacherous and difficult area to dive, even in good weather. The tides here made it all the more perilous and the cliffs were crumbling.
Ari glanced at Nico, wondering what Jason had been getting him into, but he was busy with his back to her, clattering about at the ancient cooker. On purpose, she suspected.
‘You were diving in the caves?’
‘No. Not yet. This was outside. I think it got swept out, or maybe when some of the cliff face came down, it was dislodged. And I don’t think it’s the only thing. But…look, you’ve kept your diving certs up to date, haven’t you?’
