historian.’
‘Are you serious? What theory was he pushing?’
‘The Spanish theory.’ Hemi said it as bluntly as he could, pushing the knife all the way home and twisting it a little for good measure.
Warren didn’t respond. He wasn’t silent though. Hemi heard him curse at the other end of the phone. There was also the sound of something thumping repeatedly and a keyboard being finger-bashed like there was no tomorrow.
‘Where did you get your information? God, I should have bloody looked him up when I found out his name.’
‘My sources remain private. You wouldn’t have employed me if I was in the habit of revealing my contacts. It’s a matter of integrity, you know.’ Hemi loved every second of this. He knew that there was probably no worse news that he could give Warren than the titbit he had just delivered. There was a minute of silence as Warren caught up with Hemi.
‘We have to be very careful,’ Warren said, ‘and we have to hope that Andy Robertson doesn’t have too much influence over his son.’
‘My understanding is that they’re estranged.’
‘Not anymore,’ Warren growled. ‘Fuck it! This is all we bloody need!’
Hemi stifled an amused laugh.
‘So the father had a stroke eh? Care home in Browns Bay. Well, if things get out of hand he shouldn’t be too hard to take care of.’
‘What are you suggesting?’
‘Stroke victims are forever getting nasty illnesses. Don’t worry about it Hemi, I’ll take care of things if it comes to that, I have my ways. In the mean time, you keep watching Dr. Cameron. If he starts going too seriously down this Spanish track, I want to be the first person to know. You understand?’
‘Yes.’ Hemi hung up the phone. He understood. A little too well for his liking.
CHAPTER 21
Butterflies were flying special formations in Matt’s stomach. He had rehearsed numerous variations of the first line of this conversation in his head, but when push came to shove, he couldn’t execute the way he had planned.
‘I was thinking about taking a bit of a sightseeing tour down south.’ No, that didn’t sound right after all. Too late now though.
‘Oh yeah?’ Warren turned to him, looking interested. ‘Getting sick of me already then?’
‘Not at all.’ Matt started defensively, before realising from the grin on Warren’s face that he was joking.
‘It isn’t a problem, Matt. I want you to get to know New Zealand. Where are you heading?’
This was it. Matt had to take the bull by the horns and tell Warren what he was up to. He wasn’t going to mention that he had heard from Julia. The mirror had been confirmed to be Celtic and the type of object that would be associated with a burial site. But, as Matt had expected, the museum and the department had suggested that he proceed with caution. Professor Pick was apparently having a field day after he heard the news. He knew that an item such as this mirror had no archaeological context. For it to be taken seriously, there needed to be a lot more evidence suggesting a Celtic occupation in New Zealand. Either that evidence didn’t exist or, as Warren believed, it was well concealed. Matt had to go with his gut on this. He took the plunge.
‘I’m heading in the direction of Wellington. I want to look at a Spanish Helmet that I’ve heard about. Then I thought I could go to Nelson and have a look at my father’s work.’
‘The Spanish Helmet, as in the one found in Wellington Harbour?’
‘Yes, the very one.’
‘And your father’s research? What is that?’
Matt filled Warren in on the events of the day and his father’s research. It felt good to get things out in the open.
‘It isn’t that I don’t want to look further into your work Warren. I just feel like it isn’t going anywhere fast and that while we have some downtime, as it were, I could use it to look at some other angles of New Zealand history while I’m here.’
‘I think it’s great,’ Warren said, bringing the butterflies out of formation and rapidly to a gentle landing.
‘You really don’t mind?’
‘Of course not. The most important thing is that we find out the truth about New Zealand’s history. Whatever that truth may be.’
Trust Warren to be so understanding.
‘Will you come with me then?’
‘Me? No, I can’t. I have too much to do here, what with the mirror and all. You can take the car though. At least then a part of me is with you.’ Warren laughed.
‘Oh,’ Matt said, trying to hide his disappointment. It wouldn’t be the same without Warren. ‘I hope I can do this without your expertise.’
‘Why don’t you get that wonder-colleague of yours to come out? She could tag along.’
That wasn’t a bad idea at all. Matt could use someone like Julia at his side. So reliable, straight-thinking. He would give her a call after dinner.
‘Good idea. She can spare the time from her work too. No problems for Julia.’
‘See, everything works out for the best,’ Warren stated, beaming a happy smile at Matt.
They ate the rest of dinner in silence. But Matt’s mind was far from silent. He was worried about going on an excursion like this in a foreign land, with no locals in tow. He had an idea though. He could ask Aimee to come. She would be an asset. He thought about it a lot. Two good options. Eventually, he came to the decision himself. He didn’t want to bother Warren with little technicalities. He knew who he would call and ask to come with him.
Matt hung up the phone and smiled to himself. Julia was, of course, none the wiser that she had narrowly missed out on an adventure to New Zealand. She seemed, as he expected, to be interested to hear that he would follow up the Spanish theory as well as the Celtic one. Matt hadn’t mentioned that he was going to invite Aimee along. He didn’t want to put a jinx on it.
‘Right,’ Matt quietly spoke to himself, ‘time to find out just how prepared this Kiwi girl is to spend time around me.’
His mouth filled with sawdust as he dialled the number. Pathetic, he thought. She said she wants to help. She probably does. Besides, it’s just research. It isn’t like she could be interested in you. Keep it professional.
‘Hello?’ The ringing tone was replaced by the ringing voice.
‘Hi Aimee, it’s Matt.’
There was a loud thump somewhere at her end of the line and Matthew held the phone away from his ear momentarily. As he brought it back he heard cursing.
‘Oh fuck. Shit. Sorry, Matt. Not you. I whacked my knee. Dammit, that hurts. How are you? Good to hear from you.’
‘I’m good,’ He said, laughing. ‘At least my knees are super.’
‘It’s no joking matter. I ought to sue this lot. What sort of decent university provides its students with such crummy furniture? Sorry you heard me swear though, I honestly don’t swear a lot.’
‘I believe you, honest I do.’
‘Sure, sure,’ she said, clearly enjoying his teasing. ‘So, you called?’
‘Yeah, I wanted to let you know I’m leaving the Celtic theory alone for a bit.’
‘Oh?’
‘It’s a long story. Cutting it short, I’m going to go down south to look at the Spanish Helmet and to follow up some theories of the Spanish settling New Zealand.’
Another thud. Even louder this time. No swearing though.
