The Secret of Excalibur

Chase was looking decidedly quizzical by now, and Nina wanted to wrap the call up before Rust invited himself into their hotel room. ‘Look, I’ll give you my cell number, it’ll work in Europe. Call me after nine o’clock, English time. We should be out of the airport by then.’ She recited the number.

‘Very good. I will call you then. Oh, and congratulations on your award. And on your engagement. Goodbye!’

‘Uh, thanks,’ Nina said to the click of disconnection.

‘So,’ said Chase, ‘sounds like this bloke really wants to meet you.’

‘I guess.’

‘So we won’t be able to meet my family? Oh, what a shame! Maybe next time, then.’ He seemed quite pleased at the idea.

‘No, we’re still meeting them.’

‘Tchah!’

‘Wait, I’m the one who’s nervous about it, why am I . . .’ Nina shook her head. ‘Oh, whatever. Anyway, he wants to come to Bournemouth to see me.’ She stared at the icon of the mysterious disc on the laptop screen. ‘Why’s he being so secretive? And what’s it got to do with my parents?’

‘How did he know them?’ Chase asked.

‘He’s a historian, so I suppose they met when my parents were doing archaeological research. I don’t really know - I only met him a couple of times. The last time was at their memorial service.’ She sat back, closing her eyes. ‘Funny. I’d been thinking a lot about them recently, and now this . . .’

‘How come?’

‘You know, with us getting engaged. It’s sad that they’ll never get to meet you. They would have liked you.’

‘Well, everybody likes me,’ Chase said smugly. ‘Apart from the arseholes who want to kill me, anyway.’

‘At least there haven’t been any of them around for a while.’

‘Don’t say that, you’ll jinx it!’ he protested. ‘But yeah, everything you’ve told me about your mum - mom, I mean - and dad, they sounded like really great people.’

‘They were.’ Nina sighed, for a moment lost in memory. ‘What about you?’

‘What about me?’

‘You never talk about your parents. I mean, you told me what happened to your mother, but—’

‘Nothing to talk about. I left home to join to the army after my mum died and haven’t been back since.’ He shifted in his seat, turning slightly away from her.

‘Why not?’

‘Hmm?’

Nina knew Chase well enough to recognise the tone of his non-reply: a mock-casual I wasn’t listening disguising a Can we change the subject? ‘I said,’ she went on, mildly needled by his attempt at evasion, ‘why haven’t you been back home since then?’

‘Because there’s nothing I want to go back for.’ The tone in his voice was now irritation.

‘Yeah, but why?’

He looked round at her, frowning. ‘Jesus, is this a fucking interrogation? Why’re you suddenly so interested in my family?’

She gave him a disbelieving look. ‘Come on, Eddie! We’re going to get married, so they’re going to become my relatives as well. You can’t claim that part of your past is a state secret! I just want to know what they’re like, and why you don’t talk about them.’

‘If there was anything important to tell you, I’d tell you.’

‘What, like Sophia being your ex-wife? Took you long enough to bring that up —’

‘I don’t get on with them, all right?’ Chase snapped. ‘’Cept for my nan. To be honest, if my sister didn’t live in the same town, I wouldn’t have gone out of my way for you to meet her as well.’

They sat silently for several moments. ‘That’s a shame, Eddie,’ Nina said finally.

‘What is?’

‘I don’t have any family any more, except for some distant cousins I last saw when I was maybe twelve. You still do, but you don’t want to see them? To me, that’s just . . .’ She let the words tail off, unspoken.

Chase turned his back to her and pulled his blanket up over his broad shoulders. ‘Not every family’s as close as yours. Now, any chance I can get some kip?’

Nina leaned over and kissed the back of his head. ‘Good night, Eddie,’ she whispered, before looking back at the mystery on the laptop screen.

2

England

‘So, this Bournemouth place,’ Nina asked as Chase brought their rented Ford Focus on to the M3 motorway. ‘What’s it like? What’s there?’ She’d looked at a map of southern England before leaving the States, but aside from the town’s being about a hundred miles from London on the country’s south coast, it hadn’t revealed a great deal.

‘Fuck all,’ said Chase. ‘There’s a pier, and that’s about it.’

Nina smiled. ‘This isn’t one of those English “north-south divide” things I’ve heard about, is it? I mean, I know you’re big on the whole “roof, toof, Yurkshahman from oop narth” thing—’

‘We’ve been together over two years, and that’s the best Yorkshire accent you can manage?’ Chase interrupted incredulously.

‘Hey, it’s better than your American accent. We don’t all sound like John Wayne with severe blunt force trauma. Well, maybe in Alabama. Anyway, this place must have something going for it for your grandmother and sister to have moved there in the first place.’

‘Lizzie moved ’cause she married this ponce from there,’ said Chase. ‘Nan moved after my granddad died because the weather’s better, that’s all.’

‘And she wanted to be near your sister. And your niece.’

‘Maybe. Whatever, the place is still dead boring.’

Any further comment of Nina’s was interrupted as her phone rang. She glanced at her watch as she answered it. Not even one minute past nine. ‘Hello?’

‘Hello, Nina! This is Bernd Rust.’

‘I thought it might be,’ Nina said, giving Chase a resigned smile. ‘Where are you?’

‘In London. I am trying to find out how best to get to Bournemouth. Are you on your way?’

‘Yeah, we’re on the freeway. Motorway, I mean.’

‘Excellent! I shall meet you there, then. Where are you staying?’

‘The Paragon Hotel. But look, Bernd, I’ve got other commitments. I’m meeting my fiance’s family. I can’t just drop everything to see you as soon as you arrive.’

‘I understand. When will you be able to see me?’

‘Well, we’re having lunch, so . . .’ Nina looked across at Chase for suggestions, but he only offered her a don’t-ask-me shrug. ‘Okay, how about if you meet me at the hotel at three o’clock?’

‘Three o’clock, the Paragon Hotel. I shall see you there. Goodbye!’

‘Couldn’t you have made it two o’clock?’ Chase grumbled. ‘That way, we’d have a guaranteed escape route.’

‘But you’re not meeting Bernd.’

‘Yeah, but they don’t know that.’

‘Aw, come on, Eddie,’ said Nina. She realised that Chase was, for once, barely exceeding the speed limit. Clearly he was in no rush to reach their destination. ‘They can’t be that bad.’

‘Well,’ he said, voice flinty, ‘we’ll see.’