Temple of the Gods

the States, even. All it takes is one cop to recognise you from a watch list…’ She sat up, determination entering her voice. ‘We’ve got to clear your name — prove that you were acting in self-defence when you killed Kit. Otherwise you’ll be spending the rest of your life running. And I’m not going to let that happen.’

‘I like the thought, love,’ Eddie said gloomily, ‘but fuck knows how we’ll do it. We’ve got a video that doesn’t show the important bit, those numbers I found in Kit’s flat in Delhi that don’t mean anything without solving some puzzle…’

‘What did it say again?’

‘Something like “and the best of the greatest”. Alderley thinks that if you add the answer to the original number, you’ll get whatever Kit was trying to hide.’

‘So all we have to do is figure out what Kit thought was the greatest. Or who.’

‘He was a Hindu,’ suggested Eddie. ‘Who’s the greatest Hindu god?’

‘Shiva, I think. Although actually he’s considered to be one of a triumvirate — Brahma and Vishnu are equally powerful. But…’ Another shake of her head. ‘It’ll probably be something more personal, something only Kit would know. The clue isn’t a riddle — it’s more like an aide-memoire. The answer must be something he would immediately know, a significant number. A date, a time, an address…’

‘A score,’ said Eddie quietly.

Nina could tell that he thought he was on to something. ‘What kind of score?’

‘A cricket score. Kit was mad keen on cricket, remember? Him and Mac were always banging on about it.’ The thought of Kit’s murderous betrayal of the Scot caused a flare of anger inside him, but he suppressed it. ‘They were once arguing about who was the greatest player of all time — Kit thought it was an Indian guy. Can’t remember his name, though.’

Nina took out her iPhone. ‘Well, that’s why we have the Internet. Let’s have a look…’

A brief search produced an answer. ‘Sachin Tendulkar,’ Eddie read. ‘Best score in a test match, two hundred and forty-eight runs. So if we add two hundred and forty-eight to the number I found…’ He took the phone from her and switched to its calculator, tapping in a figure.

Nina looked at the screen. ‘You remember the number?’

‘Something that important, I burned it into my fucking mind. Okay, so add two hundred and forty- eight…’

‘The last three numbers are six-zero-nine,’ she said, before his finger reached the ‘equals’ key.

‘Smart-arse.’ But she was correct. ‘Okay, Alderley said it might be a Greek phone number. Let’s give it a try.’

He entered the new number and made the call, switching the phone to speaker. But to their disappointment, the only result was a flat, continuous tone: number unobtainable. ‘Well, cock,’ Eddie muttered.

‘Maybe there’s a different score we could have used,’ said Nina, taking back the phone.

‘No, I don’t think so. Kit thought Tendulkar was the greatest player, and two hundred and forty-eight was his best score. Maybe it isn’t a phone number at all.’

‘Then what is it?’

‘No idea.’ He swilled the last dregs of beer around in his glass before downing them. ‘Let’s go back to that video for now. Where is it?’

‘On my laptop at the UN.’

‘Probably not the best idea for me to stroll in and watch it there,’ Eddie said with resigned amusement.

‘Well, we probably can’t risk going to the apartment either. But we need somewhere private. Who is there in the city that we can trust not to run screaming to the police the moment they see you?’ She thought for a moment, then smiled. ‘I think I know…’

15

‘Nina?’ said Lola as she opened her apartment door. ‘My God, where’ve you been? We heard what happened in Rome — everyone’s been so worried! Are you okay?’

‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ Nina replied. She glanced along the corridor to make sure nobody was around. ‘Listen, there’s a really huge favour I need to ask you, but first, Don isn’t here, is he?’

Lola’s fiance was a firefighter. ‘No, he’s working night shifts at the moment.’

‘Okay, good. Now, I need you to promise me that you will keep this an absolute secret for now. You can’t tell anyone, not even Don — and definitely not the police. If you think that’s going to be a problem, then don’t worry, I’ll just leave.’

‘Nina, it’s me,’ Lola said firmly. ‘You know you can trust me. You saved my life! We Gianettis, we remember that kind of thing.’

Nina smiled. ‘That’s good to know.’ She checked the corridor again, then waved her increasingly intrigued PA back from the door. ‘Okay,’ she called, ‘come on.’

The stairwell door opened and Eddie poked his head out before hurrying down the hallway into the apartment. ‘Hi, Lola,’ he said casually as he passed her.

Lola stared open-mouthed after him. ‘Oh, my God. Oh my God!’

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ said Nina, following Eddie inside and closing the door. ‘Now you see why you need to keep this quiet?’

‘Uh-huh,’ Lola said, nodding. She went to Eddie, regarding him with amazement. ‘Where’ve you been? What have you been doing? How did you get back here without the police catching you?’ A more quizzical look. ‘Why did you grow a beard? It doesn’t suit you.’

‘There’s nowt wrong with my beard,’ Eddie insisted jokily. ‘Tchah! Anyway, they don’t give you razors in Zimbabwean prisons.’

Lola’s eyes widened. ‘You were in—’

‘Let’s save the travelogue for later, huh?’ Nina cut in. ‘There’s something more important to deal with first — namely, Eddie’s innocence.’ She extracted her MacBook Pro from a bag.

‘I knew you were innocent!’ Lola exclaimed.

‘Well, we’ve still got to actually prove it,’ Eddie admitted. ‘But thanks.’ He looked down at her baby bump. ‘So, either the pregnancy’s going well, or you’ve been eating a lot of pies.’

‘Eddie!’ Nina chided.

Lola giggled. ‘Both, actually.’

‘How far along are you now?’

‘Seven months.’

‘You know if it’s a boy or girl?’

‘No, we want that to be a surprise.’

‘If it’s a boy, Eddie’s a good name,’ he said with a grin before turning to his wife. She had put the laptop on a table and opened it. ‘You all set there?’

‘Nearly,’ she replied. ‘Lola, we need to watch a video. It might help prove Eddie’s innocence, but… you probably won’t want to see what happens in it.’

Lola looked uneasy. ‘Is it the one Interpol sent you?’ Nina nodded. ‘Oh. Okay, yeah, I definitely don’t want to see it.’

‘I’m sorry about this.’

‘It’s okay. I’ll be in the bedroom. Or the bathroom. It’s where I seem to spend half my time anyway.’ She glared at her belly. ‘Bad baby! Very bad baby. Stop squishing Mommy’s bladder, okay?’ She headed for another room. ‘If you need me, just shout.’

‘Will do,’ said Nina as she left. ‘Wow, Lola’s gonna be a mom. That’s such a weird thought. Exciting, though.’

‘We could have tried for one by now if you’d wanted,’ Eddie said.