Julius had also ordered a plate of chips, and as we tucked into them I asked him about the clues.
‘So, “Franklin’s hungry”. This entire clue was meant for you alone. Something you and he both knew intimately. He was confident enough that you would understand the clue, so what does it mean?’ I ignored Julius’ frown. I was spit balling, and I didn’t expect him to instantly crack it. I just wanted to start some associations while he was in a relaxed and familiar space. ‘Ben Franklin? Aretha Franklin? Franklin Mill? Have you ever been to America? Benjamin Franklin was a freemason? Was Charlie?’
‘Oh Freemasons! I hadn’t thought of that avenue.’
‘Was Charlie a freemason? Is that the first clue? Did the pair of you have a joke about Freemasons? Something like that.’ I was excited, and I felt we were close to something. Freemasons always seemed to provide the clues to any damn thing.
‘No, not that I know of. Just an interesting thread I hadn’t thought of.’
I gritted my teeth. I needed Julius to free associate and wander, but I really would have preferred it if he could just free associate with purpose.
‘If you could just focus a little?’
Julius took a swig of beer and smiled for the first time in days. ‘Sorry, it’s just part of my DNA to pull on threads and wander down...’
He paused and put his pint down, then laughed out loud.
‘Got it! Come on, sup up!’
Sup up be damned. If he knew what the first clue was I wasn’t waiting a second longer. I grabbed some chips and pulled him towards the main door. As we got to the exit, he grabbed my hand and pulled me along the pavement, steadying me as I slipped on the snow.
‘Can anyone overhear us?’
‘No, I’ve got a little static monitor activated.’
‘Of course you have. What about the others in the house?’
I paused. I needed his trust, but I also needed back-up. ‘Our location is being monitored and this conversation is being recorded. However, that recording is held by me alone. I choose who to share it with and when.’
‘But can they listen in? Right now?
‘No, not unless I open up my comms relay.’
Julius seemed to think about it for a second, and I could see the temptation to share his knowledge was overwhelming him.
‘Okay then, this is just between you and me for now?’
I nodded and he continued, an excited smile on his face.
‘It was when I said DNA, it all clicked. Plus, of course, we were sitting in The Eagle,’ he rushed on. ‘When we were in school, Charlie had been playing hockey and had got into a row with the girls’ hockey captain because he said that women were vastly inferior to men in every way. Obviously, he was just winding her up, but was unlucky enough to be overheard by the deputy head. She herself was something of a formidable character, to whom none would even whisper the words weaker sex. Anyway, as a punishment she made him write an essay on ten women that had either been plagiarised, overlooked or undervalued. Then he had to read out his essay at assembly to the entire year.’
He paused as we waited for the lights to turn red as we continued towards King’s College. ‘It became a habit during school after that, to shout that we were doing things in honour of those women.’ Charlie smiled nostalgically, then said, ‘Do you know, I had totally forgotten that. One time he led a rugby charge, shouting “For Eleanor and Aquitaine”.’
‘So, who is Franklin?’
‘Rosalind Franklin. She was instrumental in discovering the double helix in DNA, but it was two male colleagues, Crick and Watson, that got the Nobel Prize.’
‘And what does the clue mean? Why is she hungry?’
‘It’s the chronogram. Its nickname is Rosalind!’
We were now stood by the railings outside of Kings College, and Julius was pointing across the road to some weird-arsed clock that I had seen a few days ago. On the corner of the street, recessed into the wall and behind a large window, was a huge set of golden dials, over a metre wide, ticking and turning like a bizarre clock face. On the edge of the top dial crawled a giant locust-like insect, crunching its way along the cogs of the wheel. We crossed the road and stood with other sightseers, trying to work out what time the blue glowing lights indicated. It was only correct a couple of times a day, which was apparently the point. As a concept, I rather liked it. God knows, I viewed timelines from a slightly different angle to that of my fellow onlookers.
‘The insect on top of the clock face is a chronograph, an eater of time.’ He looked at me, a huge beam plastered across his face. ‘She’s hungry.’
‘Rosalind?’
‘That was our nickname for the chronograph, Rosalind!’
I had to admit this seemed probable. ‘So who’s Lucky? And how should we look them up?’
‘No, I think that’s wrong. Charlie either deliberately forgot the comma or just left it off, or I didn’t spot it. It’s not “Look up Lucky”, it’s “Look up, Lucky”, with a comma.’
We both tilted our heads. Above the clock on the second floor was a date carved into the brickwork. 1876.
I was suddenly embraced in a huge hug by Julius, who was grinning like a kid and bouncing up and down.
‘Bloody hell! That’s it! I think I know what that is as well. At least I think I do. Let’s go warm up and I’ll tell you what I
