Brandon stared at the engraving,
‘Oh yes,’ he said, ‘I hadn’t noticed.’
India’s eyes widened as realisation dawned.
‘Oh my God, Brandon,’ she said, ‘It’s not a date, it’s a label. The numbers represent Roman numerals.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘The number 100 was represented by the letter ‘M’ and the number 5 was a ‘V’
She looked at Brandon with hope in her eyes.
‘Don’t you see, Brandon, MV are the first letters of Mortuus Virgo. They must have been carved by Jacob as a sick taunt to anyone passing. This is the one, Brandon, We’ve found her.’
Brandon rapidly swept the rest of the snow off the tomb with his arm. Underneath the snow, the lid of the tomb was six inches of solid granite, but in the centre, another, smaller and more modern slab sat its own, the mottled concrete finish looking completely out of place against the natural stone. Brandon pushed it to one side, revealing a circular hole underneath, the ragged edges showing where someone had drilled a ring of holes in the slab before knocking it through to make an access hole.
‘She must be down there,’ gasped India, ‘The poor thing.’ She leant over and shouted into the darkness, ‘Camille, are you there?’ She fell silent and waited for an answer. ’Camille, sweetheart,’ she shouted again, ‘If your there, just make a noise. We are here to help.’
When there was still no answer, she started to take off her coat.
‘What are you doing?’ asked Brandon
‘I’m going down there,’ said India.
‘No, said Brandon, ‘Mike sent for help. We can get this thing apart within the hour.’
‘She may not have an hour,’ said India, ‘I have to go down there
‘Then let me go down,’ said Brandon.
‘Oh yes,’ said India, ‘Have you seen your midriff recently?’
‘Point taken,’ said Brandon, looking at the diameter of the hole, ‘Okay but hang on.’ He turned to Mike. ‘Have you got a torch?’ he asked.
Mike opened one of his pouches on his utility vest and handed over a pencil torch.
‘Take this,’ said Brandon, giving the torch to India, ‘If she is alive, let me know what you need and we will send it down. If she’s not, we’ll pull you out straight away. Okay?
‘Yes,’ she said nervously and hoisted herself up to sit on the tomb. She lifted her legs up and dangled them into the hole. Brandon took hold of her wrists and braced himself.
‘Good luck,’ he said, and India slid herself over the edge. Brandon grimaced as she descended into the darkness and he leant forward until his shoulders were almost completely into the tomb.
‘Can you feel the floor?’ he shouted.
‘No.’
‘Hang on, I’ll pull you back up.’
‘No,’ shouted India, ‘Let me go.’
‘I’m not letting you go,’ shouted Brandon, ‘You don’t know how far it is.’
‘Brandon,’ shouted India, ‘I know what I am doing, just let go.’
‘You sure?’
‘
‘Okay, okay,’ he said, ‘I’ll let you go. Bend your knees and roll when you hit the floor. Here goes.’ He let go of her wrists and India fell into the darkness.
India expected to hit a hard floor, but to her surprise she landed on a soft surface, twisting her ankle in the process. She sat up, coughing as she inhaled a mouthful of dust.
‘You okay?’ shouted Brandon from above.
‘Think so,’ she said and retrieved the torch from her pocket. The narrow beam of light was quite effective in the dark and she shone it around the tiny space.
The room was about ten foot square and was totally empty except for a small alcove cut into the wall. Within the alcove, a glazed pottery urn reflected the light from the torch back at her. The soft surface she landed on was revealed to be an old mattress that must have been rolled up and forced through the hole above. Empty crisp wrappers and water bottles littered the floor, evidence of recent life but there was no sign of the girl. India double checked the room for hidden doors, finding none. She stood in the centre of the room, turning slowly, totally confused. It didn’t make sense, she had to be here somewhere.
Her gaze returned to the urn. It was quite small for the alcove and sat slightly to one side of centre. She walked slowly over and stopped facing the alcove. The urn was beautifully decorated with multicoloured glazes and the lid was sealed with a thick layer of Red wax.
India caught her breath as a slight movement caught her eye in the tiny space behind the urn. She shone her torch into the alcove and slowly released her breath in relief.
‘Hello, sweetheart,’ she said gently, ‘You must be Camille.’
A tear stained face peered back at her in terror. A little girl was squashed into the tiny space, her knees drawn up to her chin in order to fit. She nodded slowly.
‘I thought so,’ she said, ‘My name is India’
‘Like the country?’
‘Yes said India,’’ Like the country.’
‘That’s a pretty name.’
‘Thank you,’ said India, ‘I like yours too.’
‘Have you come to take me home?’
‘I have,’ said India, ‘But first we have to get you out of this little hole, Is that okay.’
The little girl nodded, and wiped her runny nose.
‘Good, then let’s move this out of the way, shall we?’ She picked up the urn by the handles, but before she could place it on the floor, her foot slipped on an empty water bottle and she fell headlong into the darkness, emptying the urn’s contents across the tomb floor as it smashed into dozens of pieces.
India coughed violently as she inhaled micro particles of ash, the remains of somebody long dead. She got to her feet and spat out some more ash.
‘Are you okay?’ asked the tiny voice.
‘I’m fine, sweetheart,’ she said, ‘Just a silly slip.’ She turned back and helped Camille from the alcove.
‘Wow, it’s a bit tight in there,’ she said, ‘It must have been awfully uncomfortable.’
‘It was my hiding place,’ said Camille, ‘I thought you was the horrible man, coming back to get me.’
‘What man?’
‘The one who did all the nasty things to me.’
‘Oh sweetheart,’ said Rose, ‘Come here.’ She opened her arms and cuddled her tightly. ‘You’re safe now. That man will never hurt you again.’
India was surprised at the strength of the girl’s embrace and eventually had to prise her arms from around her neck.
‘Okay,’ she said, ‘Time to get you out of here. I am going to lift you up in the air, and a nice policeman is going to pull you out of that hole up there, Is that okay?’
‘Will you come up as well?’
‘Of course, I will,’ said India, ‘But there is only room for one at a time.’
‘Is the policeman nice?’ asked Camille.
‘Really, really nice.’
‘Will he have chocolate?’
India laughed gently and brushed the girl’s dirty fringe from her eyes.
‘Well, if he doesn’t, I’m sure someone will get you some really quickly. How about that?’
‘Okay,’ said Camille.
Two minutes later, India watched the girl’s legs disappear out of the hole as she was pulled from the tomb.
