Read Online Excalibur Rising by Eileen Hodgetts - Free Book Online

Mandretti asked. “Is that what happened to Excaliver?”
     “Excalibur,” Ryan corrected automatically.
     Violet reached weakly for another bowl of sherbet.
     “Is that what happened?” Mandretti asked again. “Is it, Violet?”  Is it?”
     “I think so,” Violet said. “My visions are rarely wrong.  Sometimes they are hard to understand, but they are never totally wrong.”
     “So the sword’s gone,” Mandretti said. “That’s what you said, wasn’t it?  The tide came in and buried everything.”
     “I assume so,” Violet said, “but obviously something else has happened.  That goblet was part of the treasure and it’s certainly not under the mud now, is it?”
     “No, it isn’t.” said Mandretti. “What do you think, Doctor?”
     Ryan had nothing to say.  He was deeply suspicious of Violet Chambray and everything she stood for, but in the hour that they had been at her house, she had provided more mental stimulation than he had felt in years.  She had awoken his intellectual curiosity and his old treasure hunter instincts.  Whatever else Violet was, she was the tonic he needed.  Against all the odds, he wanted to believe that she could lead him to Professor Peacock’s killer.  He had no idea how she would do that, but he believed that she would.
     “So what will you do next?” he asked her.
     Violet sat back in her chair.  “I need to think,” she said.
     “But you’ve seen something?” Mandretti said.  “I mean all that stuff you just told us about the king and the horses, and the mud and the waves.  I didn’t understand it all, but Doc Ryan did, didn’t you Doc?”
     “I recognized the period of history,” Ryan said, unwilling to admit how much Violet’s description had moved him.
     Violet leaned forward to Mandretti. “Michael,” she said, “you need to understand that even if we find the Great Sword of England, it’s not Excalibur.  Excalibur doesn’t exist, it has never existed.”
     “That’s not what Peacock said,” Mandretti protested.
     Violet was silent for a moment. “No, it’s not, “she said “and I don’t understand it.  He was a respected academic.  I can’t help wondering what he really found.”
     “Something worth killing for,” Ryan said.
     “Yes,” she agreed. “And then there’s the paper.”
     “Do you want to see it again,” he asked.
     She flinched. “No,” she said. “I can’t touch it, not yet.  I have never felt anything so alien.  I have no way of processing that paper, Doctor.  I need time.”
     Mandretti rose abruptly to his feet.
     “Well,” he said, “if you’re not going to do it, I guess I have to send Doc Ryan to England on his own.”
     “What?” said Ryan.
     “Yeah,” said Mandretti. “The Doc here is a famous treasure hunter and you’ve given him the start he needed.  We can take it from here, Violet.  We’ll be on our way, just send me a bill for your time. “
     “Wait a minute,” said Todd.
     “No, no,” Mandretti waved Todd away with his hand. “I understand.  She don’t want to do it.  That’s okay, we’ll manage.”
     Ryan eyed his boss.  Mandretti’s ploy was so obvious that he couldn’t believe Violet would fall for it.  How greedy was she?  How badly did she need the money?
     “I have a friend in London who might be able to help us,” said Violet.
     “So you’ll do it?” Mandretti asked.
     “I’ll take the next step,” said Violet. “
      She looked at Ryan. “Do you know Sir Carlton Lewis?” she asked.
     “I know of him,” Ryan said.
     “Sounds as though you don’t like him,” she said.
     “He’s queried some of my finds,” Ryan said.
      “Oh, I think he’s done more than that,” she said. “I think you two have