“What was he looking for?” Kate asked.
Lewis straightened his bow tie again and looked her in the eye. “I’m sure I have no idea, Agent O’Hare.”
Kate smiled. This was a sophisticated and highly educated man, but he also a man who had no idea how to lie. Saying her name to punctuate the statement, even the way he was standing, one foot turned out as if to get a head start on escaping. All classic tells.
She took out one of her cards and gave it to him. “Will you let me know if either of the Foxes contacts you?”
“Of course,” Lewis said, putting the card into his jacket pocket. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
“Friday afternoon,” Kate said. “You have any big weekend plans?”
He straightened his bow tie one last time. There might as well have been a neon sign glowing over his head, exclaiming that he had a plan.
“Nothing exciting for me. Just grading papers.”
“Thank you for your time.”
When they were both out of the building, he took a left and she took a right. She doubled back after fifty yards and picked him up walking across campus toward the parking lot. The ancient buildings loomed all around her as she tried to blend in with the students. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood after another week of classes had ended.
Kate noted the car that Professor Lewis was driving, hustled back to her rental, and took off after him. She fielded a few honks that reminded her which side of the road to drive on, and caught up to him. She tailed him to a little cottage on the edge of town and watched him go inside.
Five minutes later, Professor Lewis came back out the door. He’d taken off his bow tie and he was carrying a leather travel bag. Now we’re getting somewhere, she thought.
As she pulled out behind him, she didn’t think he would be in the habit of checking for tails, but she tried to be careful, anyway. He went to the A420, took that southwest to Swindon, then cut directly south and headed for the coast.
It was getting close to dinnertime when she saw him pulling into the ferry dock at Poole. Kate hadn’t eaten anything except a few pieces of chocolate that morning, had run two miles through Paris, had been dumped in the Seine, then sat on a plane where all they had given her was one lousy bag of stale pretzels.
She watched Professor Lewis get out of the car and go into the ferry dock office. He’s buying a ticket to go across the English Channel, she thought. I need to be on that ferry.
She was about to get out, then stopped herself. Wait, he didn’t take his bag, she thought. He’s not going anywhere.
Twenty minutes later, she saw the ferry from Cherbourg, France, coming around Brownsea Island. It moored at the dock. Forty or fifty people got off. Two of those people were Quentin Fox and Nick Fox.
Kate watched Professor Lewis and the two Foxes squeeze into the car. She stayed behind them as they left the dock. There was only one road leading around the inlet, so it was easy to follow them. The professor drove them all the way around and into a little Channel-side town called Swanage.
Kate watched the car park, then watched all three men go into a seaside house just across from the beach. She had driven past a little fish-and-chips stand on her way through town, and now her stomach was growling. She would have killed for a nice greasy bagful of bad food, but right now she had two squirrels to catch.
* * *
Nick and his father were sitting at a small kitchen table while Professor Lewis put the teapot on the stove. “Nice little place you got here,” Nick said. “Right on the channel.”
“I’m sorry, gentlemen,” Lewis said. “I can’t wait any longer. May I please see what you recovered today?”
Quentin took out both map pieces and put them on the table. The professor leaned over without touching them, instead pressing both hands together as if praying.
“Extraordinary,” he whispered. “Absolutely extraordinary.”
“What can you tell us?” Quentin asked.
The professor gently moved both map pieces together. “I mentioned the famous ‘Lue Map’ when I saw this first piece, but this is different.” He tried moving the pieces around, reversing their position. “The Lue Map was more of a pure mathematical puzzle. Like something the Freemasons would create. This is more symbolic. More occult in nature. Which is exactly what you’d expect in a Nazi artifact. I believe it’s actually a form of Angeketteter Schatzkarte. A map designed to lead you to a certain destination. But Angeketteter means that the pieces of the map are like the links of a chain.”
Quentin let out a breath, looked over at his son. “Meaning there are more links we have to find?”
“I believe so,” Lewis said. “Look at the banner on the right side of this new piece.” He turned the piece so he could read it. “Der verrückte König würdigt den Schwanenritter. The mad king pays tribute to the—”
The professor paused and tilted his head in confusion.
“The Swan Knight,” he said. “That might be referring to the Lohengrin, an opera by Wagner.”
“Who’s the mad king?” Quentin asked. “And how is him being an opera lover going to take us to the next link?”
The professor kept staring at the map pieces, utterly transported, until something else came to him. “Oh, an FBI agent came to see me today,” he said. “She was looking for you. I did a crackerjack job of playing dumb, if I do say so myself.”
“Wait,” Quentin said, “she came to see you today?”
“Yes.”
“She’s in England?” Quentin said. “Right now?”
He looked over at his son, but Nick was busy texting on his burner phone.
In the car outside, Kate’s phone beeped. She picked it up and read the message. “The fries are getting cold. Are you getting warm?”
Twenty seconds later, the door burst open.
“Hand over that food!” Kate said. She took the bag of fish and chips from Nick and sat down while Quentin and Professor Lewis looked at her in amazement.
“You,” Kate said, glancing up at Quentin as she took a big bite. “You threw me in the river!”
“I’m sorry?” Quentin said, tentatively.
“No, you actually threw me into the Seine River!”
“It’s my fault,” Nick said. “He didn’t know you were coming to help us. And then we had to scram when the police showed up.”
“Oh, there’s plenty of blame to go around,” Kate said. “And by the way, you’re buying me a pair of shoes that actually fit.”
“Fair enough.”
“And thanks for all of your help” she said to Professor Lewis.
“You’re welcome,” Lewis said, still looking completely bewildered by everything that was happening in his kitchen.
“I think she’s speaking ironically,” Nick said.
“How were you so sure I’d follow you so I could help you?” Kate asked Nick, slowing down to take a breath. “I could arrest you right now.”
“You’re in England. You can’t do that.”
“I could call Interpol and have them send the local police,” Kate said.
“You’re not going to do that,” Nick said. “Number one, you know we’re doing the right thing here and you want to help us. And number two, I got you some really good junk food.”