Chapter Three - Trip to Brighton

It was lunch by the time she arrived at the end of the line. A faded tourist sign greeted her at the exit and she took the opportunity to walk along the beach front, inhaling the smells of fresh whelks, battered cod, salted popcorn, chips drenched in vinegar, and hot sugar candyfloss. She stopped to buy a bag of chips from a corner vendor and lightly sprinkled salt and vinegar over them. She tried one. They were hot and slightly undercooked. She wrapped her hands around them and ambled her way along the pier. The air was cold and salty from the sea. Her eyes started to water as she reached the end. Four people had fishing lines draped over the pier end, metal buckets next to them ready for when they got a catch. She peered into the nearest bucket and saw it half-filled with water and a small container of maggots hooked on the side. The man reached down, picked up a maggot, and stabbed it with his hook. He saw Kali and smiled. “Nothing yet. Maybe I need tastier bait?”
Kali offered him a chip but he refused, turning back to his fishing line.

Finishing her snack and discarding the paper bag into the nearest bin, she made her way back off the pier and onto the beach. As far as the eye could see, Brighton beach was pebbly. Nothing but pebbles. It made the beach more sustainable than sand. Kali thought back to her childhood when her and her brother used to don jellies and hunt for sea life in the rock pools, armed with mini fishing nets and plastic sandcastle buckets. There were no kids in the rock pools now. In fact there wasn’t anyone on the beach at all save the trampoline man, and even he was holed up in his beach hut with a steaming cup of tea, not bothered with drumming up interest for the attraction.

Kali was grateful for her trainers as she made her way towards the tide. Shoes would have been a poor decision on this beach and the stones were too rough for bare feet. She sat near the tide and randomly threw pebbles into the sea. The bigger the pebble, the better splash it would make. The beach was massive. It would take ages for her to find anything. She didn’t even know what she was looking for really. She picked up a pebble and ran her thumb over it pebble as she waited for a wave to come in. The wind must have been pretty strong lately, as each pebble had tiny grains of sand clinging to them. Smooth, she said to herself, wiping away sandy grains and feeling the stony texture. She picked up another. Smooth. Rough, Ooh, super smooth! Rough. Ridged. Hang on, ridged? The pebble in her hand had tiny ridges on it. But it wasn’t a pebble. It was a perfect circle. A perfect circle with a ridged ring raised up on the centre of it.

No way…! Kali’s eyes widened. They then squinted again as she studied it carefully. It looked like a stone, a very thin brown textured stone, but it had this perfect circle raised up in the middle. And that circle would probably fit perfectly into the ring indented on that chest in her office. This is too good to be true, she thought to herself. What was the likelihood of finding something like this accidentally? But then she thought back to the article. Lesley had found it only a week ago, washed up onto the beach. In autumn the beach wasn’t all that popular and the stones wouldn’t have been moved around much, even by the strong tide. It is possible that this stone fell off as it hit the beach and the couple just didn’t check the surrounding area properly. Or didn’t even study the chest as well as she had. Kali looked closer. The tiny ridges would easily cling to the indented ring on the chest. Maybe that was how it opened. Maybe it clicked into place and the top popped open? Or maybe she had to turn it? She stuffed the stone into her pocket and got up, dusting off her backside of tiny sand grains. She looked at the beachfront shops. Maybe she could see Lesley anyway? She might as well while she was in the area. She might be able to get more of an insight into the object.

Stumbling her way off the pebble beach her stomach grumbled. Maybe she needed something a little more substantial than a small bag of chips? She pulled her mobile out of her inner coat pocket and dialled the directory services.
“National directory services, can I help you?”
“Yeah I need a number for Brighton University, Mrs Lesley Manners.”
“Hold the line please.”
A pause.
“Okay, got a pen?”
“Yes,” Kali lied. She could remember up to 20 digits without breaking a sweat.
The woman reeled off the eleven-digit number.
“Thanks,” Kali said, then hung up and immediately dialled the number.
“Brighton Research, Lesley Manners speaking.”
Kali cleared her throat.
“Hello, Mrs Manners,” she said. “My name Kali Trodat, I work at…”
“Maugham Museum, yes, I know you by reputation!”
“As I do, you,” Kali replied.
“Well, this is a surprise!”
“Well, I read about a chest missing and I wanted to talk to you about it.”
“Have you found it?” Lesley sounded excited.
“No,” Kali lied again. “I just wanted to see you because the picture wasn’t particularly good so I couldn’t make it out properly.”
“Right…” Lesley didn’t sound too convinced.
“Plus I was hoping that, should it ever turn up, you would let me be part of the restoration project.”
“My dear, I would love for you to be involved!”
Kali had said the right thing.
“Of course,” Lesley continued, “I read your last article in Classical Chronicle and thought that your restoration of that Roman feather duster was excellent. A very complicated piece of work.”
Kali didn’t have the heart to tell her it was actually a very elaborate ostrich feather headdress. She supposed it probably looked like a duster from the picture in the magazine.
“Well I happen to be in the area,” Kali slowly ventured. “Just meeting a relative and wanted to kill two birds with one stone, if you get my meaning.”
“Wonderful!” Lesley exclaimed. “I was just about to have lunch, if you wanted to join me?”
Kali’s plan had worked. “That would be a pleasure, Mrs Manners.”
“Please, Lesley. And can I see you in about half an hour in Michael’s?”
“Sure, I know where that is,” Kali said, seeing the fish ‘n’ chip restaurant right in front of her.
“See you then, dear,” and the phone cut off.