The Alien Artifact 9 (Novelette) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Treasure
Investigation
     
    The streets and lanes glowed in the last rays of
sunlight, surrounding
t he headquarters of Reality Investigations, and it looked as though it was altering
into a form of modern ghost town.
    P ale golden shadows swept out from city
structures, in gigantic shapes ,
probing out into the skyline.
    Marple
grabbed a bottle of whisky and poured me and him glasses
full of whisky, and he
firmly screwed the cap
back on the bottle and put it away , and we sat back at
the fireplace, and listened to a distant vehicle and vocal tones
absurdly mingle and I realized Marple had
something .
    A few
minutes later t he
phone ’s ring disturbed him, and put him off what he was doing, and it had him going
through the
clients that he might have
overlooked, but it eluded him, and he rushed over and answered it.
    He
listened and agreed with the caller and put the phone down and sat
back in his seat, drinking his whisky, listening to
crackles from the fire, and I discussed our past adventures, and he
promised me more.
    About an hour later I heard someone enter
the building below, and his secretary announced an arrival through
an intercom.
    Marple put out his pipe and briskly
considered the case, from different perspectives, and I spotted he
was confused over what we were dealing with, and he eventually
laughed, confusedly, and eventually just relaxed into his seat.
    Outside the traffic and voices seemed to
vanish, like into mist, and I sat in deep thought, and it became
more intriguing!
    His secretary rushed up the stairs and
swiftly let the man in the room, without knocking, and I was
staggered when I looked around and saw Dr Barrymore, as he shifted
wearily forward, and I realized straightaway he was dreadfully ill
and he could now hardly even walk, and clearly had serious medical
conditions.
    I examined him quickly wondering why he had
gone to such lengths to get there, and it made me gasp, and I
considered the war once again, and the dangers ahead, and wondered
if the current events and intense bombings had helped his
demise.
    Dr Barrymore rushed into a seat, rested,
exhausted, trying to recover, but not properly, and I noticed he
had some documents he held firmly in his fist.
    He observed us sitting around the table
drinking and removed chewing tobacco and chewed off a lump, placing
the remainder in his interior pocket.
    Marple rushed over and got a drink for him,
and returned, and placed it in front of him.
    “ What’s happened?” Marple asked. “What
have you?”
    “ It’s that eighteenth century document
and treasure!” he announced, and we looked up, from staring in the
fire.
    He
rested, and continued, “ The information on the
artifact I’ve been looking for comes from accumulated sources, only
known by me, and the individual sources, which have been proven to
have occurred in 1568 …”
    I was still surprised in what he said, and
as I had forgotten of what he had told me at our last meeting, and
Marple seemed to come to and recall what transpired.
    “ According what I’ve found,” Dr
Barrymore continued, “Valuable jewels were left near where it was
concealed!”
    “ Near the artifact?” Marple instantly
asked, confused. “Was that some form of clue?”
    “ Perhaps! For centuries the lost jewels have been thought to
exist by a few explorers, who have carried out
searches.”
    “ So you
still want us to help you find it?”
    “ I’ve
recently located a form of map!” he gasped, trying to
rest.
    “ What do you want us to do?” I asked,
curiously.
    “ I discovered something of significant
importance that could be of great interest to mankind! Yes! I will
need your help!”
    “ Mankind!” Marple gasped, and sat back
examining him, and silently gulped, and lit his pipe.
    “ According to legends some people have
been found dead after searching for it … ”
    “ They’re just legends?” I joked,
smiling.
    He nodded, and examined me a little more
closely.
    For a moment I considered there