DEATH BEFORE WICKET - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)

Death Before Wicket 1 1
666 from the Revelations of St. John the Divine. He thinks that
there is a magical golden box in the tomb which contains a spell
which will make him immortal.’
‘I knew that 666 rang a bell—a church bell, in fact,’ commented
Phryne. ‘What did Bretherton tell you about the note?’
‘It’s in pencil and very hard to read. All I could make out was
the name Khufu and some cursive Egyptian which I would have
to photograph through a filter to have a chance of reading. Then
there’s several lines in Greek and Bretherton was going to help
with those. And then someone stole it, and my world fell in on
me. Please help me.’ Ayers took Phryne’s hand.
‘I’ll try, I already promised that I would try,’ she replied,
thinking hard. ‘Now, we need to secure your safety. Where do
you live? In College?’
‘Yes, in John’s.’
‘Don’t go back there,’ she ordered. ‘Walk out of the University
and take a bus into the city to the Hotel Australia. I’ll telephone
for a room—at my expense. Your name is…’ She scribbled on a
piece of paper and Ayers gave a slight hiccup which might have
been a laugh. ‘Wait for me. I’ll speak to you this afternoon. If
you tell me who’s blackmailing you, I can go and do him an
injury,’ she added hopefully.
Ayers shook his head. ‘I might retain a faint chance of living
if I don’t tell you,’ he said. ‘Oh, and tell Bretherton he is relieved
of his oath, and that I honour him for keeping it under what
must have been great pressure.’
‘I’ll tell him. Off you go. Send out for a newspaper. When I
call you, I’ll ask for a cricket score. If you can’t tell me, then I’ll
know something’s wrong. Clear?’
‘Clear,’ agreed Professor Ayers.
He left. Phryne sat on the desk for some time, pondering
the power of blackmail, and wondering how she could properly
apply it to work out who had tried to kill Adam Harcourt and
might have killed Joss Hart.
First thing to do was to find out if Hart was dead, and she
returned to the field, where she met Professor Bretherton.