The Chief and I spent the following week shovelling coal at the big electricity power station out at Belém. From dawn to dusk we pushed loaded barrows of coal across the narrow landing stages linking the coal barges on the river to the railway trucks waiting on the quay. It was hard, dirty, dangerous work… but quite well-paid.
After our last day working there, we went to the bathhouse and scrubbed off the coal dust. Then we went on to the market hall and filled a basket with sausages, cheeses, vegetables for soup and newly baked bread. When you have money in your pocket, a visit to the market hall is a real treat!
That evening we invited our friends to come for dinner in the cabin of the Hudson Queen. After we had eaten, Signor Fidardo read out the report on the necklace he’d received from his friend Alvaro Gomez the day before. This is what the jeweller had written: 118
Dear Luigi,
This is one of the most magnificent pearl necklaces I have ever seen! There are forty-eight pearls in all and each of them weighs between thirty and thirty-two grains. That means we are dealing with unusually large pearls. And they almost certainly all come from the same species of oyster—Pinctada margaritifera—which are fished in the seas off the northern coast of Australia.
As you’ve already guessed, my dear Luigi, the pendant on the necklace was made in Great Britain. The silver hallmarks reveal that this first-class piece of craftsmanship was produced in Glasgow in 1904 at a jewellery firm by the name of Rombach & Rombach. According to the list of members of the international association of jewellers, that firm is still active today.
There can be no doubt that the necklace is extremely valuable. At auction in Paris, London or New York it is likely to bring in at least $20,000. And probably considerably more. In order to be able to dispose of it, however, a seller must have a bill of purchase, a letter of gift or a will that proves that he or she really is the rightful owner of the necklace. Without such a legal document, it will be impossible to sell the necklace. No buyer is going to take the risk of buying an item that could later be shown to belong to someone else—or even be stolen property.
Yours sincerely,
Alvaro Gomez
119When Signor Fidardo finished reading, Ana looked disappointed.
“That’s bad news, isn’t it?” she said, looking from me to the Chief. “If Senhor Gomez is right, you won’t be able to sell the necklace. And you really do need the money for the Hudson Queen, don’t you?”
The Chief shrugged his shoulders. “That’s the way of things,” he said. “You can’t sell what you don’t own. And the pearls don’t belong to us just because someone hid them aboard our ship at some point.”
“Whether the necklace is yours or not is worth discussing,” Signor Fidardo said. “But unless you have the necessary documentation it would be difficult to find a buyer. Unless…”
“Unless what?” Ana asked.
Signor Fidardo shrugged his shoulders apologetically and said, “It’s not something I’d recommend… but, of course, you could take the necklace to pieces and sell the pearls individually. Then no one would ask where they came from.”
The Chief shook his head. “A beautiful piece of jewellery like that shouldn’t be broken up,” he said. “It would be wrong to do so.”
Ana and Signor Fidardo nodded in agreement and after a moment’s silence around the table, Ana turned to the Chief and me. 120
“So what are the two of you going to do now? After all, you do have to do something with the necklace, don’t you?”
“We should, perhaps, hand it in to the police,” the Chief suggested. “And then they could look for the rightful owner.”
“That is an extraordinarily bad idea,” Signor Fidardo said. “If you do that the necklace will end up in their lost-property office and lie there until the end of time. Or until some thieving constable pinches it.”
The Chief thought about this for a while and then said, “In that case we’ll just have to find out for ourselves who owns the necklace. There doesn’t seem to be any other choice… Do you think that jewellery firm in Glasgow may know something? Even though it’s such a long time since they made the little rose?”
“It’s not at all impossible,” Signor Fidardo said. “A reputable company like Rombach & Rombach will have kept its records in order, even going back for many years.”
The Chief gave a thoughtful nod. Then he looked at me and said, “You’ve never been to Glasgow, have you?”
I shook my head.
“I’m sure it’s a city you’d like,” the Chief said. “A bit rough in places, of course… but the people are good. And the port is one of the biggest in Europe… loads of things to look at.”
“But Scotland’s an awfully long way away,” Ana said. “Do you 121really have to go so far? Wouldn’t a letter to the jeweller be enough, along with a description of the necklace?”
The Chief gave this some thought before answering. “Mm, perhaps… But once in Glasgow we could also take the chance to find out who built the Hudson Queen. And that’s likely to be of use, too.”
“True enough,” Ana said. “Both the ship and the pendant come from Glasgow… that’s not likely to be a coincidence, is it?”
The Chief agreed with her. Then he turned to me. “What do you think, sailor?”
After thinking about it for a while, I gave him a thumbs up. It was a long time since I’d been to sea and, anyway, I was keen to see Glasgow.
It took the Chief and me a couple of weeks to save enough for a small travel fund. The skipper of the vessel next to the Hudson Queen on the quay promised to keep an eye on her while we were away. The time came to pack our kitbags and set off.
If you want to know what’s going on in the port of Lisbon, the man to talk to is Senhor Baptista at the O Pelicano pub. On a misty October evening the Chief and I went there to enquire if there might be a ship about to sail from Lisbon to Scotland or England. We were hoping to sail with it. 122
Senhor Baptista served me a glass of milk and gave the Chief a dram. He tipped us off that there was a sailing barge called Dora that regularly sailed up along the coast with general cargo.
“Give the skipper my regards and I’m sure he’ll take you as far as Vigo. Once there it should be easy to find a vessel that will take you over to Scotland.”
The Chief talked to the skipper of the Dora that same afternoon and we were promised a place on board as long as we worked for our food and passage. The ship was due to leave in four days.
The evening before our departure was a Saturday. Like every other Saturday evening, the Chief, Signor Fidardo and I went to the Tamarind fado restaurant to listen to Ana singing to the accompaniment of the house orchestra. The place was so full that there were even people sitting outside the open windows, listening in the mild autumn night.
In the pause between two songs Signor Fidardo took out an envelope and passed it to the Chief. Written on the envelope in Signor Fidardo’s neat handwriting were the words:
Dowager Lady Kilvaird
12 Park Terrace
Glasgow
123Signor Fidardo explained. “It occurred to me yesterday that I do have an acquaintance in Glasgow. She’s a collector of musical instruments and the widow of a rich Scottish lord called Kilvaird. Lady Kilvaird bought a lute and a viola from me for her collection. That’s by the by, but the important thing is that Lady Kilvaird is a very gracious lady. And I do believe she’d have excellent contacts among the jewellers and silversmiths in Glasgow. Go to see her and give her this letter from me. I’m sure she’ll do what she can to assist you with your enquiries.”
“Thank you,” the Chief said, putting the letter in his inside pocket. “You are really very thoughtful!”
By midnight the Chief and I were back on the Hudson Queen to get a few hours’ sleep before it was time to report aboard the Dora. Ana’s songs were still ringing in my ears. We were sad that we wouldn’t be seeing her and Signor Fidardo for some time to come.
But, given a little luck, it shouldn’t take the Chief and me too long to find the real owner of the necklace. We had several good lines of enquiry to follow and we should be back in Lisbon within a month or two.
That’s what I thought then, anyway. 124
But things don’t always turn out the way you think and hope they will.
And there are times when things turn out worse than anyone could have imagined.