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Maggie huffed and puffed along the path as she chased the young man. He raced off into the distance. Maggie’s steps slowed down. She was not built for running.
A man in a black T-shirt shot past her. It was Sam. Now, there was someone who was built for running.
He yelled back at her, “I’ll get him.”
Maggie slowed to a fast walk, her chest heaving as she tried to get her breath back. How unfit was she? She did that walking video three times a week. She had thought that would be more than enough exercise for a person.
Sam was running at an impressive speed ahead of her. He suddenly left the path and darted towards some trees. A short while later, a cry of distress came from that way.
From Sam? Or the man-bun youth?
“Hang on,” Maggie said with a wheeze. “I’m on my way.”
She found Sam pinning the youth to the grass by use of his knee into the young man’s back. The young man was yelling a variety of colourful curse words at Sam.
Sam said firmly, “There’s no need for that kind of language young man.”
Sam got a torrent of swear words in return.
Maggie knelt at the man’s side. “Hello, remember me?”
“Yeah, I remember you. Why were you chasing me?”
“Why did you run away?” Maggie asked.
“I’m not saying anything until you get your gorilla off my back. This is physical assault. I’m going to phone the police.”
Maggie nodded. “That’s a good idea. Phone them. I’ll let them know it was you in my tree. The same tree Harvey Chester fell from. I’m sure they’d like to talk to you. Or have they already spoken to you about Harvey?”
The man fell silent. He stared at the grass.
Maggie asked pleasantly, “Shall I phone the police on your behalf? What’s your name?”
The man glanced back at Maggie. “Get the gorilla off me, and then I’ll talk.”
Sam took his knee away. “Sorry about that, but you left me no choice. You should have stopped when I asked you to.”
The man sat up, threw Sam a disgruntled look, and rubbed his back. He addressed Maggie. “What do you want with me? Climbing trees isn’t a crime.”
“No, but murder is.”
The man blanched. “Murder? What are you talking about? Not Harvey? He wasn’t murdered. He fell out of the tree. Serves him right. He shouldn’t have been up there. Silly old fool.”
“Why do you say that?” Maggie asked.
“Why are you asking about him? Did you know him? What’s his death got to do with you?”
“Well, for one thing, he fell into my garden. It was Sam who found him.” She nodded at Sam. “That’s Sam. I’m Maggie.” She raised her eyebrows in question at the man.
“I’m Elliott. It’s not my fault Harvey fell into your garden. I didn’t know he was going to climb the tree. That hunt wasn’t suitable for him. I don’t even know how he found out about it. He must have been spying on me. Again. I don’t care if he is dead. I hated him. And I’m not the only one.”
Maggie asked him, “Were you planting a treasure box in that tree?”
“I was.” His eyes narrowed. “Have you been up that tree? Did you find the treasure box?”
“I didn’t climb the tree,” Maggie assured him. She took her phone out and pointed to the app Jake had installed. “Did you post a hunt using this app?”
“No,” Elliott replied. “I haven’t got an app for my hunts. Not yet. The hunt was only for a select group. A secret group which Harvey didn’t know about. Or I thought he didn’t know about. Obviously, I was wrong about that.”
“What do you mean about a secret group?” Maggie asked.
Elliott scratched his bearded chin. “I’ve been a treasure hunter for years. That app you’ve got is the group which Harvey set up. Harvey made the app, and he ran the group. Too severely, in my opinion. He was keen on his rules and regulations. If anyone didn’t stick to them, he would kick them out of the group. Even for the slightest reason sometimes.”
“Oh?” Maggie said. “What kind of reasons?”
Elliott continued scratching his beard. Maggie wondered if he had a creature in there. He said, “When a hunter finds a clue, they have to replace the clue in the exact same place he or she found it. And I do mean the exact place. And the hunter is not allowed to take any gifts out of a treasure box without leaving something in return. Not every box contains a gift. Some just have a logbook which you have to sign. But if a hunter didn’t sign the logbook with a particular kind of pencil, then they were breaking the rules.”
“That doesn’t sound like fun. I thought treasure hunting was supposed to be fun.”
Elliott let out a short laugh. “It is. But Harvey took it too seriously. It got worse when he retired. He had more time to spy on hunters to make sure they were following his rules.”
Maggie said, “You mentioned a secret group of hunters. Is that something you set up?”
“It was my idea, but a few of us set it up. It’s a more extreme form of hunting. We have a lot of underground hunts. There are loads of secret tunnels around Leeds. And we like to climb things, like trees. We take turns hiding the treasure. We don’t use an app. We send the details via texts. And we don’t have rules.” He broke into a smile. “And doing it behind Harvey’s back made it more exciting.”
“But he found out,” Maggie said. “If he followed you to that tree, he must have found out. Who would have told him?”
Elliott scratched his head now. “I don’t know. I trust everyone in the group. They hated Harvey as much as I did. I think Harvey must have followed me. And then he climbed the tree and fell out. I don’t know why you think it was murder. Why do you think he was murdered? And who would do that?”
Maggie raised one eyebrow, but didn’t answer his questions. “Why did you come to this event if you didn’t like Harvey? Wasn’t this hunt in his honour?”
“It was. I wanted to see what it was like. As much as I hated him, Harvey was good at making hunts. He came up with great riddles and quizzes. But the hunt here today was pathetic. Any fool could have solved the first clue.”
Maggie asked, “Do you know who put this hunt together?”
Elliott shrugged. “I don’t. And I don’t know who wasted their money paying for tea and cakes. I asked the other hunters in the café, but no one knows who did it.”
Maggie showed Elliott her paper which Sam had found in the fake rock. “Did you get the same code words?”
Elliott shook his head. He showed her a similar piece of paper. “This is mine. You can keep it.”
Maggie looked at the words. She said to Sam, “Rave Darkly.”
Sam asked Elliott, “What does that mean? Is it part of a secret code Harvey’s group uses?”
“No. We don’t use words for our codes. We always use numbers.” A gleam came into Elliott’s eyes. “Hang on. We don’t know who made this hunt, or who organised the party at the café. And we don’t know what these words mean. This is a puzzle. This could be the real treasure hunt. This is more like it.” He stood up.
Maggie got up too. Her knees clicked as she did so. She said to Elliott, “Where are you going?”
“To the café to collect everyone’s codes. Then I’m going to work out what the words mean.”
“No, you’re not. I’m going to collect them,” Maggie informed him. The codes might help her investigation somehow.
Elliott made a sudden dash forward. But he was no match for Sam who grabbed him firmly by the arm, and said, “You’re going nowhere.”
“You can’t stop me!” Elliott tried to wriggle free.
Maggie decided it was time to answer Elliott’s previous questions about Harvey’s murder. She said, “Harvey’s sister thinks he was murdered. Apparently, Harvey received many death threats.”
Elliott nodded. “I can believe that.”
Maggie went on, “She asked me to look into his death. These codes might help me. I’m not sure how, but they could. Would you let me have them? Please?”
Elliott looked as if he were wrestling with his thoughts. “I only met his sister once. She came to one of Harvey’s meetings. She was kind to everyone. The total opposite of Harvey. Okay, you can have the codes. But if you don’t get anywhere with them, let me know and I’ll have a go.” He reluctantly gave Maggie his phone number. Then he asked Sam, “Can I go now?”
“You can,” Sam said with a polite smile. “Thank you for your time.”
Elliott muttered something under his breath before jogging away.
Maggie said to Sam, “Do you think Harvey’s killer organised the party at the café?”
“It’s a possibility. Shall we try again to have tea and cake?”
They headed back to the café.