Chapter 71

Archie woke with the dawn light, which shone in through the French balcony doors, direct in his face. The sofa had not been that comfortable but he had not required the use of it for anything other than sitting and slumping in, since buying the flat.

Wow, Emma was in the room next door lying in his bed and yes, in his bedroom. Right, softly, softly, he thought. He must not wake her. Archie had made up his mind. He had things to do, places to be, and was on a mission, literally. Although not having the support of Commander Edgar Bennett and the resources of the whole of Naval Command, Archie would not be put off the scent.

His mission to the Alps had turned everything around. All leads had pointed directly back to Portsmouth. The paper that Nick had found consisting of the historic ships pass and the half faded and scrawled address led to Portsmouth. Petty Officer Betts had turned up in Portsmouth. A complete shock but, nonetheless, the man was here and Archie had witnessed him talking to David of all people. Archie remembered that David had carried out some volunteering work as a guide on the historic ships but crossed his fingers that David and Betts’ relationship did not extend further.

The van that had driven off hastily from the rear of the Student Union car park had contained copious amounts of perfectly separated, small packages. Archie was not a complete fool; he knew what they were, even if he did not know what was going on. How was David mixed up in this? How deep did he go?

Archie knew that he was one of the very few people that David had trusted enough to reveal that he had been brought up in a children’s home. He realised that, despite having lived with David many years ago during their first year at University, he knew very little about him. What were his activities and hobbies apart from the obvious? The water-polo, hockey and other team sports were forever on display and Archie was now aware that David had continued to bell-ring at St. Mary’s. However, Archie also recognised that he had lost track of the true David, and everything that he might be caught up in now.

Archie’s brain was quickly jumping through different possibilities but all of them involved David. He needed to track David down. Archie was sure that he was at the heart of this mess. David would enable Archie to understand whatever was going on.

Archie wrote a note for Emma to pick up and left it on the sitting room table. He quietly let himself out of his flat and had the all important piece of paper in the back pocket of the blue jeans he was wearing. By walking to where David now lived, Archie would see if he could catch up with him at the hall of residence in the city centre.

It was quiet on this Sunday morning and there was little pedestrian or vehicular traffic at this early hour. Archie noticed a large, speeding Audi heading the other way, in the direction of the Cathedral. He checked to see if there were any other motorists before crossing the road towards the Guildhall and David’s hall of residence, which lay opposite.

Entering the student accommodation by pressing the caretaker’s buzzer, the only route was through to the reception. Archie was surprised to hear that David was not in and had to admit that he was temporarily stumped in the search for David. He asked the caretaker if he knew where he was and received a negative response. David’s friends would not thank Archie for waking them up at this time in the morning, but Archie’s business was urgent. He took the stairs two at a time to the second floor and it was only twenty seconds later before he arrived at the door of Richard Gupta. Back in the hall after the recent police visit, he was now answering every door knock and was on his best behaviour. Of course, Archie did not know that the student had been busted for his plant growing activities only weeks before, but even Richard did not have the faintest idea where David was. After a few second thoughts he said, “Try St. Mary’s Church, he normally rings there first thing.”

What Archie could not have known was that Emma had made her mind up in the early hours of the morning to support Archie in every possible way on his mission. Peering through the binoculars that she had borrowed from Archie’s flat, which he used to take in the comings and goings of the Solent, she stood close to a pillar on the side of the Guildhall. She was still in her purple dress, topped off by Archie’s fleece, and was now watching the entrance to the hall of residence. Her plan was to help Archie and follow him to where he was heading. She would do everything in her power to help avenge the deaths of his colleagues who had suffered out in the Alps, whilst Emma had been recovering from her night on the mountain. She would wait until Archie reappeared.