told her once that it might combat any forgetfulness he may acquire. Whenever he lost or forgot something, he became quite agitated, and couldn’t rest until the object, or the memory, was safely recovered.
In many ways, Natalie was the complete opposite of her brother. She had, at least in her family’s opinion, a complete lack of fear. Even Uncle Richard, who was quite daring in his own right, was alarmed by some of Natalie’s antics. He had been especially angry at her for getting lost in an underground cave for several hours. Richard shared Calvin’s antipathy of tight spaces, and he had not been at all pleased to have to go in search of his niece in one.
“I think Randy had the right idea in using his plane,” Natalie commented. “I feel like we’re being hunted. Uncle, can you tell us more about your conversation with Seth? I’m terribly worried about him.”
“Of course,” Julien replied. “He called me shortly after we retired for the evening. He was still at the Bodleian, at Radcliffe Camera. He told me that two men came in soon after we left, asking for Natalie or Calvin Romarin. Seth informed the men that you were not there. Luckily, no other employees at the library knew who we were. The men left, and Seth assumed that was going to be the last he’d see of them. While he was locking up, however, they returned. The lights were out but he hadn’t locked the doors yet. He hid under the stairwell and observed them. They just walked right in and shined flashlights around the place. He had a tense moment when they came very near the stairwell, but they ascended the stairs and didn’t see where he was hiding. They were up there for a few minutes, and when they came back down he listened to their conversation.”
“Do we want to hear this?” Calvin asked no one in particular.
“Seth heard them arguing,” continued his uncle. “One of the men wanted to go back to Richard’s house, and the other wanted to search Natalie’s flat in Soho. Seth realized they had probably come to ransack Richard’s office.”
“Oh no!” Natalie cried.
Uncle Julien reassured her, “Don’t worry, I don’t think they went to your place. Seth said that one of the men got a call on his cell phone, and he heard them say, ‘Mckella Edwards? Got it. We’re on our way. ‘Seth recognized Mckella’s name and put two and two together.”
“I don’t like the sound of all this,” Calvin said, his voice strained.
“Neither do I,” added Natalie, “but what happened to Seth? Mr. Edwards said that you told him the line went dead.”
“It did,“ her uncle replied, frowning. “Seth called me just after the men left Radcliffe Camera. He was following them at a distance to see where they went. The last thing I heard from the boy was, ‘Uh oh,’ and that was all.”
“Let’s just hope he wasn’t caught,” Mckella said, rejoining them. “I like that kid. I’ve spent a lot of time at the Camera reading room lately, and he’s always such a sweetheart.”
Natalie smiled. “Mckella, everyone is a sweetheart to you, especially young men. You just bring out their better natures.”
Just then, Randy called to them from the cockpit, “Everyone, please put your seat belts back on. We’re making our descent into Calais.”
France
The plane touched down gently on French soil, and soon came to a halt.
“Well, at least we don’t have much baggage to lug around,” Calvin joked, as everyone emerged from the plane. “I’m glad I put on my warmest clothes this morning.”
“We can sort out our wardrobe deficiencies tomorrow,” Uncle Julien remarked. “Right now our first priority is to find a place to sleep. I have a friend who lives in Calais. If I didn’t throw my phone in a dumpster, I could contact him right now.”
Randy suggested that he might find his friend the old-fashioned way, with a phone book and a pay phone.
“How right you are, Monsieur,” he said, self-deprecatingly. “I have always been told by the younger generations that I embrace technology with much more alacrity than is normal for a man of my years.”
“That’s true,” Natalie asserted. “Uncle Julien was the first person I knew who had an iPod.”
Mckella and her father bade them goodbye, amid many promises that they would look out for themselves.
“I wish I could go with you,” Mckella said sadly. “If I didn’t have such an obscene amount of work to do at school, I’d accompany you to Paris.”
Natalie gave her a tight hug. “Don’t worry, we’ll be back before you know it, and I’ll bring you some French champagne to celebrate your doctorate!”
After giving Randy and Mckella their heartfelt thanks, the Romarins hailed a cab and headed into Calais. Julien instructed the driver to take them to the Hotel Metropol, on the Quai du Rhin.
“I thought we were going to try and stay with your friend,” Calvin reminded his uncle.
“I decided it wouldn’t be polite to rouse him at almost two in the morning. Besides, I have plenty of cash, so I think it’s safe for us to stay in a hotel, as long as we aren’t required to use a credit card or show our passports. I think it highly advisable we leave no paper trail, and I don’t think we should get in the habit of underestimating our pursuers.”
The cab pulled up in front of a charming brick building. It was very late, but the night manager was still behind his desk in the lobby. After a little financial maneuvering by Uncle Julien, they were finally able to procure a suite. The manager was reluctant at first to give them a room without a credit card, let alone proper I.D.s, but Julien quickly changed his attitude with a substantial wad of euros.
“Way to grease those palms,” Calvin teased him in the elevator.
“Unfortunately, money is a primary motivation for most people,” Julien sniffed. “However, in this case, the predictability of human nature was on our side.”
They took the lift to the top floor and found their suite. After taking turns in the bathroom, they crawled into their beds and were sound asleep within minutes.
Even Calvin got up late the next morning, awakening abruptly from a bad dream. He dreamed that he was being pursued by wolves through a tangled jungle, and just as he was about to be overtaken, he woke with a start. He jumped out of bed and checked on his uncle and sister, who were both sleeping soundly. Relieved, he went back to his room and pulled on the same clothes from the day before. He decided to check out the area and see if he could procure some breakfast.
When he returned a short while later, laden with French pastries, his uncle and sister were up.
“Jeez, Calvin, you should have left a note,” chided his sister. “We thought you got abducted or something.”
“Sorry, Nat,” he apologized. “I didn’t think about that. I guess we’d better get used to keeping track of each other.” He laid out eclairs and brioches on a little table in the sitting room. “I was just out getting breakfast.”
“Well, then we must forgive you
