Free The Midas Legacy (Wilde/Chase 12) by Andy McDermott

they decided to get engaged. When she told me, the discussion became very heated, to say the least, and she . . .’ Any trace of humour vanished, replaced by regret. ‘She turned her back on me. She told your father that both her parents had died in the car crash, not just Tom, and once it had been said, she stuck with it.’
    ‘So you are saying she lied to me my whole life.’
    ‘I was dead – to her, at least,’ said Olivia. ‘The last time I spoke to her was shortly after she graduated, before her wedding. Our positions hadn’t changed, I was still trying to talk her out of it, so . . . that was it. She wanted nothing more to do with me. She could have contacted me at any time, but chose not to. And I’m ashamed to say that I made no further effort to reach out to her either, even after you were born. Determinedness – stubbornness – is very much a family trait, especially in the women. Your husband may be right about it coming with the hair.’
    ‘So why’ve you come to me now?’ asked Nina, still not sure what to believe.
    ‘For one, I’m eighty-nine years old. You’re my closest living relative, and I realised that if I ever wanted a chance to get to know you, it would have to be now. But there is something else; something I thought you should have.’ She reached back into the satchel, withdrawing several packed manila folders. She opened the topmost. ‘These were your mother’s. Her notes.’
    Nina almost lunged to take out the first page when she saw what was written on it. ‘This is her handwriting!’
    ‘You recognise it?’
    ‘I’ve still got all her research. My dad’s, too. They were the basis of my entire theory on how to find Atlantis. They were nine tenths of the way there – they’d just got some of the details wrong. If they’d had more time . . .’
    ‘Laura was always fascinated by the legend of Atlantis. It was why she studied archaeology in the first place. Well, I probably influenced her too. I was something of an amateur archaeologist in my youth,’ Olivia added, on Nina’s questioning look. ‘I was never dedicated enough to match her achievements, though. Or yours.’
    Nina turned back to her mother’s notes. She had indeed recognised the handwriting, but at the same time she could tell that Laura had been younger when she wrote these notes than while seeking Atlantis with her husband. The calligraphy was more upright, less assured, but also with remnants of childish flourishes like circles above the lower-case letter ‘i’ instead of dots.
    She switched her focus to the words. Atlantis leapt out at her. She read on from it.
    Interesting. Even at this early stage, Laura had already developed the premise that the Atlantean empire had spread well beyond merely the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Nina knew from her own discoveries how far afield the ancient peoples had travelled, but in the 1970s such thoughts were considered the domain of cranks and New Age fabulists. But her mother apparently believed that the Atlanteans had sent an expedition along what would later become known as the Silk Road through Asia, travelling as far as the Himalayas—
    Another word jumped out at her with almost physical force, making her flinch. ‘This – this can’t be real!’
    ‘It hasn’t been altered in any way – to be honest, I wouldn’t know where to start.’ Olivia pushed the other folders towards her. ‘Everything here was written by Laura, before you were even born.’
    ‘That’s just it!’ Nina protested. ‘It can’t have been written then. This,’ she waved the sheet of paper, ‘mentions Talonor, Atlantis’s greatest explorer. But nobody even knew he’d existed until the Talonor Codex was found in Atlantis – which was only discovered ten years ago!’
    ‘By you.’
    ‘Yes, by me, but that’s irrelevant. Mom couldn’t have known about Talonor before she met Dad. Nobody could. It’s not possible.’
    ‘If you read her notes, I think you’ll find