Grand Hotel De l'Opera Toulouse, Toulouse, France
Lara sat with Wrasse, Marika and Escarelli in the hotels cave restaurant. It was half past eight. Marika and Lara were huddled round a laptop, scrolling through website pages, Wrasse and Escarelli were making polite, reserved conversation.
Lara took a sip of her Bordeaux Reserve, and addressed the other two.
'Okay, Marika and I have hit upon something.' She spun the laptop around to show them.
'We know now that the staff isn't in France any more. After the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars, the staff was found by a Spanish count and presented to the King of Aragon. It stayed in Saragossa until 1526, in the Catedral Del Salvador's crypt.'
'And then?'
'There is a mention of it going to Mexico. The Papal States wanted the locals to be converted to Catholicism, and they took a suitably holy relic to help. It was placed in the new cathedral in Mexico City, which was formally the Aztec capital of Tenochitlan.'
'So it's still there?'
'Well, we'll soon find out,' Lara smiled.
'Drink up gentlemen. Tomorrow we catch a plane to Méjico!'