Dear Diary
Shirin woke me with breakfast. She told me her uncle was banished from her village but she was shocked when I gave her the pendant - it was her mother's - the mother she hasn't seen since three men came and killed everyone there, except her.
I began to think Sheikh Khalil held some of the answers to the problem and 'discretely searched' his room.
I was disturbed while reading a contract about the railways in Palestine, mentioning Khalil, Lofty and Montague, it all seemed even more suspicious. The ledge outside his bedroom window was the only place I could go, a bit precarious but ... needs must.
I didn't expect Jack to appear at the ball, but he did and he looked splendid in top hat and tails and gave me an astrolabe. He had been given it by the widow of Henry Templeton, Wilson's commanding officer and one of the men who slaughtered Shirin's village.
Lofty and Eleanor are up to their ears in debt, the railway contract would solve that but Khalil is now reluctant to sign, Montague argued with Khalil. Lofty was drunk, belligerent and took a swing at Khalil for seemingly flirting with Eleanor.
I found him outside 'discussing' the situation with Montague who left as soon as I poked my face round a pillar.
Khalil is dead, shot in his room.
Somehow Forsyth was on the scene incredibly quickly, sneaking up on us when we found a gun outside. There was a clear line of sight to the Sheik's window.
The first suspect was Lofty, too drunk to have fired so cleanly, but Forsyth went for it, after all they had had a very public argument.
This gets more and more intriguing, so many twists and turns
That is the biggest emerald I have ever seen, puts my Columbian emeralds in the shade! There is an inscription that I can't read, but I think I know who will be able to.
Linnaeus.