SakshiReading Between The Lines
Before going further on looking outside for the evidence, Camila decided to go through the gifts and letters that Ann had found at the grave. Many of the pieces included poetry. They had to decipher the poetry in order to know more about the secret visitor. Now all they needed was someone who could correctly decipher the poetry and so they thought of contacting Stephen Regan, a Durham University’s Professor of English. Regan spoke, “‘The Lost Ship’ is mourning the loss of sailors, a whole group of sailors.” No need to say whoever had written the poem must have known Karl. He also said, “It has to do with the transience of youth, the loss of potential.”
It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who
The news did give Ann some hope along with a big surprise. She had no idea that they Robert Stephen Hawker was the schoolmate of his late brother. Well, that was not it. She had some amazing news to share with Camila. “I’ve got some details of schoolboys,” she told her. However, Ann had never seen these people, let alone being in touch. She did not know whether she would be able to meet them or not and at that time, Camila assured her that they will.
Contacting The Locals
Initially, Gloucestershire phone books seemed good for nothing for them. Most of the numbers on the book led them to a dead end. What more, more then half of them were dead. And who they got to talk did not remember anything about Karl. Though their efforts did not bear desirable result, the whole of Prestbury learned about them.
Bringing People Together
Those who had witnessed that unfortunate event came forward to talk to Ann and help her in her quest. Shortly after that, the duo successfully gathered a group of people around the cemetery nearing Karl’s grave. The locals were once again in tears when they talked about that incident. Pamela Parkin, one of the local said, “I’ve been in Prestbury all my life.” She added, “And it was a great tragedy when this happened and all the village was really upset about it.” One of the local revealed that some of them even hid behind the cemetery to catch the mysterious visitor.
New Theory
The reason behind why she asked all these locals to come together was to get an idea about someone. Ann, after going through Karl’s school files had come across a name “Dennis Parker.” She inquired if any of them had ever heard of this name and surprisingly, many of them nodded their head in “YES.” Ann explained, “He was a close friend of Karl’s. I wondered about him because he’s the only name that features in anything.” “He mentions ‘Parker.’ They were at school together and went to grammar school as well, together,” said Ann.
Big Discovery
Professor Regan put forth what caught his interest the most. He explained, “I was reading about the life of Robert Stephen Hawker, this Victorian poet who’d written this famous poem about a shipwreck.” “Studied at Cambridge, but before he went there, he’d been to school, I discovered Cheltenham Grammar School,” he cleared. By this, he knew that the message had a big link with the school life of Karl. The professor opened up with Camila on this.