The Daisy Chain

By Geoffrey Witts

This is the story of John Cox's search for the elusive Daisy Chain necklace, worth $1 million, hidden in one of thirty-four caves in Rio Branco, South America. He is not the only one looking for the prize. Follow his journey from jail to freedom in his quest to find the prize.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jun 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481789707

Geoffrey Witts

Geoffrey Witts was born in Farnborough, Kent, United Kingdom, in 1958. He was raised in Leicestershire and has lived in Australia for over thirty years. He is married to Julieta Gestoso, and together they have three boys, Jeremy, Jose, and Jovan. He currently resides in Australia and the Philippines.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

24873.jpg

A RAINY DAY IN DOWNTOWN RIO BRANCO,

DEEP IN THE AMAZON RAINFOREST OF WESTERN BRAZIL

John Cox sat in the bar, cigarette hanging out of his mouth and whiskey in one hand, his only two real friends. He was contemplating the next move in his search for the Daisy Chain necklace, said to be hidden in a cave somewhere not too far from the bar he was frequenting.

The problem was that there were about thirty-four caves to search. John had all the time in the world, so that was not a problem for him. The problem was he knew of a couple of other parties that had shown interest in finding the elusive Daisy Chain. He had to be the one to get to it first. Then all his financial problems would be solved—or so he hoped.

1

24875.jpg

John Cox was born on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro to a Brazilian mother and English father; he had a half-sister called Maria with whom he had not spoken to in at least a dozen years. Maria was much more religious than John, who might go to church once or twice a year depending on his whereabouts in Brazil. Maria did not agree with her half-brother’s way of life.

John drifted into his shady lifestyle at the age of thirteen. It started with petty theft but quickly rose to breaking and entering in some of the more affluent suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. He ran with a gang called the Cardinals, just one of the gangs in and around Rio in the early sixties, who were into drugs and burglary. John was on his third housebreak when he disturbed the owner while trying to get away with jewellery and banknotes. His accomplice made it away with other items of jewellery, including a necklace worth $1 million. The necklace was made especially for the owner’s wife to celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. He was a wealthy landowner who owned 150,000 acres of prime real estate throughout Rio in addition to three of the best flower nurseries in Brazil, specialising in the exotic and rare flowers. Rio de Janeiro’s climate made it ideal to grow exotic and rare species of flowers. The wealthy landowner, Paulo Da Silva, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. The necklace he gave to his wife, which he named the Daisy Chain, had been hand made in Italy by the finest jewellers in the country. The necklace consisted of the best South Sea pearls and diamonds from South Africa and five beautiful opals from Australia. It was truly a remarkable piece, designed and put together by Italy’s finest jewellers.

After being caught red handed John would not say whether he was working with an accomplice. The cardinals always worked like that.

Paulo handed John over to the Rio authority that because of his tender age was remanded in juvenile justice for a period of six months.

2

24877.jpg

The months passed by, and just after John’s fifteenth birthday he was released back to his parents’ care, although John’s parents did not really have much control over him. The Cardinals were the ones who controlled his life. During his time in custody, John learnt more about how not to get caught the next time.

After teaming up with Marcos, with whom he had burgled the Da Silvas’ house, Marcos had told John about the find of a lifetime, but he confided only in him and no other gang member—they were compares, after all.

Marcos’s family came from Rio Branco in North-Western Brazil. Marcos told John that he had travelled up to Rio Branco with the find of a lifetime, and after staying with his grandparents, he had stashed the Daisy Chain in a cave where he knew it would never be found. He did confide to John that it was five metres up off the damp floor of the cave. Trees in part of the rain forest not far from Rio Branco covered the cave. The area had thirty-four caves in all, some easily accessible, some not, but all were protected by the Brazilian government as part of their heritage plan, meaning no tourists came this way. The caves were very much at the mercy of Mother Nature. The children who lived in Rio Branco used to play in some of the more accessible caves, and the majority had a good knowledge of all the caves in their district. Some of the caves only went back 20 metres and were only 8 to 9 metres high, and some were more elaborate, extending back 250 metres and rising to a majestic height of 12 to 13 metres. Every cave had beautiful stalagmites and stalactites, formed over many thousands of years. Marcos had not even told his grandparents which of the caves he had chosen to hide the necklace. He told John that one day he would take him up to Rio Branco and show him where the necklace was hidden. Marcos felt the need to tell John, as they were both involved with the burglary on the Da Silva household. He hoped it would be a new start for them both with the wealth that they would receive from disposing of the necklace in neighbouring Columbia.

It was a long way to the border from Rio Branco, but there were trucks passing through to the city of Bogotá. Marcos had a cousin who would help them, he reassured John. He used to drive on a regular basis to Columbia. At present, though, Marcos cousin was serving time in a prison in Rio de Janeiro for a crime he did not commit. He got sentenced to five years and still had three and half years to serve. Corruption was rife in Brazil, especially if you were not wealthy. The rich could buy themselves out of jail, yet the poor usually had to do their sentence. Marcos’s cousin was in the wrong place at the wrong time. So, if the pair of Marcos and John could keep out of trouble for the next few years, hopefully they would be able to get out of this rut they were getting deeper and deeper into. It was hard for a fifteen-year-old to understand that by the time he was nineteen, he could actually turn