Larry La Trobe

You gaze at the sculpture of the dog, Larry La Trobe, with his spiked collar and tongue hanging out. He has obviously been named after Charles La Trobe. Only Australians would honour one of their founding fathers by naming a dog after him… “Larrikin” humour and all that … oh, right! That is why he is called Larry. You can faintly remember that the original sculpture was stolen two years after it was installed, and this was a replica of the original recast by the artist.

You wait for someone to approach you.

After a while, you realise there is a small black leather satchel lying next to you. How did that get there? You pick it up and open it. Chest thumping, you pull out a majestic gold-and-enamel necklace, studded with precious and semi-precious stones. It’s the Durbar necklace! In the once-aristocratic world of rajahs and maharajahs of India, the quality and craftsmanship of the jewellery worn by women indicated their status. This early 19th-century piece, with its giant pendant, long string of pearls and gold blocks, was the absolute crème de la crème of jewellery. It was worn for important palace ceremonies.

You thrust the stolen necklace back in the bag – photographs of it have been splashed across all of the news channels. You are going to be in big trouble if someone sees you with it.

The next instructions arrive:

A post box at Melbourne Town Hall is where you stand

Look across if hungry, and

A greater consciousness will dawn

Show us the sign – Krishna is a con.

You are struck by the surrealness of your situation: you now have two of the stolen artefacts and another baffling riddle to solve. Suddenly you understand: you are the designated carrier of the artefacts. The police are looking for a gang of five caught on CCTV, so the group has split up to avoid detection. They are blackmailing you into collecting the artefacts in exchange for Saloni. Clearly someone knows how dear your friend Saloni is to you to trust that you wouldn’t walk into the nearest police station and hand over the stolen booty.

You need to hurry. Saloni’s life is in danger.

You continue walking along Swanston Street. Cross Collins Street and walk to Melbourne Town Hall, where you will find a red post box at the corner of Swanston Street and Little Collins Street.