Drowned History

by Rebecca Lovell

  “Oh, Alice.” It seemed to be her mother’s favorite phrase, as she said it at least twice anytime Alice called.

  “I’ll be there in just a little while, Mother. Tell Father I can’t wait to see him.” They said their goodbyes and Alice hung up, putting a smile on her face before she turned around to look at Peter. “Thank you, Mr. Denton. I always appreciate this so much.”

  “Like I said, it’s no trouble. It’s important to have someone to look after you. I’ll be happy to hold your mail as long as you like. Just make sure you come right away and let us know when you’re home,” he said. “You know how Margery worries.”

  “I do,” Alice said, thinking that she had more people worrying about her than she knew what to do with. “Everything will be fine,” she repeated. “It’s going to be a lovely trip and I promise I’ll bring you back an interesting souvenir from Surat.”

  “Just bring yourself back safe,” Peter said, following her to the door. “Make sure you stay with your group and don’t get yourself hurt in all those rocks.”

  “I won’t,” Alice promised. “I’ll see you in a week or so.” She managed to escape before he started in on her again and darted up the stairs just in case he opened the door again.

  When she got back to her apartment Alice picked up the annoying hat and turned it around, trying to decide whether or not she wanted to wear it to her parents’ house. Her mother would love it but it meant she would have to fight with the pins again and she didn’t have time to deal with it at that moment either. Instead, she put on the hat she wore almost every other day and picked up her pocketbook. Grand Central Station wasn’t too far but she didn’t feel like walking in the wind.

  That’s definitely one thing I miss about India, Alice thought as she buttoned up her coat. As she did, she thought about what exactly she was going to wear while she was there. Most of her dresses would be impractical or uncomfortable in a place like Surat, even if she wasn’t going to be staying in a tent and crawling through dirt. Looks like I’ll be making a visit to the department store on my way to the office in the morning. She sighed.

  Everything about this favor for Amesh was turning out to be as troublesome as always.

  Three

  “Good morning, Dr. Bennett,” Nadir said as George got out of the cab. “It looks like we have excellent weather for our flight.” Instead of the pressed suit he had been wearing at their first meeting, Nadir was dressed much more casually in cotton trousers and a light jacket. His shirt, however, was pristine and pressed. George couldn’t help thinking that it was obvious that Nadir had never actually been to India. “Come, I would like to introduce you to our pilot.”

  A young man who looked like he couldn’t be a day over twenty-two stepped out of the small passenger plane sitting outside the hangar. It was a private airstrip so they weren’t vying for space with the larger planes, and as he walked over to George the heels of his brown leather boots tapped smartly on the concrete. Nadir held out a hand to him.

  “Dr. Bennett, this is our pilot Phillip Harper.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Phillip said, holding out a hand. George shook it firmly, resisting the urge to ask if he was even old enough to operate a plane. “Professor Kharyam tells me you’ve been to India before.”

  “A while back, yes,” George said. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Nadir look at his watch.

  “I wonder where Miss Graesser is,” he said. “It’s already past eight.”

  “I’d get used to it if I were you,” George said just as a cab pulled up near the hangar. He looked at his own watch. “Eight fifteen. That’s as close to being early as Miss Graesser gets.” She paid the driver, who took her suitcase out of the trunk and set it beside her. Alice picked it up with both hands and hurried as fast as it would allow her toward the men.

  “I’m so sorry,” she panted. “There was traffic.”

  “It’s all right,” Phillip said before anyone else could reply. “We can’t take off until eight thirty anyway.” He offered a hand to her. “Phillip Harper.”

  “Alice Graesser,” she replied, taking his hand. “It’s good to meet you. And thank you for being so kind. I’m terribly sorry.”

  “At least you weren’t arranging your hat this time,” George said and Alice flushed. She was wearing a very sensible outfit; a pressed white shirt much like Nadir’s with a slim gray skirt and a pair of low-heeled shoes. It was a far cry from the dress she had worn to their first meeting and he was amused to see she was wearing a woman’s version of a man’s fedora.

  “Don’t worry,” Phillip said. “I would never leave a lady behind. Especially one as pretty as you.” This made Alice’s cheeks reddened in a completely different way and George fought not to roll his eyes. Young and naïve. Just what they needed.

  “Let’s go ahead and get on the plane,” Nadir said. “It’s going to be a long flight, so I hope you brought something to read.” They picked up their suitcases and started for the plane. George noticed Alice was lagging behind slightly and turned to see her struggling with her suitcase. With a sigh, he turned around and handed her his medical bag.

  “Carry this,” he said tersely, taking the suitcase from her hand. “We’ll never get to India if you don’t get moving.” He didn’t care enough to try to keep the annoyance out of his voice and Alice’s face turned red again. Instead of looking at her, George looked down at the suitcase. It looked familiar and he wondered if she was really using the same suitcase after all this time. They caught up with Phillip and Nadir inside the plane and George put their things in the back.

  “I already checked everything out,” Phillip was saying. “I don’t fly overseas often but it’s not my first time.” This did nothing to instill confidence about the boy into George but he held his tongue. “I guess we’re ready.” He held out a hand to the six seats on the small plane. “Sit wherever you like. I hope you’ll be comfortable.”

  “Is this your plane, then?” Alice looked at him with interest and Phillip nodded.

  “My parents had a life insurance policy on me and I cashed it in when I left the Army. They weren’t too happy with me about it, especially when I bought the plane, but now they don’t mind so much.” He grinned at Alice, who looked around at the plane.

  “It’s very nice.”

  “Thank you, Miss Graesser.”

  “Alice, please,” she said, returning his smile. “I’d much rather you called me Alice.” She looked at the other men, her gaze settling on George. “All of you.”

  “I suppose we may as well be on a first-name basis,” Nadir said. “Seeing as we’re going to be in some very close quarters for the next week.” He looked at George as well and the doctor nodded. He’d never been big on formality when he wasn’t at work and there was no point in putting on a charade that he and Alice had never met when she was likely to call him George out of pure habit. He would never admit it to anyone but it had felt strange calling her Miss Graesser, no matter how angry he was with her.

  “All right, everyone,” Phillip said. “The next time we see one another we’ll be in India.” He went up to the cockpit as the others took their seats. Alice sat across the aisle from George and he sighed internally. Getting up and moving away from her would be rude but he didn’t want to talk to her on the flight over so he took out the newspapers he had brought and opened one, hoping she would get the message. There had been a lot of anti-British sentiment when he left Surat, he wanted to know what he was walking into. Much to his relief, the language had come back to him as soon as he started reading.

  “I’m so sorry I was late,” he heard Alice said to Nadir. “I don’t know why the traffic was so bad today.”

  “For a moment I assumed you weren’t coming,” George said before he could stop himself. “You’re so good at not showing up, it wouldn’t have come as a shock.” It wasn’t hard to imagine the hurt look on Alice’s face and he felt a little guilty in spite of himself. Nadir cleared his throat and George heard him rustling pap
ers.

  “Here are the papers you asked for,” he said. “I first learned of the artifact by accident. One of the archaeologists who had been working on the dig came back when his wife fell ill and we spoke at length when he came to the university to talk to one of our anthropology professors. He told me that there was a rumor that what they were unearthing was an ancient temple of Kali and that there was an artifact that would be of immense historical value.”

  “What kind of artifact?”

  “I’m not sure. I contacted the director of the dig and he said he would be glad to discuss it in more detail when we got there. I’m sure you can understand why I’m so interested in studying it,” Nadir said. “I was born here but my parents are both from Delhi.”

  “So you speak Punjabi?”

  “Fluently. And I do speak some Gujarati but not enough for something like this.” George looked over his paper to see Nadir smiling and Alice looking down at some paperwork. “Amesh said you were the Vidyapith’s star pupil when you were there.”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” Alice said. “I did enjoy it, even though I had to remind him several times to speak Gujarati to me so I would learn. His English is impeccable.” She held up one of the pieces of paper. “This is interesting. How long did you say this dig has been going on?”

  “Only a year.”

  “And they haven’t been able to get close enough to the wall to take good photos?”

  “That’s not entirely accurate,” Nadir said. He looked through a leather file and took out the photographs they had looked over at the meeting, followed by several others that looked as if they were the same. “They’ve taken plenty of pictures, but it seems that none of them will develop properly.”

  “Really? That’s interesting,” Alice said as she held the photo up to the light coming from the window. “You said this happened with the others as well?” Before Nadir could answer, there was a roar from outside the windows as the propellers came to life and the plane began to move forward. George didn’t think he was imagining the way Alice pressed herself into the seat and he folded his paper with a sigh.

  “Let me have a look at those,” he said. She handed him the photographs while Nadir handed her a third set. Sure enough, all he could make out was a blurred line on a wall in spite of the fact that there seemed to be plenty of light. Alice frowned.

  “They really are the same,” she said. “And I assume these were taken at different times?” It was the question George had been just about to ask and he held his hand out for the photographs in her hand, which she turned over at once.

  “At least a day apart. From what the director tells me, there are more photographs and strange things happening at the dig site.” The plane began to lift off the ground and Alice gripped the armrests as if she was about to jump out of her seat.

  “Oh, come now, Alice,” George said with a smirk. “He may look like he’s still in school but I’m sure he’s capable of getting us into the air safely.” She shot him a look of pure malice and Nadir cleared his throat.

  “We’ll have to take ground transportation to the site once we land in Surat,” he said. “There will be trucks waiting for us when we land and we’ll pack up and leave immediately. It will probably be dark by the time we get there, so we’ll get settled in and then go into the cave in the morning.”

  “One question,” George said, ignoring the way Alice was still glaring at him. “Is all of this going to put us in some sort of danger? Who else might be interested in this mysterious artifact?”

  “That’s two questions,” Alice pointed out, and he glared back at her.

  “To answer them both,” Nadir said, clearly trying to mediate, “I don’t know. There is the possibility that someone else might know about the existence of the artifact but I don’t know that anyone else would be coming to look for it. On the surface this is simply a run-of-the-mill archaeological dig.”

  “And who, may I ask, is funding the dig?”

  “As to that I can’t say,” Nadir replied. “The government is far too busy to put money into such a vague project, so I assume it’s a private organization. Nothing out of the ordinary, according to my contacts in India.”

  “I see.” George handed back the photographs and nodded. “I suppose we’ll find out when we get there.” He sat back in his seat and reopened his paper. Across the aisle Alice asked to see the photographs again and he tuned out their conversation within minutes, retreating into his own thoughts. He didn’t trust any situation if he didn’t know who was behind it, and it seemed like no one did. He couldn’t help thinking he was glad he’d thought to take precautions on this trip.

  Very glad.

  Four

  The translation was proving more difficult than she had expected, so Alice was considering calling her father for advice when the Native Tongue secretary knocked on the door of the library and made her look up from her work.

  “Telephone call for you, Miss Graesser.”

  “For me?” Alice frowned. “Who would be calling me?” The secretary shrugged and went back down the hall, leaving Alice to sigh heavily and get up to follow her. She had a feeling the woman had only been hired because she was pretty and every day she found another thing that proved her point.

  The telephone at the office was in her boss’ office and she knocked on the door lightly before she went in. Levi Goldman wasn’t in at the moment but she didn’t want to be impolite and just walk in. She picked up the receiver that was lying on its side on the desk and put it to her ear.

  “This is Alice Graesser.”

  “Alice!” A voice from the past came over the static-filled line and her heart both bounced upward and plummeted down. “How have you been?”

  “Fine,” she replied in Gujarati. “I’m just fine, Amesh. How are you and Neha?”

  “She sends her love as always. It’s been years since we’ve spoken and all you can say is ‘fine?’ Or is that all you remember how to say?”

  “You know perfectly well what I remember,” she said, unable to resist smiling. Alice was perfectly aware that the secretary was listening to her so she made sure only to speak in Gujarati. It wasn’t difficult. Even though she hadn’t lived in Surat for more than a decade, she kept up with the language out of pure nostalgia and had become the person to go to in New York for translation. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “Right to the point as always. I have missed talking to you, Alice. Letters just aren’t the same.” The smile in his voice was evident but Alice knew as well as he did that a call from India cost far too much to justify small talk. “I have a favor to ask you.”

  “A favor?” Alice’s fingers tightened on the phone. The last time she’d done a favor for Amesh it had cost her far too much and she was about to say no. He seemed to be able to sense her hesitation, however, and dropped his cheerful demeanor.

  “It’s nothing like before,” he said much more quietly. The static over the line was terrible and she almost couldn’t hear him. “You wouldn’t even have to leave New York. I have a friend at New York University named Nadir Kharyam. He’s one of the anthropology professors and he’s looking for an American who speaks fluent Gujarati. Of course you were the first person I thought of but I didn’t give him your number because of the way things turned out back then. I wanted to talk with you first.”

  “What does he want with me?” Alice was growing interested in spite of herself. “Or should I say, what does he want with someone fluent in Gujarati?”

  “He says he’s been in contact with some archaeologists in Surat and needs some translations done. He doesn’t speak much of the language himself so he would prefer a native English speaker as a go-between.”

  “I thought you said I wouldn’t be leaving the country,” Alice said, alarmed.

  “I don’t mean in person,” Amesh said. “But it may require talking to the archaeologists and they may not speak much English. You’d be perfect for the job, I’m certain.” The static over the phone got w
orse and Alice held it away from her ear for a moment until it subsided. “If you don’t want it, however, I’m sure he’d understand. He’ll just have to find someone outside the city.”

  “It doesn’t hurt to talk to him,” she said, rummaging through her boss’ desk for a piece of paper. “Do you have his phone number?”

  “Of course.” Amesh read the number off to her and Alice copied it onto the paper. “He’ll be very happy to hear from you. If you decide to take the job I hope you’ll let me know.” Something in his voice changed. “Is everything all right there? No one has contacted you?”

  “No,” Alice said. “You’re the only person I’ve talked to from India. Why?”

  “No reason,” Amesh said. “I just worry sometimes. I put you in a great deal of danger back then and they never found out who was threatening you after you left. When I think about what could have happened to you I don’t know how I could have lived with myself. I certainly couldn’t have lived with Neha.”

  “As I said before, you’re the only person I talk to from Surat,” Alice said, her words sending an aching sadness into her chest. “There’s no one else.” The words hurt her mouth but she went on. “I haven’t looked for anyone and no one has looked for me in years.”

  “That’s good in a way, I suppose,” Amesh said. “It’s probably safer. I should be going, I’m sure this call is costing the school a fortune.”

  “You’re probably right,” Alice said, a smile working its way onto her face. “Next time I’ll be the one to call. It’s only fair.”

  “I suppose it is. Please let me know how things turn out. It sounds like it may be interesting.”

  “I will,” Alice said. “I promise.”

  Once she had hung up, Alice took the paper with Nadir Kharyam’s phone number on it and folded it in half. She was tempted to call him right away to ask him more about this job but she wanted to make sure it was all right with her boss first. She didn’t think Levi would mind but she didn’t want to risk her job and her work if he did.