The look Chaz gave him epitomized disgust.
Luckily, the chairman had focused on her. To her surprise, she felt completely composed. She still planned to kiss Chaz when she got the chance, and she would face the consequences. Suddenly, she felt ready to face the other problems in her life, too, and that included Will Farber.
An idea came to her. Financially, it wouldn’t be easy, but the moderate success of her book would help. Why hadn’t she thought of it before?
Her boss was staring at her, his face flushed and angry. “I need to talk to you, Winifred.”
Chaz stood up and faced him. “You know she didn’t write those letters, Doctor. Winnie doesn’t enjoy the spotlight. She’s not the type to throw herself in the way of a conference presentation, let alone a television gig.”
Farber looked at him, then back at her. He took a deep breath. “That remains to be determined. Leaping to any conclusion is ill-advised, but we still need to talk.”
Surprised he’d made even that much of a concession, she got to her feet and faced him squarely. “I agree.”
He looked at Chaz. “Charles, we’ll meet you at the lodging in ten minutes.”
“If this is about the letters, I want to be included. Perhaps Winnie should have a solicitor present as well.”
“I have no intention of pressing charges against her,” Farber said.
Chaz looked at Winnie, his brow furrowed.
She smiled to try to reassure him. “I have something I want to discuss with Dr. Farber, too. I’ll catch up to you.”
He hesitated, then glanced at his watch and at their boss. “I’ll see you shortly then.”
Farber watched him leave, then turned back to her. “Whether or not you were involved with the forgeries, your behavior needs to be beyond reproach. I told you this fraternizing is unacceptable.”
“There’s nothing going on between Chaz and me,” she said. “But it won't matter soon anyway, because I’m requesting a sabbatical, effective this fall.”
He stared at her for a moment. “Because of Charles or the forged letters?”
“Neither.” She lifted her chin. “I have an idea for another book, and it’s going to be research-intensive.”
He drew in a deep breath, then reached into his breast pocket and pulled out his smartphone. “Perhaps a sabbatical for you isn’t a bad idea right now, but I don’t know if we can swing it on such short notice.” He started thumb-typing. “There isn’t much time for me to find alternative instructors to take your classes.”
“I’ll help you find staff, if necessary. You won’t be left in the lurch.”
“No, I won’t.” Still typing, he didn’t look up. “What is the concept for the book?”
She faltered. The fact was that she didn’t have an idea, but she had no doubt she could come up with one. She was motivated. “I can’t share that right now. But the project is too important to delay. You can’t deny that my last book brought the university opportunities. It got us here.”
“True, with the aid of a few forged recommendations.” Directing a quick frown at her, he stashed away his phone. “If I have trouble finding replacements, you may have to delay your plans, but I just sent out an e-mail around the department asking for suggestions.”
“Thank you.” She turned away, then looked back at him. “Maybe Chaz can take some of my classes. He’ll have his PhD soon. And, by the way, I’m glad someone else is reviewing his dissertation, because I’ll be too busy with my project to do it. He’ll do brilliantly, of course.”
“I expect so. And I’ll consider assigning some of your classes to him.”
She suppressed a smile. “We’d better hurry over to the priests’ lodging. Dunk will be impatient to get back to work.”
They headed in the same general direction, but she slowed down and let him gain distance on her. As soon as she stepped onto the main path, Chaz was beside her, pointing to his phone. “What’s this about your taking a sabbatical this fall?”
Farber glanced back at them but continued walking.
Chaz lowered his voice. “Is he pushing you out of Growden?”
She shook her head. “It was my idea. I’m going to write another book.”
“Everyone on the set!” Amara called to them from the door of the lodging. She grabbed Farber’s arm. “Come on, Will. Let’s move it.”
As Winnie and Chaz followed them into the building, his brow furrowed. “This is so sudden. Will you be going away? I mean, for your research?”
“No. I don’t expect to travel any more than usual.”
He studied her, obviously trying to understand her motives.
She smiled at him.
Inside the lodging, Amara sat down cross-legged on the floor and pulled a ledger out from under her arm. Surrounding her, a couple dozen ancient fittings had been labeled with number tents.
In the corner of the room, Hank was setting up a light box.
As Farber wandered off into the room that held the scroll cases, Chaz whispered to Winnie, “Tell me more. You didn’t come up with this book idea while you were hallucinating, did you?”
She stifled a giggle. “Actually,” she whispered back, “I haven’t come up with anything yet. I don’t know what’s next for me, but I know I need the freedom to figure it out.”
He stared at her. A muscle twitched in his cheek.
Farber returned to the main room. “I thought I was late getting back from lunch. Where’s the rest of the team?”
Jack entered just in time to answer the question. “Having a heated discussion about expanding the dig. It’s Dunk and Enza versus Dom and Father Giampiero.”
“It can’t be wise to argue with our host,” Farber said.
The lead archaeologist opened up a notebook and looked over a page. “It’s downright embarrassing, which is why I steered clear of them.”
Farber approached Chaz. “You saw my e-mail about Winifred, Charles? You may be needed to take over some of her classes this fall.”
“Me?” He looked stunned.
“Yes. It could lead to a permanent position for you. Think about it.” He turned to Jack. “Father Giampiero wanted me to help him catalog the scroll room. I guess I’ll start without him.” He left again.
Chaz turned his shocked face toward Winnie.
She grinned at him.
After a minute, his expression cleared. “While we’re waiting, let’s take a closer look at the ritual objects in the other cubiculum.”
The change in subject surprised her, but she guessed he had more questions about her sabbatical that he wanted to ask in private. “OK.”
She followed him into the other room.
Inside, he moved toward a corner adjacent to the doorway. Staring at a painted cherub on the wall, he gestured for her to come over. “Take a look at this.”
Stepping up beside him, she examined the cherub. It looked like all the other cherubs throughout the lodging. She couldn’t imagine what detail he meant for her to notice. “What is it? Cupid?”
“Yes.” Slipping behind her, he slid his arms around her, the length of his body warm against her – particularly the part of him pressing against her rear end.
She sucked in her breath. Anyone could walk in and find them like this, but she didn’t move away. She wanted to feel him against her, if only for a moment.
Sinking his nose into her hair, he kissed her ear.
Excitement tingled through her. Edging around to face him, she tentatively put her hands on his waist. Even that bit of contact made her giddy. “What are you doing?” she whispered, acknowledging to herself that she would not stop him. They had waited too long, been interrupted too many times.
He grinned at her. “I believe you’ve just promoted me from student to peer. That calls for a celebration.”
She shivered. “What if Farber walks in? Or Hank with the camera?”
He nodded toward the Cupid. “Blame it on him.”
She glanced at the cherub then looked back
into Chaz’s eyes, closer to her than they’d ever been before.
He reached up and cupped her cheek, then moved in and met her lips.
Her senses soared with dizzy euphoria. She held nothing back, slipping the tip of her tongue into his mouth. He tasted good. A fleeting reservation about keeping it quick flew out the window. He was kissing her – finally. She was alive again. Whatever the consequences, this was worth it.
“I could get used to this,” he murmured against her mouth.
Really? Reveling in the taste, feel and scent of him, she pulled him closer and pressed her hips into him. His body felt hot and hard. She wanted more. She had to have him. And she would, as soon as they could manage it.
Two sharp claps from outside the door broke the spell. “Let’s go, people!” Dunk called from the other room, his tone tense. “Everyone in here!”
Reluctantly, she and Chaz broke apart, both breathing hard.
“Tonight,” she whispered.
He grinned at her and stole a couple more kisses before they made their way into the main room. She had to force herself to let go of his hand.
Thankfully, no one paid them any attention. Hank was adjusting the camera, and rest of the group milled around looking disorganized.
She stood next to Chaz in a daze, her heart rate fast, her brain short-circuited by the need for more physical contact with him. With her boss across the room, she didn’t dare touch him, but she stayed close enough to feel the heat emanating from him.
When she compelled herself to focus on the scene in front of her, she noticed that Dunk and Enza both looked grim and flushed.
Jack glared at them, hands on his hips. “You didn’t get us thrown off the estate, did you?”
“We probably would have done, if not for having a contract to protect us. But we don’t have time to argue about it now.” Dunk moved over next to the marble table. “Let’s roll.”
Hank put the camera on his shoulder and turned it on.
“Afternoon on Day 4,” Dunk said to the lens, not quite as chipper as usual. “We’re cataloging finds in the inner rooms of the priests’ lodging. The prospect of uncovering more scrolls is maddeningly close, but we can’t get permission to expand the dig, even after enlisting the help of Signore Rentino’s lovely daughter. Enza, how familiar are you with the estate?”
Hank panned to her.
“I grew up here.” She managed a smile at Dunk, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I know it like the rear of my hand, as you inglesi say.”
He laughed. “We do say that. What do you most hope we find before the end of the dig?”
“I wish to apprehend which goddess was worshiped here.” She glanced around the room. “The inscriptions we have discovered are inconclusive. The statue from the temple is missing. She should be restored to her rightful place.”
He nodded. “There is still time to pin down her identity.”
She shook her head, frowning. “I only hope she is not casting her curse on us because we do not honor her correctly.”
As she spoke, a muffled boom sounded nearby, and the room vibrated. Winnie jumped, then braced herself and listened for cracking noises like they’d heard the previous night. Her companions’ expressions displayed varying degrees of alarm, but Dunk looked more excited than scared. Idiot, she thought.
Chaz put his arm around her protectively.
She gave him a weak smile. “I’m not still feeling the purple beer, am I?”
A crunching noise ripped around the room, and a crack began to open at the base of the wall adjacent to them.
“No. Let’s get out of here!” He pulled her toward the exit tunnel across the room.
Hank, Dunk and Enza held their ground, apparently determined to keep filming, but Farber ran into the tunnel. Jack and Amara started in the same direction, cutting in front of Winnie and Chaz.
Before they reached the tunnel, the crack accelerated at both ends. The floor lurched and tilted like a sliding board.
Winnie clutched Chaz’s arm, but they both fell on their stomachs and slid downward. She grasped frantically for anything to stop her fall, but the tiled surface offered no handholds. The descent seemed to take forever, terrifying her, as she expected the roof to collapse or a chunk of masonry to knock her out or crush her.
Below them, the marble table hit bottom and smashed into pieces. Chunks of plaster dropped from the ceiling. The light box crashed and extinguished, leaving only the dim glow of scattered lanterns and flashlights.
Then she landed on a flat surface with Chaz beside her. Everything went quiet.
DICIANNOVE
SOMEONE MOANED. ANOTHER person let out a sob.
“Are you all right, Winnie?” Chaz asked, pushing her hair out of her face.
Just looking into his eyes made her feel better. She wrapped her arms around him. Her heart pounded, but nothing hurt. “I think so. Are you?”
“I’m fine.” He kissed the top of her head.
Over his shoulder, she saw Hank dab his sleeve at a trickle of blood on his forehead. The scrape didn’t look deep, thank goodness.
Jack sat on the other side of Hank with a stunned expression on his face, but he wasn’t wincing or holding any body parts. So far, it appeared they’d gotten off easy.
Loosening her hold on Chaz, she looked around the dusty cavern of a room. Vaulted ceilings stretched over an empty central pool with some sort of a mosaic on the bottom. Three empty pedestals stood beside the pool on another tiled floor. On the opposite side of them, a series of archways appeared to lead to other rooms.
Beside her, Amara yelped as she pulled her foot out from under a chunk of masonry. “Oh – my heel!”
In a flash, Hank was at her side, his own wound forgotten. “Did you break it?”
She grimaced, gingerly removing the shoe from her foot. Holding the stiletto up toward him, she wriggled the heel, and it came off in her hand. “Yes. And my ankle hurts, too.”
Ignoring the shoe, he shifted closer to her, gently setting his hand on her shin. “Can you move it?”
She twirled the foot in a slow circle. “Yes, but it hurts like bloody hell.”
Further away, the source of the sobbing turned out to be Enza. Dunk, the only one standing, helped her to her feet. “Does anything hurt?”
She threw herself in his arms and cried harder, but as far as Winnie could tell, she didn’t appear to be injured.
Chaz pointed to the other side of the chamber. “Let’s move under one of those arches. If there are more structural failures, we’ll be safest there.”
She let him help her up and leaned into him as they crossed the room. “What happened? An earthquake? Do you think it’s over?”
“Whatever it was is over for now.” He glanced up toward the top of the slope. “But our way out of here is gone.”
Tracing his line of sight, she saw a dark hole gaping where the tunnel leading out of the room upstairs had been. Digging through the rubble would be a problem, since the tunnel was some twenty feet above them, and the slope of the floor was steep. “Crap.”
He pulled her down to sit next to him on the floor and gave her a squeeze. “There are plenty of workers outside who know we’re in here. They’ll get us out.”
She stole a kiss from him, looking at him sadly and wishing they could be anywhere safe – and alone.
“Is the camera still working, Hank?” Dunk called from across the room. “We’ve got to keep shooting.”
Busy wrapping a strip of T-shirt around Amara’s ankle, Hank didn’t bother to answer or check the camera.
Rushing over, Dunk snatched up the device and flicked a few controls on it. “It seems all right.” He hoisted it onto his shoulder and began to pan slowly around the room. In his TV voice, albeit agitated, he said, “We’ve had a serious collapse, and lighting is limited, so I’m not sure how much you can see, but the room we’re in now is huge.”
He swept the camera past Amara, then doubled back on her. “Amara, can you suss ou
t that crate of lanterns and light more of them?”
Her eyes widened, but after a beat, she tried to get up, wincing.
Hank grabbed her arm. “Please, sit back down. I’ll find the lights.”
While he began his search, Dunk continued surveying the chamber, focusing on the center of the floor. “In this depressed area, there’s a magnificent Neptune-themed mosaic depicting fish and other sea creatures, both real ones and mythical ones. Surrounding it, we have more pedestals for statues. Unfortunately, like the one in the temple, they’re all missing. ... What is this place?”
“Part of a public bath complex,” Jack said without enthusiasm. “That’s a pool in the middle of the room.”
Winnie evaluated the scene again. Something wasn’t right. Not everyone was present. “Where’s Will?” she asked.
They all glanced around, making sure they hadn’t somehow overlooked him. Then Jack looked up the sloping floor toward the collapsed tunnel. “I think he was in front of Amara and me in the tunnel.”
Winnie’s gaze flew back up to the dark hole. The tunnel hadn’t been cleared well to begin with. No wonder the volcanic deposit in there had let go. A lump formed in her stomach.
Chaz jumped up. “We have to find a way up there to get him out.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Jack said. “The last thing we need is to have that material come down on top of us. They’ll have a much easier time reaching him from the outside.”
Chaz stared at the hole, rubbing his forehead. “I hope he’s not completely buried. There’s certainly no sign of him on this end.”
Enza burst into tears again. “He is dead! Che bruttissimo! Dunk, what are we going to do?”
Still operating the camera, he turned to her. “There’s no reason to assume he’s dead, Enza. The rescue team will reach him in no time. He may even have made it out before the collapse.”
Winnie exchanged a doubtful look with Chaz.
“Stop shooting, Dunk,” Jack said.
He hesitated, then turned off the camera and set it down on the floor. “You’re right. We need a moment to pull ourselves together. But let’s look at this objectively. That tunnel doesn’t contain a lot of material. Surely, the rescue team will have us out of here within twenty-four hours. We have to document this experience while we have a chance.”
The Five-Day Dig Page 19
