by Tom Norton
Rick replied, “They can’t show the video to anyone, because they won’t be in it.”
John said, “They certainly won’t, they’ll destroy it.”
At Suwalki they checked into their hotel suite. Hendrick was told there was a message for him to call the University at a number written on the hotel stationary.
In the suite Hendrick said, “Well, I guess this is it. Someone discovered a Neanderthal in a cave we were in for six months and spent forty thousand marks doing it.”
John said, “It can be worse than that. Suppose the Catholics come clean and told the University that we hid a Neanderthal skeleton in the cave.”
“You’re right, it could get worse.”
Rick said, “At least the skull is in hundreds of pieces and they don’t know anything about the operation or the gold disk. We didn’t video any of that.”
Hendrick said, “I had better call the University. It’s late, but I bet someone is sitting looking at the phone.”
John said, “Go ahead, curiosity is killing me.”
Hendrick said, “Hello, this is professor Hendrick, I am returning your call. Ok, I’ll wait.”
Looking to John and Rick, he said, “It’s University security, beats me.”
“Yes, this is professor Hendrick. You don’t say? No I didn’t. What was taken? Ok, I’ll be there in a few days, thank you.”
John said, “What was that all about?”
“Security said that someone broke into the lab, unless I damaged the door lock before I left Berlin.”
“What did they take?”
“They asked one of our students and he said it looked like everything was there. My locked desk drawers hadn’t been touched.”
“What about the safe.”
“Not a scratch.”
Rick said, “Probably one of your disgruntled students kicked the door in.”
Hendrick replied, “That wouldn’t surprise me.”
John said, “Attention fellows, let’s get to the disaster we have on our hands, the damned Catholics.”
Rick said, “I won’t take offense at that sir.”
“Did you help them steal the damned box?”
“No.”
“Well don’t then.”
Hendrick said, “I wonder if we can deal with the Catholics?”
“What kind of deal?”
“I don’t know, but we can’t just sit around and wait for the hammer to fall. If they want to take credit for finding the Neanderthal, there’s nothing we can do about it, they have the skeleton and we don’t, and don’t forget they have the video of us digging it up. We didn’t say a word to the University or the Poles. We are screwed one way or the other no matter what they say. At least we should find out what their intentions are so we can act accordingly.”
John replied, “Acting accordingly to me means changing my name and finding a job somewhere driving cab. But you’re right. It could be months before they go public and I can’t even imagine sitting around waiting for the inevitable. First, I want to talk to that student that ran off at the mouth.”
Rick said, “Maybe she didn’t. Maybe some of the locals were just up here spying on us.”
“Well we will soon know, because you are going to give her a call.”
“That’s fine by me. First thing in the morning.”
“Hello.”
“Hello, Nancy, this is Rick Hansen. I am on speaker on my cell phone and Professor Thomas and Hendrick are with me. I would like to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.”
“About the dig thing?”
“Yes, about the dig thing. Did you tell anyone about Sam?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, why?”
“Some people here in Poland seem to know something about the dig and Sam.”
“Maybe one of the other students.”
Rick replied, “Maybe. Could someone have overheard you and another student talking about it?”
“We were real careful.”
“I’m sure you were.
“Anyone else?”
“Only praying during confession.”
Rick said, “Ok, Nancy. I think it is all just a misunderstanding. I will see you in a few days, goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Rick.”
John yelled, “Confession?”
Hendrick said, “Settle down John. She didn’t have a clue.”
“Well I have a clue for you. She tells a Priest in Berlin and we have Catholics in Poland stealing our Neanderthal. We are going to have a little talk with the Catholics tomorrow.”
“What Catholics?”
“Well, that priest didn’t call a choir boy in Poland.”
“How do you know it’s not her priest from Berlin that took our stuff?”
John replied, “I don’t, but that Neanderthal is still here in Poland unless the church is into smuggling, too. I am confident they are keeping this quiet because they had no proof that the story was even true. My guess is that if the priest in Berlin contacted anyone, it would be here in Suwalki to go check it out. They didn’t want to look like fools hunting Neanderthal bones.”
In the late morning the three had a cab take them to the only Catholic Church in Suwalki and it was far from a huge stone cathedral, but prominent looking.
Rick said, “That’s the CAPD vehicle I saw at the site parked right over there.”
The cab driver was told to wait and the three walked up the stone stairs and entered the church. Other than some slight background music there was not a sound and no one in sight.
John yelled, “Hello.”
From a doorway to the left they heard someone yell in Polish and they walked to and through the doorway. There were two priests on ladders hanging a large painting and when they saw the visitors they brought the painting back down and one said something in Polish.”
John said, “Do you speak German?”
One said, “I do, but father Andrew does not, but he speaks English.”
“English will be fine. Is there somewhere we can sit and have a discussion?”
“Right this way,” and the five went to a small what must be a dining area with a large table and the priest said, “Have a seat; now what can we do for you?”
After everyone was seated, John said, “I understand you were out at what they call the caves north of here.”
The two priests looked at each other and the older of the two replied, “And what interest do you have in that and how do you know that?”
“My friend Rick Hansen here saw your vehicle at the cave.”
“Are you from the authorities? We had a permit. We were excavating in hopes of finding evidence of early Christians in the cave.”
“No, we represent the University of Berlin.”
The priest paused for some time and replied, “Oh, I see. You are the people that some young lady claimed excavated a Neanderthal skeleton.”
John replied, “Did some person tell you that?”
“In a roundabout way, Yes.”
“Would that roundabout way be from a sacred confession?”
The two priests instantly blushed and one said, “We don’t know that for certain.”
John said to the two, “I’m going to put our cards on the table. We heard the same rumor and if it gets to the scientific community, they are going to want to see the Neanderthal skeleton. I think you know that we don’t have it. If there ever was one, you now have it.”
The priest stiffened and said, “We don’t have it.”
“Well either you have it or we have it, and we don’t have it.”
The priest said bluntly, “Considering there never was one, that is not too surprising.”
John said, “From what you’ve told me, there is little question that you were digging hoping to find evidence of the fictitious Neanderthal skeleton or any other Neanderthal bones, is that correct?”
The priest replied, “Also evidence of early Christians.”
&
nbsp; John replied, “Well why not, you were already digging. And now that you have the alleged Neanderthal skeleton, what are your intentions.”
The priest looking irritated said, “We do not have a Neanderthal skeleton. We did not find one.”
“Did you find any Neanderthal bones of any kind then?”
“No. You don’t have any and we don’t have any because neither of us found any. There were never any Neanderthals in that cave. Early Christians, maybe.”
John replied, “Then why this rush to excavate in the cave to find something you are confident we never found. Even if we did, the Catholic Church has made no big deal out of discoveries of Neanderthal bones.”
The priest replied, “We can live with a few Neanderthal bones being found in Europe.”
“Well, why not this time?”
The two priests looked at each other and didn’t reply.
John said, “The mythical gold disk?”
One of the priests said, “The information we received was that a Neanderthal skeleton had been discovered in the cave and there was evidence of brain surgery twenty-five thousand years ago. The skeleton and recovery data had been removed and hidden during the night. That would be in the cave, near the cave or here in Suwalki. We determined it was not here in Suwalki and was in a cave nearby or still in the cave. Although we believe there was never a skeleton, let alone one that had been operated on, we could not risk the very small chance that there was one. That’s about it.”
“Why would that be such a big deal?”
“Whether the skeleton exists or not, the story about the cave would be known worldwide and Suwalki would become a tourist trap for every atheist faction in the world. We are a small God fearing city and our religions in the city are part of our heritage and culture. If the story becomes known, it will affect our younger members and distract them from the church. If the skeleton really existed it would be a disaster for this community. It would be like another Disneyland. None of this is in the interest of the church.”
John said, “If you have the skeleton, what will you do with it?”
“We don’t have it, but if we did, we would probably have buried it under the church and that would have been the end of it.”
“If you do have it, you would bury it under the church and it would never be seen again?”
“That’s what we would do, yes.”
The other priest said, “I think we are completed here, we are finished with this matter.”
The three thanked the priests and made their way to the waiting cab and inside John said, “What do you think?”
Hendrick said, “They have to have it and they have buried it under the church. What do you think Rick?’
“Well we can kiss goodbye ever seeing that skeleton again. So much for the discovery of the century.”
John said, “Yeah, but we can live to fight another day. Who knows, we might find Sam’s brother.”
“Well if we do, I hope he didn’t have brain problems. I think we ought to celebrate tonight. I saw a nice looking bar, pub, or whatever they call them here in Poland on the way here. It had three beer signs in the window so it must be five star.”
Rich asked, “Do you think we’re in the clear?”
John replied, “Yeah if we just forget that damned gold disk and go on with our lives.”
Hendrick said, “That won’t be hard for me.”
Rick said, “I still get the 4.5 grade?”
John replied, “If you buy us both a beer.”
“Where would I get any money?”
chapter 4
gold disk stolen
Back in Berlin late in the evening, Hendrick said, “Let’s stop by the lab and see if we have any e-mails from the students; Nancy in particular. Surely she has figured out all of this by now.”
At the front door to the lab, Rick said, “Hey, they gave you a completely new door. Someone must really have really kicked the shit out of it.”
Hendrick replied, “Can you imagine, security asked me if I did it before I left?”
The three entered the lab and Hendrick said to Rick, “Put on some coffee while I fire up the computer.”
John just sat and waited for the coffee and e-mails.
Hendrick said, “I have at least one from every one of them, Nancy must be running off at the mouth again. I’ll look through them real quick for anything of significance.”
After a while John asked, “Well?”
“Nothing really, same old crap and nothing from Nancy.”
“Well that figures.”
Rick said, “Here’s the coffee.”
John said to Hendrick, “”You have any of that grain alcohol back there to spike this stuff Rick made?”
Hendrick said to Rick, “Go back there and get this guy some alcohol.”
Minutes passed and Rick came back walking hurriedly and said, “It’s gone.”
Hendrick replied, “That figures, that’s what they were after, the grain alcohol.”
“No not the alcohol. The replica skeleton.”
“It’s not under the window?”
“No, it’s gone.”
The three went into a room of the lab and looked to where the skeleton was when they left, and it was gone.”
John said loudly, “What in the hell is going on?”
Hendrick said, “It has to be the students from the dig, they are ganging up on us. I’m thinking blackmail.”
Rick replied, “It didn’t have to be all of the students, one of them could have done it.”
John said, “Well this is just fine. We don’t have the actual skeleton, the data, and now the replica. All we have is the gold disk in the safe and I know they didn’t kick the door in on that. I suggest we get it out of this lab so we don’t have any ties to the Neanderthal in case someone has a scheme they are working on us.”
Back in the lab, Hendrick opened the big safe, fiddled around inside and looked back at the other two with a shocked look on his face and he said, “The son of a bitch isn’t in there.”
John yelled, “How can it not be in there? Who has the combination?”
“Me, you and written in my bible at home.”
After a long pause in the room, John said, “Well, our coffee is getting cold.”
The three again sat at the table and John again said, “I wasn’t always a professor. Someone cracked that safe and it sure as hell wasn’t one of those students.”
Hendrick replied, “The Catholics.”
“Well, was anything else missing?”
“My gold rings and some cash were right there in front and they are still there.”
John said, “They were looking for the disk. Who knew we had a disk?”
“The students and the Catholics.”
“Whoever took it didn’t take it for the value of the gold and leave your rings and cash.”
Rick said, “It must have been the Catholics. Now they have everything and all we have is a bullshit unbelievable story with no evidence.”
John replied, “Maybe they did us a favor; they won’t say a word about it.”
Hendrick said, “But we have eleven students who are going to think we are feeding them a line of shit. They think we have everything.”
Rick said, “I see some real problems there. At some point they are going to get together and do something. Selling their story to a rag newspaper is the best possibility. If it was just one of them with this story, that would be one thing, but eleven of them is something else.”
John yelled, “This is bullshit, I’m going home. I don’t have any classes for a week and unless I’m being fired, don’t call me for a week.”
John spent the entire week sitting around drinking beer and watching television and couldn’t enjoy either because of that damned Neanderthal that had the brain surgery twenty-five thousand years ago.
In the middle of the week he showed up at the lab where Hendricks seemed to have gotten back into being an archeology professor. Rick with h
is 4.5 grade assured was helping Hendrick grade test papers.
John said, “Well you two, how many disasters this week?”
Rick replied, “None, but this is only Thursday.”
“Did security come up with anything?”
Hendrick replied, “A couple unfamiliar cars in the main parking lot on security cameras, but no license numbers.”
John said, “Stealing the Neanderthal and the data out of that cave I can live with because we didn’t own Sam anyway, but busting a door and cracking that safe I can’t live with. I’m flying to Suwalki and have it out with those Catholics.”
Hendrick replied, “You’re on your own, I have classes from now on.”
Rick said, “I could go.”
John replied, “I don’t remember adopting you, but I have probably met all of the financial requirements. Being a Catholic, you don’t want to see this anyway.”
Two days later John was in Suwalki and in a cab that pulled up to the Catholic Church. He made his way to the door and entered right in the middle of a service and found a seat on one of the pews. After what seemed like forever the service was completed and he watched the people leave until there was no one in the church but him and two priests staring at him.
One of the priests said loudly, “Now what?”
John made his way to the side room with the priests following. He took a seat as well as did the priests and John started a tirade about the Neanderthal, a busted door, a replica skeleton and safe cracking. When running out of breath, one of the priests said, “Are you crazy? What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about a couple crooked priests for starters.”
“Crooked priest?”
“Yeah, like as in sake cracking.”
“You are crazy, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about and before I call the police, we have no Neanderthal, replica, scientific data, or gold disk.”
“You said you buried it in the church.”
“I most certainly did not; I said if I had it I would.”
“You mean that you don’t have it, any of it?”
“We could go tear up the church floor and I could swear on the Holy Bible if that would calm you down.”
