EXCERPT
“Hey,
babe, how are you?” asked my fiancé, Bradley, over the phone.
“I’m
good. It’s hectic here.” I stood by the mobile office, watching as a group of
volunteers arrived, being escorted to their worksite by William.
“How
many more days are you gonna be out there? We were supposed to meet my parents
this weekend.”
“I
know. I’m sorry.” I swatted at a flying insect. “I just … we’ve just had a
major discovery.
I want to tell you about it, but I’ve got to get back to
work.” Uncovering the artifacts in the cave had taken priority over everything
else, because we suspected that, once word got out, there would be a firestorm
of media coverage. We had managed to keep it under wraps, but for how long?
“Will
you stay the weekend then?”
“Probably.”
“That
really stinks, Amy.”
“It
does, but it’s not forever. We’ll just postpone stuff a little. Tell your
parents I said sorry. I did want to get together with them.”
“My
mom wants to go over wedding planning. We still haven’t set a date.”
“We
will.” Professor Pine arrived, parking his car by the trailer. “I need to go.
Talk to you later.”
“Okay.
Love you.”
“Yes,
love.” I dropped the phone in my pocket, as Stephen approached. He wore brown
trousers and a light blue top. A wide-brimmed hat shaded his face and neck.
“Hey.”
“Good
morning.” He grinned. “Anybody at the site yet?”
“Two
volunteers.” We discovered something extraordinary yesterday, but the recovery
process remained maddeningly slow. “I was going to head out to see if they’ve
made progress.”
“So
was I, but I gotta check on a few things. Professor Burdoff ran radiocarbon
tests. He’s arriving this morning with the results, which I expect to be the
same as ours.”
“No
doubt.” Two nights ago he had all but asked me to sleep with him. I had been
horribly tempted, stunned by the fact that I hadn’t really gotten over him yet.
It was something I would have to work through, but these reactions bothered me
greatly. “I put a fresh pot of coffee on.”
“Bless
you.” He took to the steps. “Come keep me company, while I make a cup.”
“I
… I’m going to the site. Somebody needs to supervise.”
“Suit
yourself.” He stepped into the mobile office, closing the door behind him.
Having
rained last night, wetness lingered on the ground, the humidity stifling. I
longed to be in the cave, where it felt cool. Hurrying towards the worksite, I
followed the little path, which wandered through a thicket and down an
embankment to the opening. A cable from a portable generator ran inside to
power the lights, the sound of music playing.
Someone had a radio on, which
made the hours of work far more enjoyable.
I
entered, seeing a volunteer in the far corner, brushing sand from an artifact
on the floor.
“Morning.”
She
glanced my way. “Morning, Professor Sandhurst.”
I
came to stand over her, eyeing the bone fragments she had uncovered. “Good
work.”
“It’s
nice in here. It beats being out in the sun.”
“I
know. It’s awesome. Who’s in the back?”
“Rudy.”
“Okay.
I’m gonna see what he’s uncovered.” Squeezing through the tight opening, I
emerged into the next chamber, where a volunteer sat in the center of the room,
a brush in hand. “Morning.”
“Hey,
Amy.”
“How’s
it goin’?”
“It’s
coming along.”
The
caves had been photographed and measured, sectioned off in a grid pattern.
Professor Pine had brought in a metal detector, finding nothing in the first
room, but it had gone off in the center of this one. “I want to help.”
“Absolutely.
Grab a brush.”
This
was what I lived for. This was why I became an archaeologist. The thrill of
uncovering long-forgotten objects that might shed light on the past made all
the endless weeks of scraping away at nothing worth the effort. Hundreds of
hours of class time, thousands of hours in the field, hoping, searching, and
waiting for a glimpse of archaic treasure.
Something metal lurked beneath the
surface of the floor, which defied all logic, because the Clovis culture had
not obtained that technology.
Oh,
Janet. What did you leave behind?
Two
hours later, we had made progress, small, rounded shapes appearing beneath our
brushes, and we knew they were coins. Professor Pine had joined us, taking
over, while I sat nearby, eyeing the find with excitement. “God, this is
killing me.”
“Patience,
grasshopper,” said Stephen. “We’re nearly there. I’m seeing something.”
Getting
on my hands and knees, I stared at the assortment of artifacts. They lay
scattered together. “It’s a modern coin, isn’t it?”
“That’s
what I’m thinking. I believe there’s a penny as well and a quarter.” He brushed
away the last bit of dirt. “In God we trust.” Sitting back on his heels, he
glanced at me, his expression less than pleased. “We’re never going to be able
to prove this is Clovis culture. Unless we find some bone or charcoal that
dates back, this is impossible. It’s a total waste.”
“Because
people will assume someone buried it recently.”
“Yeah.”
“There’s
more there, Stephen.” Small objects jutted, although they remained covered in
dirt. “So, the money can’t be proven, but we all know who put it there.”
“That’s
a theory.”
“I
know it was Janet. She probably buried a bundle of things, hoping we’d find
them.”
“And
we have.”
“But
there’s more.”
“Let’s
see what else comes up. Grab a brush.”
It
wasn’t long before the edges of a shiny object appeared, rounded and glowing
like gold. “I’m guessing it’s a ring.”
Stephen
nodded. “That’s my thought.”
“She’d
been engaged. I bet it’s her ring.”
“Which,
unfortunately, does not prove a hill of beans either.”
“But
it’s hers. It’s over ten thousand years old. The oldest known gold find in the
Americas is four thousand years. The beaded, tubed necklace from Lake Titicaca
in Peru. That dates back to 2100 BC.”
“Yes,
but I’m sure we’ll discover this one was crafted in 2012.”
William’s
face appeared in the gap in the wall. “Hey, some guy is here to see you, Amy.”
“What?”
“Brian
Lutz.”
Stephen
seemed puzzled. “Who’s he?”
I
was almost too stunned to speak. “Janet’s fiancé.”
“This
will be uncovered soon.” He brushed away at the dirt, revealing more gold.
I
got to my feet. “I’m coming.” William waited for me to squeeze through the
opening; I emerged in the other chamber. “This is Janet’s fiancé. I’m shocked
he came. He wasn’t too receptive to the idea that she time traveled.”
“It
sounds … crazy, doesn’t it?”
“We’re
collecting enough evidence. When you put it all together, it won’t be so crazy.”
Emerging into sunlight, I glanced at the tall, slender man before me, holding
out a hand. “Amy Sandhurst. I’m really surprised you came.” I grinned.
He
did not return the smile, but he shook my hand. “Brian Lutz. I’m surprised I
came. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here.”
A
volunteer had brought him over. “Thanks, Marlene.”
“No
problem, Professor Sandhurst.” She turned to leave.
“We’ve
just made a new discovery. You should come in and see it.”
“I
suppose I should, but I think all of you are nuts.”
“You
almost have to be to work in this profession,” I giggled. “We’re all
questioning our sanity nowadays. Nothing’s making any sense, but the evidence
speaks for itself. You can’t argue with the science of radiocarbon dating. It’s
not negotiable. You can assume everything else is just coincidence or
hypothesis, but when something is tested and it comes back with a date, it’s
irrefutable. It’s like a DNA sample.”
He
followed me into the first chamber, gazing around. “You people go through a lot
of effort to dig in the dirt.”
It had been painstakingly sectioned off in a
grid pattern.
“We
do. It’s our job to be as thorough and accurate as possible. It’s this way.” I
squeezed through the opening, and he followed.
Stephen
glanced at us. “It’s an engagement ring all right. Quite a bit of the gold’s
worn off, but everything else is intact.”
“This
is Brian Lutz, Professor Pine. He bought that ring.”
Brian
came to stand beside me, and then he crouched, glancing at the floor. “I see
dirt.”
I
squatted next to him, pointing. “Those are coins. Modern coins. The ring’s
modern as well, since Clovis man didn’t have the technology to craft metal.
They were stone and bone people.”
“Anyone
could’ve buried this stuff at any time.”
“Very
true,” agreed Stephen. “We won’t be able to prove anything with these
artifacts. They’re more circumstantial, but the cave paintings are authentic.
The message on the ceiling dates back. I’m one-hundred percent certain Janet
Delgrange and three other people lived in the Clovis period.” He brushed away
at the ring, revealing it completely. A round diamond sat in a six-prong
mounting, surrounded by small diamonds on either side, although two had fallen
out, lying nearby. The metal had disintegrated with age, looking frail.
Brian
pulled out a cell phone, scrolling through pictures, finding one of a ring. “I
gave this to her.” He had photographed it at the store, sitting in a
velvet-lined box. “It’s a carat and a half with another half carat of small
stones. The diamond itself is laser engraved with a serial number, which I
have.”
I
stared at the picture, looking at the ring in the dirt. “Could be one and the
same, but we won’t know until it’s out.”
Stephen
stared at the image. “Interesting. Nice ring, by the way.”
“Thanks.”
“We’ll
need that picture, if you don’t mind. You can send it to Amy. Once we remove
the artifacts, we’ll examine everything thoroughly. If it’s laser engraved,
we’ll find the number.”
“Would
you like to see the drawings she did?” I indicated the ceiling. “She was a busy
woman. She must’ve been bored.” I grinned, but Brian wasn’t smiling.
“Yeah,
I’ll have a look.” But I sensed it was more to humor us than out of genuine
interest. I gave him a flashlight, although there was sufficient lighting.
“Thanks.”
“No
problem.”
He
glanced overhead, eyeing the artwork.
“She
would have drawn things she saw in her everyday life.” I pointed. “Those are
clearly turtles. There are about twenty drawings of deer. They were probably a
staple in their diets. The mastodons are impressive. Can you imagine seeing one
of those in the flesh? They grew to over nine feet in height and weighed nearly
five tons. They were prevalent at the time and were hunted.”
He pointed the
light on an image we had not been able to make out.
“I don’t know what that
is.” It looked like a mistake, a messy paint spot.
“She
was working on design logos for her website. One of the ideas was a paint
splotch. She was going to write Janet Art on the inside. I’ve her notebooks at
home. She did a few variations of that idea.”
“You
think that’s what she drew?”
“Looks
like it.”
“When
you get back, can you take pictures of those drawings and send them to me?”
“I
will.” He continued to stare at the paintings overhead.
“What
do you think? Clovis man wasn’t known for cave art. This is extremely
uncharacteristic, but it wasn’t done by any Paleo-Indian. It was done by
Janet.”
“It
could be.”
“Do
you have any other examples of her artwork?”
“Lots.”
“I’d
really love to see them. I can give you an address to send stuff to. We can
compare it to these, but I’m certain they’re from the same artist.”
He
took a deep breath. “This is impossible.” He glanced at me. “What you’re
suggesting is … crazy.”
“It is, but for some insane reason, she was here
ten thousand years
