Airtight Case by Beverly Connor Read Free Book Online Page B

Lindsay felt compelled to intervene. She set her water bottle down and walked over to Adam and Claire. I’m a glutton for punishment, she thought to herself.
    “And what do you want?” Claire snapped before Lindsay could speak. “To give us wisdom from on high? I think we can do without advice from someone still recovering from a nervous breakdown.”
    “I didn’t have a nervous breakdown. I think proof of that is my ability to stay here. Claire, what Adam is doing is not unreasonable. He’s right about the parameters of the pit. The layers are subtle, but they are there. Why don’t you talk to Drew? You and she might want to look at the artifacts Marina has identified and . . .”
    “I’m not changing the research design in the middle of the excavation.”
    Adam threw his trowel down and it stuck up like a knife in the bottom of the trench. “Claire, are you really that dumb? I’m not talking about changing the research design. I’m talking about following it. Jesus, Claire, what does it take to get through to you?”
    If the daggers in Claire’s eyes had been real, Adam would be bleeding. She worked her mouth back and forth, as if her tongue was looking for words. “Don’t you ever . . .”
    “Come on, Claire,” interrupted Lindsay, “you know the design has to be flexible enough to incorporate new information.”
    “Listen, Miss High-and-Mighty, when you university archaeologists get multimillion-dollar grants to dig sites, you have time for extras. But in contract archaeology, we have to be lean and efficient.”
    “And accurate.”
    “There’s nothing inaccurate about my work.” She turned to Adam. “It’s my way or the highway, smartass.”
    “I have a contract,” he said.
    “Which says you’ll do what you’re told.” Claire turned on Lindsay again. “Do you think you’re levelheaded enough to map Structure 6?”
    “Yes, I can do that. But Erin has found a cache of animal bones, perhaps I could . . .”
    Claire’s chin was raised in the air. A sign she wasn’t to be moved. “We don’t need you at this site. You’re here because Drew says we have to take you—some kind of favor. But I don’t have to give you any assignments. You can either map Structure 6, or you can go take a nap at the house. Which will it be?”
    “Structure 6 it is then,” said Lindsay.
    Claire smiled at her victory, turned on her heels, her chin still in the air, and headed toward the artifact tent, probably to have it out with Marina. Adam dropped the shovel and raised his middle finger at her retreating back.
    “This site is a pile of shit,” Adam said to Lindsay.
    Lindsay looked in the ditch, and felt dizzy. She sat down and forced herself to take hold of the shovel that leaned against the side of the ditch. Dark images were trying to break into her consciousness. She closed her eyes. Person or persons unknown weren’t going to take away her love of archaeology. She wouldn’t allow it. She forced her vision to clear.
    “The excavation is really not bad,” she said. “You guys are doing a good job.”
    “Thanks, but you know . . .” He heaved a heavy sigh. “It doesn’t matter.”
    “Claire seems to bring out the worst in all of us,” Lindsay said.
    “What is this nervous breakdown business?” Adam took up his trowel and began scraping the sides of the trench smooth.
    “On the way home from Knoxville three months ago I was attacked and left to die in the woods. I was without my memory for several days. It was amnesia due to trauma, not a nervous breakdown. I think the attack might have been some kind of serial thing.” She waved her hand as if that got rid of it.”
    Adam’s jaw dropped. “You serious?”
    Her friend Harper, John, her brother, all told Lindsay she was denying what had happened, pushing it too far back in her brain. But far back was where it belonged. Don’t unpack that trunk, leave it in the attic, she told herself every time her mind wandered in that direction and