Channeling Cleopatra by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough Read Free Book Online

prevail upon her to fill
you in on the situation in Alexandria also," Chimera suggested.
    "You're reading my mind," Leda said.
    "And mine!" Gabriella declared. "I would be
delighted."
    Leda didn't make it to the library before
the contessa awoke. Gabriella was full of amusing stories about
Alexandria and the digs and especially about the amazing
reclamation project taking place in Alexandria's eastern
harbor.
    "I don't envy you working with that crew,"
Gabriella said. "Namid is a pig. An eminent pig, but a pig. And he
has chosen other swine to work with him."
    "Also eminent?" Leda asked.
    "Oh, yes. All of the team leaders are
Egyptian, of course, the project being sponsored by the government,
though I understand from Virginie that it is Nucore money
sponsoring the sponsors, as with so many of the new digs in my
country. Without Nucore, the project would have remained one of
diving under the water as it was back in the latter part of the
20th century when Jean-Yves Empereur and Franck Goddio were
conducting the retrieval of artifacts from the harbor floor. The
cofferdam of course enables the study to deepen, layers of
interiors to be actually excavated. It would be very exciting if
they had found anything new, but so far, they haven't and are still
removing the statuary the divers replaced once it had been
studied."
    "I've heard it's a bit like the military
that way—months of boredom with intermittent moments of sheer
terror—though I suppose you'd have to substitute excitement for
terror in the case of a dig."
    "Don't be so sure," Gabriella said. "There
have been many politically motivated crimes occurring in other
parts of Egypt recently. The dam and the dig are easily accessible
from the city. In fact, it's a favorite tourist attraction for
local people as well as for actual tourists." She shook her head,
the brown curls bouncing and her thick eyebrows drawing together
against the nosepiece of her glasses. "Guards are posted, but not
enough, I think."
    "Not until now, anyway," Leda said. "My dad
is going to do security on Nucore's behalf. Archaeologists who
worry about the mummy's curse ain't heard nothin' yet. Wait till
they hear my daddy's."
    Gabriella laughed, and Leda entertained her
for a while telling Duke stories about his wives, his bikes, his
police work.
    Later, watching the contessa sleep,
Gabriella asked, "Would you do that yourself?"
    "You mean have someone come into my mind
like that? I don't think so. I seem to have enough personalities
for three people already. Besides, I don't think I could get Daddy
to give me away for the occasion. He thinks this is all kind of
spooky."
    Gabriella shrugged. "It is, really, but
fascinating, don't you think? You won't be able to mention any
specimen collecting you'll be doing while in Egypt, you
understand."
    "Oh, no, I've been warned. I hope I can call
on you if I have any questions I need to ask without—well,
compromising Nucore."
    "Certainly."
    "So, how about you, would you ever have this
done?"
    Gabriella's long, spatulate fingers tugged
at a tangle of curls.
    "Perhaps," she said. "If I thought it would
do any good. I mean, you wouldn't undertake such a thing lightly,
would you?"
    "I wouldn't undertake it at
all," Leda said firmly. To herself, she added thoughtfully, Well, probably not. As she
grew older, she had learned to avoid absolutes. Both women lapsed
into silence, Leda wondering with whom she would consider blending, Gabriella
apparently doing the same. Leda thought it was rather like the game
of imagining what you would do if you won the lottery. It never
occurred to her that her silence might be mistaken for
evasiveness.
    Chimera was not exactly a chatterbox most of
the time, but when Leda returned to the villa, she found the
scientist there already, engrossed in lab work. There was a
withdrawn quality about her friend she hadn't previously felt. "Hi.
How'd it go with the other interview?" she asked.
    After a moment, Chimera straightened, took a
deep