Gray Night by Gregory Colt Read Free Book Online

toast and put down the brandy in one gulp.
     “Yeah,” said Richard. “Yeah, that helps.”
     Adrian leaned back and steepled his hands. “I believe I understand Detective Harris’s interest in my being here, but yours remains something of a mystery.”
     “Some shipping containers were broken into. Crates delivered a day or two ago,” he trailed off, looking over at me. “Holding some of our more precious artifacts uncovered by Dr. Spurling and her team.”
     Wait. What? “What are you talking about? Those should have arrived more than a week ago. I shipped everything out at the same time,” I said.
     “We’re not sure. It appears the crates were separated in customs and departed on two different ships. But that’s not the problem,” said Eric.
     “So, what is the problem?” asked Adrian.
     “Three crates were broken into. Their contents are missing,” said Richard.
     My stomach twisted in strange ways bringing a new wave of nausea. “The urns?” Then tightened like a punch to the gut. “The manuscript?”
     “Yes,” said Richard.
     I wanted to scream ‘Do you have any idea how significant a complete Mayan text is? Do you? It’s the find of a lifetime! What are you planning to do about it? How long were you going to wait to tell me?’ but it was all I could do not to cry after so much work. And even more so at the sudden shame of putting that on a level with Henry and George. I felt sick.
     Richard raised both his hands. “It was obviously significant enough for someone to kill two of the best men I know. And tracking it down is how we recover it and find the people responsible,” Richard looked at Adrian. “And that’s where you come in.”
     I jumped out of my chair. Like hell they were hiring someone else to go after my work. “Him to come in? It was my discovery. I spent months in the field. If anyone should be going after it, it’s me! Did you see what they did? Did you?”
     “Claire,” Richard said. “This is personal for all of us. However, we will not interfere in the homicide investigation. Our interest here is the recovery of the artifacts and that needs to not be personal. No one is questioning your abilities here. As you said, you’ve been in the field for months. I can’t even imagine what this morning was like coming in as you did. You need to go home, Claire.”
     He thought he was being kind but what he was doing was taking half a year of my life, my greatest discovery, and justice for Henry, away from me, and trying to pay, pay , the only suspect the police had to take care of it. That is when I discovered how much I couldn’t take. I turned without a word and walked out of the dining area. I heard Knight ask about working with a partner and Eric quickly agree. When I reached the hall that led around to the front, I ran until I saw the ladies restroom. I slammed the door open and had no idea what I was doing there. Henry, my teacher, my mentor, he…he wasn’t murdered. Torn apart. Ripped. Henry and George and Rollins. So much blood. I could still smell it on me. I could feel the microscopic traces of my friends embedded in the fabric of my clothes. I couldn’t stand the thought of it. I stripped off my outer shirt and threw it to the far wall behind the door, then kicked my shoes off and noticed blood at the hem of my jeans. I tore them off and added them to the pile. I went to the sink and washed my hands over and over. And my arms. My legs. My neck. My face. I couldn’t shut my mind off. Eventually I backed into the wall and slid down to the floor crying out everything I had held back. I cried so hard I couldn’t breathe.
     I don’t know how long I was there before I realized no one was coming for me. No one to be there simply because this was where I was. Stop it, Claire. Just stop it! Get it together. You held it too long this morning and now you’ve had your little breakdown. Are you going to let the museum send a mercenary like Adrian Knight