Gryphons Quest by Candace Sams Read Free Book Online

the little pantry just off the larger receiving area. Here, all the tags and labels to identify the artifacts were kept in neat order. She was trying to make sense out of the mess caused by lists that didn't match with the artifact locations. It was a frustrating experience made more so by Niall's appearance.
    "Hi, babe. How's everything going?" He leaned over and kissed her neck.
    Heather sighed in irritation. "Fine, Niall. Where's Professor McPherson? I'd have thought he'd want to oversee the unpacking of these things himself. Some of them are quite rare and extremely breakable."
    "He's playing kiss-up to the Board of Directors. He'll be here soon." He grabbed her around her wool-skirted waist and pulled her to him. "How about playing kiss-up with me?"
    "Niall, stop! I have to get these things categorized. Some of them aren't fitting into any profile I'm familiar with."
    "Come on, honey. You know what they say about all work and no..."
    "I'm not kidding, Niall. I'm here to work."
    She pushed his wandering hands away. "Why don't you give me a hand?"
    "Man, what's eating at you this morning? I thought I told you to get some rest."
    "You did. Only it just isn't that easy for me. I don't seem to have your ability to shrug off what happened to Ned. He was brutalized. Who knows why anyone did such a thing. And whether the killer might try something like this again."
    "We have a new security staff and a new alarm system being installed, Heather. And whether you want to accept it or not, life does have a way of going on." He stopped speaking when Professor McPherson entered the room.
    "Having any luck with these pieces, Heather?" McPherson asked. His gaze wandered around the room, checking her progress. He occasionally fidgeted with the bifocals in his left shirt pocket.
    She watched the older man as his brown eyes focused on the work she'd done, and his thin, frail body stooped so he could get a better look at some of the smaller artifacts. Heather tried not to smile as his weathered hands lovingly touched everything. It was clear he was checking on her without wanting to look as if he were doing so.
    "As a matter of fact, I was just telling Niall that some of these objects are rather obscure. I was wondering whether I could look at the paperwork on where some of this stuff was found?" she asked, and put down a piece of pottery before tagging it.
    The Professor stared and didn't respond for a moment. But before he had a chance to say anything, Niall interrupted.
    "Heather, if I might remind you, your job is to categorize acquisitions," Niall said, "not plot their dig locations. Asking to see the site charts is rather like a recalcitrant eighth grader asking her teacher if he's sure the lesson plan is being properly taught."
    "Excuse me, Niall. I wasn't aware that I was offending anyone," Heather snapped. "Some of these items were badly packed. Others look as if they were never properly cleaned and labeled at the site.
    That's why we've got Irish peat all over everything. But I was talking to Professor McPherson. Not you."
    "Please, please." McPherson tried to calm them. "I'm sure Heather just wants to get a feel for what she's doing here. After all, a good assistant is interested in all phases of the work. Not just the proper displaying and categorizing of the artifacts." He pulled his glasses out of his pocket and placed them on the bridge of his nose as he spoke.
    Niall glared at her. "You have to forgive her, Professor. Heather hasn't been herself since the murder.
    She just doesn't seem to be able to get past it, and I'm afraid her behavior is a reflection of her emotional state."
    "I don't need you justifying my emotional state or patronizing me, Niall. I'm doing my job, and I suggest you do the same. If you paid half as much attention to your work as you do to me, all this might have been done by now." She nodded toward the boxes of work before her.
    "That's enough, both of you," McPherson admonished. "We're all on edge