Last Breath by Mariah Stewart Read Free Book Online Page B

destiny.
    Was bringing it to the eyes of the modern world hers?
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    â€œYou understand how very costly this is going to be, Louise? It’s something the trustees have to consider.” First thing in the morning, Daria went to Louise’s office, and over coffee laid out her plan.
    â€œI do. I’d be relying on you to appraise the collection so that we’d have a number to take to the bank for the loan.”
    â€œI’m going to need staff. At the very least, to start, I’m going to need an assistant, preferably a fellow archaeologist who specializes in the region.”
    â€œWe have Dr. Bokhari on staff,” Louise said thoughtfully. “She’s out of the country right now supervising a group of graduate students on a dig, but I expect her back well before the start of the fall term. I’m sure she’ll want to be involved.”
    â€œSabina Bokhari?” Daria asked.
    â€œYes. Do you know her?”
    â€œI know of her. We have mutual friends. I think she worked on a dig in Afghanistan several years ago.”
    â€œShe was on sabbatical then.” Louise nodded.
    â€œAnd she’s on staff here?”
    â€œShe’s head of the archaeology department.”
    â€œYou’re very lucky to have her,” Daria said. “She has a fine reputation.”
    â€œAnd you’re wondering why she’s here.” It was a statement, not a question. “I’ve asked myself that. Every time she makes an appointment to come to see me, I hold my breath, hoping that she isn’t coming in to resign.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you ask her to work on this project?” Daria asked.
    â€œIt did cross my mind. She’s certainly qualified,” Louise told her, “but once the trustees decided to go ahead, they felt it necessary to start immediately. Sabina had already committed to being out of the country for part of the summer. They also felt—as I do—it was fitting that a descendant of the man who found the treasures be the one to supervise the exhibition. And frankly, they wanted a bigger ‘name’ in the field. Your name alone will make this of interest in the academic community.”
    â€œAnd if I’d been unavailable, or said no?”
    â€œYou still haven’t said yes,” Louise reminded her.
    â€œI’m going to ask that you permit me to take an inventory first. If in fact the collection has been overstated, or if the artifacts aren’t in condition to be displayed, it may not be worth it for the university to invest so much—to mortgage itself, in effect—if the return won’t compensate.”
    â€œYou’ve read the journals?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œThen you know what Alistair described having found.”
    â€œYes. But what I don’t know is how much of it made its way back to Howe, and what condition it’s in. Let me take a look, and we’ll go from there.”
    â€œAll right.” Louise opened her top desk drawer. “Here’s the key to the building; this one is for the room you were in yesterday.”
    â€œThank you.” Daria reached out a hand for the keys. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to start.”
    â€œAbsolutely. Go. Good luck.” Louise stood and crossed her arms over her chest. “We’ll send you some lunch around noon. I expect you’ll forget.”
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    Daria had forgotten. It was Vita who’d brought her the covered dish with a chicken salad sandwich, an apple, some grapes, and two brownies—“Because one is never enough. I made these, and they’re amazing, if I do say so myself”—and a thermos of iced tea.
    â€œHow can you stand it in here? It must be a hundred degrees. And the dust!” Vita coughed for emphasis. “The air is just thick with it.”
    â€œIs it?” Daria looked up from the desk where