The Testimonium by Lewis Ben Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

phone chirped to let him know the text had arrived.
    * * *
    Isabella Sforza stretched and yawned as the morning sun peeked over the stone staircase that had hidden the ancient writing nook for two thousand years. She had slept well enough, but the army cot was far from comfortable, and in her excitement the day before, she had forgotten to pack her toothbrush. Between the stromboli, the garlic bread, and the brandy, her mouth tasted like a homeless vampire had crawled in it to die. She had a small hairbrush in her purse, which she ran through her unruly black tresses a couple of times before giving up. She was an archeologist in the field, after all, not a schoolgirl going to a dance. She looked over to see Giuseppe Rossini limping toward her with a distinct grimace.
    “You look like you could use some ibuprofen,” she said. “I keep a small bottle in my purse.”
    “Some morphine, a bottle of Chianti, and an affectionate Swedish masseuse would be more like it,” Rossini said in a croaking voice. “But ibuprofen will have to do.”
    She gave him a couple of the small brown pills and he swallowed them with a sip of bottled water. She looked at her watch and then began to carefully roll up her sleeping bag and pack up her few personal effects. “I imagine they will set the mobile lab up here on this level, next to the chamber,” she said. “We’ll need to get our tents out of the way. I can’t wait to continue our work when they get here!”
    Giuseppe joined her and they quickly broke down both tents and moved them, along with their other gear, over to the foot of the staircase that had concealed the writing nook for two thousand years. She had used the flat tarp that was meant to go under the tent to cover the entrance of the ancient chamber the night before. A better protective cover would be coming with the mobile lab, but in the meantime, she wanted to keep as much modern pollen and dust out as she could. They had used some of the original masonry blocks to weigh down the tarp at top and bottom—it was long enough to reach from the ground and lap over the top edge of the staircase, if they positioned it just right. They had barely finished stowing their gear when they heard the sound of the chopper approaching in the distance.
    * * *
    Bernardo Guioccini was feeling a good bit easier about his team as the chopper carried him across the deep blue waters that separated Capri from the Italian mainland. Josh Parker had called him at about one in the morning, and his quick answers and incisive questions made Guioccini realize why Dr. Martens had so much faith in the young academic. Clearly Parker had a strong working knowledge in his field, combined with a practical streak and a sense of humor as well. He was supposed to be arriving later that day, having reserved a seat on a flight to Italy that would be landing about the same time Guioccini and his team arrived at Capri.
    Guioccini did not intend to stay on the island for long, once Parker arrived. “Too many cooks spoil the broth, and too many archeologists delay the dig,” was an adage one of his professors had passed on years before, and it was true. Archeologists as a rule tended to be a pretty strong-willed, territorial bunch, and when several of them worked in close quarters it was easy for tempers to fly. He knew that Rossini and Sforza had a good mentor-student relationship, and that MacDonald was an easygoing fellow who had worked with Dr. Rossini before. Dr. Apriceno could be testy, but only when it came to her specialty. Aside from her precious ancient spores, she was a warm and motherly figure. But with a find of this significance, even the most even-tempered professionals could develop hostile tendencies if their pet theories or field techniques clashed.
    Dr. Simone Apriceno looked out the window intently, waiting to see the lovely island of Capri come into view. She had not been there in many years, but still harbored fond memories of the place, since