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The sun was setting over the river, painting it in streaks of red, orange, and gold, when Bones reached the end of another GPR swath and took his hands off the machine, yawning. By now they’d already covered the two most likely areas, plus an additional one Maddock had identified during the GPR search. But still they had found nothing.
“It’s not looking so good, is it?”
Lina sounded dejected, so Maddock tried to lift her spirits. “We’ve got plenty more space to cover. Don’t give up yet.”
Bones rolled his eyes in Lina’s direction. “Typical Maddock. You should see him work a grid when we’re out on the water towing a magnetometer. It’s like freaking Mardi Gras to him.”
Suddenly they were interrupted by three young men, one of them in a priest’s collar. The newcomers looked down on the treasure hunters from the high river bank, and the priest, identified by Lina in a whispered voice as Father Romano, addressed them.
“Are you looking for Alaric’s treasure here?”
“Good afternoon, Father. You cut right to the chase, don’t you? Actually, we’re just doing routine archaeological work on this site.”
The priest and his two cohorts slid down the muddy river bank until they stood level with Maddock, Bones and Lina. Then he held out a hand to Lina. “I demand to see your permits.”
Lina let out a bubbly laugh. “Father, with all due respect, that’s hardly within your authority.”
Romano raised his eyebrows at her. “Everything is under God’s authority, is it not?”
Bones looked at Lina. “Unless this guy has a driver’s license that says Yahweh, he can move along.”
One of the men accompanying Romano said something to Bones in Italian. Neither Bones nor Maddock understood the words, but Lina blanched. Bones took a step closer to the visitors, smiling. As he stepped up to them, they realized what an imposing figure the Indian cut.
“I don’t think you want my friend to translate that for me, paisan.”
The man who had spoken to Bones took a step back.
“You should not speak so to the Father. He is a great man.”
“Leccaculo,” Lina said with a smirk.
“What does that mean?” Bones asked.
“You would say, kisser of bottoms?”
“Oh, a kissass. Nice one!”
Romano’s face reddened and then he spoke. “The Pagan grave and its foul treasure should remain in the ground where it belongs.” To underscore this statement, he spat on the dirt, and the two men accompanying him did the same from further away. “This undertaking is cursed, just as every other attempt to find this vile treasure has been.”Then the priest turned and walked off, his associates falling into step with him.
“Friendly folks around here,” Bones said, watching them depart.
Lina nodded. “Welcome to my world.” Then she turned to Maddock. “What do you think we should do next?”
Maddock stared into the water of the river for a moment before replying. “I’ve got some thoughts, but would like to do a little more research first.”
“We could go back to my office and strategize there,” Lina suggested. Maddock and Bones agreed and the three of them began breaking down their gear.
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At the museum, Lina led them to a back room where she said it would be safe to store the ground penetrating radar unit. As they left the storage room and began walking through the dark corridor to the main showcase area, Bones began to sense something was wrong. He wasn’t sure what it was at first, but his instincts warned him that something was amiss. Sometimes he jokingly attributed feelings like this to his Native American heritage, but he supposed it was more a matter of having been in many tight spots during his life. He knew what a dangerous situation felt like. He glanced over at Maddock, who had his head on a swivel, clearly also recognizing that something wasn’t right here. Lina was all business, though, walking purposefully ahead of them down the same corridor she had no doubt passed through countless times before.
They kept on until they reached the showroom, where Lina finally sensed her companions were acting strangely and turned around. “What is it?”
Bones pointed across the room to the far side. Lina followed his finger but couldn’t make anything out. “What is it? I don’t see anything.”
Wordlessly, Bones looked about the space and then began walking across the floor to where he had pointed. Maddock stayed where he was, watching his back, while Lina slowly trailed after him. Bones picked up his pace as he caught a glimpse of a young woman lying on the floor, her golden hair spilled out around her head like a halo.
“Body here!” he called out upon reaching the inert form. He knelt down and quickly picked up an arm and felt for a pulse. “Female; she has a pulse.”
He heard Lina’s feet pounding the floor as she ran to him. “Bianca! “she cried.
Bianca did not look like Adam Sandler. She was a slender, attractive woman with an olive complexion and long, honey blonde hair. Right now, though, he was more concerned with her physical state. He didn’t see any obvious signs of injury.
“This is my friend I left in charge of the museum while I was out.” Lina dropped to her knees beside them. She hugged her friend, asking her many times if she was all right. Meanwhile, Bones looked over at Maddock, who was making a slow, deliberate circuit of the room, keeping watch for unseen threats as he went.
Bianca let out a low groan.
“Easy, take it easy,” Lina cooed.
“I feel awful.”
“I don’t see any obvious trauma,” Bones said.
“I don’t think I am injured.” Bianca sat up a little straighter..
“What happened?” Lina asked.
Bianca blinked her eyes a couple of times and shook her head slowly. “I’m not sure. I don’t know exactly what happened.”
“Just tell us as much as you can.” Bones said.
“Well, I didn’t see anyone come in. But, I think I remember someone grabbing me from behind and a hand with a cloth coming down over my face.”
Bones and Maddock exchanged a glance. Bianca continued. “Someone must have slipped into the museum when my back was turned. I don’t know what happened after I lost consciousness.”
“Porca miseria!” Lina swore. “It means, ‘Do pigs live in poverty,’ she said in response to Bones’ raised eyebrow, as she examined Bianca for injuries. “You would simply say, ‘dammit.’”
“You people really are on a different level of swearing, here.”
Lina stood and fished her cell-phone from a pocket.
“What are you doing?” Bianca asked, sitting up.
“Calling the polizia. We’ve had a break-in and you were incapacitated by the intruder. We need to...”
“There is no point.”
Lina’s finger froze, poised over the smartphone’s call button. “Whatever do you mean, there’s no point?”
Bianca took a deep breath. “I didn’t actually see the person and there aren’t any security cameras.” She looked around the museum as if hoping to prove herself wrong.
“Cameras have been something I was hoping to add,” Lina explained. “We do have some valuable artifacts, after all, not to mention our own personal safety—but it just hasn’t been in the budget. That’s going to change now, though, mark my words.”
Maddock and Bones both nodded their approval, and then Lina went on. “I still think it’s worth calling the polizia, though. I don’t like the idea that some criminal can just walk in here and knock out my employees with no repercussions whatsoever.”
“There’s another reason.” Bianca cut her off without making eye contact. She stared down at the floor while continuing. “I had a recent run-in with the polizia. I don’t want to go into detail, but suffice it to say they consider me untrustworthy and I’d rather not deal with them since I’m fine.” She finished by turning one of her arms back and forth while looking at it, as if confirming it was in fact okay. “Besides, the museum does not need any negative attention from the authorities, nor negative publicity.”
Lina looked to Maddock and Bones, who both remained noncommittal. The treasure hunters knew that the less law enforcement involvement surrounding their operation, the better, but at the same time Lina and Bianca had to feel safe. After a deep breath, Lina said, “All right, but let me have a look at the rest of the place, see if anything’s missing. Be right back, it’ll just take a couple of minutes.”
Maddock and Bones stayed with Bianca, assessing her condition a little more and helping her to her feet. By the time she had demonstrated she could walk okay, Lina returned.
“Someone has been in my files!”
Bianca started walking away from them. “Look, Lina, do what you have to do. Call the polizia if you have to. I’m going home.” She continued walking toward the exit.
“Whoa, hold up,” Bones said, trotting after her. “You sure you’re okay to walk any kind of distance?”
“I am fine, really. I just need to get a little fresh air and walk it off.”
They watched her until she reached the back door, Bones trailing slowly behind her, until she opened it and left. Then Maddock turned to Lina.
“Let me guess. Someone messed with the files relating to Alaric.”
Lina nodded. “But the joke’s on whoever took them, because I have everything scanned. I wonder if it was the priest?”
Bones, watching through the window next to the door Bianca had exited from, called out across the room. “I’m going to see if I can find out.”
“What do you mean?” Lina called back.
“Your friend Bianca is lying.” Bones slowly opened the door and slipped outside.