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‘Well you could try to look like you’re having a good time.’
Dominic stood over the trench where Helen was scraping half-heartedly at the soil.
‘I’m having a perfectly horrible time.’
He laughed. ‘I know. Isn’t it awful? I can’t believe people actually do this through choice.’
She scanned his outfit. Jeans, but no wellies or walking boots. ‘You’re not exactly up to your elbows in mud though?’
He pulled a face. ‘Course I’m not. I’ve already got a job.’
‘That’s not why I’m doing this.’
He raised an eyebrow.
‘I happen to believe that this sort of event provides a valuable opportunity for the university to engage with the wider community.’
‘Right. Well the bigwigs are making the rounds, so you keep practising saying that. You might almost sound like you mean it by the time they get to you.’
Helen followed his gaze to the next trench where Professor Midsomer was leading a group of men in suits around the site. ‘Who are they all?’
‘Well you recognise the Vice-Chancellor?’
She nodded. ‘He’s a geographer, isn’t he? I don’t really know much about geography.’
Dominic laughed. That was normal. Traditionally historians only found out which places were next to each other when they reached a decade when the countries in question had a war.
Helen was still staring at the bigwigs. ‘I know the Pro Vice-Chancellor too.’
‘Which one?’ Dominic gestured towards the group. ‘Red tie or purple?’
‘There isn’t a red tie. There’s pink and dark blue.’
‘That’s not blue. That’s purple.’
Helen shook her head. ‘I know the pink one.’
‘S’red. The other one’s a Pro-Vice Chancellor too. Physicist.’
‘And the woman?’
‘Ah yes. The token woman.’ He glanced down to see if Helen was taking the bait. She pursed her lips, but didn’t bite. ‘Vice Chair of the university governors. She owns a glass factory.’ He didn’t quite know why he added that. It’s wasn’t as if Helen would instantly think, ‘Oh, glass. Plenty to chat about there then.’
The group made its way over to the trench. Dominic stood back slightly, like a person who wasn’t distracting the worker bees at all.
Professor Midsomer peered down. ‘Ah. Dr ...’ He tailed off.
‘Hart. Dr Hart,’ replied Helen.
‘Yes. Yes.’ He turned to his little touring party. ‘Dr Hart is one of our up and coming talents.’
The group nodded. The Vice-Chancellor scanned his eyes across the trench. ‘So lots of interesting finds, I trust?’
‘Erm. Well ...’ Helen glanced into her empty tray, as if she was hoping something might have materialised while she wasn’t looking. ‘It’s still early days.’
‘Actually, the lack of finds is a real positive.’ The archaeology grad student in charge of the trench popped up all perky and smiling. ‘Our plan of the site suggests that this would be an area with not many finds, so it’s great to see the evidence on the ground confirming that.’
The bigwigs nodded. Token woman leant forward. ‘And what was this area then?’
‘We think it was a cowshed or stables. Definitely a building, but we don’t think there was human habitation in this area.’
Dominic stifled a laugh at the look of horror on Helen’s face. Essentially she was trowling through crap.
The group started to move away, but perky archaeology girl wasn’t finished. ‘Professor Midsomer, I was hoping I could have a quick word.’
Midsomer nodded, and the pair moved to one side of the trench, while the rest of the suits moved on. Dominic waited, trying to look like a person who wasn’t listening. He glanced at Helen. He hoped he was doing a better impression of not eavesdropping than her. She looked like a meerkat on watch duty.
‘I heard you had a vacancy for a lecturer coming up.’
Midsomer shook his head. ‘In history, not archaeology.’
‘My PhD is multi-disciplinary.’ Perky girl was still smiling winningly. ‘I thought I’d throw my name into the ring. It’s such a great department, and the chance to work with you would be incredible.’ She patted her hand on his upper arm. Professor Midsomer took an uneasy step backwards.
Dominic took a step towards them. ‘But of course there’s a lot of talent already in the department.’
Midsomer nodded. ‘Well there’ll be a recruitment panel and suchlike in due course.’ He dropped his head and moved to walk away.
Dominic stopped him. ‘Have you seen Emily?’
Midsomer looked around. ‘She was here earlier. To be honest I thought she’d gone looking for you.’
Dominic watched his boss head off after the rest of the important people.
‘Did you get a chance to talk to him about me?’
‘Not yet.’ Dominic grinned at Helen. ‘Don’t worry. I will.’
‘Thank you.’
‘And relax. They haven’t even shortlisted yet.’
‘Do you know when?’
‘Should be next week I guess.’
Helen sighed. ‘So too soon to get a whole load of papers published or make up some headline grabbing research?’
Dominic laughed. ‘Probably. Right. I’d better go find Emily I suppose.’ He smiled at his friend. ‘Have fun in your cow shit.’