The Prophecy (Daughters of the People Series Book 1) (5 page)

“Yeah, maybe.” He
jerked his chin toward the skeleton. “What was she carrying that was so
important?”

“I was just
asking myself the same thing.”

“And if those
artifacts were the target, how did the looter know what to take? Is there a spy
here at the dig? Has somebody been feeding information to an outsider?”

“That’s
unlikely. All of the students are loyal to Dr. Lindberg, which leaves only me,
Dani, and you.” Maya slid a sly glance toward him. “I can vouch for me and
Dani. What about you?”

He laughed
softly. “Touché.”

“On the other
hand, if data were being transmitted electronically, it would be easy to spy on
the dig without being on site, simply by listening in on phone calls or
tracking e-mails. How did Dr. Lindberg convince you to visit?”

James grimaced.
“By e-mail and in great detail.”

“It’s not that
difficult, if you know what to do.”

“Yeah, but it’s
illegal.”

“Only if you get
caught.”

“Good point.”

They stood for a
few moments more, until the sun had fully risen and the police officer finished
his conversation with Dr. Lindberg. Another officer arrived and, by mutual
consent, Maya and James walked across the site to meet her.

The first full
day after the looting was long and tedious. Maya convinced James to scrounge
breakfast for them from a nearby restaurant while Dr. Lindberg dealt with the
police. The students drifted back on site, though the police refused to allow
anyone inside the taped off areas.

James returned
with breakfast for Maya and Dr. Lindberg. Behind him came the County Police
Commissioner and the head of the County Administrative Board, the local
authority charged with protecting and overseeing cultural heritage sites like
Sandby borg. James retreated to the less onerous task of overseeing the students,
leaving Maya to help Dr. Lindberg handle the politicians. More officers arrived
to process the scene and created as much of a mess as the looter had. A crew
from a Stockholm television station arrived and made a polite nuisance of
themselves.

Helene, Dani,
and Indigo returned not long after, joining the growing crowd mingling around
the site. At midmorning, James drove Maya to her cabin and dropped her off
there to shower and change clothes while he did the same in his own cabin. They
grabbed food for the students and, by the time they returned to Sandby borg,
the police had finished their work and cleared the students to begin clean-up.
A single officer stayed behind to serve as a guard and a liaison. He promptly
chased the television crew away.

Maya and James
cleared one of the tables and set out a variety of sandwich fixings and sides.
Everyone except the Lindbergs ate standing up, huddled into a group. Once lunch
was done and cleaned up, duties were assigned and the real work began.

The students
were divided between the tents and the storage shed. Paper inventories were
printed out so that item tags could be compared against box labels and
artifacts checked off as they were sorted and repacked.

Maya and James
volunteered to sort out the trailer. Dani’s assessment of the looter’s path
through the site had been spot-on, surprising Maya not at all. The younger
Daughter had told Maya in an odd moment that she’d been away from the trailer
less than five minutes total while the looter was on site. She’d started on the
normal rounds around the perimeter, familiar after the previous two rounds
she’d made with Indigo, and hadn’t gone far when the power was cut. She’d
immediately returned to the trailer and found the door wide open and Indigo
bleeding on the floor, and had started after the looter only after making sure
Indigo was conscious.

The looter had
escaped into the shadows, leaving very little of himself behind. The police had
dusted for prints, but Maya suspected they’d find none that shouldn’t be there.

After
straightening up and cleaning away fingerprint dust as best they could, James
began sorting the photographs while Maya searched for any fragments or photos
that might’ve slid under furniture. Indigo entered the trailer just as they
finished sorting everything out. She sat down on a cushy, worn-out upholstered
chair and nodded to both of them.

“How are you
feeling?” Maya asked.

“Better.”
Indigo’s gaze slid from Maya to James and back again. “A few days resting
should do the trick.”

“See that you
actually rest,” James said.

Indigo smiled
wanly. “I’ll be fine. I promised Dr. Lindberg I’d help you sort through this
mess. Dani and I removed some of the document fragments from storage last night
so we could take more photographs and study the writing.”

“Thank God you
did,” James said, “or the looter might’ve gotten the whole lot.”

“As it is, the
darkness that confounded me also confounded the looter, at least in here. He
must’ve rushed after taking me out. Maybe he knew Dani was on the grounds and
his time was limited.” She shrugged and her mouth twisted into a thoughtful
frown. “He grabbed mostly print copies of some of the photographs taken when
the items were catalogued. A few original textual fragments, yes, but mostly
photos, and he completely missed the storage boxes under the coffee table.”

“Hmm. I saw
these.” Maya knelt and pulled one of the boxes out. “What’s in them?”

“Documents that
are too fragile to handle. We only brought them in to use as a comparison.
See?” Indigo opened one of the boxes. Inside were three small pieces of
parchment, each rolled up and tied with thin twine. The parchment had been
burned, but some text was still visible. Indigo pointed to a symbol on one. “I
remembered seeing this symbol on several of the fragments, but couldn’t find it
on the photographs.”

“So you decided
to pull the boxes out of storage and photograph them again,” James said.

“Sort of. We
were going to compare the photos against the parchment tonight and have one of
the other students photograph them again tomorrow morning when the light’s
better.”

“Have any other
items been discovered missing?” Maya asked.

“No, not yet.
There’s just so much to go through. Part of the artifacts have already been
sent to the University, including the metal box we found the documents in. Anything
with writing of any kind was left here in anticipation of Dr. Terhune’s
arrival.”

James scrubbed a
hand over his hair. “So if it weren’t for me, the entire contents of the grave
might already have been put into more secure storage.”

“We don’t know
that.” Maya laid her hand on his arm. His skin was warm through his shirt and a
little too tempting for her peace of mind. She allowed her hand to slide away
and faced Indigo. “Has Dr. Lindberg called the University to check on the
status of items sent ahead for storage?”

“Not yet, but he
will.”

Indigo and Maya
shared a long look. What he might find was anybody’s guess. A looter here,
maybe another there, and no one the wiser as to the whys, not yet anyway. As
soon as they knew exactly what had been taken, Maya would set Dani on the
looter’s trail. If anyone could hunt down the thief, she could.

The three began
cross-checking the few fragments Indigo had brought to the trailer against a
copy of the inventory, storing each item as soon as it was accounted for.
Indigo remembered only two items she’d removed from storage that were missing
from the lot, a small piece of papyrus no bigger than her hand and a larger
piece of parchment.

Once they’d gone
through the inventory, they sorted the photographs and placed them back into
their respective folders, one for each object. Several appeared to be missing,
but Indigo waved that problem away. “These are print copies of digital images.
Even if the looter knew which computer they were stored on, it wouldn’t matter.
They’re also on an external hard drive and in cloud storage.”

James stacked
the folders into a carefully constructed pile. “Dr. Lindberg sent some of the
images to me so I could begin working on deciphering and translation.”

“So there are
digital copies everywhere,” Maya confirmed. “But the looter still has some of
the photographs. He can begin deciphering and translating the way you have,
depending on which photos were taken.”

“Is that
important?” James asked.

Maya glanced at
Indigo, the other Daughter’s frown a twin to her own. “It could be.”

“Let’s hope not,”
Indigo said, and Maya silently agreed. Everyday looters wouldn’t care what
information those documents contained. They’d simply be looking for a payout.
But plenty of people might be interested in the contents, and it was those
individuals Maya suspected might’ve stolen them. It wasn’t something she liked
to consider, but it wasn’t something she could rightly ignore, not for the sake
of a thorough investigation.

* * *

That possibility
stayed in the back of Maya’s mind throughout the afternoon as the site was reorganized.
While she, James, and Indigo cleaned the trailer and sorted out its contents,
Dr. Lindberg called in an electrician to restore power.

He’d also called
Lund University and been met with bad news. The artifacts in storage there had
been pilfered. Any artifact found with the anomalous burial had been stolen,
including the metal box that had once housed the Daughter’s cache of documents.
It hadn’t been scheduled for study yet, but the drawings and photographs of it
were still available. Those would come in handy, if she could persuade Dr.
Lindberg to share copies.

Maya’s
resolution hardened into grim purpose as the sun crept westward on its daily
voyage. Supper was eaten on site amid hushed whispers and quiet speculation.
After, the group gathered together under one of the tents to hear the final
count. All of the artifacts stored in the shed related to the Daughter’s burial
had been taken. An external hard drive was also missing and two computers had
been sabotaged, but beyond that, the only other items not accounted for was a
sign-out sheet for items stored in the shed and three cylinder seals.

“Whoops,” James
said. “I signed those seals out last night so I could begin working with them.
When we went out for lunch today, I boxed them back up and put them in the
trunk of the car. I forgot about them in all the fuss.”

Dani held out
her hand, her expression flat. “Keys.”

James dug them
out of his pocket and handed them over, his shoulders hunched, and Maya bit
back a laugh. The poor man had a lot of work ahead of him where Dani was
concerned.

Dani grabbed one
of the students, a strapping young archaeology major named Lars with shaggy
blond hair and a friendly smile. Maya shook her head. Trust Dani to pick out
the handsome one.

The two returned
shortly and compared the contents of the storage box James had signed out
against the inventory. A collective sigh of relief filtered through the group
when all the items were accounted for.

“Some good news,
then, thanks to my friend.” Dr. Lindberg set the end of his cane against the
earth and pushed himself into a stand. “And so, we have lost some items, but
have found some, too. Now, I think it’s time we all get some rest. Tomorrow, we
must continue our work.”

The students
drifted off, heading toward the parking lot. The University and the Kalmer Läns
Museum had each chipped in money towards private security until the dig’s
season ended. None of the students would have to stay overnight while the
looter remained at large.

As the students
were leaving, Maya caught Dani’s eye and nodded toward the trailer. The two
slipped quietly away, leaving Indigo to distract James and Dr. Lindberg.

When she and
Dani were out of earshot, Maya asked, “Did you find any other signs of the
looter today?”

Dani rubbed a
narrow hand over the nape of her neck. “None.”

“You know what
to do, then.”

“Yes, Maetyrm.”

“Get some rest
before you start.”

Dani glanced at
the trio still gathered near the array of tents sheltering the dig’s equipment.
“I’d like to say goodbye to Dr. Lindberg first.”

“Of course.”
Maya cupped Dani’s shoulders and squeezed lightly. Dani had been a beautiful
child, as bright as the sun, full of laughter and warmth. It was the child looking
at her now out of the young Daughter’s eyes, and so it was the child Maya addressed.
“This wasn’t your fault, Daniella.”

Dani’s head bowed.
“I feel responsible.”

“You did what
you could and that’s all that can be asked of you. Don’t take on the burdens of
the world, eknon.”

Dani’s mouth
tipped into a slight smile. “I haven’t been called a student in a long time.”

“Yet you
continue to call me teacher.”

“I still have a
lot to learn from you.”

Maya slid her
hands down Dani’s arms and gripped her elbows. “No, Dani,” Maya corrected
gently. “We have many things yet to learn from one another.”

Dani touched her
forehead to Maya’s. “I won’t fail you, kaetyrm.”

“Nor I you.”

Dani bounced off
with some of her normal vigor. Maya gave her a few moments to say her farewells,
then trailed behind her and said her own goodbyes for the night.