AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The reporter’s voice droned on and Ava raced for her laptop. Adrenalin spiking, she logged in to her emails. Would there be a message?
As she read she clutched her stomach as nausea swirled. Her eyes zeroed in on another email, an unread letter from Henry...
Ava,
You have not replied to my last letter. I was hoping to hear from you and receive some news of your welfare, of how Ismail is. Is he well? Where are you?
We need to discuss matters. Please reply.
Hamid
Reaching for her phone, she started to punch in Jamila’s number, stopped, started again and then threw the phone onto the lounge. ‘Urgh!’ Ava retrieved the phone, started typing a text message, but again, deleted the words and gave up. She slammed the laptop lid shut only to open it again and search the court case and its progress before devouring every article. The words blurred on the screen but Ava didn’t move until the familiar thump sounded up the back stairs. Daisy dog didn’t raise an eyebrow. During the wee hours of last night, she had formulated her plan and the news coverage only reinforced her view that the turtle fossil had to be kept secret. She could not risk a leak of this news and its connection to her.
Over a cup of tea that didn’t turn cold this time, she confirmed her plan to James and Matthew. ‘I’m so grateful for your help and your expertise and I’d like you to stay and help me. If you can please report back to the uni and seek their permission for your secondment to this project, if you want to that is, and tell them this is a private project funded by me, they have no control, but I’ll offer them first rights on any professional papers that I write and deliver. Any papers you write and deliver will also be your own but they cannot be published until after my findings. If this is what we think it is, it will be a long-term dig, to ensure we’ve captured everything that might be found. So, I think you’ll agree, there is a lot for the university to benefit from. Most importantly, what we are doing here must remain confidential until I say it isn’t, except for the bare minimum of information to provide to the university. We’ll work together as a team but you will be answerable to me. I do, of course, fully respect that you have the knowledge and I don’t, so it is a team effort. I will fund whatever you need.’
Ava twirled the opal ring.
The two men sat back, deliberated for all of one second and agreed. ‘We’ll talk to our people this morning and get the approval we need,’ James said. He glanced at Matthew. ‘We don’t understand your insistence on privacy though, Ava. Most who make a discovery of this magnitude would be reporting on their incredible skill and luck and wanting the world to know. Why the secrecy?’
Ava shook her head. ‘This is about the integrity of the find and the site and working out what we’re dealing with and establishing what we need to do and getting it done. Eventually, our findings will not be kept a secret because they’ll need to be known, analysed, researched and recorded, but they’ll be made public when I’m ready. And not before.’
‘Look, you seem pretty trustworthy, and we really want to be involved in this dig, so we’ll agree, but yeah, that’s unusual,’ Matthew said.
‘Thank you. Let’s get to work.’
Chapter Twenty-One
‘Knock, knock?’ The voice was male, but it wasn’t Noah.
Ava froze. Whoever had come up the back stairs had arrived silently. There had been no sound of steps, no movement as there usually was, not even a squeak from Daisy or the puppies. Daisy never cared who stomped up the back stairs but if the puppies were around, they’d yelp and wriggle around with excitement at the prospect of a visitor.
Damn that open gate!
Last time she’d checked, Noah was knee-deep in dirt and dust working in the shed. Relations between them had been decidedly frosty. But despite this, he’d continued with the shed as priority. And now knowing that he was adamantly opposed to the dig, she was surprised he continued at all.
Ava’s hands shook as she scrubbed the grime off them in the kitchen sink. Through the window, she glimpsed a man. He removed a cap from his head and wiped his brow. He had a creased face with deep crevices in the hollows around his eyes and extenuated lines across his brow. His silver-grey hair was worn long, his clothes wrinkled and he slumped, like he needed a good day’s rest. Regardless of how innocent he looked, her heart still dropped to her stomach. Wiping her hands on a dish towel, she walked out hesitantly. ‘Hello. How can I help you?’
‘Hiya, I’m Geoff Hunter from The Bellethorpe Times. I understand you’ve found something on your property. Can you tell me about it?’ Despite the directness of his words, he twisted the cap he held in his fingers. It was obvious he knew he was invading her privacy and he was uncomfortable about that.
She would take advantage of that vulnerability, particularly as he was a journalist. Argh! She swallowed her scream as she realised with abject horror that somehow, someone, had revealed her secret. A hot ball of fury grew in her chest. Could she honestly not trust anyone! Who was it?
‘I’m not sure what you’re talking about?’
Geoff’s eyebrows arched. He turned his head behind him, scouring the path he’d just taken. ‘This is Kinross Road, right? And you’re the archaeologist new to town?’
Responses were ricocheting around her mind. Lie? Be honest? Not respond? What should she do? ‘Um, yes. I’m pretty sure you know this is Kinross Road. Who sent you?’
‘No one. I’m the editor of the local paper and I’m sourcing a story. I’ve heard that you’ve discovered something on your property and folks are keen to learn more. Locals love local news. Particularly, if it’s big.’
Ava stood up taller, placed her hands to her hips doing her best to be intimidating. ‘Geoff, I’m so sorry you’ve wasted your time. What do you call it in the industry? A red herring? This sounds like someone has given you a dud steer. Nothing here, nope, zippo, except loads of dust and dirt from the renovations. Do your folk want to hear about the restoration? I’m paring the house back to its original state with the help of a local builder.’
‘They are probably very interested in that and grateful, too. We love our old and unique buildings and homes being cared for, but I’m told it’s more than that.’
Geoff Hunter’s general dishevelment had her thinking he was too busy on the hustings chasing stories to worry about his appearance. Plus, she suspected if she pushed hard enough, he’d back off.
Suddenly, down in the bushes, a loud bang echoed. Something big and heavy connecting with the compacted earth. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at Geoff. Damn, he’d heard it too. She’d feign ignorance. But her spirit of subterfuge sank a little observing the yard. James’ utility vehicle was parked haphazardly; the open tray containing large boxes in the rear, tools laying around, and dirt tracks ran through her paddocks, off into various directions. Even a lay person would know something was going on here.
Becoming addled, she wasn’t sure what to do. But private property meant no access, right? She had the say…
