He pulled her against him, burying his face against the hollow between her shoulder and neck. “Better than you can imagine.”
“You had me from your initial, rambling description of the Spangler Farm. Falling in love with you was easy.” She wrapped her arms around him. “I was afraid keeping you would be the hard part.”
“It won’t be.”
Madison was ready to pull the covers up and call it a night, when Mike’s cell phone buzzed on the table beside him. He let her go for a moment, reaching over to retrieve the phone and review the text. He was silent and instead of speaking, he placed the phone back on the nightstand.
“Is everything okay?” Madison looked up at him, trying to catch his eye with hers. “Who was it?”
“No big deal.” He pulled the covers up to her shoulders, tucking it around her frame. “It was just Drew.”
“Did he want something?”
“Nope, not really.”
Madison rested her head against Mike’s chest, but her mind whirled. He never acted like that with texts, not even with phone calls for that matter. Whatever the text said, struck him.
But it was the fact he wouldn’t tell her what it said that made her nervous.
Chapter Twenty-One
The viewing hours and funeral for Jan Williams were held in a local funeral parlor in her home town of Frederick, Maryland. The early calling hours and early service were too much for Madison and her team to commit to, so they instead opted to drive down later on in the day for the evening calling hours. They’d skip the service and graveside completely.
It was open casket.
Madison shuddered. The last funeral she’d been to was her father’s. Mike didn’t look anywhere near how relaxed he’d looked the past few days. He held on to her hand tightly, his back pressed up against the wall of the parlor. He looked around and softly said, “I’m not a fan of big crowds. Combat mindset kicks in: back to the wall, check the exits.”
“At what point do we feel confident we’ve paid the appropriate amount of respects and can leave?” Liam loosened the knot of his necktie. “Because look, I know five people here. Two of them are you. Nobody cares we’re here.”
“It’s the right thing to do.” Madison scanned the crowd. As far as she was concerned, as soon as they saw the park superintendent and Brad, they were safe to go. Make it known they were there and then split.
Mike closed his eyes and tilted his face upward, resting his head against the wall. His foot tapped against the floor at a frantic pace. “Have you ever been to Harpers Ferry, Maddy baby? It’s right down the road. John Brown’s Raid and all. It’s very exciting, and I will take you there right now if you want.”
“We just need to say a fast ‘what’s up’ to Brad and Superintendent Frye. Then we’re good to go. Trust me, that’s how these games are played. My step-father does it all the time. He goes to these important school functions just long enough to get his picture taken with committee members and then goes and hides in his office.” Madison held on to Mike’s hand with one hand and rubbed his forearm with the other. “I’ve learned from the best.”
“Well, someone needs to find them now.”
Liam straightened his collar and brushed invisible dirt off his sleeves. “I’ll go mingle. You stay here and try to keep your hands to yourself.”
“Dude, I’m just trying not to throw up.” Mike kept his eyes closed, his grip on her hand tightening. He finally sighed and rolled his head toward her. “I’m sorry. I just…I have a hard time with this kind of thing.”
“It’s okay.” She scanned the mob of people tightly packed in the small parlor. “Do you want to go outside for a couple minutes?”
“No. That’s letting it beat me.” He took several deep breaths and then opened his eyes. “I’m all right. Really.”
“We can just chill here and critique people’s funeral attire.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “Check out that girl’s shoes. I mean, really—blue and hot pink sequined stripper shoes at a funeral? I’d trip and fall on my face.”
“I can’t imagine you in stilettos.” He pouted. “I guess that’s a fantasy I’ll have to file away for my dreams.”
“Oh, wait, those are platforms, which make them even worse.” Madison leaned forward slightly, trying to peer past a slim woman wearing a large black hat. “Oh, wait. That’s Cianna.”
“Well, that’s surprising.”
“Not really. She knows how to play the game.”
Cianna was standing by herself, also scanning the crowd like she was looking for someone. She turned just enough to catch sight of them and, with a general look of annoyance, started walking in their direction.
“Shit.” Mike tucked his head down by Madison’s. “Try to blend in with that wall sconce or something. I can see this conversation going two ways: excruciating or unbearable.”
“I’ll spill something on myself and cause a scene.” She giggled. “You run for the door.”
Cianna showed marked prowess in flouncing across the room in stripper shoes. She glared at them. “Have you seen Brad?”
Mike leveled his gaze at her. “It’s nice to see you too, Cianna.”
“Cut the shit. Where’s Brad?”
“Contrary to popular belief, I’m not his personal secretary. I’ve had to manage the dig in his noticeable absences over the last few weeks, but I’ve washed my hands of keeping track of who he’s doing and when.” He paused. “What are you doing here?”
“Same thing you’re doing here, I assume.” She looked over her shoulder. “Is Liam here, too?”
“You’re not that dumb, Cianna. What do you think?”
She narrowed her eyes, her upper lip twitching as she seemed to restrain a snarl. “It’s sad about Jan. That’s a bad stretch of road.”
“It’s an empty stretch of road, so there was no one around to tell the cops what happened.” Mike pulled Madison closer to him. “Maybe she was texting or something. Wasn’t she on her way home?”
“That’s the wrong road to be on if you’re heading to Frederick. But, yeah, I heard the car was found at the end of an S turn. She was driving fast.”
“No seatbelt.”
“No seatbelt.” Cianna shrugged. “What a waste. It’s pathetic when people have loads of book smarts, but no common sense.”
“Speaking of common sense, why’d you quit the dig?” Mike matched her glare for glare. “We asked Brad, but he pretty much told us to fuck off.”
“Who needs me when you have the magnificent Madison?” Cianna switched her gaze to Madison, her stare cold and somewhat critical. “I saw the article about you in The Times. I bet you’re proud of yourself.”
“I really don’t care about it. I’m happy just to play in the dirt.”
“And with Mike.”
Madison shrugged. “What do you want me to say, Cianna? Do you want me to apologize that Mike fucked me because he loves me and Brad fucked you because you opened your legs? I wouldn’t give you the satisfaction.”
“This was nowhere near as bad as Baltimore was, yet you were there to the bitter end, public spectacle and all. I can’t figure you out.” Mike closed his eyes. “You just gave up free money.”
“I couldn’t take his shit anymore.”
“He’s the same prick he’s always been.”
“This was different.” She looked over her shoulder again. “Look, I don’t want to get into it. I quit. I quit the team and I quit his shitty excuse for a dig company so I can be done with all his disgusting drama. Is that good enough for you, Mike? Does that answer your question?”
“Nope. It just gives me a hell of a lot more.”
Cianna ground the toe of her shoe into the carpet and picked at the ends of her white blonde hair; for a split second, Madison thought she noticed her lower lip quiver. Her composure was quick. She looked over her shoulder and, straightening considerably, grumbled, more to herself than to either Mike or Madison, “There he is, fucking bastard.”
&nbs
p; Madison followed her line of sight and saw not only Brad, but Superintendent Frye and Liam. She wasn’t surprised to see Brad and Frye together. Brad seemed to latch onto him, always cornering him in conversation and no doubt talking himself up with accomplishments he didn’t even achieve. He was like a walking resume.
She turned to Mike. His eyes were already open. He slowly edged away from the wall and stepped forward. “The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can leave.”
They followed Cianna through the crowd of mourners. Mike kept his hand firmly around Madison’s and when they reached the group, he extended his free hand to Brad. “Hey, man.”
“Thanks for coming out, guys.” Brad shook Mike’s hand and then reached over, gently squeezing Madison’s upper arm. “Are you doing okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just kind of a shock.” She turned to Superintendent Frye. “She was very kind to us.”
“I’m just stunned she’d act so foolishly.” The superintendent shook his head. “I’ve known Jan for over twenty years. She wasn’t the type of woman who would use her cell phone while she was driving or leave without a seatbelt. It’s like she was in some kind of hurry.”
“Do the police know who she was calling?” Brad leaned over and ran his hand down Cianna’s arm. “Are you doing okay, sweetie?”
“I’m fine.” She jerked her arm away from him, but didn’t move away from where he was standing. It was like she couldn’t quite bring herself to break the cycle of what no doubt was emotional abuse.
“The police said the battery on her phone was dead.” Frye rubbed his chin. “She must not have realized and was busy fiddling with it, when she should have been watching the road. I can’t imagine what could have been so important. She’d filed her official reports on the remains. I know she was lining up quite a bit of speaking engagements and a few high profile interviews, but she’d used my office for that all morning. There was no reason to be using a cell phone to do it at ten o’clock at night.”
Madison stared down at the tops of her shoes. “Sometimes one mistake is all you get to make.”
“It’s a strong reminder on how much we all take for granted. Even I’m guilty of using my cell phone when I drive.” Frye looked genuinely moved by Jan’s death. “I’ll be keeping it in my briefcase from now on.”
“Madison, I was just telling Mr. Frye about the article in The Times and your recent interviews with National Geographic and Archeology Magazine.” Brad smiled. “It’s important to keep our eyes on the future and the scope of what Jan was working on.”
“We’re expecting good things from you, Miss Monroe. Jan was a prolific supporter of women’s advancements in the field. I wish the two of you could have spent more time together.” Frye smiled at her. “I’ll tell you right now, with what you bring to the table, next time we have a dig at the park, your name will be first on our list.”
Mike squeezed her hand.
“That’s very kind, thank you.” Madison glanced up at Mike. “Right now I’m more focused on living in the present. I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of our work at the Spangler Farm brings.”
“Overall, I’m willing to declare the survey a success. Once you’ve finished your survey—and we do want you to finish the survey, despite what Brad thinks—we’re going to get it set to open to the public the beginning of June. There’s so much interest in the farm right now. We have to get it open as soon as possible.”
Mike cleared his throat. “Why would Brad think you didn’t want the survey finished?”
“I just thought they’d want the site cleared and open for tours sooner, maybe by the end of the month.” Brad shrugged. “I was willing to shut it down now.”
“Uh,” — Liam exchanged a glance with Madison — “that’s news to us.”
“And it’s nothing to worry about, because as gracious an offer as it was, we want the site completely surveyed. Keep on schedule and have the final report turned in by May 31st. Cover up the pits, clear out your equipment, and we’ll get everything landscaped and roped off for public viewing by the first weekend of June. Madison, we’d be thrilled to have you give a few remarks at the visitor’s center the morning the farm goes live to the public.” Frye turned to Brad. “That’s sufficient time, don’t you think?”
“It’s more than enough time to take care of everything.” He looked distant for a moment and then slowly nodded. “No loose ends.”
“Excellent. Your team does impressive work, Brad.” Frye reached out and shook his hand, then clapped him on the back. “Madison, stop by my office sometime next week. We can talk about a possible lecture or brief appearance when the site opens.”
“I will, sir, but I’d rather the focus be on the site and not on me.” She flashed what she hoped was a sincere, sweet smile. “If you’ll excuse us, we…uh…have some work to get back to at the farm. Keeping on schedule, you know.”
“Of course. Thank you for coming out, I know it means a lot to the family.” He patted Mike’s shoulder. “It’s always nice to see you, Mr. Caldwell. Keep up the good work.”
“Thank you, sir, likewise.”
Madison tugged on his arm and, brushing past Cianna, led him through the mass of people still crowded in line to view the casket and straight to the exit. She wanted to kick the front door open and pull him out into the sunshine. “I’m going to categorize that as one of the more awkward conversations of my life.”
“What the fuck does he mean Brad wanted to shut the site down?” Liam fell into step next to her. “We’re basically handed four weeks to dig in Gettysburg and he wants to just say, nah, we’re good here. You keep these extra two weeks and we’ll just go home and crochet scarves or something. Does he have something better to do? No, no he doesn’t. He’s got nothing and he knows it.”
“He’s trying to cover his ass.” Mike twisted his tie loose and pulled it over his head. “Frye knows he wasn’t at the site when Madison found the remains. We had that whole pit excavated before he strolled back to the farm. He figures if he’s the one who makes the decision to shut it down, he’s still the one in charge.”
Madison ducked into the passenger’s seat of the Jeep. “Frye doesn’t seem to care.”
“Frye doesn’t care who found it. He just cares that it was found, it was a woman, and the whole archeology community is practically lactating over it.” Liam slouched down behind Madison’s seat. “Hey, Mikey, maybe we won’t have to write the final report on this dig?”
Mike snickered. He looked more relaxed now that they were back in the Jeep, away from the mob of people and the oppressive feeling of death. “The last, what, five digs we’ve done, Brad’s dumped the responsibility of writing the final report off on me and Liam. He’s far too busy with more important things.”
“We submitted the first report under his name, but we’ve just been leaving the rest in our names.” Liam scoffed. “I don’t think he notices and, if he does, he doesn’t care.”
“He only cares about two things: advancing his own career and getting pussy.” Mike glanced at Madison. “Sorry.”
“We all know it’s true.”
“Well, now that Cianna’s has dried up, I get the feeling we’re going to be stuck with him.” Liam paused and seemed to consider his own remark. “Actually, he hates Mike because he’s fucking you, and he hates you because you’re not fucking him. That means I’m going to be stuck dealing with his whining and incompetence.”
Madison snickered. “I know you said incompetence, but my ears heard incontinence.”
“Bitch, I’d be in the car and on the highway. He can go straight to hell.”
Mike worked the clutch and gas pedal and pulled out of the parking lot. “I’ve said it before, Maddy, but I’ll say it again. I don’t want you alone with him. As much as I hate her, I don’t like how he treats Cianna and…and I just don’t want you with him.”
Liam cleared his throat. “For what it’s worth, I don’t either.”
Madison stared at the
window, not sure how to respond to them. It went without saying that she didn’t want to be around Brad. She would be perfectly happy to finish out the dig with just Mike and Liam, but that wasn’t going to happen. There were only two weeks left.
And she had a feeling they were going to be a fast two weeks.
Chapter Twenty-Two
They officially shut down the test pit beside the barn by mid-week. Although the park service still wanted the test pit where the remains were found left open—in case the decision was made to return them to their original grave—Mike and Madison started to fill the barn pit back in. It felt like solemn work, of burying untouched possibilities and artifacts that would always remain lost to time.
“This brings back memories of when I was enlisted.” Mike dragged his arm across his brow, wiping the sheen of sweat away. “When I became an officer, I critiqued trenches dug by other soldiers. But when I was enlisted, man, we honed our ditch digging ability. Foxholes, latrines, trenches, sometimes the occasional ditch to see if we were capable of digging a good ditch, you have no idea how much time we spent moving dirt from one side of the course to the other.”
“Does the Army still actually employ trench warfare?” Madison dumped another shovelful of dirt into the hole and then retrieved her water bottle. They had to pick the warmest day of spring to fill in the pits, it only figured. Even the fact that evening was setting in wasn’t helping to lower the humidity.
“No, actually, but just in case the need should arise, we’re very well trained.”
“Two pits down, two to go.” Madison took a quick swig of water. “This feels like how my car handles a tank of gas. I drive for thousands of miles until I hit a quarter of a tank; then it just drops to empty after a tenth of a mile. That’s how this dig has felt, this last week is just flying past.”
“I know.” He sighed. “Next week is going to be miserable. The dig being over, having to deal with Brad finalizing all the paperwork and the final report I may or may not still have to write…figuring out how to stay with you as long as possible.”
With Me Now Page 26