Caught

by Kristin Hardy

  “Like how?”

  “I don’t know. We don’t even know their name.” She fell silent. “What was that line about a blessing?”

  Alex ran his finger down the page. “Right here, it ‘had been blessed by men of God.’” He glanced at her. “Are you thinking the abbey?”

  “That’s where we go next. Maybe they made a gift of it to the lord or gave it to him in exchange for land or protection or whatever.”

  Alex rubbed his eyes. “Can the going next happen tomorrow? All this channeling of aristocrats is exhausting.”

  Julia rose with him. “Of course. It’s nearly one anyway. I just get caught up in this stuff. It’s fascinating, don’t you think? I mean, seeing it through the eyes of a person who was there. It makes it so real.”

  Enthusiasm bubbled in her voice. Alex glanced at her as they walked out into the main lab. “Why antiquities then? You seem to really connect with European history and art. Actually, why work at all, for that matter? You’re rich, aren’t you? You could study this in your free time, do what you want with your life.”

  “I am doing what I want with my life.” Now, she sounded prickly. “I love European art and history, but everyone does it. I don’t know, I’ve always felt something for antiquities. The idea of anything being that old, I guess, of civilization being that old.” She picked up one of the empty soda cans and rinsed it out at the sink. “When I was a girl, I used to spend an afternoon every other week with my great-aunt Stella, who was just wonderful. One day she took me to the Met.” She filled the can with water.

  “And you saw Felix and it was love at first sight.”

  She gave a faint smile. “It wasn’t a mummy at all. It was a cup, a robin’s-egg-blue glass cup. It had been in the ground for so many years, patches were covered with these iridescent rainbows. Really beautiful. I couldn’t stop looking at it. And then we went to the museum café to get a snack. I picked up my water glass and all of a sudden I realized that it was just like the blue cup. Someone thousands of years ago had sat at a table, maybe, or cross-legged on cushions, and drunk from that glass, maybe a little girl like me. And maybe someone thousands of years from now would find my cup and wonder about me.

  “And for the first time, I realized that people all those millennia ago were just people like us. And they became real to me.” She smiled faintly. “I dragged Aunt Stella back there every week that whole summer. And I dreamed every night about the little girl.”

  There was a light in her eyes, as she talked, an openness that was entirely new. This was a Julia he’d never seen before. And he wanted more. “Now go back. Who was your aunt Stella? Is she one of the socialites?”

  “Great-aunt Stella, actually. My grandmother’s sister. And no, absolutely no. She was the family iconoclast. She went to Paris in the Forties after the war and lived with an artist, and then moved to San Francisco. She came back when my grandmother died and sort of took me under her wing. It was Aunt Stella who helped me get up the nerve to stand up to the rest of the family.”

  “Stand up to the rest of the family? So you’re a rebel, Ms. I’m Really So Serious?”

  Julia shifted. “No, right now I’m just tired,” she said abruptly, setting the soda can aside. “Let’s figure out what we’re going to do about sleeping.”

  It hadn’t been much, but for a short while she’d really talked to him about things that mattered to her. And he’d be as patient as he needed to be to see that it happened again. “Well, it looks to me like we’ve got three choices—chair, table or floor.”

  She surveyed him. “You honestly think you’re going to be even remotely comfortable sleeping in a chair?”

  “I said it was a choice. I didn’t say it was a good one. The downside of the table is that you can always roll off.”

  “You must be a pretty sound sleeper,” she observed. “Do you snore?”

  “You’d know the answer to that if you’d ever spent the night. You do realize we’re taking our relationship to a new level here?”

  Julia gave him a look from under her brows. “We don’t have a relationship, remember?”

  “Oh, you can talk tough all you want, but I think you’re getting a soft spot for me.”

  “Well, it’s not big enough to sleep on, so don’t get your hopes up.” She stalked over to a utility closet and pulled out some plastic and tarps.

  “What are those?”

  “The nearest thing to something soft that we’ve got.”

  Alex helped her carry them over and begin folding them up. “They’re certainly big enough for us to sleep on.”

  “I figured we’d make two separate pallets.”

  “You do it together, we’ll have more cushioning. Besides,” he tempted, “we can keep each other warm.”

  “It’s not that cold in here.”

  “Says the woman who’s always freezing. And you’re not lying on a chilly floor. Trust me, body heat is a good thing.”

  “Trust you?” she echoed skeptically, but she laid the second folded tarp atop the first.

  “I’m only thinking of your welfare. Besides, we’ve got a chaperone.” He helped her lay the folded sheets of plastic in place, then set the tarps on top. “If I try anything funny, you can just call out for Felix to come to your rescue. Then again, being a thirty-five-hundred-year-old dead guy, he may just get ideas of his own. I mean, it’s probably been a while.”

  Julia just rolled her eyes.

  Alex started unbuttoning his shirt. “Well, I’m going to get comfortable,” he said, slipping off his shoes. “Feel free to take off anything you like. I won’t mind.”

  “Why am I not surprised?” Her voice was dry.

  “Need some help?” he offered. “Anything you can’t reach?”

  She couldn’t quite stop the smile. “I’m all set, thanks.”

  “Don’t say I never offered.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  He picked up his suit coat and folded it in half, then handed it to her. “Pillow.”

  “Alex, you don’t have to—”

  “Ladies first. I’ll use it tomorrow night.”

  “With any luck, we won’t be here tomorrow night.”

  “I’ll still use it.” He squinted at the door and pushed a couple of chairs aside, then glanced over at Julia. “Okay, lights-out time. Better get into your bunk or the camp counselor’s going to be really mad.”

  She smiled and laid down on the pallet. The darkness, when it hit, was complete. She heard the rustling of Alex working his way back toward her.

  “Is that you or Felix?”

  “Me. Although Felix might be bringing up the rear,” he added, sinking down onto the pallet beside her. “You never know. Keep an ear out for noises.”

  Julia laughed. “Good night, Alex.” And then stiffened as he reached out to pull her against him.

  “Body heat, remember?”

  “I’m not that cold yet.”

  “All the better to plan ahead.”

  The spooning felt nice, she realized. Comforting. “Alex?”

  “Yes?” he murmured in her ear.

  “Thanks for the pillow.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  She heard a little rustle of plastic. “Is that you?”

  His laugh rumbled. “I think it’s Felix. He’s ticked off he got left out. Wants to know where Nefertiti is.”

  “Tell him we’ll fix him up with a nice little queen upstairs.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  The room fell silent. “Alex?” Julia said again.

  “Hmm?”

  “Thanks for being so nice about all of this. It could have been really awkward to be locked in together. You’ve made it as easy as possible.”

  “T’weren’t nothin’, little lady,” he murmured. “Sweet dreams.”

  There was another little rustle of plastic.

  With a smile, Julia closed her eyes.

  ANDJULIA DREAMEDof the desert….

  The evening wind
whisked over the land like a hot sigh, a wind that had come many miles. It wasn’t the shrieking wail of the sandstorms but the heated breath that reminded her of the vastness that lay beyond the palms.

  She crouched now with her best friend and watched the caravan draw near to the oasis, the dun-colored camels striding along with their rolling gait. What did they bring from so far away, the white robed traders with their turbans? What lay in their coffers?

  Her friend had eyes only for the scimitars that hung at the belts of the warriors who guarded the caravan. “I’ll carry a sword like that one day,” he pronounced.

  “And I’ll wear the jewels of the caravan, and ride on a white camel and you can protect me,” she said.

  “Of course,” he said grandly, “I’ll fight off the desert hordes for you, an entire army with just one man, and my name will be famous throughout the kingdom.”

  “And will you still be my friend?” she asked.

  “Always,” he said.

  11

  Saturday, 8:00 a.m.

  IT HAD BEEN TOO LONG since he had been with a woman, Allard thought as he stared at the young blonde behind the desk. She glanced down at the contract before her. “And what size safe-deposit box did you need, Mr. Allen?”

  “John, please,” he said, smiling at her. “The four-by-five box will do.”

  “That will be eighty-eight dollars for the year. At the end of that time, you’ll receive papers to renew the box if you choose.”

  He would not need to renew, of course. He would not even need the box for a year. For two nights, though, he would rest more easily knowing the White Star was safe. Ironic that he who had broken into so many vaults would choose one for safekeeping, but he needed a woman and he would not risk having the White Star while he did.

  “I’ll just need some identification,” the blonde said.

  He handed her a passport and she made an apologetic moue. “I’m sorry, but with a passport, we need a second form of ID.”

  “Certainly,” he looked at her name badge, “Caroline.”

  She flushed. He reached into the breast pocket of his elegant suit to pull out his wallet. So careful, so cautious, these petty bureaucrats, and all the time he danced around them, doing as he chose. Did they think that asking for additional papers could stop him? To a clever forger with resources, one document was much like the next, and for a price, anything could be had.

  He passed over his driver’s license, a license identifying him as John Allen, resident of Fort Lee, New Jersey.

  The bank clerk clicked away at her computer, studying the screen before filling in numbers on the contract and turning to him. “Now, if you’ll just sign here, and also sign your access card, that will complete the paperwork.”

  The pen he pulled out was a Montblanc, of course. People were so easily duped. When they saw what they expected to see, they asked no questions.

  He signed the forms with a flourish.

  “Excellent. Now here’s your key. All you have to do is show that card and you can access your box anytime we’re open. Would you like to get into it now?”

  “I would, chérie.”

  She pinkened again. “If you’ll just follow me into the vault,” she said.

  “But of course,” he said and rose.

  Inside the vault, the fluorescent lights gleamed down on the tiled floor. Around him rose the ranks of safe-deposit boxes. There were precious things entombed all around him; he could smell them. And if he wanted, he could return by night and take whatever he chose. It would not be the first occasion he’d done such a thing. But now was not the time for distractions, and soon, very soon, he would no longer need to steal precious things.

  He would be able to buy whatever he wished.

  His White Star would buy it for him.

  JULIA OPENED her eyes to blackness. For an instant she tensed, before memory flooded back and she realized where she was. In the outside world, the light of dawn indicated morning. In the tomblike black of the conservation lab, it might have been midnight, it might have been midafternoon. She couldn’t say. She knew only that she was conscious.

  She stared across the room, willing her eyes to adjust. Rising, she groped for the lab bench that she knew was near. And then, finally, she could see the faint strip of light from the bottom of the laboratory door. Suddenly, as though it had snapped to a grid, the room took shape in her mind and she knew where she stood.

  She let out a breath she was barely aware of holding.

  “Weird, isn’t it?” a voice asked.

  She jumped. “Alex?”

  “Yeah. I’m glad you’re up. Let’s get the lights on.”

  She heard his quick, sure footsteps heading toward the door and she understood his insistence the night before on moving workbenches and chairs. Leaving a clear path to the light switch, she realized.

  And with a click he turned on the lights. “Good morning.”

  “Coffee,” she rasped, squinting at the brightness.

  “What?”

  “I can’t function without coffee.” At home, it brewed while she showered and was ready by the time she began dressing. And suddenly the full horror of the situation sank in. Not only were they locked in, they were locked in without caffeine. “Is there any Coke left?” she asked, trying to keep the desperation from her voice.

  “I can do better,” he said smugly. “Depending on how grateful you’re prepared to be.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “How much do you want coffee?”

  She glowered at him. “If you’re teasing me, I will have to hurt you.”

  He shook his head at her sorrowfully. “This is so disappointing, Julia. I never knew you were like this in the mornings.”

  “Now aren’t you glad we never actually spent the night together all those nights?”

  “I might be,” he agreed, walking over to duck into Paul’s office. “Then again, if coffee soothes the savage beast, then it’s coffee you will get.” He stepped out holding an automatic coffeemaker.

  Julia stared. “Tell me you have coffee for that,” she said faintly.

  Alex whipped a bag of coffee out from behind his back with a flourish. “Ta da. And filters.”

  “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think I may be in love with you,” she told him.

  Alex’s grin widened. “Are you prepared to demonstrate that love?”

  She took the machine from him. “I meant only in the platonic sense. You know, that pure-of-heart thing.”

  “Relax, the amulet’s not around. I’ll take impure. I’d be quite happy with impure.”

  She added a filter and coffee in the upper trap. “And I’m quite happy with this,” she crooned, pouring in the water. “I know he’s not supposed to have that here and I know he breaks the rules anytime he wants, but I think you should know that right now, I love Paul, too.”

  “In the pure or the impure sense?”

  Julia took a blissful sniff. “In every sense.”

  “I’d be jealous if that didn’t smell so damned good.” Alex walked over to the sink with a mug. “By the way, I hunted around and there’s no sugar or anything. So in the words of the immortal Henry Ford, you can have any type of coffee you want as long as it’s black.”

  “I don’t care,” she said, drumming her fingers on the counter until she could snatch out the pot and pour a cup. It took a half dozen swallows before she opened her eyes back up.

  Only to find Alex watching her with amusement. “Welcome back,” he said, leaning against a table. “Let’s start again. The year is 2006.”

  “Good morning.” She smiled. “What time is it?”

  “Oh, a quarter of nine or so.”

  “A quarter of nine?” Her eyes widened. “I never sleep that late.”

  “I tend to wear women out,” he observed.

  “How’d you sleep?”

  He shrugged. “It reminded me of why I never liked camping when I was in Boy Scouts.”


  “You were a Boy Scout?”

  “Only for as long as it took me to go on my first camping trip.”

  Coffee proved the fact that there really was better living through chemistry. She also discovered that she missed a toothbrush and toothpaste far more than she’d missed a bed and pillow; water and her finger were hardly a substitute. “What we need now is for one of these people to be a dental-hygiene freak and keep toothpaste in their tool bench.”

  “I can’t help you there, but I do have some of those breath strips,” Alex offered.

  Julia gave the little flat green plastic pack he held out a dubious look. “I’ve never had one of these.”

  “Try it, you’ll like it,” he said genially.

  She pulled one of the little green strips out and inspected it. “It looks like plastic.” She put the sheet on her tongue and screwed up her face. “That has to be the nastiest thing I’ve ever tasted.” She took a hurried swallow of water from her soda can.

  “It makes you feel remotely human, though, doesn’t it?”

  Julia rubbed her tongue against her teeth. “I think I’ve just replaced one foul taste with another, but I suppose it’s a slight improvement.” She let out a breath. “Well, happy Saturday. You think we’ve got a chance of getting out today?”

  “I wouldn’t count on it.” He looked at her soberly. “Unless one of the conservators comes in for some weekend work, I’d plan on being stuck until Monday.”

  “Oh, great,” Julia groaned. “That’s just great.”

  “Cheer up. Maybe if we look around we can find some more mummy flesh to eat.”

  “That’s not the point. I’m supposed to be at the gala tonight.”

  “Sorry, darlin’. I think we’ve tried everything we can try.”

  “But it’s an important event. My mother’s important event.” And if Julia wasn’t there, there was going to be hell to pay.

  “Hey.” Alex brightened. “Do you think they’d call the cops, maybe come looking for you?”

  Julia sighed. “No, she’ll just think I blew it off and be furious and completely hurt.”

  “Once we’re out, though, you can explain.”