[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

started to go off, so it smelled rather weird and there were several lumps she hadn t
been able to rub in. The overall effect was less marine commando and more disease-
ridden plague victim. To think Grinstead s had thought her capable of subterfuge. Ha!
She stopped her mind wandering down that path. Flick had been disappointed to
learn ostriches don t really bury their heads in the sand because she thought it was a
63
Barbara Elsborg
brilliant idea. She parked at the bottom of the lane well away from Hartington Hall. All
she needed now was to be caught by the police and her day would be perfect.
The moon provided enough light to work by, but laying out the field with a grid of
tape took longer than she d expected. She fastened together the ripped ends with neat
knots and stretched the yellow plastic between the metal pegs, measuring carefully so
the distances were exact and all the squares true. Tucking a spare strip of the thick
yellow tape in her back pocket, Flick moved up and down the field, feeling the tape
fluttering behind her in the breeze.
* * * * *
Henry went to close the curtains in the bedroom and froze. There was something in
his field and it wasn t a person. It moved on all fours and had a long pale tail. Too big to
be a cat. He pressed his nose against the glass. He d heard rumors about the beast of
Ilkley Moor but had always dismissed them as superstitious rubbish. In any case Ilkley
Moor lay the other side of the valley. Just then, whatever prowled his land, reared up
on its hind legs and Henry dragged the curtains across the window and staggered back
to slump on the bed.
 Whatever s the matter? Celia looked up from one of her romance paperbacks and
glared.
 Nothing. If he told Celia she d make him go out with the shotgun and he d rather
jump in bed, even though it was with her, and pull the covers over his head.
Flick stood up to stretch her aching back and surveyed her handiwork. She hoped it
met with Beck s approval. Not that he d ever know she d done it. She crept back to her
car, jealous of what they d be doing for the next few weeks because even though most
of their time would be spent sifting through piles of dirt, there was a chance of
uncovering something exciting.
The weird thing was that Paris and Hilton were the reason Flick found the Samian
fragment that brought Beck to the Hall. Paris had grabbed the squeaky mouse attached
to Flick s key ring, wrenched the keys from her fingers and bolted off with Hilton in
pursuit. Flick had caught Paris digging a hole for her treasure and the red pottery
simply lay there in the soil.
Flick had known instantly it was Samian and understood the significance. She d
given it to Henry, but not thought much more about it other than wishing she could dig
up the field in case a few valuable coins awaited discovery. When she d found out
Yorkshire University students were coming to do a summer dig, Flick wondered if
Henry regretted she d spotted it.
She d always thought the artifact side of her history course at Birmingham had been
more interesting than discussions on things like how the English Civil War affected pig
breeding. Handling real historical pieces made Flick feel she was as close as she could
get to an understanding of how people had lived and fought and loved. A truth lay in
64
Digging Deeper
physical remnants of a bygone age that was impossible to feel from words. But Flick did
everything so fast, she wasn t sure she had the patience for archaeology.
By the time she got home, Josh and Kirsten were asleep and the house looked neat
and tidy. Flick knew she was lucky. They paid their rent directly into her bank account,
settled their share of the bills without query, didn t fight over who ate whose food and
they were good company. When she remembered the house she d shared in
Birmingham, Flick shuddered. The roof leaked and mold gradually developed
everywhere as water pouring in met the rising damp halfway up the stairs. Flick often
had to dry her duvet with a hair drier before she could go to bed.
She d shared with three guys who d devised a juvenile game called  Find the dead
mouse . One of them, Flick suspected Justin, the one with gills and the room in the
basement, had discovered a desiccated mouse in the shed and had hidden it in Pete s
trainer. Once it was found, it was hidden again. Flick hadn t thought she was part of the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]