Buried Secrets by Kristi Belcamino (best ebook reader for surface pro TXT) 📗

ridiculous dinner my mother set up.”

Dallas tried not to act too interested and took a huge sip before answering. “Oh, yeah.”

Colton shook his head. “My mom’s old college friend’s daughter was in town, so …”

He trailed off awkwardly.

It was sort of a date, Dallas thought and to her surprise was filled with jealousy. Speaking of ridiculous. She and Colton weren’t even dating.

“So?” She said, watching his eyes carefully.

“She had a boyfriend that my mother didn’t know about and spent the whole dinner telling us about him.” He burst into laughter.

“Them’s the breaks, Romeo,” Dallas said.

“So about last night? How was it? Anything interesting?”

“Oh yeah,” Dallas said smiling. “Very, very interesting.”

“Do tell.”

“Well, I’m going to put in for a sabbatical.”

“You’re kidding, right?” He looked dismayed and Dallas felt a little bad.

“No.” Did that mean he liked her? Like liked liked her? “I’m going to need your recommendation, though first. As department head and all. As my boss.” She emphasized the word.

“Oh yeah. That.” He always grew uncomfortable when she reminded him that he was technically her boss. Hey, she didn’t like it, either, but it was a fact.

“Wow. We can talk about it, but I’ve got a meeting with the provost this morning,” he said. “Want to grab lunch?”

“As long as I don’t have to watch you eat something disgusting like a hot dog.”

“No guarantee there.” He stood. “Let’s just meet back here at noon.”

Dallas spent the morning cleaning her office, which ultimately involved two large plastic trash bags of scribbled notes, used coffee cups and take out containers. She hefted the bags into the hall and saw the janitor.

“Hey Chris, want to hear my New Year’s resolution?”

The young man shrugged his slim shoulders. “Why not? I’m sure I’ve heard worse.”

“Ha ha,” she said. “I’m going to be more environmentally friendly. I’m going to get a really cool to-go coffee mug and I’m going to buy these neat glass containers with lids and actually bring my lunch to school each day. Hey! I bet I’ll even save money, too.”

“About time.” He didn’t even try to hide his smirk.

Dallas smiled back. She liked Chris. He took twenty credits a semester and also worked at the co-op, in addition to working as a janitor in her department. He was ambitious, and apparently, put on the planet to make her feel bad about her terrible choices.

He was wearing those environmentally goody-two-shoe shoes, Tums, or whatever, and a shirt that looked like it was made of tree bark bamboo or something equally sustainable.

“You young kids are so sanctimonious about recycling and organics. I want to be like that. Believe me, I’m trying,” Dallas said. “But have pity on me. We old people had to learn all this later. You guys have been taught this stuff since the womb. Not us.”

“How old are you, anyway?” he asked.

“29.”

“Damn. That’s hella old.”

Later, when Dallas walked into Perk Café she immediately spotted Colton seated with his head bowed looking at his phone. He was frowning.

“What’s up? Something wrong?” she asked.

“Oh. Just regular academic red tape. Same old B.S. One of the perks of my new job. Perks? Get it?” He gestured at the menu.

“Hardy har har,” she said.

But she frowned. When they’d first met, they’d bonded bitching about the higher ups. But now that Colton was a higher up. Dallas wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

After they ordered—Dallas a tuna poke bowl, Colton a platter of tempura vegetables—Colton sighed loudly.

“How long do you want to be gone for a sabbatical.”

Dallas swallowed. “If my hunch is right, could be a year or more.”

Colton blew air loudly out of his mouth. “I’m not going to stand in your way. I will definitely submit my recommendation, but after that, I don’t know what the provost will do. I’m new so I don’t have a lot of clout, honestly. They made that pretty clear to me today during this morning’s meeting.”

“What happened?”

“Not even worth bringing up.”

“Oh.” Dallas’s voice was quiet. She was thinking about what he said. He would recommend her sabbatical, but who knew if it would be approved.

Colton smiled. “The good news is with that grant there’s a good chance if your sabbatical is anthropological in nature and if it’s approved, it would be partially funded.”

“What do they pay?”

Colton took a big bite of his tempura just as she asked the question. He held up a finger until he finished chewing.

“I’ll have to double check but I believe you get fifty percent of your normal pay.”

Dallas breathed out. “That’s what I’d need to survive.”

“You seem really excited about your ‘hunch.’ Care to share?”

She liked how non-pushy he was. Even though he really had a right to know—and would eventually find out as her supervisor—he still asked if she wanted to share what she was doing.

That’s when Dallas told him her theory: Cleopatra’s tomb was in one of the temples surrounding Alexandria.

“I know you’ve obviously thought this through,” he said, “but I have to ask: what makes you think that these temples haven’t already been thoroughly excavated? I mean don’t you think if there was something there it would’ve already been found?”

“Yes and no,” Dallas said as the server set down their dishes. “Some of these temples haven’t been looked at in years. With the new technology—with the tool Sam helped invent, we could really find it. There’s more there. There has to be.”

They sat in a silence for a second.

“I was going to run my theory by Caldwell, but that was before I actually met him and realized he was the dude in the exhibit—something about him—”

“What? That’s Caldwell?”

“Yep.”

“Yikes. He seems like sort of a creeper,” Colton said.

“Totally,” Dallas said. “And he’s completely convinced that the tomb is somewhere underwater,” she said. She speared a forkful of avocado and tuna. “And he’s certain he’s the one who will find it.”

“You think he’s barking up the wrong tree.”

“Oh yeah.”

“What’s your plan?”

“I’m not positive, but I think I might need to first go see the temples in person and that