Travelers (Nel Bently Books, #1) Read online

  Insects buzzed and the soil crunched as Nel trudged onto the site. She scanned the landscape, but didn't let her eyes rest on anything for too long. If she did, all they would see would be absence. “Alright, so when we did the walk over, the surface finds were concentrated around the western edge of the site. We thought they might be eroding out of the hillside, but a few tests later showed us that they were coming from this little valley.” She pointed out the grid and explained what had been found in each unit and what she thought could be made of the information. She was aware of her voice humming in her ears and that she responded to Lin’s questions. She didn’t know what words came out of her mouth.

  Nel jerked her head at the eastern half of the site. “We found the burial and those odd rocks this way, if you want to see them. Thank goodness we got everything out before we got shut down.”

  “I think I've seen enough, actually.” Lin smiled. “I'm going to talk to my boss tonight, but I bet you a beer I'll have you back here next year.”

  Nel's laugh puffed through her sunbaked lips. “I'll believe that when I see it. You said you wanted to meet with Chad?”

  Lin nodded, the gesture regal from her sleek head. “The rest of your crew are no longer in the country, I assume.”

  “The students are all gone. Chad drove them to the airport the day you arrived. He'll be back from Antofagasta this afternoon, though. He's my other experienced digger.”

  “Nel?”

  Nel hummed questioningly.

  “I’m going to find a hill or bush to pee behind, I’ll be right back.”

  “Don’t piss on the stream.” Smiling felt stiff, like her face was made of tanned leather. She paused, midsentence, and stared at the lunch-box forgotten in the corner of the pop-up. It wasn’t Mikey’s. That would have been too perfect — a memento left for her to find.

  “Nel, I found a trowel over by that pile of rocks.” Lin held out a worn Marshaltown. “I assume it’s one of the crew’s?”

  Blood roared in Nel’s ears and her eyes tunneled. The handle of the trowel was carved with intricate swirls and a design of a Clovis point. Her instinct was to grab it from Lin’s hand, wipe anything tainting the wood of the precious tool. “That's Mikey's. He called it Dirt-o-mancer.”

  Lin's brows rose and she handed it carefully to Nel. “Does that make it evidence?”

  “Like fuck. I'm not giving them this. I know who killed him and they're not going to even consider it.” She pressed the warm wood to her lips with reverence. Finally she trusted her voice not to crack against the lump in her throat. “I'll meet you at the car.”

  “You need help packing the equipment?”

  “No, I'll do it tomorrow when Chad's here to help. I just need a few minutes alone.” She listened to Lin's quiet steps retreat to the car. Though she had been to her share of funerals, grieving made Nel uncomfortable. “Closet griever,” her father called her. Now her heart aches, as if it saved every ounce of grief for this moment. She hiked up the hill to the south. The burnt earth dropped toward the water. The ocean was brilliant under the sun. Archaeologists seemed to only look at the ground, searching for artifacts. Mikey had reminded her more than once to look up. Nel turned slowly, taking in the view. To the east battered trees clustered along the river's edge, clinging to the faint trace of life in the desert. The heat haze from the Atacama was visible even from her perch on the hilltop. A condor spun lazily in the thermals.

  Her throat closed too tightly for her to swallow her tears. She lifted her face and let them come.

  TWENTY

  CHAD WAS UNPACKING groceries when Nel and Lin returned. “Hey, I wasn't sure how long we'd be here for, so I didn't bother getting a ton of stuff, just enough for the week.” He turned and stopped, black brows arching in curiosity. “New friend?”

  Nel shrugged. “Chad this is Lin Nalawangsa. She's from our backers. Came to check on the site and all, considering the recent events. Lin, this is Dr. Chad Calligaris.”

  Chad leaned across the counter to offer his hand. “Pleasure, Ms. Nalawangsa.”

  “Lin's fine.”

  Nel edged around the island to grab a beer from the six-pack on the counter. It was only after her second long pull that she caught Chad's expression. “What?”

  “It's one in the afternoon, Nel.”

  “It's not like we have work.”

  “You still have to show me the artifacts, Dr. Bently.” Lin took the glass of water Chad offered her and nodded her thanks.

  “They're upstairs. It's not like I have to drive.” She headed towards the stairs. Something about Lin made her skin crawl. It wasn't deep enough for her to outright dislike the woman, but it irked her. It's like she doesn't quite fit. She walks the walk, talks the talk, but it's something out of the corner of my eye.

  “I know I'm not what you expected or wanted, but I do think your work here is good and I respect your methodology.”

  Nel glanced back. Great, she's a fucking mind reader. “You're fine. I'm just not really a people person.” She tugged the cardboard boxes from the shelves and tossed their tops aside. “We got a few good artifacts and plenty of debitage.” She handed baggies of tools to Lin.

  Lin tapped the paper envelope. “You were planning on doing protein analysis?”

  “Yeah. I was able to run one on our intact tool, actually. Got the results back last week.” She flipped through the paperwork to find the copy of the results. “Came back with human. It was associated with the burial, as well.”

  “You think it was the weapon that killed them?”

  Nel shrugged. “There were only bones left, it'd be hard to tell now. It wasn't within the staining, so I know it's unlikely that the point was imbedded at the time of the burial.”

  “Killers have been known to bury the weapon with their victims.”

  Nel hummed noncommittally. She still wasn't sure what to make of the burial or the results. This whole site is fucked. “The concentration of artifacts is definitely in Block X. There was virtually nothing in Block Y, save for the burial. The test pits I laid in between the rock walls were negative as well, though the strats were unusual.”

  “Unusual how?”

  “There was a black layer bisecting the B horizon.”

  “Burn layer? Volcanic activity?”

  “It wasn't volcanic ash. It came back with all sorts of readings.” She fought back a yawn and slumped into one of the chairs. The previous week barreled down on her with menacing weight.

  Lin flicked on the desk's lamp and drew up her own chair. She put on a pair of steel-grey readers that looked far too thin to do any actual good. “Are the readings in here?”

  “Yeah, towards the back.” Nel propped her chin on her hand, watching the other woman flip through the results. The light was soft and the sun from the window warmed the room comfortably. A fly buzz-tapped its way up the glass. Nel's eyes slid into an unfocused stare, trailing the lines of Lin's face absently. The black line of a hidden tattoo poked from the back of her shirt collar.

  There was something about the woman, something that slid from Nel's gaze and thoughts just as she was about to name it. She doesn't belong.

  Nel's chin slid from her hand, waking her with a jolt.

  Lin glanced over, brown eyes softening slightly at Nel's disheveled appearance. “I'm sure I can find my way around the paperwork. Why don't you rest a bit? I can have Chad walk me through it.”

  “He's down at the precinct I think.” Nel straightened with a sigh. She was exhausted but this was her work, her site, not Chad's. “Do you mind if we revisit this later?”

  “Not at all. How about over dinner?”

  “Sure.” Nel rose and started packing away the artifacts. “If you'd like, you can look over the paperwork tonight.”

  “I'd like that.” Lin's gaze narrowed as she took the folder. “Are you alright?”

  “I'm fine.” Nel closed the door behind them. “Just exhausted.” She listened to Lin move quietly down the stairs and into her ow
n room. A horrible combination of anxiety and exhaustion warred for her brain. I really shouldn't drink when I'm like this. She crawled into bed, not caring that her clothes were sweaty and her boots still on. The wooden handle of Mikey's trowel was warm in her hand. She closed her eyes. “Why the fuck did you have to be the one they took?”

  THE KNOCK ON THE DOOR was just as polite and crisp as Lin herself.

  Nel opened the door, scraping her hair back with a frustrated sigh. “Yeah?”

  “I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

  “No I always look like this.” Nel glowered at the snowy collared shirt and grey jeans. “What did you need?”

  Lin shifted her weight to the other black ballet flat. On a less poised woman the gesture would have seemed uncertain. “You said we could look over the maps at dinner.”

  Nel glanced at the clock. 7:00 on the nose. “Right.” She opened the door wider. “Come in.”

  “I threw a little something together.” She held up a tray and eyed the messy surfaces around her. “Is there someplace I could put this?”

  “Sorry for the mess.” She brushed crumbs and various writing utensils onto the floor to clear a spot for the food.

  Lin pulled the dishtowel off the tray and handed Nel a plate. “Are these maps from your survey?”

  “Yeah, updated with current GIS, topo, and our grids.” Nel dug her fork into the mound of curry. “This is awesome, thanks.” She jerked her chin at the maps, talking around a mouthful of food. “I don’t know what they told you, miss ‘liaison,’ but this site is fucked up. Even before Los Pobladores ever got their teeth into it. The strats are all wrong, there're hydrocarbons in the B and someone shit metal dust all over this weird-ass landform, which, by the way, is flatter than my tits.”

  Lin leaned against the desk, slipping on her readers again. She didn’t seem to notice the red-brown line of dirt the desk’s edge left on her shirt.

  Nel eyed her. This woman is made of money. “It’s nonsense to most. See these,” she pointed to the red X's, “are—”

  “Where you took GIS readings. I know how to read a map, Nel. I wasn’t born in these clothes, you know.”

  Nel frowned. That was uncanny.

  Lin’s mouth twisted. “These readings are all right. Did you notice anything about the landform?”

  “Yeah. Mikey-” She cleared her throat. “Mikey said it looked like a sluice way, but down on the habitable strata it’s flat.”

  “They look fine to me.”

  “What, the readings?”

  “No, your breasts.”

  Either she has one hell of a dead-pan, or she’s being serious. Nel shifted awkwardly. “What do you make of the data from the burning?”

  Lin deftly rolled the map to the side to peer at the profiles of the STPs Nel placed between the two lines of rocks. “This thin layer here?”

  “Yeah. The data came back all fucked—hydrocarbons and magnetized shit. It’s contaminated, but I have no clue how. The strats are as intact as the rest of the site, which pisses me off to no end because I can’t even use the data for the site itself if this is contaminated.”

  “I think your mind has been narrowed too much by academia.”

  Nel’s sun-bleached brows shot up. “I haven’t been out of the field a whole year yet.”

  “Right, but when people have to worry about publishing reports in peer-reviewed journals without being strung up, they lose their passion and bright ideas. For a good reason, I know, but it’s a shame.” She finally picked up her own plate and began to eat.

  Nel bent over the profiles, smoothing a calloused hand across the paper. “You’re saying I missed something.”

  “I’m saying you’re not letting yourself see something.”

  “And you won’t tell me what it is.”

  Lin smiled, the expression maddening and sweet all at once. “You’ll see it eventually. You’re smart.”

  Lin offered a thin envelope. “Before coming here I stopped to see Dr. Danilo Salinas in Antofagasta.”

  “He works in Santiago.”

  “He was coming back from doing some testing for ALMA in San Pedro. Regardless, I was able to get my hands on your carbon dates.” She smiled. “I think you’ll want to see them.”

  Nel rolled her eyes, but snagged the envelope from her. “There was shit all over the place, I’m betting that report will tell me this is a site from the 2000s.”

  Lin shrugged one shoulder and slid it across the table. “Give it a chance.”

  Nel shot her a skeptical look before flicking a pocketknife open and slicing the envelope. She scanned the page, flipped it over, then scanned it again. “12,000 YBP? This can’t be right.”

  “He said it was unusual, but he wasn’t surprised.” Her smile broadened. “This site has a lot to tell you, Nel. You just have to start listening.”

  “Sorry, Lin, but most of what I’m hearing lately is just bullshit.”

  TWENTY-ONE

  CHAD TURNED THE JEEP off at the end of the access road, but didn't get out. He stared at the wheel for a moment before looking over at Nel. “Have you been back to the site? Since it happened, I mean?”

  Nel refused to meet his eyes. “I was here when Lin looked it over.”

  “But you were performing then. You had your tough-girl mask on.”

  “I don't have a mask.”

  “Nonsense, Nel. Everyone does. And just because it's a mask doesn't mean it isn't real.” He reached over and took her hand. “Yours is this badass, driven, woman that never compromises, never weakens, never cries. But there's more underneath. Someday you're not going to recognize yourself, though.”

  Nel stared at her hands, clenched in her lap. She already didn't, sometimes. “I didn't think I was a griever. I didn't think I was a crier.”

  “Your best friend is dead. Weeping isn't weakness.” Chad squeezed her hand.

  “I did cry. Lin gave me a few minutes alone.” So why did she feel like tears still threatened? “I'm mostly just angry.”

  “You're always angry, but you're going to have to learn how to actually feel.” He nodded towards the site. “Come on, let's clean this place up. Nothing will tire out your rage like backfilling an entire grid.”

  She managed a smile. “I bet I can do it faster.”

  “You're on.”

  NEL BANGED THE DOOR open, running a hand through her mop of hair. “Fuck, I smell bad enough to fell an elephant.” She turned to see Lin perched on a stool, a tall glass of something clear before her. “Sorry, Lin, I don’t mean to be so distractingly sexy.”

  Lin’s gaze flicked from her book to Nel. “You’re filthy.”

  A sly smile curled Nel’s mouth. She leaned back, propped on the counter top. Dirt tumbled from her forearms. She cocked her hip, tank top riding up and showing the band of her boxer-briefs. “Oh, come on, you can’t tell me you’ve never seen a woman get dirty.”

  Lin’s expression was forcibly unreadable. “I’ve seen archaeologists come out of the field without looking like they slept in their units.”

  Nel shoved herself away from the counter and sauntered toward the fridge. “Then they were doing it wrong. We’re feral—we’re not meant to be clean. Besides, we were backfilling.” She pulled out the lemonade and poured herself a glass before adding more than enough tequila. After a few deep gulps, she set the glass aside and crossed her arms. “Thank you.”

  Lin’s gaze had returned to her book. “For?”

  “For overseeing this yourself. It means something that you came to try and reopen the site in person.” She shifted her weight. “I know this is probably not your idea of a dream assignment, and I can only imagine what you’re writing home to your girlfriend. But thanks nonetheless.”

  Lin closed her book carefully and pushed it aside. She folded her arms on the counter and leaned forward. “Nel, for someone whose world just got turned upside down, you’re awfully quick to assume. You know nothing of who sent me here or why I requested this assignment. I’d love to
have a chat about it, but maybe a conversation that has less snide judgment.” Her lips quirked just enough to soften the hard words. “Care for a drink?”

  Nel’s grin broadened. “Your treat?”

  “Surely you can pay, considering your funding’s back.”

  Nel snorted and headed for the stairs. “I guess I’ll go shower.”

  “You’d best. Wouldn’t want to upset the other diners with how distractingly sexy you are.”

  NEL TOWELED OFF HER hair in front of the mirror. She usually threw on anything, but this felt different. She and Lin danced around each other, both vying for power like it was a drug. Nel had always loved alpha women, and Lin was a whole new breed. The collared shirt was old and a bit faded, but it looked damn good over her dressier pair of men’s jeans. She dug out an old bolo tie from grad school and tossed it around her popped collar. She even traded her work boots for her old pair of Frye boots. Am I trying to impress her because she's badass or because I want in her pants? Nel grinned at her reflection in the mirror. Either way, I look good.

  She took the stairs two at a time, reveling in the familiar clomp of her soles on the worn wood. Of course, Lin already waited at the counter. She looked like she hired a team of stylists. Nel’s confidence tripped on the last stair as she caught sight of Lin. I wonder if she’s trying just as hard. She pulled a lazy smile onto her face and jerked her head at the door. “Mind walking?”

  Lin fell into step beside her, her long legs making up for Nel’s broad strides. “So are you planning on going to the same bar?”

  “It’s my favorite. Did you have something fancier in mind?”

  “Fancier? Why do you think I’m a debutante?”

  “You just feel cultured. Besides, you’re dressed nicely.”