Free The Reincarnationist by M. J. Rose Page A

going to help the investigation and that you didn’t actually see.”
    â€œSo what do I say—that I saw the guard and that I can describe him—but that I have no idea what he took? That I was too busy having flashbacks to the fourth century, where I was hanging out with the flesh-and-blood version of the corpse that’s buried here?”
    Malachai was astonished. “If that’s true, you’d be instrumental to our understanding of what the stones are and how they work. You’d be vital to the solution.”
    â€œWell, there are no coincidences, right? That’s what you and Beryl have been telling me for the past four months, and it looks like you’re dead on. The memories I’ve been having—” He held his arms out to include thetomb, the woods, the hills and beyond. “All of this…it’s what I’ve been seeing for the past year. All of this and more…”
    Malachai began studying Josh, taking in his shirtless chest, dirt-and-blood-streaked face. “Are you sure you are all right? Your hands are bleeding.”
    â€œIt’s nothing but scratches. The professor is the one who’s been hurt, who might not make it.”
    Usually, Malachai was compassionate, but from a distance. As a hobby, and to relax the children he and his aunt worked with at the Phoenix Foundation, Malachai performed magic tricks. One of them seemed to be how he suppressed his own feelings, except for a hidden, sorrowful look in Malachai’s eyes that Josh could see sometimes in just the right light, as if he had been hurt badly once and never quite healed. Josh often wondered whether, if he photographed the man, the melancholy would show through. But now, for the first time, he was overwrought and distressed. “This is a tragedy. A real tragedy.”
    And for a brief moment, before Josh realized how absurd the thought was, he wondered if Malachai was referring to the professor’s shooting or the theft of the stones.

Chapter 12
    A s Josh looked for Gabriella, to give her the professor’s message, the crowd of bystanders grew larger. Josh remembered what Rudolfo had said about the dig becoming a tourist attraction. He looked at his watch. It was 9:00 a.m. Right on cue. The crime scene was going to be contaminated if these people trampled on it. The police still weren’t there to stop them. Shouldn’t they have arrived on the heels of the ambulance? Someone needed to keep the crowds back.
    Scanning the gathering, he noticed a trio of nuns, two priests, a group of teenage Goth girls and a tall man holding a pad and pencil talking to one of the nuns. He had thick hair that fell into his eyes, and he brushed it away in a gesture that Josh recognized. Charlie Billings always expressed his impatience like that. Josh was glad to see him—not just because he’d always liked the reporter, but because, having been on assignment with him here in Rome, he knew Charlie spoke fluent Italian.
    As Josh made his way over to the reporter, pushing through the crowd, Malachai followed him as if he needed to keep him in sight to keep him safe.
    They exchanged greetings, and then Charlie, assuming that Josh was there on assignment, asked who he was covering the story for.
    â€œI’m not here as press, I was here as a guest of the professor. But listen, I need you to—”
    â€œWait a minute. Do you mean you were here during the shooting?”
    Josh nodded, annoyed that he’d inadvertently made himself part of the story.
    â€œDid you see who did this? Did you get a shot of him?” Charlie glanced at the ever-present camera around Josh’s neck.
    â€œI’ll give you all that later, but first you need to help me. This is urgent. This crowd could make it impossible for the police to collect evidence if they get any closer to the area around the tomb. They could be trampling evidence now. I can’t speak Italian, you can. Would you talk