Free Kathlyn Trent, Marcus Burton 01 - Valley of the Shadow by Kathryn Le Veque Page A

nuts.              “You won’t believe me if I tell you,”
    “Try me.”
    She bent over and picked up a rock, tossing it up onto the slope. “I looked at all of your data. My people have analyzed it. We’re sure your tomb isn’t where you say it is in spite of your legitimate argument. We feel that it is here, at the mouth of the valley, in this nest of Ramesside tombs.” She turned and looked at him. “McGrath has granted our request to do a depth and soil sample of this slope. I contacted the SCA and the Egyptian Department of Monuments and Ministries this morning and filed a petition to dig on this site.  I’m told permission should be granted by tomorrow morning.”
    His expression was hard, just like it always was. “Seems like you’ve done an awful lot of work without letting me in on what was going on.”
    She tried to explain. “I wasn’t going behind your back, if that’s what you think. I’m not just going to start throwing theories at you without having some sort of substantiating proof. I prefer to wait until I have some hard evidence to show you, which is why I wish McGrath hadn’t forced me into telling you about my theory so soon.  I wanted to see what the samples had to say.”
    His veins were beginning to throb. “And you didn’t think I’d see you, out here on this exposed slope, taking samples with a core drill?”
    “You’d see us,” she said, looking sheepish. “I just didn’t want to jump the gun by divulging my thoughts to you too soon. There’s a lot riding on this and I’d hoped to be more solid when I presented it to you.”
    “You didn’t seem to have any problem presenting it to McGrath.”
    “I didn’t present anything to him. He just sort of put the pieces of the puzzle together.”
    “And you’ve kept me in the dark.” His jaw was ticking now in addition to the throbbing veins. “In spite of my one and only request that you keep me, as the director of this dig, in the loop, you’ve done the exact opposite and worked with your secret agenda.  What’s in it for you, Dr. Trent? A big-time cable contract with The World of Exploration Channel? An exclusive with World Geography Magazine? What corporation is really bankrolling you and precisely how dishonest have you been with me about all of this?”
    He had broken his promise to behave himself. In truth, Kathlyn didn’t blame him, but his words cut her. “I haven’t been dishonest with you at all,” she said quietly. “I’ve not gone behind your back, nor do I have any hidden agenda. Your university is paying me a lot of money, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to go around crying wolf. I’m sorry if you can’t understand that. As you said, we just do things differently.”
    He stared at her a moment longer before turning on his heel and marching away.  Kathlyn watched him go, pained that she had offended him so deeply. That hadn’t been her intention, but maybe he was right. Maybe she had gone behind his back and had tried to justify it by convincing everyone that she was only trying to protect hers and Burton’s reputation. Maybe she really had been dishonest with him.
    She grew furious with herself.  She’d only been here two days and already it had become the most emotional, combative, thrilling episode yet. Turning to the slope behind her, she fell to her knees and began digging with her bare hands.
     
    ***
     
    “Marcus, I don’t care what you say. The woman has never lied to you. Everything she told you was the truth, but you’ve never given her the benefit of the doubt.”
    Burton stood in McGrath’s tent, which was becoming a place for emotional showdowns as of late. McGrath was frankly weary of them; between Burton’s viciousness and Trent’s understandable reactions, he felt like a court mediator. After what Dr. Davis had told him about the scene behind the crates, McGrath was hoping all was well between them. His optimism, apparently, had been premature. They had