Read Online Digging Deeper by Barbara Elsborg - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Barbara Elsborg
Ads: Link
to leave by 8:00 and suspected they were all still in bed. Last night they’d walked down to the pub. Beck had said he wasn’t going to go but when Dina announced she’d stay with him, he’d changed his mind. Of course Dina changed her mind, too. Beck had drunk a couple of beers, but Dina and the three boys never had an empty glass in front of them. No wonder students were broke, the amount they spent on alcohol. The boys had drunk themselves stupid. Literally, in the case of Ross who’d tried to kiss Dina and in return received a pair of bruised bollocks. Ross walked back to the house bent over like a coat hook. Beck had difficulty not laughing.
He switched on the kettle and pulled a mug from the cupboard. He jumped when the door opened but Jane came in. Dina had made another attempt to get into his room last night, managing to move the chest of drawers he’d used as a barricade. She was stronger than she looked.
Jane smiled. “Good morning.”
“Good morning. I suppose it would be foolish of me to think the others are outside waiting by the van. We might as well have some toast.”
They managed to leave the house at 8:30, but Beck had to turn round twice, once for tablets for Dina’s headache and the second time for hayfever pills for Matt, though it didn’t escape Beck’s notice Matt also emerged with an iPod. Only Jane seemed to show anything remotely resembling enthusiasm. The guys all looked as though he was dragging them to the depths of hell. Dina’s enthusiasm was for entirely the wrong thing. She stayed much too close, staring into his eyes and hanging on his every word without listening to a bloody thing he said. His own pet leech in full makeup.
Celia stood waiting when Beck pulled up at the rear of the hall. He’d already scouted out the site, so he knew where they needed to stake out the plot, but he guessed Celia would want to inspect the group she’d allowed onto her land. She looked distinctly unhappy at the sight of what crawled from the vehicle.
All but one looked as though they’d spent the last three days sleeping rough at a pop festival. Dina was immaculate in brilliant white shorts and a white cropped top that exposed a line of tanned flesh. Beck had spotted knotted strands at the back of her neck, which led him to suspect she wore a bikini. She had a bulging backpack on her shoulder and brand new Timberland boots on her feet and if it hadn’t have been for her footwear, she could have been off for a day at the beach. The others, as instructed, wore old jeans, tatty t-shirts and well-used footwear. Jane was the only one with a hat. She also sported a t-shirt that read “Archaeologists do it in holes”. Beck liked her style.
Spending the first day of a dig with the majority of your workers nursing a hangover was not uncommon. In fact, Beck couldn’t think of an occasion when that hadn’t happened. So he’d devoted part of yesterday to explaining in precise detail what he wanted them to achieve by the end of the first day. He wasn’t being too ambitious. He had a lot of experience of first days and understood how desperate they were to dig a hole in the ground, but the correct preparation was essential. You had to treat each site as though you might uncover a treasure the British Museum would go ape-shit to own, otherwise you got sloppy and it was easy to lose or damage vital evidence.
Now they stood on the site, the five in front of him, Beck lowered his expectations. Matt had his eyes closed. Ross looked as though he was about to throw up. Pravit was throwing up and the walk from the Hall to the field, which was no distance at all, and had so exhausted Dina she dropped down on the grass. On top of a towel, Beck noticed.
“So, now that we’re here, give me your opinions on the benefits of vertical as opposed to horizontal digging,” Beck said.
And waited. The only one with their gaze anywhere other than the ground or in Dina’s case eyes closed, was Jane. She stared at
He switched on the kettle and pulled a mug from the cupboard. He jumped when the door opened but Jane came in. Dina had made another attempt to get into his room last night, managing to move the chest of drawers he’d used as a barricade. She was stronger than she looked.
Jane smiled. “Good morning.”
“Good morning. I suppose it would be foolish of me to think the others are outside waiting by the van. We might as well have some toast.”
They managed to leave the house at 8:30, but Beck had to turn round twice, once for tablets for Dina’s headache and the second time for hayfever pills for Matt, though it didn’t escape Beck’s notice Matt also emerged with an iPod. Only Jane seemed to show anything remotely resembling enthusiasm. The guys all looked as though he was dragging them to the depths of hell. Dina’s enthusiasm was for entirely the wrong thing. She stayed much too close, staring into his eyes and hanging on his every word without listening to a bloody thing he said. His own pet leech in full makeup.
Celia stood waiting when Beck pulled up at the rear of the hall. He’d already scouted out the site, so he knew where they needed to stake out the plot, but he guessed Celia would want to inspect the group she’d allowed onto her land. She looked distinctly unhappy at the sight of what crawled from the vehicle.
All but one looked as though they’d spent the last three days sleeping rough at a pop festival. Dina was immaculate in brilliant white shorts and a white cropped top that exposed a line of tanned flesh. Beck had spotted knotted strands at the back of her neck, which led him to suspect she wore a bikini. She had a bulging backpack on her shoulder and brand new Timberland boots on her feet and if it hadn’t have been for her footwear, she could have been off for a day at the beach. The others, as instructed, wore old jeans, tatty t-shirts and well-used footwear. Jane was the only one with a hat. She also sported a t-shirt that read “Archaeologists do it in holes”. Beck liked her style.
Spending the first day of a dig with the majority of your workers nursing a hangover was not uncommon. In fact, Beck couldn’t think of an occasion when that hadn’t happened. So he’d devoted part of yesterday to explaining in precise detail what he wanted them to achieve by the end of the first day. He wasn’t being too ambitious. He had a lot of experience of first days and understood how desperate they were to dig a hole in the ground, but the correct preparation was essential. You had to treat each site as though you might uncover a treasure the British Museum would go ape-shit to own, otherwise you got sloppy and it was easy to lose or damage vital evidence.
Now they stood on the site, the five in front of him, Beck lowered his expectations. Matt had his eyes closed. Ross looked as though he was about to throw up. Pravit was throwing up and the walk from the Hall to the field, which was no distance at all, and had so exhausted Dina she dropped down on the grass. On top of a towel, Beck noticed.
“So, now that we’re here, give me your opinions on the benefits of vertical as opposed to horizontal digging,” Beck said.
And waited. The only one with their gaze anywhere other than the ground or in Dina’s case eyes closed, was Jane. She stared at
Similar Books
