Page 36 of In Doubt

“Yes.”

“Hmmm.” He rests back in his chair. “You could be right.”

“Of course, I’m right,” I tell him, rolling my eyes.

“You’re not always right, you know.”

I resist the urge to roll my eyes harder. “Most of the time I am though, aren’t I?”

He actually chuckles. “For once,” he emphasises. “You may be. This theory is good, Giorgie.”

I smile and lean back in my chair. “Not that it matters.”

“Why not?”

“They’ll never let us excavate it.”

“They might.”

I shake my head.

“Come on,” he says, scraping back his chair and, taking my hand in his, tugging me to my feet. I smother a gasp as the touch of his skin against mine has that electricity dancing through my body. “We might as well ask.”

He pulls me along behind him, halting by the professor’s chair.

“Professor Weaver?” he interrupts, and she peers up from her wine glass.

“Mister Grantham?”

“I assume we won’t be returning to our trench tomorrow.”

She smiles at us with sympathy. “I’m afraid not. They’re still working on removing that artefact from the ground. But don’t worry, we’ll find you both something useful to do.”

Her gaze rakes over the two of us landing on our clasped hands. I wrestle mine from Jake’s grip.

“We were hoping we might be able to excavate the earth in another part of the site–”

“Oh I don’t know about that.”

“See, Giorgie has a theory about a possible side entrance to the temple towards the West and–”

The professor stares at me over the rim of her glasses. Once again I’m amazed Jake has handed the credit for this idea to me, instead of trying to pinch it. Or perhaps he actually thinks it’s a ridiculous theory and is hoping to show me up.

“And what makes you think that, Miss Martinelli?”

I run through my reasoning, Jake nodding with enthusiasm beside me and spurring me onwards despite the professor’s blank expression.

When I’m done, she spins her glass around in her fingers.

“It seems unlikely to me. The position of omega’s in Ancient Egyptian society is well documented.” She thinks some more. “But I suppose there is no harm in testing your theory. Let me speak with the site director tomorrow morning. Personally I don’t see any harm in you digging there. I suspect it will be a waste of time but–”

“It won’t be,” Jake insists. “I think Giorgie is right about this.”

“Do you?” Professor Weaver says with a slight twitch of her lips. “I had a feeling pairing up my two best students would pay off. You can come with me to make your case tomorrow.”

“Thank you, professor,” I say, looking up to beam at Jake when the professor turns back to her conversation. “Thank you too,” I whisper as we step away from the table.

“No need to thank me,” he says, still staring into my eyes. His are darker, the blue a midnight colour like the sky.