Page 36 of Whispers at Dusk
“We’re just thinking history, I guess,” Della said. “And the women are laid out in beauty!” She whispered the last again.
Lars sighed deeply. “The concept of the vampire or the zombie has been around forever in almost every society known to man. The plagues that killed so many in the Dark Ages and medieval times caused more and more people around the world to believe. There were so many dead some had to be moved. And digging up a partially decomposed corpse, well, you had gases that made them move and people believed. Seriously, people all over had superstition and fear, but this Viking burial has nothing to do with a Bram Stoker vampire at all in any way!”
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to imply... I just wondered if... I am so sorry!” Della said sweetly.
“She just wondered if you lost people because they were frightened about what has happened,” Mason said. “No offense intended toward you or the dig.”
“Of course not. I overreacted,” Lars said. “Anyway, go over there. If you don’t mind, talk about how special it is. Because while burials like this might have happened often enough over the Viking age, it’s still rare to find such a magnificent ship that is nearly intact along with so many artifacts. Talk about the fact it has been an amazing international effort on behalf of the scientific community, historians, and so many others.”
“Oh, naturally! Absolutely!” Della said.
Lars extended a hand, indicating where she should speak. Mason hadn’t told her she was going to be doing a video blog. The idea had occurred to him when he had seen how many people were working the dig.
How many potential suspects he might catch on video.
She quickly caught on to his plan.
Once they were out of earshot, she told him, “I’ll keep moving—if you follow me, we’ll get the entire scene. Of course, there are people working in the tents they’ve set up as workshops for the artifacts they discover, but we can still get a lot.”
She smiled and pointed as if she were talking about the wonder and scope of it all.
“Great. I’ll follow you—wherever you go.”
She smiled and stepped out before him. And because Lars might come near or someone else might pass, she kept up the ruse, moving about and pointing as she did so. And as Mason had expected, Lars came as they were finishing.
Della gave him a brilliant smile. “And here we have—”
“No, no, no!” Lars said quickly. “I just walked over to make sure you were doing all right.”
He waved a hand at Mason, indicating he needed to stop taping.
That was all right.
Mason already had a good shot of him.
“Sorry,” Lars said. “I don’t want to be on video. It will draw out every nut from here to the moon. Forgive me, I know I should be the face of the dig, but I keep my face out of things. The right people called about you, and that’s why I’ve seen you and allowed you your blog.”
“Well then, thank you, thank you so much,” Della said.
Lars was suddenly frowning. Mason looked in his direction.
He saw their suspect from the night before, Scott Harrington, was on the site carrying a set of tools toward the mound where the ancient ship lay.
“Well, that one is late,” Lars murmured. “For some, it’s just easy money. A way to keep traveling. For others, this is a dream. All right, then. I’m sorry. I need to escort you back off this site.”
“Of course,” Della murmured, glancing at Mason.
Since they had decided to come to the dig as journalists, it was a good thing Scott Harrington had begged them not to let on they all knew each other.
He had surely seen them there. But he hadn’t blinked or shown a reaction.
“Thank you again,” Mason told him. “We’ll get out of your hair now.”
In a minute, they had bid goodbye to the dig’s liaison.
“Well?” Della asked.
“I don’t like him,” Mason said.
