Silhouette in Scarlet - Elizabeth Peters [68]
I started back. I must have been midway through the belt of trees before I suddenly realized that I wasn’t nervous any longer. The shadowed aisles between the trunks promised shelter from wind and storm, not hiding places for monsters. The moan of the boughs overhead stirred my blood instead of chilling it. The trees might guard the crumbling bones of the ancient dead, but the spirits of those antique warriors and herdsmen held no terror for me. They had accepted me as one of their own.
I arrived at the dig in the middle of a loud, abusive argument. The digging had not yet begun, and the first words I heard, from Max, explained the delay.
‘What use are your mathematics?’ he shouted at Georg. ‘You are wrong. Your cross-bearings come nowhere near one another.’
‘I made a slight error’ Georg muttered. ‘If you will try these new calculations – ’
Max slapped his notebook from his hand. ‘The man who found the reliquary did not use exact measurements. We will imitate his method. We will pace off –’
‘But you don’t know the length of his stride,’ Georg protested, with some justification.
‘No matter. You – no, you, Willy.’ The Austrian started nervously when Max pointed at him. ‘Go to the boulder. Then walk normally. Count as you go and stop when you reach fifteen.’
It had taken them almost an hour to arrive at this common-sense solution. There is an adage dear to strategists: Divide and conquer. Confuse and conquer is an even better technique.
‘I think there’s a cemetery in the woods,’ I said brightly.
‘Later, later.’ Max waved me to silence
‘I think I’ll go back to the house.’
‘Later. Are you at the boulder, Willy? Good. Start walking. One – two – three – ’
‘I could make some coffee,’ I said. ‘Mr Smythe looks as if he could use a stimulant.’
I shouldn’t have mentioned his name. Max had become sensitized; the syllables stung him like a hornet.
‘No!’ he cried, turning to me. ‘Don’t speak to him; don’t go near him. Be quiet. You are distracting me. Curse it, Willy; how far have you got?’
Willy was standing stiffly at attention, arms at his sides. ‘Fifteen, sir.’
‘Good. You are sure you counted correctly? Then turn – a right-angle turn. Fifty paces.’
Willy started off in measured slow step, like the Marines at a funeral procession. The formal deliberation of his movements had a hypnotic effect; I found myself counting in chorus with Max: ‘Forty nine, fifty.’ Max shrieked, ‘Stop!’ with such shrill vehemence that Willy leaped into the air.
‘Stand still,’ Max shouted. ‘Don’t move. If you stir one inch, under any circumstances whatever, I will skin you alive. Now.’ He turned a measuring eye on the remainder of his crew. According to their temperaments they shrank or stiffened under his survey. Hans giggled nervously.
‘Not you,’ Max said, scowling at him. ‘Rudi, you are the same height. The tree stump. Go to it.’
Rudi plodded off through the stubble. ‘You are welcome to stay here, Dr Bliss,’ Max said, without looking at me. ‘But you must not try to speak privately with Smythe. Is that clear?’
‘It’s clear, yes. But I don’t see why – ’
‘Dr Bliss, you cannot suppose – ’
‘I am here, Max,’ Rudi called.
‘I see you are, cretin. Stay there.’ Max took my arm and led me away from the others. ‘Dr Bliss,’ he said earnestly, ‘don’t suppose that I am unaware of your intentions. You will not give up attempting to save the life of that wretched man until the deed is done. I understand your principles, and I admire them. I don’t want to see you hurt. Do you believe that?’
‘Oddly enough, I do believe it,’ I admitted.
‘However, I am a man of business. I must obey . . . That is, I must obey the dictates of