Not what she needed right now.
That should be her primary focus: protecting her work. But it wasn’t. Jacob was at the forefront of everything. She missed him. A lot.
His work ethic was incredible.
He was a huge help.
He was her friend.
She winced. Friend... Everything inside her wanted to be more than simply friends—
Stop it! That couldn’t happen. Not with everything that had transpired. No. It was best to focus on the matter at hand. Jacob was right. He hadn’t lied to her. She’d never asked if heworked for the other dig, and he’d been honor bound not to talk about it.
He was also right that in everything, he’d been on her side. From the very beginning.
So. It was time.
She’d send for him. He was the best worker she had and she needed him.
After she penned a note to him, she headed over to Michael. The young man was wiry and fast on his feet. Ever since she’d hired him, she’d used his love of running to her advantage. He always got the job done. “Could you deliver this to Mr. Duncan, please?”
“Yes, miss. Right away.” He dipped his hat at her and took off at a run.
Watching him run off down the trail, she felt like a gigantic weight had been lifted off her shoulders. It would be much easier to get back to work now.
Lily Rose approached with her parasol, a pleasant smile on her face. “Which area would you like to work on today?”
“Follow me. It’s one of the tougher grids. A lot of fossils appear to be jammed together. That’s why I saved it for me.”
“Smart approach.” Lily Rose followed her and then provided shade while Martha lowered herself into a sitting position on the ground.
It took her more than an hour to make a tiny fissure in between two of the fossils. This would take much more time than she’d anticipated. She leaned back and studied it. There had to be a better way. But how? None of the proven methods could speed up this process, and if she made the slightest error, she could damage more than one bone.
“Miss Jankowski!” Michael’s shout from the ridge above brought her attention up.
She smiled as she spotted Jacob, but neither he nor Michael were smiling. That couldn’t be good.
Lily Rose helped her to her feet and Martha brushed the dust from her apron as the men jogged down the ridge toward them.
“What’s wrong?”
Their expressions were grim.
Jacob winced. He removed his hat and curled the brim in his hands. “I’m sorry to come back with bad news, but the museum director asked me to visit him this morning. He wanted to ask questions because of Mr. Foster’s article.”
“I see.” She knew this was coming. Her stomach tied in knots. “And?”
“He told me that the other team has experienced some vandalism on site. He asked me if I did it.” The sadness in his face broke her heart. “But I was at church when it occurred. There was a policeman who questioned me. They spoke with the pastor.”
“So they know you didn’t do it?”
“Yes.” He glanced at Michael. “I don’t want to add to the pressure you must be feeling right now, but I have to tell you....” He cleared his throat. “They thought you might have been behind it ... because ... because of what your father did.”
“What?” Of course it would come back to this. Her father’s reputation was now hers. She stepped backward. Her foul mood turned blacker.
“I’m sorry, Martha. I told them you wouldn’t do anything like that. I was emphatic about how honorable you wanted to be in all areas.” The angst in his gaze matched the feeling in her gut.
She bit her lip and her breath stuttered. “Did they believe you?”
