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‘Refugees.’ His brow was creased in thought.
‘Yes. I think so. Maybe running from some kind of conflict or invasion, there are plenty to choose from in Sicily’s history.’
‘And it is definitely a grave?’
‘Yes. That’s what I called you up here to see. We’ve opened it.’
Suddenly Matteo’s stride lengthened, and Rose had to almost run to keep up with him. There was no point in asking whether he was interested in seeing it.
The mouth to the cave was protected by a more substantial cover now, and Rose unzipped the doorway, putting her hard hat on and switching on the lights inside. She led the way to the grave, kneeling down beside it.
It was almost as if she was seeing these things for the first time. Matteo silently knelt next to her, looking at the skeleton, which had been laid in a natural dip in the rock lined with clay.
‘You see here...’ She leaned closer to him, feeling goosebumps rise on her arm as it touched his. ‘The texture of the clay lining. It’s the imprint of herbs and flowers.’
She heard Matteo’s sharp intake of breath. ‘What’s that?’ He pointed to a half-buried shape lying at the top of the vertebrae.
‘It’s a coin. It’s not unusual to find a coin placed over the mouth in Roman burials.’
‘So...the person was laid on a bed of flowers, with a coin over their mouth. Then covered with the slabs, and they were decorated with crystals.’ His voice was almost reverent.
‘Yes. And we think that the red ochre on the wall is the remains of some kind of design. The acidity level of the clay is low, so everything’s in a very good state of preservation. Look there.’
‘What is it?’ It looked like an egg-shaped ball of clay, with indented markings on the outside.
‘Don’t know. It’s roughly made and we haven’t seen anything like it before, so it could well have been just something someone made, which had a personal significance. We’d have to send it off to Rome to see if there’s anything inside it, we don’t have scanning facilities here on the island.’
He sat back on his heels, silent for a moment. ‘Yes, we do.’
‘Not for archaeological use...’ Suddenly she felt almost breathless. ‘What are you thinking, Matteo?’
‘Archaeologists have made use of our X-ray equipment before. Why not the CT scanner? Unless there’s some reason you’d prefer to get the finds scanned in Rome.’
‘No. They’re fragile and even the journey there’s a risk...’ Rose broke off, grinning at him stupidly. ‘You think the hospital would do that?’
‘I can ask. I’ll speak to the head of Admin tomorrow, and do my best to persuade her.’
Rose doubted that there were many people at the hospital who would resist Matteo’s best attempt at persuasiveness. ‘And...you wouldn’t mind doing the scan?’
‘Are you kidding? I’d love to do it.’ He leaned forward again, looking at the skeleton. ‘Whoever this is, they were buried with love, weren’t they?’
‘I don’t think there’s much doubt of that.’
‘Then I think we owe it to the people who loved them to see this through, don’t you?’
CHAPTER SIX
IT WAS A strange feeling. Alec had never been interested in Rose’s work and would feign boredom whenever she talked about it too much. But Matteo wasn’t just interested, she could see her own passion mirrored in his. He called Rose the following afternoon, saying he had an in-principle agreement from the hospital, and would the weekend be too soon?
‘No, I don’t think so. I’ll have a word with Professor Paulozzi, and get him to contact the hospital’s administrator and we can take it from there. We’re lifting the skeleton and the grave goods today and tomorrow.’
‘Sounds good.’ Matteo’s tone betrayed satisfaction at a plan coming together. ‘What suits you best, Saturday or Sunday? Either’s fine with me.’
‘Sunday would be best. Elena and her family are going to a wedding on Saturday so I’ve no one to take care of William. And I promised him I’d take him somewhere, after working last weekend.’
‘We’ll aim for Sunday, then.’
‘Sounds good. By the way, do you know a good market in Palermo? One that’s not too crowded.’
