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‘Blues always look more intense to me.’
She nodded, putting her phone down on the table. ‘I wish I could show you what I see.’
Suddenly he wanted that too. Matteo had always stalwartly defended his right to see things in his own way, and through his own eyes, and had never felt that he wanted anything different. But he wanted to know everything about Rose.
‘So what kind of vision would you like? If you could choose.’
She laughed. ‘Ground-penetrating radar, definitely. It’d save an awful lot of trouble. Or, actually, CT vision. I can’t wait for tomorrow, when we’ll get to see what’s inside the clay egg.’
‘It might be nothing.’ Matteo knew just how badly she wanted to find some clue about the skeleton they’d found, and he wanted it too. But too many expectations always led to disappointment.
‘I know. I’m hoping for something, though.’
‘Me too. We’ll find out soon enough. I called the guy you put me in contact with, by the way. He’s run me through all the differences between scanning human tissue and archaeological remains. You are bringing the bones, as well as the egg, aren’t you?’
‘Yes, if that’s okay. The plan is to scan everything, and when we have all the information a decision can be made about re-interring the bones.’
‘Sounds good to me. We can do whatever you want, the hospital’s happy to get as much good PR out of this as they can.’
‘Thank you.’ She smiled lazily at him. ‘So what kind of vision would you like? If you could have anything you wanted.’
‘Not X-rays. Skeletons walking along the street would be far too much like work to me.’ Suddenly Matteo knew exactly what he wanted to be able to see. The sea, the sky, and the gorgeous blue of her eyes. ‘Actually, I think I’ll stick with what I have. I don’t want to change a thing.’
* * *
Professor Paulozzi, the site director, was going to be overseeing the transportation of the bones and artefacts to the hospital and the scanning process. When they arrived at the hospital they were directed straight to the radiology labs, where it seemed that a lot of activity was taking place.
Matteo was alone, though, dressed in scrubs and busy covering the patient’s couch with plastic sheeting. He turned to greet her as Rose was ushered inside, wheeling the heavy metal boxes.
‘I think we’re ready.’ He grinned. ‘Looks as if Professor Paulozzi’s going to have some company in the viewing gallery. Quite a few of our doctors want to see this, too.’
‘So that’s what all these people are doing here.’ Rose felt a stab of pride that she was the one who was going to be alone with Matteo in the lab. ‘Do I have to get changed?’
‘No, you just have to wear the protective apron. I just feel a bit more at home when I’m dressed appropriately.’ He laughed at the idiosyncrasy.
‘Are you ready to start? Can we begin unpacking?’
‘Sure. But I need you for ten minutes so that I can run through some safety procedures. This is my lab, and the procedures we go through aren’t advisory.’
‘I’m in your hands entirely. Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it. To the letter.’
As he led her into a small, screened-off area adjoining the lab she heard him mutter that today would be ground-breaking in more ways than one.
The protective apron was heavy and cumbersome, although Matteo didn’t seem to notice the weight. Professor Paulozzi was holding court behind the glass screen of the viewing area, obviously relishing telling the ho
spital staff who were squashed into the small space all about the site and their finds.
‘Bones first?’ Matteo was suddenly calm and businesslike. Someone turned out the light in the viewing area and they were suddenly alone.
One by one, carefully and painstakingly, he scanned the bones. Rose’s back was beginning to ache from the weight of the apron by the time he got to the jawbone, but Matteo’s concentration never wavered as he looked at the real-time results of the scan on the screen.
‘I’d say...our girl’s around sixteen.’
They’d already agreed, from the shape of the pelvic bones and the features of the skull and jaw, that these were the bones of a woman. Bone fusion and growth indicated a teenager, and the development of the teeth bore that out.
‘Yes, I agree.’ Rose smiled. Our girl. This wasn’t just an academic exercise to Matteo, but she imagined that no one who lay on the couch in front of him was. In his concentration, he’d glanced up at the top of the couch a few times, a reflex action to see how his patient was doing.
‘Can we take a look at her leg now?’ Rose had her own theories about the left femur and had deliberately packed it so that it would come out of the box last. Matteo nodded and she carefully placed the delicate bone in front of him on the scanning area.
