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Chapter Six
Jackson used a tiny shovel to gently pull away dirt from around what looked like a piece of white porcelain. A blue flower-and-vine design coursed around the edge he’d already exposed and if he was correct, that design meant he’d found a rare artifact indeed.
But he knew better than to get excited yet.
He’d been disappointed many times on digs when he’d believed he’d found something of value only to find it to be not worth much at all. Archaeology was a bit like visiting a casino. Sometimes you struck big. Other times you went home empty-handed. Fortunately for Jackson, his wins outnumbered his losses.
“Hand me the brush.” He stood, stretched up his arm, and pointed to a small brush used to carefully remove debris from around a potential find. An intern reached over the edge of the hole to hand him the brush then suddenly slid into the hole, sending down a cascade of rubble. “Watch it! This whole area could have pieces buried under the dirt.”
“Sorry,” the intern said, cheeks pinking. “I lost my footing.”
“Be careful.”
Jackson took the brush, reminding himself that he was once an intern. On his knees over the porcelain piece, he lightly removed more dirt until a larger portion was visible. When he uncovered a blue dragon image on the porcelain, he knew without a doubt he’d found a Yuan Dynasty vase, circa thirteenth century.
“Jackpot!” He used his fingers to dig out a little more dirt around the belly of the vase. “I knew this trip wasn’t going to be a waste.”
With much wiggling and a crapload of patience, Jackson got the vase free. The lip was chipped, a few pieces were missing from one side of it, and a slight crack cut across the bottom, but it was still a great specimen.
And where there’s one specimen . . .
“Let’s get this safely packed and catalog its location on the site,” he said to the intern as he held up his find and marveled over the intricate dragon design. “Then we can scout around for more treasures.”
It didn’t take long for that vase to be lovingly wrapped and lowered into a waiting crate. Jackson was eager to get back in the hole to see what else he could find. He knew of at least four museums that would salivate over that vase even in its damaged state. His brain was already composing the article he’d write about the piece.
As he stood at the lip of the hole, preparing to descend once again, Jackson’s intern lifted the wooden lid of the crate and it slipped from his fingers. It smacked against a nearby empty crate with a loud slap.
Jackson snapped awake, his hand knocking into something hard. “Ouch!”
“What’s happening over there?” a soothing female voice asked.
He whipped his head in the direction of the voice, shocked to find himself in a jeep with...
Isabel Perri?
Scratching the back of his head then rubbing his knuckles which had apparently hit the dashboard, recent events slowly populated his gray matter.
Right. Birthday party. Balloons. Blue Mondays. Beer.
Isabel.
“Unless you’re driving us back from a dig site in China,” he said slowly, “my guess is I was having a dream.”
“I’m not sure how anyone could dream through all that snoring,” Isabel said, her lips turned up at the corner.
“Ah, shit.” Jackson scrubbed a hand over his face and repositioned his seat so it was no longer reclining. “And why did you let Nicole keep handing me cocktails?”
Isabel laughed while Jackson let out a groan and rubbed his temples. “Because it was your birthday party and you were having fun.”
“But what comes after cocktails isn’t so fun.” He held his stomach as Isabel navigated over a particularly bumpy stretch of road.
“You’ll survive.”
He grunted and leaned his head back against the headrest as the gates of Pine River Cottages came into view. He pointed to the left side of the gates. “That’s about where I found Blaze last night.”
“Jesus, it didn’t take him wandering too far off the property to get into trouble,” Isabel said, shaking her head.
“Well, you don’t know where he was before he ended up there. He could have picked up that steel cable somewhere else before he made it back here.”
