Jake sighed. “I’ve been waiting for that one,” he whispered to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth braced herself for another shouting match, and she was surprised when none was forthcoming. Jake turned again to his book, apparently unaffected by Victor’s latest claim. She walked to the window, looking for the shine of headlights that would signal Milo’s return, but the road was dark. Since she wasn’t hungry and didn’t owe anyone a letter, she began to wander about the room, peering over Victor’s shoulder at his drawing and studying the plaques and pictures on the wall. A sepia photograph of some bygone Sunday school class attracted her attention.
“That’s funny!” she said aloud.
“What?” asked Jake, turning a page.
“This picture must be fifty years old judging from the outfits they’re wearing, but the people look just the same.”
“Mountain witch woman discovers elixir to keep people from aging,” Jake intoned without looking up.
“Idiot! That’s not what I meant. Of course they’re different people, but they’re just as much of a hodgepodge as the ones today. Blonds, people with dark straight hair, people with dark kinky hair, light ones, dark ones. I thought that the farther back you went, the more pure Indian they’d look.”
“Not the Cullowhees,” Jake told her cheerfully. “They’ve always been like that.”
Elizabeth considered this. “What do you think of them?” she asked. “Are they the Zone Six people?”
Jake shook his head. “I’m no expert, but for what it’s worth, I think Lerche’s wrong about the Cherokees being recent invaders. I think they’ve been in these mountains all along.”
“That’s not what Amelanchier told me. She-”
“Where’s Alex?”
They turned to see Milo standing in the doorway, pale and breathless. Jake and Elizabeth glanced at each other, and silently agreed to an edited version of the truth.
“He’s out walking,” Elizabeth answered lightly. “He should be back soon. Come in and let me tell you about-”
“Not now, Elizabeth!” snapped Milo, slamming the door behind him.
Victor looked up, disturbed by the noise. “What was that all about?”
“Trouble, I expect,” Jake answered.
“If there isn’t, there’s going to be,” said Elizabeth grimly.
Milo ran along the dark path to the gravesite. He knew the way well enough to dodge tombstones and tree branches with only the moon to light the way. He was too worried to consider the etiquette involved in interrupting a love tryst or to let his fancy make ghosts of the graveyard’s shadows. Milo had enough to worry about already.
He stopped just short of the excavation trench and looked around. There was no one in sight, and the tent was dark, as he expected. Everything seemed to be in order, though. He decided to let them find him.
“Alex!” he shouted, cupping his hands to his mouth. “Where are you? It’s Milo!”
Having made that announcement, Milo sat down on a rock to wait. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so short with Elizabeth, but a crisis is no time for remembering one’s manners. He would explain it to her later, and he hoped that she wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. He sighed. One romance gumming up the works was enough for any dig. After a few silent minutes, he thought he heard footsteps running through the trees in the direction of the church. A moment later, Alex appeared in the clearing.
“Milo? What on earth’s the matter?”
“Somebody trashed the computer,” said Milo grimly.
“Trashed-when?”
“Earlier tonight. I drove back to town after supper to add some more data to the program, and when I got to the motel room, I found the disks had been ripped apart and the computer screen was smashed.”
“Damn!” Alex motioned him down the path toward the church. “We’ll have to report this, of course.”
“I already did. The guy on duty at the sheriff’s office took down the information, but he didn’t seem too upset. I take it the Cullowhees aren’t too popular around here.”
“I’ll go and see them in the morning. Then I guess we’d better see about replacing the equipment. Damn!”
Milo nodded. “How many days is this going to cost us?”
“I don’t know. A couple. I have duplicate disks back at the university, thank God! And we ought to be able to borrow another computer from the department for the time being.”
“Okay. Do you want me to drive back to campus tomorrow and pick up the replacements?”
“No, I’ll go. Do you have any idea who did this, Milo? Did it look like a burglary? Kids, maybe?”
“I’d say whoever did this knew something about computers. Enough to go after the disks, anyway.”
Alex grunted. “From now on, one of us stays at the motel room on guard. This isn’t going to happen again.”
Alex sat on the top step of the church, watching the sky grow light. It was too early to go to the sheriff’s office, even too early to start breakfast; but he hadn’t been able to sleep. The smashing of the computer was probably a senseless act of violence, but he couldn’t escape the feeling that it was an omen. He was taking it personally. He watched the trees become distinct shapes in the graying light. The cold light of day, he thought, smiling to himself. It seemed silly to think such things in daylight. Obviously, someone didn’t want the Cullowhee study to continue, but that wasn’t what troubled him. That was a minor annoyance. He kept feeling that there was some other message in the incident. A twinge in his lower back made him wince. He missed his bed at home and the luxury of long hot showers, which would loosen his muscles. Apparently the rigors of excavation work taxed muscles that racquetball left untoned. He wasn’t as young as he used to be; there was no getting away from that. Still, it was strange that, after last night, he should be up at dawn thinking of Tessa.
Why had he volunteered to go back to campus for the disks? If he went home, there might be a renewal of the cold war that existed between himself and Tessa. Surely he wanted to stay with Mary Clare-especially after last night. He shrugged. There was no point in worrying about that now. He would go back to campus for the disks, and sort out his feelings later.
Elizabeth appeared at the opening of the tent holding a cardboard box. “Excuse me,” she said with frosty politeness. “I wonder if you would have time to look at these now? I have done twenty already and no one has checked my work.”
Milo looked up from his column of figures. Alex had taken the van to go to the sheriff’s office in town, and then he was going to drive back to the university. Milo, in charge until Alex’s return, was feeling particularly harassed after listening to a recital of imagined illnesses by Victor, a request for more help in the third trench from Jake, and a cross-examination by Mary Clare on “what Alex said about his plans before he left.” Elizabeth’s chilling courtesy made it plain that there was trouble in that quarter as well.
Milo decided that he had better make time for this interview. “Look, Elizabeth, I know I’ve been cross lately, but-”
“Don’t bother to explain,” said Elizabeth coldly. “It spoils your image. Why don’t you just go and eat a village?”
Milo sighed. “I’m sorry.” He took the cardboard box from her with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. “Let’s see what you’ve found.”
Elizabeth brightened a little. “Okay. First I cleaned them off very carefully before taking any measurements.”
“That’s good. Those teeth are easy to lose.”
“Excuse me, Milo!” Mary Clare was peering into the tent with a worried frown. “Can you come out here?”
“Uh… is it important?”
“Yes! Somebody from the sheriff’s department is here about the computer. He wants to talk to the person in charge. I think it had better be you.”