The City of Lost Secrets: A Mara Beltane Mystery by Katie McVay Page B

only a handful of people in the whole world have seen?” Uri said. “To experience what may be the most significant find of all antiquity?”
    Lev did not respond. His eyes were skyward, searching, like the appropriate reply was written on the ceiling.
    Uri tried again to get through to the boy. “Was your sacrifice too great?”
    Lev sighed and flopped his long arms against his sides in what looked like a sign of defeat.
    “I feel sorry for you, professor, really I do,” he said. “Your sacrifice was much greater than mine, of course. But that was your choice, not mine. You came to me. You asked for my help.”
    “I do not blame you for what happened to me, Lev. You are right. I asked for your help and you gave it, willingly and unselfishly. Believe me, I feel guilty for what happened to you.”
    “Then why?” Lev asked. “Why ask me to sacrifice again? Why take the risk when we all have so much to lose?”
    “Look at this opportunity we have been given,” Uri said, grasping his hands together as if imploring, almost begging, Lev for help. “A second chance to see the Talpiot tomb! And a chance for me to make things up to you.”
    “And Miss Mara?” Lev asked, acknowledging me for the first time in several minutes. “What role does she play in all this?” Are you using her as your excuse to clean your slate?”
    Uri shrank back, surprised by Lev’s accusation. “Absolutely not!” He turned to me and grasped both of my shoulders. “Mara, you have been given this wonderful opportunity as well. You have met two people in Jerusalem who are able to get you inside the Talpiot tomb! Isn’t this what you came here for?” He raised his eyebrows and set his mouth, the way I had seen him address his students. He was waiting for me to tell him yes, that I believed his intentions were good.
    It did seem awfully convenient for Uri, my presence in Jerusalem. He could be using me and my desire to see the tomb for his own selfish motivations. But wasn’t that the exact thing I was doing? Was I not using Lev and his connections, whatever they were, and Uri and his knowledge to write a novel that I hoped would turn Christianity on its head? Wasn’t I being selfish and disingenuous?
    Giving Uri and Lev a chance to see the tomb a second time did seem like a good way for me to cleanse my conscience, though. And Uri had spent a lot of time with me already, teaching me what he knew and showing me around his great city.  So for those two reasons I chose to believe him.
    I nodded at Uri, who smiled in recognition of my trust in him and my willingness to sacrifice whatever it took to see the Talpiot tomb. We both looked at Lev, putting the ball in his court.
    Lev sighed heavily. “Fine, I’ll do it,” he said. He looked past the two of us and through the glass door of the shop into the bustling alleyways of the marketplace, searching. “But we can’t meet here. It’s too dangerous.”
    “It’s already too late,” Uri said. “Mara received a phone call yesterday. And so did I.”
    I snapped my head over in Uri’s direction. “You received a similar call yesterday?” I asked him. “Someone breathing on the other end who didn’t say anything?”
    Uri nodded.
    “It wasn’t a prank call?” I asked.
    “I’m afraid not.”
    “What does it mean?”
    “It means that someone knows what you plan to do. And they know that I am involved.”
    Lev’s eyes grew big as he looked at us. “Miss Mara, who knows you are here in Jerusalem?”
    That was an easy one. I’d only told two people. “My best friend back home in the States and my literary agent.”
    “Who else?” he prodded. “Who here in Jerusalem have you spoken to?”
    “Abigail Greenberg,” I said, looking at Uri for reassurance that the archaeologist, whom I had spoken to several days before by phone, was who she claimed to be.
    “Who?” Lev asked.
    Uri smiled as if recalling an old memory. “Abigail Greenberg,” Uri said. “She is a dear friend of