The Reincarnationist by M. J. Rose

herself. Without thinking, Josh took a shot of her. The flash went off. She looked up and over at him, annoyed. Josh lowered the camera.
    Finally the detective climbed back down.
    â€œProfessor Chase, I don’t want to corrupt your site any more than you do. After all, my job is protecting Italian treasures. I know something about archeology, and from the look of this tomb and its location, this woman might be an early Christian martyr. She might be a saint. As we can see, she’s barely corrupted.” He gestured to Sabina with a flourish, trying to impress her with his knowledge. “The police understand. They will come down now and work both quickly and carefully. Luckily, this is a very small space and it will not be complicated. Then you can shut down the site until this ugly matter is dealt with. As long as you agree to give us access if we need it again.”
    She said, “Of course,” and bowed her head for a second as if a prayer was being answered.
    Then he turned to Josh. “Mr. Ryder, I need you to come with me, please. I still have additional questions for you, but we can take care of them up there.”
    Out of the tomb, the detective led Josh away from the clearing and closer to the line of oak trees that stood like sentinels at the edge of what seemed to be a forest. Leaning against one of these massive trees that probably had been standing since the tomb was built, since Sabina had been buried there, Tatti made Josh repeat what had happened since he’d left his hotel.
    â€œI simply don’t believe your story, Mr. Ryder,” he said when Josh finished. “You walk all the way here before dawn when you already have an appointment in the morning? Why?”
    â€œI was restless.”
    â€œBut how did you know where to come?”
    â€œI didn’t.”
    â€œAnd you expect me to believe a coincidence like this? You think I’m stupid, Mr. Ryder?”
    Josh knew how preposterous it sounded. But the truth would have sounded more like a lie.
    I felt propelled here, even though I didn’t know where I was going.
    â€œIf you were me, what would you do if you heard this crazy recital? Would you believe a word of it?”
    What should he tell him? What could he tell him? And then he realized the truth in this case might work. “No. Probably not. But honestly, there’s just nothing else I can tell you.”
    Tatti threw up his hands. He’d had enough for at least the time being. Grasping Josh by the arm, with greater pressure than was necessary, he escorted him over to an unmarked sedan, opened the back door, waited for him to get in and then shut the door and locked it after him.
    â€œI won’t be long. Make yourself, how do you say it? Oh, yes, at home.”
    Despite the open window, the detective’s car was hot and smelled of strong cigarettes and stale coffee. He watched Tatti interrogate Gabriella, watched how she glanced over in Josh’s direction. Again. And again. As if she was putting the blame on him, or as if she was asking him to come to her rescue and save her from any more questions.
    As if she was asking him to save her.
    How familiar that thought seemed.
    Had someone else once asked him to save her here in this grove?
    Was that his imagination? Or was it his madness?

Chapter 15
    W hile Josh waited, he lifted the camera to his eye and looked through the viewfinder. As he snapped shots of the woods bordering the site to the right and the landscape off to the left, the sound of the shutter reverberated in his ears, like an old friend’s greeting.
    Right now he preferred the world framed in this oblong box, all peripheral excess and activities cut out. Reframing the image, Josh went for an even wider shot and saw a break in the line of trees that suggested an opening into the forest.
    As if he were standing there, not sitting in the car, he could smell the pine sap—fresh and sharp—and feel the green-blue