Search Me(37)

I rapped lightly on the door.

“Yeah?” a voice demanded.

Maddox arched his eyebrows before twisting the doorknob. The mammoth desk in front of us was buried under books and files. I could barely see the man sitting behind it. He was surprisingly younger than I imagined. I wondered if he was much older than thirty, even with his slightly balding hair and wire-rimmed glasses. He stared expectantly at us.

“Excuse us, but are you Dr. Bretsky?” Maddox said.

He heaved a massive sigh. “Yes, I am.”

I stepped in front of Maddox. “Oh wonderful. I’m Lane Montgomery, and this is Maddox Diaz. You can’t begin to imagine how excited we are to have found you.” I thrust my hand out to shake Dr. Bretsky’s.

He eyed it before giving me a half-hearted handshake. “I wasn’t aware I had a fan club.”

I dug the map out of my purse. “You see we really, really need someone who can translate this. You know, from the Cherokee syllabary into English.”

“You can’t be serious.”

Maddox and I exchanged a look at Dr. Bretsky’s exasperated tone. “Yes, we are,” Maddox replied.

“We think it might be a very important part of Cherokee history,” I added.

Dr. Bretsky continued to stare at us without responding. Maddox cleared his throat. “We’re willing to pay for your time.”

“Oh really. How kind of you,” he said, icily.

Maddox leaned over Dr. Bretsky’s desk. “Dude, what’s your problem? You’re a freakin’ Cherokee language expert working at a freakin’ Cherokee historical park. Don’t you even care about the potential history surrounding this document?”

Narrowing his eyes, Dr. Bretsky replied, “Of course I care about the history. It’s my life’s work.”

“Then how can you just sit there and not be totally in awe about something like this?” I asked.

A contemptuous snort escaped Dr. Bretsky’s lips. “Don’t tell me you think you’re the first people to ever burst through my door with what they thought was an authentic Cherokee historic artifact?” When Maddox and I didn’t reply, Dr. Bretsky rolled his eyes. “At least once a month, I get some crackpot with a parchment or pottery or arrowhead that they think the park will pay them big money for. Ninety-nine percent of the time, it turns out to be garbage, and they’ve wasted both my time and theirs.”

I shifted on my feet, refusing to take no for an answer. “But what if our map might be tied to the legends of hidden Cherokee gold?”

“Like I haven’t heard that one before.” Maddox and I opened our mouths to protest, but Dr. Bretsky held his hand up to silence us. “Do you see this?” he asked, gesturing wildly towards a mound of paperwork on his desk. Maddox and I nodded. “I have to get through all that for a grant the park desperately needs. And when do I have to have it done by? Tomorrow. So, I’m sorry if I don’t have time to play along with your little map decoding and quest.”

“But if you could—”

Dr. Bretsky popped out of his seat like a jack in the box. “Listen carefully to what I’m about to say. I live in the real world—with a job, deadlines, and so much stress that I have an ulcer. Yes, there were legends of hidden gold, but that’s all that they were: legends. Whatever gold there might’ve been hidden was confiscated by the US Government or claimed by family members years and years ago.”

“But this is a matter of life and death,” I cried, my voice raising an octave with desperation.

Dr. Bretsky grunted. “I’m going to the bathroom now. When I get back, you two better be gone.” He then stomped out of the room.

At the sound of the bathroom door slamming, I asked, “Great. Now what?”

Maddox rubbed his chin. “Okay, desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“I don’t know what other measures there could possibly be. We’ve appealed to everything that would interest him—Cherokee history, the treasure itself. You even offered him money, and he’s still not interested.”

“Yeah, well, we haven’t appealed to everything.” His gaze trailed over me before he wagged his eyebrows up and down. “I think you’re going to have to show a little skin. Maybe give him a little first base action.”

My eyes widened. “Are you insane? I’m not going to flash my barely there chest at him!”

“It’s not like I’m asking you to sleep with him or anything. Just a little harmless flirting. The dude is wound tight as hell and could use a little distraction.” I opened my mouth to protest more, but Maddox grabbed me by the shoulders. “Lane, must I remind you what a screwed up situation we’re in? The map has to be translated, and this ass**le is the only person in a thousand mile radius who can possibly do it.”

Even though I hated to admit it, Maddox was right. I was about to accept defeat when something on the bookcase caught my eye and made me laugh out loud. The more I thought of it, the funnier it was, and the more I laughed hysterically.

“Oh, so now you think this is all funny?”

I wiped my eyes. “No, I was just thinking that from the looks of it, I’m not the one who needs to be showing some skin.”

“Huh?”

I pointed to a rainbow frame on the bookcase. It held a picture of Dr. Bretsky and several other guys at Atlanta’s Gay Pride Parade.