Summer Days (Fool's Gold #7)(69)

Ms. Jennings and Dante both wanted to hear from him, but they were going to have to wait. What he needed was a good, long ride on Mason. That would clear his head and then he could think.

He crossed the living room and opened the front door. He was halfway down the porch stairs when a white van with a satellite dish on the roof pulled onto the property. He didn’t recognize the TV station listed, or the pictures of the local-news broadcasters. Seconds later, a second van drove in, this one with the call letters of a San Francisco TV station with a network affiliation.

The doors of the vans opened and several people poured out. Guys went to work on equipment, while a well made-up woman and a guy also wearing makeup walked toward him.

“We’re looking for the owner of the ranch,” the woman said. She glanced at her smartphone. “Heidi Simpson.”

“Right here.”

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Heidi had stepped outside. He stared at her, trying to figure out what was different. She still wore jeans and boots, but she was somehow dressed better. She had on a blouse instead of a T-shirt and was wearing makeup—not as much as the TV people, but more than usual. Her hair was loose and wavy. He looked closer. She was wearing earrings. She never wore earrings.

“What’s going on?” he demanded. “What are they doing here?”

The female reporter stepped past him. “Is it true?” she asked. “You made another find?”

“I did,” Heidi told her with a pleasant smile. “I was looking for more room for my cheese. I make goat cheese and age it in the caves. I thought I’d do a little exploring and I got lost. I ended up deeper in the caves than I’ve ever been, and that’s where I saw them.”

Rafe felt as if he’d stepped into the middle of a movie with no idea of where the story was heading. “Saw what?”

Heidi glanced at him. “Cave paintings. They’re amazing. I thought maybe they were from the Máa-zib tribe.” She turned back to the reporter, her eyes wide. “They’re Mayan women who migrated here and lived for hundreds of years. There was that gold discovery last year. I have a friend who has studied the Máa-zib women, and she thinks the cave might have been used in sacred rituals. That would make this an important find.”

The reporter nodded. “I was on the story last year. The viewers loved it, especially the women. Can I see the cave paintings?” She glanced back at her truck. “I want to bring one of the guys with me. He’ll be able to tell what we need to set up for filming. Light’s the main thing. Can we do that? Set up our lights without hurting the paintings?”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Heidi told her.

“Great.”

The reporter hurried back to her van. The second reporter was on his phone, but Rafe was confident he, too, would want to hear the whole story. The amazing story. The unbelievable story.

He looked at Heidi. “Cave paintings? You and I went to that cave together, and there were no paintings on the wall.”

She kept her hands in her front pockets and shrugged. “I guess we didn’t go in deep enough. There are several wonderful paintings and some artifacts. This could be a very important find for the tribe. Annabelle thinks this is sacred ground.”

“I heard that. Who the hell is Annabelle?”

“A friend of mine. She’s a librarian.”

He was quickly going from disbelieving to annoyed. “Well, if she’s a librarian, she must be an expert.”

Heidi raised her chin. “As it happens, she has a minor in Máa-zib studies, so she is a kind of expert.”

“And when did you make this miraculous find?” he asked.

“Yesterday.”

“While you were still recovering from the flu?”

“I wanted to check on my cheese. I guess I got disoriented.”

“I’ll bet. And you didn’t want to mention anything to me?”

“You were gone. On a date.”

Guilt muted his anger, but he refused to be distracted by facts. “I’m not sure when Annabelle had the chance to come look at the caves, let alone make an expert assessment of them.”

“She’s very quick.”

“Or the cave paintings are a recent addition to the ranch.”

Heidi stared directly into his eyes. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Right.” He drew in a breath. “So, what’s the plan?”

“I’m not sure what you mean. I guess we’ll have to have some archaeologists come look over the site. They’ll need to find out if there are more cave paintings, and study the artifacts. If this really was sacred ground, then that kind of changes things.”

“Sacred, my ass,” he muttered. This was nothing more than a trick. What he couldn’t understand was why Heidi was doing this. Why now? She shouldn’t feel any more threatened today than she had a month ago. Nothing was different.

Unless she had found out about his plans.

Not possible, he told himself. No one knew except Dante. He hadn’t even sent an email on the subject. So she couldn’t possibly know about the houses. Which left him with the questions, why this and why now?

“We’re ready,” the female reporter called.

The reporter on the phone looked up. “Hey, I’m coming with you.”