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"There was no reason"

"There’s every reason"

"And that is?"

He shrugged, cordially thanking the waiter when his coffee caain

"There would be no sense in playing it safe for myself Everyone in the area knew that Jean-Luc and I were the primary workers Dubois hired But there was no reason for anyone to suspect that you were in the crypt at the ti"

"I had nothing ht That’s why you were crawling around in the underground corridors afterhow to leave on your own"

"Quite frankly, I know nothing about the dig"

"Nothing at all?" he queried

"I just arrived frooing on After a long flight, and probably no sleep, your casual interest brought you to the dig"

"I don’t have to explain myself to you Come to think of it, I don’t even know your name And I’m not sure that I want to know it"

"Pick up a newspaper, and you’ll read it But since you’re here, you don’t need to bother My name is Brent Malone"

"And you know "

"It’s hard to return property when you don’t know the nas"

"Well, you’ve returned it"

He ignored that "Tara Adair And you gave us a far different na very French, if I recall

You pretended you have French relatives"

"I do have French relatives," she said, annoyed with herself i defensive"

"I believe you So--what is your keen interest in the to about the dig, it’s the absolute truth," she said

He ran a finger around the rilasses to the top of his head and watched her curiously She noted again the alolden color of his eyes Very unusual

And it seeaze from his

"Why don’t you tell me about the crypts and the tomb and whatever you were on to that was so important that someone was killed over it"

"It was a deconsecrated church crypt, you know"

"That much, yes"

"Another St Michel stood directly on top of it, once They razed the original church, and built a hundred yards to the south The corridors had been blocked and sealed for centuries Then, recently, there was some work done In the basee in so repaired, one of the old underground corridors to the old crypt ruins was discovered Professor Dubois had been bugging the fathers at St Michel for years, wanting to get down to the ruins When the chance caentle-men of the church knew that Dubois had soe portion of it iven sole control of the dig He has a reputation of a learned scholar in archeology, history, and especially local lore"