One Grave Less

stuck out her hand. “I just received my degree,” she said.
    Maria had an idea, a way of ingratiating herself. She started to speak when Michaels beat her to it.
    “As you know, I have a serious charge against this woman.”
    Senhor Cordeiro tapped the wrinkled paper in front of him.
    Maria recognized the flyer.
    “This drawing bears little resemblance to this woman,” he said. “And it says her name is either Diane Fallon or Linda Hall, not Maria West.”
    “Nevertheless, I am making the charges,” he said. “She is a murderer and a kidnapper of this native child.”
    Rosetta grabbed Maria around the leg. “No, she’s not. My mama’s not a murderer. You’re a bad man.”
    “The child speaks good English,” said Cordeiro. “Though, true, she doesn’t resemble Mrs. West.”
    “She takes after her father,” said Maria. “Before we get into this, may I speak with your daughter?”

Chapter 60
    “You wish to speak with my daughter?” said Rodrigo Cordeiro. “Why, Mrs. West?”
    “This is a delaying tactic,” said Michaels.
    “What is your hurry, Mr. Michaels?” said Cordeiro. “Sit down. There is a chair over there. Now, Mrs. West, why do you want to speak with Catia?”
    “I was on vacation with my daughter when we were attacked and had our papers stolen. We escaped and had to make our way here.” She left out any description of their adventure, hoping he really didn’t want details anyway. “It wasn’t far,” she continued, placing herself far away from the village where she was held prisoner and the route where she did indeed kill the men in question.
    She took a deep breath. “It wasn’t a terribly long trip, but it was an interesting one. On the way we found something I need to tell an archaeologist about. I was going to send a letter to the Ministry of Culture, but your daughter is here.”
    “What did you find?” asked Catia, her dark eyes wide with interest.
    Maria stuck her hand in her bag.
    “She’s going for a gun,” said Michaels.
    “Oh, please,” said Maria. “I’m getting my notes. What have you been drinking, Mr. Michaels?”
    Maria’s hand landed first on Rosetta’s doll, which she pulled from the knapsack and handed to Rosetta. Rosetta hugged the doll to her and whispered in the doll’s ear. Senhor Cordeiro smiled at Rosetta and gave Michaels a bemused glance. Maria put her hand back in the knapsack and pulled out her notes and the envelope with the sherds.
    “We came across a place where the rain forest was recently burned off. It revealed an Incan site, the biggest I’ve ever seen. Although the Incas aren’t my specialty, I studied up on them before I came here and I am familiar with the known sites. This was not among them and it is at least eighty hectares or more. It needs to be secured against vandals and pothunters.”
    Catia’s eyes grew even wider. She understood the significance of a find of that size. Maria was hoping that a newly minted archaeologist would jump at the information, and her father would not only feel really grateful, he would find Maria a credible person and not a killer. Appearances were everything, because that was all she had.
    “There are no sites that big,” whispered Catia.
    Maria showed Catia her drawing and her notes. “Here is the large mound. I saw several, but this is the largest. These”—Maria pointed to some rock ruins on the drawing—“are domiciles, I suspect. Notice these lines, they are scars in the ground, possibly part of the road system. . . . These are my notes and drawings. You can see the site extends into the rain forest, so it’s larger than the clearing, which is about eighty hectares, I would guess.”
    Catia picked up the drawings and studied them, reading Maria’s notes. She nodded to her father.
    “I picked up these two ceramic sherds.” She handed them to Catia. “Like I said, the site needs the attention of an archaeologist. To my knowledge it would be the largest in Brazil—a national treasure.”
    “ Papai ,” Catia said, and spoke rapidly to him in Portuguese.
    “We are getting off track,” said Michaels. “I’m all for your daughter’s career, but we need to secure this woman. Some ancient Incan site is not going anywhere.”
    Cameron Michaels was frustrated. Good, Maria thought. She wanted to keep him that way.
    “Where is it?” said Catia. Both she and her father ignored Michaels. “Is there any way you can tell me?”
    “Do you have a map? And a ruler?” Maria