We left Sharon alone for a moment; but when the time seemed right, I reached down and helped her to her feet.
“Yousaved my life,” I said. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
And I was truly grateful; though at that instant, I was more concerned about diverting her attention from the full realization of what she had done.
I needn’t have worried. Sharon proved resilient, and none of the others displayed the slightest unease over the fate of our adversaries.
For her part, Naomi viewed the spectacle with wholesale approval; and to my surprise, Markowitz appeared almost giddy — a complete reversal of his reaction after the contest in the Antonia.
Lavon reminded us that we still had a few loose ends to tidy up as well.
“We need to get these bodies hidden,” he said. “If we don’t, the vultures will start circling and somebody will wander over to check out why.”
After a brief search, I located a crevice where we could stuff the corpses before we sealed the entrance with rocks. With luck, the wild dogs wouldn’t dig them out for a couple of days, although passers-by would most likely notice the smell before then.
Naomi helped me manhandle the first three into the gap while Lavon and Markowitz ambled back down the hill, returning a few minutes later with their respective victims in tow.
As we wedged them into the fissure, Lavon explained that Naomi’s plan had worked to perfection. Just as she had done with the guards in the palace, this ostensibly demure, timid creature had led these men to their doom.
This time, she had “panicked” and set off on a dead run. Lavon and Markowitz had hidden to one side and bludgeoned their targets with stout olive branches as they rushed by in hot pursuit. Ray then crushed what was left of his opponent’s skull to ensure he would remain silent, which accounted for the third thump I had heard.
Topping off her Academy Award-winning performance, Naomi had then fallen to her knees, begging and whimpering for her life so that the soldiers chasing Sharon and me would not become alarmed.
“Remind me to stay on her good side,” I said to Lavon.
He laughed. “Yeah, I think we all should.”
It was only as we completed our macabre task that I realized we had one additional problem.
“Where’s Bryson?” I asked.
Lavon hadn’t noticed until then, either.
He shot Naomi a dirty look. She and the Professor were supposed to stand watch together, while the archaeologist and I rested.
“I couldn’t stop him,” she said. “I couldn’t understand him. You know that. He started going north.”
Lavon rolled his eyes, as did I. The damned fool.
She began to babble more urgently, “You told me to stay in one spot. You told me — ”
Lavon sighed and held his finger up to her lips. “Don’t worry about it. You did the right thing.”
Naomi, though, wasn’t yet convinced of that.
“I should have woken you,” she repeated, “but you said to stand and watch. You said not to disturb you unless we saw soldiers. You said …”
We both realized that the poor girl had probably been beaten for less.
Lavon let her ramble on for a moment; then reiterated what he had said before. He emphasized once again that we did not blame her for Bryson’s disappearance, and finally the message began to sink in.
As she recovered her composure, she also recognized that we didn’t consider the event a complete surprise.
“Do you know where he’s going?” she asked.
Lavon sighed. “Yes.”
“Where is he going?” asked Markowitz, after Lavon had translated.
“Where do you think?” I said.
“The tomb?” said Sharon.
Lavon nodded.
“I didn’t think he knew where it was,” she replied.
“He might not know the absolute exact spot, but we now have a pretty good picture of its general location.”
“How?” she asked. “Who figured that out?”
Given Sharon’s fragile mental state, I had hoped to avoid this distraction; but there was no getting around it now.
Lavon laughed. “You did.”
The implications took a moment to sink in.
“Oh my God!” she finally said.
“As it turned out, you kicked off a bit of a fuss among the Temple authorities. From what Publius told us, Joseph was not pleased.”
She didn’t answer. She just kept repeating to herself, “Oh my God.”
I let her go on until her breathing came back close to normal. Then I reached over and took both of her hands.
“Sharon, we’re not home yet.”
“I saw him,” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe I slept in his tomb.”
I didn’t think that could be any more sacrilegious than what modern gawkers did every day, but in her current frame of mind, she didn’t seem like she’d be open to that particular point of view.
Still …
“Listen to me, Sharon,” I said. “We need you with us, in the present, right now. Whatever you saw; whatever you want to do as a result; you have to live to make that happen. You can do nothing for him as a corpse; certainly not here.”
She nodded weakly.
“Sharon, do you understand? We need you.”
After a moment, she nodded again, and this time I could see that she meant it.
“Can you find it again?” asked Lavon. “Can you locate the tomb if we go back?”
Sharon briefly hesitated and looked up toward the rapidly clearing late-afternoon sky.
“I think so,” she finally said.
Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, her voice carried the ring of authority.
“Yes, I will find it.”