Maidens of the Cave by Lloyd Devereux Richards

Author:Lloyd Devereux Richards
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-05-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

SPRING BREAK HERALDED the annual migration of thousands of Norteamericano students to all points south of the border. Throngs of young sun worshippers headed to the Yucatán and Cancun’s white crystal sands, while archaeology buffs and the more studious college crowd headed to the central highlands, where scores of ancient ruins lay hidden beneath overgrown jungles south and east of Mexico City.

On the first official day of the break, a hot and sticky Saturday, a group of fifty CSU students and their two chaperones landed in Mexico at the Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad. After clearing customs and settling in to their rooms at the Fiesta Inn, a not-so-trendy, moderately priced establishment, the students were to reconvene for an evening program of slides featuring the ancient culture and monuments of the pre-Colombian Americas in preparation for Sunday’s visit to the Teotihuacan pyramids and Monday’s trip to the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City’s central district. Tuesday the group would be changing locations, heading south to Oaxaca and the famous Monte Albán ruins.

In the meantime, Phyllis Overton, a romance language professor with an exceedingly pale complexion who was one of the two faculty chaperones, reviewed the itinerary yet one more time and reconfirmed each day’s arrangements with the tour operator. The other chaperone, who had volunteered his services several months earlier, couldn’t believe his good fortune when he was selected to join the trip. Being a rainmaker does have its unexpected privileges, Shamus Ferguson mused as he sat in the hotel bar late Saturday afternoon nursing a glass of Gran Patron Platinum tequila.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON, CHRISTINE followed Miranda into Patricia Gaston’s office with the dread of a schoolgirl being shown to the principal’s office. The branch director asked them both to sit while she got up from her desk and closed the door behind them.

Christine felt compelled to say something. “I’m sorry, Patricia, for missing the unit head meeting on Thursday. I—”

“If you don’t mind, Christine, I’d like to speak first. Obviously this is important or we wouldn’t be here on a Sunday.” The branch director planted her palms on the desk and regarded Christine evenly. “I had a call late last night from Calhoun Seymour University’s provost. He wanted to know why there was an FBI agent on campus interviewing professors and students without the knowledge of the local sheriff responsible for the investigation of Naomi Winchester’s death. I think we both know that you had no authority to interrogate teachers and students on the campus at this juncture.”

“Okay, yes, I was there. But as a follow-up to examining Winchester’s body, having determined that the two deaths—”

“You’re missing the point, Agent Prusik,” Gaston interrupted her again. “You didn’t have clearance from Agent Miranda or from me to conduct a full-scale investigation. In fact, you had no authority at all. This office hasn’t federally preempted state jurisdiction in the Illinois or the Benson, Indiana, case either.

“I might add that the provost was particularly unhappy that you had disturbed a Professor Shamus Ferguson who, I understand, runs .

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