Canyon of the Sphinx (18 page)

"Yes."

She suddenly couldn't breathe.
"God, tell me it's not true."

"On my life, it's not true.
I never touched her, looked at her, or did anything else to her in a sexually
suggestive manner. Do you believe me?"

"Absolutely."

"Then there's more."

“My God, what?”

“Jensen has pulled the Internal
Revenue Service into this," he went on. "They're going to investigate
the universities, and specifically you, on tax fraud charges based on the
evidence she is providing them and immunity for her testimony. The Supreme
Council for Antiquities has pulled the plug on the American affiliation until
this matter is settled and they're taking over the dig themselves."

"Oh, my God," she
gasped, on the verge of tears. "You're losing your dig?"

"For now, it looks that
way."

"But we didn't do
anything!"

"I know we didn't."

"Marcus, you'll be
ruined!"

"I don't care about me. I
only care about you."

Kathlyn couldn't grasp all of it.
She started to hyperventilate. Marcus pushed her back on the bed, threw himself
on top of her, and held her tightly as she wept.

CHAPTER
NINE

The Internal Revenue Service filed
a motion to obtain a court order to subpoena every financial record Kathlyn had
any relation to, dating back to before Marcus and Kathlyn had even met.
Southern California University, the University of California at Paso Robles,
and Kathlyn and Marcus’ corporation, Burtrent LLC, had all been summoned.

 The motions had been filed in
the County of Los Angeles, California. Jobe McGrath was in attendance in the
cement-walled courtroom as the duly elected delegate of both universities. A
tanned, distinguished-looking man with silver hair and a calm manner, he was
the best possible representative since he had intimate knowledge of not only Southern
California University’s operations, but of University of California Paso Robles
as well. He had been Marcus’ boss long before he had moved over to the larger
rival university. Both schools had determined that, at this preliminary
hearing, Jobe should be the official envoy.

Jobe sat between Debra Jo and
Marcus. Kathlyn sat on the other side of her husband. Mark, Larry, Andy, Otis,
Dennis, Juliana and Lynn sat in the gallery. Every time Kathlyn glanced back at
the assembly of her friends and colleagues, she swore she saw a black cloud
hanging over their heads. Tony was conspicuously absent, as was Gary Crawford.
They had moved on to other things, but everyone in the group felt their
absence.

 The somber group in the gallery generally
smiled when she caught their eye in an attempt to encourage her, with the
exception of Dennis. Kathlyn wondered if he blamed her for everything. Not that
it matter, but Dennis sometimes took things more personally than the rest of
them and his imagination, and emotions, could run wild. Whatever he was
thinking, she knew that Marcus would straighten him out in the end.

 It was a sobering moment to
finally be in this place, awaiting an uncertain future. With everything they’d
been through over the past several weeks, it just seemed like things would
never get better. They continued to grow worse. Marcus spent most of his time
trying to keep his wife calm as Debra Jo and Jobe quietly conversed.

“I thought we were going to have
representation here,” Debra Jo whispered to him. “We’re here alone? Look over
there; there are a whole herd of lawyers. We have none!”

Jobe glanced at the table
opposite from where they sat; there were five people sitting there. Jobe leaned
in to Debra Jo’s ear.

“We have representation,” he
whispered. “He’s just not here yet. The hearing is set for nine in the morning;
it’s only eight-fifty. Be patient.”

Debra Jo rolled her blue eyes.
“He’d better be good. I can only imagine what’s going to go on. And look at
Kathlyn; she looks positively ill. This isn’t doing her any good.”

“Have faith. The truth will come
out and we’ll all be fine.”

“I can’t believe this is
happening.”

Jobe lifted an eyebrow. “We’ll
get through it. But I need your level head now and not your complaining. We’ve
got a lot before us.”

Debra Jo shut her mouth and sat
back in her chair, reading the deposition from Jensen Elder that had been
included with the other paperwork filed in conjunction with the investigation
by the IRS. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement into the
courtroom. Glancing at the door, her features abruptly stiffened. Jobe caught
her expression and turned to see what she was looking at.

 Jensen Elder sat down near the
rear of the gallery. Dressed in a dark suit, she looked every inch the
believable, respectable businesswoman. Her dark eyes focused straight ahead; if
she had seen Debra Jo, she made no indication. Debra was waiting for Jensen to
look in her direction so she could spit daggers at her, but Jobe elbowed Debra
Jo in the arm.

“Turn around,” he said quietly,
evenly. “She doesn’t exist right now, do you hear me? You will not acknowledge
her in any way.”

Debra Jo wasn’t stupid; she would
not make a scene, for a variety of reasons. But she wouldn’t put it past the
rest of the team, seated to the right and slightly in front of Jensen. They
hadn’t seen her yet. She glanced over at Marcus and Kathlyn; Marcus had seen
Jensen but Kathlyn refused to look. As Debra Jo focused back on her paperwork,
Marcus took his wife’s hand under the table.

“This will be short, I’m sure,”
he tried to keep it light, like it wasn’t the end of their world. “They just
have to run through a few things and we’ll be done for today. It’s just a
hearing.”

“I know,” she said shortly. “I’m
well aware of what’s going to happen today.”

Her manner was curt but he let it
go. With everything they’d been through, she wasn’t as strong as she normally
was and her moods tended to be unstable. Today’s situation wasn’t helping.

“Want a bottle of water?” he
asked. “I can go…”

“No. I’m fine.”

He let the conversation die. But
he continued to hold her hand, maintaining the strength between them. Kathlyn
shifted in her chair and leaned across the table.

“Where’s our lawyer?” she asked
Jobe. “Who is the university sending? You never did tell me. Is he any good?
God, he’d better be. With all of the money I’ve brought into their coffers, the
very least they could do is hire a big gun.”

Jobe didn’t have the chance to reply.
The judge suddenly emerged from chambers and everyone rose. Before the short,
bald adjudicator could claim his seat, the door to the courtroom swung open and
a man dressed in an expensive Armani suit marched down the aisle with a firm,
steady stride. Everyone glanced over as he lay his posh briefcase down on the
table and took the seat between Jobe and Marcus.  Kathlyn’s eyes nearly bugged
out of her head.

“Robert!” she hissed.

Robert Trent’s response was to
wink at her. The courtroom was not the place to hug people, no matter if they
happened to be his sister. A senior partner in the law firm of Trent, Jones,
Sheppard and Rosskopf LLP, he had contacted Jobe McGrath personally when news
of the potential legal issues involving his only sister had hit the news media.
The universities had been more than happy to accept his services, pro-bono,
because anyone who knew anything about law knew that TJSR was the crème de la
crème of law firms. It didn’t get any bigger, or any better.

Criminal Defense and Corporate
Litigation was the firm’s bread and butter, and no one was more brilliant than
Robert Trent. He had a round, rosy face and bright blue eyes, giving him a
happy-go-lucky appearance when he was really a piranha in disguise. Robert
could charm you in one breath and go for the jugular in the next, each move
with precise purpose and forethought. He was a tribute to his father’s
training, but his personality was softer than Jason Trent’s had been. He always
struggled with emotion where his father had not.

And this was a particularly
emotional issue. Since reading the volume of filed motions, it was increasingly
apparent that his sister’s entire professional career was at stake and he was
fully prepared to pull out all the stops. No one messed with a Trent, especially
Kathlyn Trent, and got away with it.

Jobe shook Robert’s hand as the
man sat down, more relieved that he could verbalize that Robert was their legal
representation. Marcus was, for the moment, literally speechless. He just
stared at him.

“Robert,” he breathed. “You’re
our lawyer?”

Robert’s eyes were on the judge,
his briefcase, as he unloaded some of his papers. “Do you really think I’d
leave my sister to someone else? And screw you both for not calling me in the
first place. I had to be the one to call Dr. McGrath and beg him to let me
represent you.”

Kathlyn reached around her
husband, grasping her brother’s sleeve. “Robert,” she murmured, tears in her
eyes. “I didn’t want you involved. I didn’t want this to reflect badly on the
family.”

He patted her hand and smiled
sweetly. “Shut up, darling. I’ll deal with you later.”

It was said lightly. Kathlyn took
it lightly, but it also deepened her sense of relief and regret. Whatever
happened in this proceeding, she didn’t want the Trent name dragged through the
mud with her brother tied to the coattails of it. She had wanted very much to
keep the family out of it. But, being family, they had rallied around her. She
should have known not to try to block them out. She could already see by the
look in Robert’s eyes that the man was on the hunt.

The judge eyed Robert as he
organized his papers; he had read the briefs and knew very well who Kathlyn
Trent’s representation was. He had seen Robert Trent a few times in his
courtroom and had a healthy respect for the man and the way in which his mind
worked. This would promise to be an interesting session. He could already see
the fireworks coming.

Not wasting any more time, he
picked up the brief before him, adjusted his glasses, and delved into the
matter at hand.

“Well,” he began. “Dr. McGrath, I
see you’ve wasted no time in obtaining the best representation money can buy.”

Jobe stood up. “Your honor, Mr.
Trent is representing us pro bono.”

The judge looked between Kathlyn
and Robert. “I see,” he said. “I suppose family ties have their advantages.”

Robert rose. “And I can promise
Your Honor that I intend to defend vigorously against these ridiculous
allegations. I’m confident that my client will be fully exonerated.”

The judge was thinking many
things, considering the shark-like reputation of Robert, but said nothing.
“Then I suggest we get started and not waste any of Mr. Trent’s valuable time.”

It sounded like a condescending
remark. Remembering the last case Robert had in the courtroom, he thought that
it probably was. And he more than likely deserved it.

As the lawyers squared off like
heavy weight boxers preparing for a bout, Jobe leaned back and caught Kathlyn’s
attention. His gray eyes glittered, his voice a steely whisper.

“So is this a big enough gun for
you?”

Kathlyn could only nod.

***

Yucatan
Peninsula

It had been almost two months
since Tropical Storm Alvin had plowed into the Yucatan. Only now were things
getting back to normal.  Christopher had been forced to re-clear several square
yards of his excavation area because of the mud and debris that had covered it
anew.  The advantage was, however, that the storm had washed down quite a bit
of topsoil, revealing more pieces of broken tile, stone, and more.  Christopher
and his team definitely had their hands full.

The day was balmy and tropical,
beautiful spring weather for the region. Christopher was lying on his stomach,
working on a piece of carved stone that he believed to be an altar of some
kind.  It was dirty, tedious work, but he thought he was on to something. It
took him a while to realize there was a pair of boot standing next to him. 
Gazing up at the figure, the sun was blazing straight into his eyes.

 He put his hand up to block the
rays and was surprised when the face suddenly came into focus.

Kathlyn stood over him, smiling.
"Good afternoon, Dr. Murphy."

He scrambled to his feet.
"Dr. Trent," he was stunned. "What are you doing here?"

He shook her hand with a big,
dirty glove, realizing too late he hadn’t even bothered to remove it. She
laughed as he hurriedly brushed the dirt off her hand.  "I had a job to do
before I was so rudely interrupted. I thought I'd better finish it."

Christopher was more glad to see
her than he would admit. She looked absolutely gorgeous. "You didn't have
to," he said. "I know you've got a lot going on. How's the leg?"

"Pretty good, thanks. Good
enough to work."

He looked at the scar. "You
can hardly see it. I think you got off easy, considering." He gazed back
into her face. "This is really a surprise. Not that it's a bad thing, but
I really didn't expect you to come back. I'm glad you did."