Cradle of Solitude

The most striking difference, however, was the sense of age that filled the rough-hewn walls around them. This tu

“This way,” Laroche said as he led her down the tu

Entering the room, A

The entire chamber was fashioned of bones.

Human bones.

Tibias and femurs by the thousands were stacked neatly side by side, interspersed regularly with rows of skulls, their empty eye sockets staring at her as if in accusation. Here and there the skulls had been arranged in artistic patterns, a cross being the most common. There were no intact skeletons, the goal of the arrangement clearly having been to make the best use of the space available, and A

Clearly they had entered the original catacombs.

“A

Reinhardt was a large, portly man in his early sixties, though he had the exuberant energy of a man half his size and age. He’d been known to work right through the night and into the next day while on an important dig, putting most of the graduate students who worked with him to shame. In the narrow confines of the underground passageway he appeared twice as big as usual and A

A

“Hello, Bernard,” she said, ignoring his outstretched hand and giving him a quick hug, which earned her a hearty embrace.

“It is so good to see you, A

“Just that they’ve discovered something of interest to both your government and mine,” she replied.

Bernard gri

He turned and led her through several other chambers, each one similar to the last. The stacks of bones seemed to go on and on; everywhere she looked, the walls were covered with them. Not that A

That’s a lot of ghosts, she thought.

Ahead of her, Bernard came to a halt at the entrance to a side chamber.

“Is this it?” she asked.

He nodded, then extended a hand, as if to say, After you.

Her lantern held high, A

The room was small, no larger than ten square feet, she estimated, and so it didn’t take her long to pick out what she’d been brought there to see.

The skeleton was seated with its back against the wall of the antechamber, its legs stretched out before it. A cavalry saber was gripped in one hand, in the other, a Colt revolver. At first glance both weapons appeared to be in excellent condition. So, too, was the uniform the skeleton wore—wool trousers and a light shirt, both partially covered by a long frock coat that hung to midthigh. The three bars that designated the rank of captain had been sewn onto the coat’s collar. A kepi hat was still perched atop the skull where it rested against the back wall.

The dirt and dust that had settled on the remains of the clothing made it difficult to determine the exact color of the uniform, but there was no mistaking the brass emblem of a wreath pi

CSA.

As she stared at the emblem in surprise, A

The Confederate States of America.

5

A

“Fascinating, isn’t it?” he said, his voice hushed, as if in reverence for the dead man before them. “To think he’s been down here for a hundred and fifty years, just waiting for someone to come along and find him.”

A

“Any idea who he was?” she asked, looking back at her colleague.

Bernard shook his head. “Not a clue. But that’s why we’re here, my dear, to solve the mystery.”

And a mystery it was. A

If that was the case, what was he doing with a cutlass and pistol in hand? Just who, or what, had he been defending himself against?

An interesting puzzle, to say the least.

And just the kind of thing that A

She reached into the bag at her side and pulled out her digital camera. She rarely went anywhere without it and it was times like this when she was thankful she’d adopted the habit. Eventually, she knew, they were going to have to remove the skeleton from the catacombs and take it back to Bernard’s laboratory for proper examination, but there were a lot of things they needed to do before that and documenting the site as they’d found it was the first priority. The position of items in relation to others and the context in which they were found were just as important to an archaeologist as the items themselves. The photographs would help them establish a record of where each item was in relation to all the others, allowing them to reconstruct the site down to the finest detail if necessary as their investigation progressed.

She started by taking several wide-angle shots, pa