Alvarado Gold by Victoria Pitts-Caine Page B

Geller will be gone and the Vice President slot will be open.” A slight grin began to catch the corners of Jack’s mouth.
    “Who’s the new owner? Anyone we know? Is Findley over in the lab going to get the VP job? He’s been here the longest.” I shot questions at Jack before he could answer.
    “I bought Docurestore. You’re the new VP.”
    I never felt the cup slide out of my hand. When it landed and slopped out on the clean, brown tile floor, we looked at each other and laughed.

Chapter Twelve
    After I cleaned up the coffee and sent Jack on his way, time came to prepare my strategy for the project. I wanted to call the museum, talk with Elizabeth McCran to find out what I’d gotten myself into, and have the documents brought from the safe room. I made a mental note to have maintenance crank down the air conditioning and ask Catherine to give me a key to the archive room.
    By eight-thirty, I’d checked off everything on my list except placing the call to Elizabeth. She and I had been friends for a long time after meeting while I worked at the museum. She’d worked her way up through the ranks and now spent her time divided between procurement and management.
    I dialed her number and heard her voice, “Liz, it’s Addie. I haven’t talked to you in ages.”
    “It is so good to hear from you. I hear Jack lured you back to his den.”
    “Word gets out fast doesn’t it? I’ve only been back two days,” I laughed. “That’s where you come in, my dear. What’s this project I’ve been lassoed into?”
    “Ah…the Cairo project. Well, to put it into a nutshell, two years ago a tomb was opened about two hundred kilometers north of Cairo, not far from where the Rosetta Stone was found. It was of some little known government official. Since he had no importance, his tomb was never raided leaving everything in near perfect condition. The documents you’ll be working on are tax records and local government transactions.” I could hear a lilt of excitement in Elizabeth’s voice. The findings must have been fairly important for her to get excited.
    The project sparked my interest. “How did it wind up here?” Now, I was eager to see the documents and glanced at my watch to see what held up my delivery.
    “Geller and John Cahill both happened to be in Cairo when the tomb was found. They struck a deal with the Egyptian officials to let the museum have the first exclusive showing and, in turn, work would be done on the artifacts and documents to preserve them. The artifacts will be cleaned here at the museum with Docurestore taking care of the papyrus.”
    “Those two can always turn a deal, can’t they?”
    “They’re good at it but Cahill’s going to retire. Geller is taking his place on the Board in September. The opening of the exhibit coincides with the change-over. Geller won’t be around your place much after he takes over the chair position.”
    “Well, he isn’t here much now anyway.” I didn’t know if anyone knew Jack had bought the business so I kept my mouth shut. This project turned out to be bigger than I’d thought. If Geller took the chair position on the Museum Board and was selling Docurestore all at the same time, the exhibition would be his premier showing. No wonder Jack seemed nervous.
    “You’ve been a lot of help, Liz. The docs should be here any minute now and I’m anxious to see them.”
    “Are you working this alone?” Liz sounded a little apprehensive. “There are one hundred and fifty documents to be cleaned before the end of August. That’s a big job.”
    “I might as well be. Jack hired two kids straight out of the university. I’ll spend a lot of my time teaching them what to do.”
    ‘You have your work cut out for you then. Are they any good?”
    “I don’t know. Actually, they each have some irritating habits. Sherry can’t say enough good things about me, which makes me think she’s up to something. Then, I have Mitch who, when he isn’t following me