English Rose for the Sicilian Doc. Annie Claydon

tall frame, his relaxed gait. Matteo was like a work of art standing still, but it was the way he moved that made her head swim.

      Her head really was swimming and her legs felt suddenly unsteady. Maybe there was something wrong with the air in here. Rose heard her torch clatter at her feet before she’d even realised that she’d dropped it and it went out suddenly. In the moments before the beam of Matteo’s torch swung round towards her she saw a faint glimmer of light in the far corner of the cave.

      ‘What’s that?’ She was blinded by his torch, shining straight at her. ‘Turn the light out, I can see daylight.’

      ‘Forget about that...’

      ‘No... Turn your light out.’ No one had been working in this cave and they’d thought it was the last in the series. But there was something beyond it.

      Matteo strode towards her, his fingers closing around her arm. ‘Don’t be alarmed.’ His voice was low and steady. ‘It’s a minor earthquake.’

       CHAPTER FOUR

      IT FELT LIKE a very small earthquake, the kind that were common around here and which most local people took in their stride. But they were underground, which meant that its effects weren’t as keenly felt as they would be on the surface. And Matteo had no way of knowing whether this was the main shock or a foreshock.

      ‘Is it over?’ She’d held on to him for a moment, but now she stepped back.

      ‘I don’t know. We should go and find David and get out of here.’ The caves may have survived thousands of years, and probably many tremors just like this, but in Matteo’s book it was always preferable to have clear sky over your head in circumstances like these. And there was always the danger of displaced earth from the hillside blocking the entrance.

      She took one last look at the corner of the cave that had drawn her interest just a few moments ago, and gave a little huff of exasperation. Still she didn’t seem to want to move.

      ‘Pronto, bella...’ There may not have been any rocks tumbling onto their heads, but all he could think about was getting her outside and to the safest place he could find, and that stripped everything but the most obvious truths away, along with the need to speak English.

      ‘Yes... David...’ Suddenly she was on the same page as him, bending to pick up her torch and taking his hand, leading the way swiftly through the caves that led back to the large cavern where they’d left David. She let out a little cry when she saw him, lying on his side a little way away from where he’d been working, amongst the collapsed wreckage of the tripod that had supported the light he’d been working by.

      Matteo followed her over. She fell to her knees, and in the light of her torch Matteo could see a dark stain on the side of David’s head. When he bent down, the metallic smell of blood reached him.

      ‘He must have fallen and hit his head.’ Rose was clearing away the broken legs of the tripod, and as Matteo moved round to take a better look, she scooted backwards to give him some room.

      The wound on David’s head was bleeding, but that wasn’t what concerned Matteo. He seemed to be having some difficulty breathing, and his eyes were squeezed shut as if he was in pain.

      ‘He has angina.’ Rose’s voice behind him.

      ‘Do you have any pain in your chest?’ David’s eyes had flickered open and Matteo tried the question in the hope that he could answer.

      ‘Yes...’

      ‘Okay, we’re going to sit you up straight.’ In common with most unforeseen emergencies, the priorities weren’t clear-cut, but a decision had to be made. Just as the cut to David’s head could wait, the need to get out and into the open air had to be balanced against the greater risk of trying to move David at the moment.

      Rose took his other side and they gently sat David up. His breathing immediately seemed to come much more easily.

      ‘Do you have medication?’

      ‘It’s in his desk drawer. I’ve seen it there.’ Rose looked up at him, biting her lip.

      He didn’t want to send Rose out through the cavern alone, but there wasn’t any choice. ‘Okay. I want you to go and get it. Be careful, and look at what’s above your head, especially at the mouth of the cave. Make sure there’s nothing coming down the hillside before you step outside. When you’ve got the medication, stay in the open and get someone to bring it back to me here.’

      Matteo spoke as calmly and clearly as he could, hoping that Rose would follow his instructions to the letter. Particularly the bit about not coming back in here.

      ‘Got it. I’ll be as quick as I can.’

      ‘Don’t be quick, be careful. We’ll wait.’

      Matteo sat on the cave floor next to David, supporting him upright against his own body. Despite what he’d said, he hoped that Rose would hurry. He kept his fingers on David’s pulse, counting off the seconds.

      Another small tremor, this one almost imperceptible.

      ‘It’s just an aftershock. Nothing to worry about.’ Matteo breathed a sigh of relief when David’s pulse hardly registered any change.

      ‘It’s the mosaic I’m worried about.’

      ‘Is your angina stable?’ Since David seemed able to talk now, Matteo concentrated on the things he needed to know. The mosaic could look after itself for the moment.

      ‘Yes. When I felt the quake I rushed out to see what was going on. Tripped over the cable on the light.’

      ‘And you felt the chest pains before or after that?’

      ‘After. I don’t get it when I’m resting. It was just the fall gave me a shock.’

      David was clearly knowledgeable about his condition and giving him the information he needed. That was a good sign and hopefully he’d be feeling a lot better soon, but Matteo still wanted the medication before he tried to move him.

      ‘My head hurts.’

      ‘You must have cut your head when you fell. It’s not too bad—we’ll deal with that when we’re outside.’

      ‘Yeah, okay. Thanks.’

      The seconds ticked by. Matteo kept talking to David, knowing that angina itself produced its own feeling of panic, and that he had to try to keep him calm.

      He looked up, hearing a noise at the entrance to the cavern. Matteo hadn’t expected much different from her, but it still brought a thrill of concern to see that Rose had decided to bring the medication herself. She hurried over to them, producing a bottle of pills from her pocket, managing to avoid looking at Matteo when she handed them over.

      ‘How are you doing?’ She knelt down next to David.

      ‘Good. Is the mosaic okay?’

      Rose took his hand. From the way that she was still a little out of breath, she must have run all the way, there and back, almost certainly not stopping to check on the mosaic.

      ‘Don’t worry. It’s fine. I dare say it’s survived enough tremors up here, so one more isn’t going to make any difference. Here, let me wipe your face.’

      She produced a bundle of paper towels from her pocket, obviously grabbed from the dispenser in the office, and broke open the bottle of water she carried, wetting a towel and carefully wiping the grime from David’s mouth. Matteo checked the dosage on the medicine bottle, tipping two tablets into his palm.

      ‘Under your tongue.’ David nodded, and put the tablets into his mouth.

      Matteo picked up a towel and the water bottle, turning his attention to the cut on David’s head. It was dribbling blood and probably needed a couple of stitches, but it didn’t