Dan Waddell: Blood Atonement

How did they die? What secrets can they tell us from the grave? In this programme we hope to find out.' He stopped walking. He placed his hands, which he had been using to punctuate his speech as he walked, behind his back. He fixed the camera with his most earnest look. 'In our modern age we are conditioned to forget -- yet the past is one thing we can't ignore. The dead will not be denied.'

He finished. There was a pause.

Guy's face popped out from behind his camera. 'Good stuff, mate,' he said to Nigel, who for the first time sensed admiration rather than scorn in his voice.

Lysette was nodding happily. 'From now on, you're writing your own scripts,' she said, smiling. We'll need to do a little voice-over before and after, but that was great. Still a shame about the jumper.'

Nigel shrugged, felt his cheeks redden and warm. He never knew what to do with praise. He was about to mumble something humble when a loud cry went up from the pit behind them. The archaeologists in there had downed tools. One was running towards the olive-green portable cabin that doubled as an on-site office.

What's happened?' Lysette asked one of the archaeologists who was scurrying past, face white.

'They've found a body.'

'And? There are fifteen thousand people buried here.'

'The last person buried here was in 1853. This body's barely two years old.'

The End.