lot of thinking. About what Shane told us. And I have a question.” She tapped her pen against the table. “What are you planning to do with the Furies when we find Tisiphone and Magaera?”
Unease ran across his face. They hadn’t discussed what would happen when this was over. They hadn’t discussed much of anything about the future. But it was there, hanging between them. They both wanted the Furies for different reasons: she, for completion; he, for security.
When he didn’t answer, she felt that distance between them grow. Even after what they’d shared last night, after the connection they’d forged, there was still a wide ocean between them. Between who they were and what they each wanted.
“You’re planning to sell them, aren’t you?”
His jaw clenched. “Yes.”
“To who?” He didn’t seem to want to share, but she wasn’t backing down.
“Pete lined up a buyer.”
“Does this buyer have a name?”
He hesitated just long enough to make her think he wasn’t going to answer, then said, “Straithearn. He’s a collector. Lives in Coral Gables somewhere.”
The name wasn’t familiar, but that didn’t mean anything. “Maybe Winters is working for him.”
“I doubt it,” Rafe said with a frown. “The guy’s a recluse. That’s why he’s going through Pete instead of looking for it himself.”
Something about that didn’t sit well with her. “Why? If he gets his hands on Tisiphone first, he’s got more leeway to bargain with you and Pete over Alecto. If he’s a rich collector, he could be looking at different ways to get what he wants.” She glanced back at her papers. “The only thing that throws me is Billy mentioned a woman.” She bit her lip. “Someone this Straithearn works with maybe?”
Indecision brewed in his eyes. He was wavering between telling her or keeping what he knew to himself. And it bugged her that he was holding back—that when it came down to it, he didn’t trust her.
“You have an idea, don’t you?” she asked. At some point they had to believe in each other, if in nothing else.
She was on the verge of reminding him of that when he nodded. “Maria.”
Her eyes widened.
“Gotsi,” he went on. “With the Art Institute of—”
“Athens,” she finished. Now it made sense. “You took Alecto to her. She verified it.” It was exactly what she’d planned to do with the marble relief. Take it to the expert, make sure it was real. Then go after the next one.
He nodded again. “She made it clear she wants them for the Institute. She warned me it could get dangerous. My guess? She’s the one who contacted Billy, tried to use him to get information for her. She could very well have offed Landau, or hired Winters to do it. She’s probably the one looking for you.”
Her blood ran cold. The one trying to kill her.
It all boiled down to money. About how much something was worth. What had Rafe said? Art’s only valuable if someone else wants it. Well, that was more than true in this case.
For fifteen years she’d wanted the Furies. Believed she deserved them, after everything that had happened to her. But sitting here, she realized they wouldn’t change anything. Sure, finding them would be an accomplishment, a type of closure, but keeping them wouldn’t bring her any joy. Not anymore. Not when people had died because of them.
Knowing she’d done something good with them, though, would.
She took a deep breath and pulled a map from the stack of papers she’d been checking and slid it across the table. First they had to find Tisiphone. And Magaera. Then they’d worry about what they were going to do with them. “I think this is our best bet. Sophia’s letters indicated her family sailed back and forth between the States and Antigua several times. There was a small settlement on Great Harbour Cay then. They probably stopped there for supplies or to rest for the night. It was a popular harbor back then.
“In one of the letters you took from Landau’s safe, she talks about how her father disapproved of Tisiphone and wanted her to get rid of it. She mentions a blue hole on the western shore of the island.” Lisa pointed at the map.
“What’s a blue hole?” He took the map and sat on the settee.
“Underwater cave. They’re called cenotes in Mexico and throughout Florida, and blue holes in the Caribbean, because of the typically blue color of the water.”
“And you think she tossed it into one of these blue holes?”
“Her father did.