It was obvious Pete liked Marty less now than he had back then. That should make all this easier considering the circumstances, right? Only for some insane reason, it didn’t.
“Marty…he told me they would have her picked up. That they’d protect her. But they couldn’t.”
Kat glanced toward the radiator and focused on the tarnished metal. To this day, she still couldn’t let herself think of the horrible things those two men had done to her roommate.
“Whoever they worked for was so important,” she said, “they were willing to kill anyone who got in their way. That SCA agent. Sawil. Shannon. Me. They used Shannon to get to me.”
“So why the bomb?”
“Because I was in over my head. I was the last one to see Sawil alive. I didn’t have an alibi for being gone that night, and people at the tomb had heard me arguing with him earlier in the day.” They’d been arguing about Pete and his possible involvement, though she didn’t say that now. “Several of the missing artifacts were found in my apartment, along with Shannon’s body. Shannon and Sawil were practically a couple by that point. And they both died on the same night. According to Marty, I was already under watch because of my job and my association with you.”
He glanced away, but she stiffened her spine and went on. “And then I heard from them. They knew everything about me—about my mother, where I lived, where I worked, what route I drove to the university when I was home. They threatened…my family, and after everything…I knew they’d make good on it.”
When he looked at her with blank eyes, she knew he didn’t believe her, and that treacherous heart of hers dropped. Did she expect his sympathy? She really was more pathetic than she realized.
“So, let me guess,” he said. “Good old Marty faked the car bomb.”
She nodded.
“And Shannon’s body was in the rubble, not yours.”
Sickness welled in her stomach again just like it had that day. “Not Shannon’s. But someone else’s. I don’t know the details, but Marty handled it. He figured an Egyptian investigation would just raise too many questions. Whoever it was…He made sure the dental records matched.”
“Jesus Christ.” Pete looked away in disgust.
Kat squared her shoulders, lifted her chin. There wasn’t anything she could do about the past. All that mattered—all that ever mattered—was what she did now.
“Look, I don’t expect you to understand. You asked. I answered. I did what I had to do to stay alive.”
He stood, wobbled and reached out to grip the chair. She quickly rose to help him, but the fire in his eyes had her thinking twice about touching him. She pulled her hand back.
“No, I don’t understand, and I don’t want to. Sounds to me like everything that happened was a result of you being too stubborn and impulsive to listen to reason.”
“Wait a minute—”
“No, I’m done waiting,” he snapped. “Why the hell am I here now? Not because you need anything from me. I’m here because you fucked up—again—and this time dragged me into it.”
She couldn’t believe he was just going to stand there and act like he hadn’t played a part in what had happened. She opened her mouth to say just that but stopped.
He was right about one thing. She had dragged him back into this mess. If she’d stuck to her plan and not gone into the Worthington’s lobby last night, neither of them would be here right now.
“I didn’t mean to—”
“What you meant to do and what you did are two very different things, then and now. Aren’t they, Kat?”
Her mouth snapped closed.
“And now I suppose you’re going to tell me these guys, the ones who were at the auction tonight, saw you and now know you’re not really dead. Which means they’re looking for you because they want to have a nice little conversation about what you remember. And because you showed your face at my auction, that means I’m now fucked because they’ll try to find me to get to you. Is that about right? Please, by all means, fill me in if I missed anything.”
It was more than right, and his sarcasm proved just how ticked he really was. She sensed now wasn’t the time to tell him the pendant she’d mailed him just before disappearing six years ago held the only evidence that would prove her innocence and possibly put a murderer in jail.