What she didn’t say was that Sawil had warned her about Pete the night she’d gone to talk to him. When she wouldn’t let the subject drop after Sawil’s repeated attempts to tell her to just let it go, he’d finally admitted he suspected the trouble at their tomb and Pete’s appearance in Kat’s life were too close to be a coincidence. He’d argued Pete was an antiquities dealer. Even if he didn’t work on the shady side, he knew people who did. He had to.
She’d told Sawil he was crazy, that Pete would never be involved in something like that, but some small part of her had been knocked off kilter by the accusation.
Because there were too many things she just didn’t know about Pete. And even now, sitting across from Marty, she remembered the way Pete had checked out her tomb during those first few tours, not like a tourist, or a man who was simply pursuing a romantic interest, but like he was after something special.
She supposed that was why she’d called Marty. So he could reassure her Pete was clean and someone else was responsible for the thefts.
This news didn’t help.
“Did Latham increase security around the tomb?”
“Yes,” she said. “But if what you just told me is true, it doesn’t matter. Someone’s getting in anyway.”
His lips thinned. “This isn’t a U.S. matter, Kat. The SCA’s closed-lipped. They like to handle things from within.”
Her shoulders slumped.
“If you have evidence, that’s another matter. But my suggestion now would be to file a report with the SCA yourself. Even though Latham’s handling it, if more people come forward you might see an increased response from the SCA.”
She nodded, knowing he was right.
Their coffees were served, and they managed to talk about the more positive aspects of her excavation instead of the missing relics.
As dusk settled in, Marty walked her back to her flat, four blocks away. She felt no better than when she’d left to meet him. She still had a thousand questions, and she desperately wanted to see Pete to have these insane doubts put to rest. She hadn’t talked to him in a week, and every day that passed without word made Sawil’s warning that much more ominous.
They turned the corner onto her block, and Kat’s heart rate increased as she looked toward her building. Pete rose from the steps where he’d been sitting, waiting for her. A duffel bag sat at his feet, and his hair was mussed. His rumpled blue shirt and worn jeans looked like he’d slept in them.
But it was his face she focused on as she approached. Exhaustion lines marred his skin, making her wonder when he’d slept last. She picked up her pace to close the distance between them, only to falter when she saw the dark and chilling look in his eyes as he glanced between her and Marty.
He didn’t move toward her, just watched her with narrowed eyes.
“Pete,” she said when she was only a few feet away. She eased in to hug him, and he returned the brief contact, but it was stilted and reserved, not the hot-blooded greeting he usually gave her with his mouth and tongue and teeth. Her stomach tightened, and in the obvious tension between them, a little of her doubt solidified into place. “What are you doing here?”
“I had a layover. Thought I’d surprise you.” His voice was hard and unfriendly, and his eyes skipped right over her to land on Marty. “You obviously had other plans.”
Her pulse pounded as she turned toward Marty. “Um. This is Martin Slade. Marty, this is Peter Kauffman. My, uh, friend.”
“Last time I checked,” Pete corrected in that same hard tone, “we were a lot more than friends.”
Kat’s face heated.
Marty glanced from Pete to Kat and back again, then held out his hand. “Nice to meet you. Kat and I were just chatting about her work site.”
Pete didn’t answer, and he didn’t return Marty’s handshake. In his hard eyes there was no mistaking the warning: hands off.
Guilt for something she hadn’t done quickly morphed to frustration. He was the one who left her for weeks at a time without word and was then upset when she had friends? Six months of not knowing where he was or what he was doing or when he’d be back compounded and transformed into anger.
Marty dropped his hand and looked between the two of them, obviously sensing the strain. “I’m going to take off, Kat. If anything else comes