Page 33 of Ancient Obsession

Oliver addressed Dave. “Again, what is he doing here?”

“Cody and I were having lunch when you called. He offered to drive, and he promised to behave himself.”

“I’m behaving just fine. Your fiancé is verbally accosting me.”

“Oliver!”

He turned, grateful for the interruption. Cody was the master of spinning things, and Oliver wasn’t in the right frame of mind to keep up.

Robin had come out of the station and was hurrying toward them. Their eyes were wide, expression tight.

“Did you hear?”

“About Amenmose going missing? Yeah, of course. That’s why we were brought in.”

“No, about Lucien.”

A mental image of the man flashed in Oliver’s mind: handsome with dark, almost black hair, and a pair of black-framed glasses. He and Dylan had gotten into some kind of competitive head-butting the night before.

“What about him?”

Robin took a step closer and lowered their voice. “Beryl just sent me a text. Campus police found his apartment broken into and him dead inside. Someone murdered him.”

CHAPTER NINE

“He’s really dead?” Oliver said again.

Robin’s eyes were wide as they nodded. “Really.”

They were all inside Cody’s truck, heading back to Bishop Point University’s campus so Oliver could pick up his car. Oliver and Robin sat on the narrow bench seat in the back, but Oliver wasn’t focused on his cramped position or the sweaty shirts and socks Cody kept in that space.

“Who would steal a mummy and then murder a member of the team?”

“What about that woman I saw inside the station?” Dave asked. “She was practically shouting that you both needed to be locked up.”

“That’s Dr. Brennan,” Oliver replied. “She leads the team.”

“She’s the one who discovered the mummy in Egypt.” Robin gasped. “What if she took the mummy?”

Dave turned in his seat. “Why would she do that?”

“I don’t know.” Robin shrugged. “I was just spitballing.”

“It’s not a bad idea, though,” Oliver said.

“It’s not?”

“It isn’t anything we can prove, but what if she stole it to bring more attention to her discovery.”

“Classic,” Cody added. “Fake the robbery, get the headlines.”

Dave grunted. “But then who murdered Lucien?”

Oliver shook his head. “No idea. But they’ve got to be connected, right?”

“Beryl didn’t have a lot of details about Lucien,” Robin said. “She just told me when campus police arrived, they found the door to his apartment busted in and him dead inside.”

“Is Beryl still on campus?” Oliver wondered.