Chapter 9
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.
Robin shrugged. “Want me to see?”
“Yeah. See if she’ll talk with us about it. And tell her you and I didn’t steal the mummy or have anything to do with Lucien.”
Robin received a quick response to their message. “She says she’s in the Earth Sciences building and can meet with us at five-thirty.”
It was four fifty. He’d been in the station a lot longer than he’d thought. “That works.”
“Works for me, too,” Dave said.
Oliver blinked. “Oh, you’re staying?”
“Um, yeah, of course. When my fiancé is taken in for police questioning, I like to stick around to see how it all shakes out.”
“I’m free, too,” Cody said.
“Oh, um, you know—” Oliver started, but Cody interrupted him.
“Nope, I won’t hear it, Ollie.”
“Ollie?” Robin whispered with a smirk.
“With all the weird shit we’ve been through together, I’m sticking around, too, because that’s what Bowers do.”
“Stick it to people?” Oliver said.
Cody shot Dave a look across the front seat. “Your fiancé has got a mouth on him, you know that, right?”
“Oh, I know,” Dave replied with a smile. “Why do you think I asked him to marry me?”
Cody’s expression of disgust made Oliver laugh. The tightness around his eyes smoothed out and the skin felt cooler, softer. He wasn’t completely relaxed, not by a long shot, but it helped.
As the four of them walked into the Earth Sciences building, Oliver caught a glimpse of their reflections in the glass door and had to suppress mental comparisons to every oddball buddy team up movie he’d ever seen.
Classes were currently in session, so the hall was sparsely populated, but the few people they passed gave them a curious once over.
“Earth Science girls are a lot hotter now than when I was in college,” Cody said.
“I’m sure your husband would love to hear that sentiment,” Dave replied.
“Hey, I’m not hiding anything from Demmy.” Cody sounded hurt, and Oliver really hoped he wasn’t going to turn whiny. “Demmy and I have known each other—”
“Since kindergarten,” Oliver and Dave said together, then exchanged smiles.
“You’re both dicks,” Cody said with a huff. “I’ll stay back here with Robin. He knows what I’m talking about.”
“I prefer they/them pronouns,” Robin said. “And I’m demisexual.”
“Yeah?” Cody said. “Apparently so am I.”
“Do you know what demisexual means?” Robin asked.
“I do, but I also know I love a guy named Demmy, so there you have it.”
Oliver stopped at a hallway intersection.
At the far end, yellow police tape crisscrossed the room where Oliver and Robin had witnessed Dr. Brennan’s team open the coffin.
The ghostly feeling of the wrappings around Amenmose’s body and the hard line of bone underneath drifted across his fingertips.
He scrubbed his palm and fingers on his jeans.
“Is that where it happened?” Dave gestured toward the taped-off room.
Oliver nodded. “Yeah.”
“What exactly happened?” Cody asked.
“I told you this on the drive to the station,” Dave said.
“I know. But I want to hear it from Ollie.”
“Why?” Oliver crossed his arms. “Are you accusing me of something?”
“No, you numbskull. In case you’ve forgotten, I’ve been through a lot of crazy shit, too. Let me help you.”
“You accused me of being a werewolf.”
Cody shrugged. “Circumstances.”
Robin looked between them. “Wait, during the werewolf attacks?”
“No, years before.” Oliver huffed impatiently. “This is getting us nowhere. Can you please check with Beryl and see where we can meet her?”
Cody took a step closer and lowered his voice. “Ollie, I know I usually give you a hard time, but I am trying to help. We worked together pretty well at the Morelock Motel. I only wanted to hear things from the start. Maybe by talking through it again, you’ll remember something new.”
“Something more than being coated in a cloud of ancient dust?” Robin said as they sent the text.
Cody’s eyebrows went up. “Ancient dust?”
Oliver sighed, already anticipating the teasing. “When the team lifted the lid, the pressure inside released or something was triggered, and we were all sprayed by a cloud of…” He turned to Robin. “What would you call it?”
“You just called it dust,” Cody said.
Oliver shook his head. “Yes, that, but something else, too.”
“A residue?” Robin offered. Their phone dinged. “Beryl’s up in room 257.”
Dave started for the stairway door. Cody fell in behind Oliver, continuing with his questions.
“What kind of residue are we talking about? Sticky? Gooey? Dark like charcoal dust?”
“No, it wasn’t anything like that. It was…
” Robin trailed off until they all exited onto the second floor.
“It was like when the tree pollen is off the charts, you know? Like one of those days where it coats everything, and it’s in yellow piles on windshield wipers and stuff.
You might not be able to see it in the air, but you can feel it. ”
“Yeah, okay, I get it.” Cody cocked his head. “Good description.”
Robin blushed. “Thanks.”
Dave had moved down the hall, reading room numbers. “257 is this way.”
“Anything else happen?” Cody was right behind Oliver again.
“No. That’s it.”
“You stepped in when Vera freaked out,” Robin said.
Oliver gave a quick nod and glanced back at Cody. “Oh, yeah. I did do that.”
“Uh huh,” Cody said, the words layered with suspicion.
“Here it is.”
Dave stopped outside the open room door and waved for Robin and Oliver to precede them. As Oliver entered the room, he heard Dave say, “Back off, okay?” to Cody in a low voice.
Oliver followed Robin to the other end of the room where Beryl sat behind a teacher’s desk typing on a laptop. When she saw them, her expression tightened. As Dave and Cody stepped through the door, her eyes widened, and she gripped the edge of the desk.
“Who the hell are they?” Beryl demanded of Robin. “What is this?”
“They’re friends,” Robin said. “Dave is Oliver’s fiancé, and Cody is Dave’s brother. And apparently, he’s demisexual too.”
“Actually, I think you may have taken that out of context,” Cody said, but quickly added, “Not important.”
“Beryl, we just want to understand what’s going on.” Oliver moved a little closer to the desk, but careful not to crowd her.
“Yeah? So do I.” Beryl sat back in the chair, back rigid but hands now clasped in her lap.
There was a furrow in her short purple hair, most likely from the headphones on the desk nearby.
“I really don’t know what happened. Dr. Brennan sent us all a text early this morning demanding a team meeting.
She wanted us to meet in the control room right away.
I live farthest off campus, so I was the last to arrive.
I had no idea what was going on. I was worried that something had happened with the video or audio Ricky and I made of the opening.
When I got to the control room, campus security was already there, inspecting the empty coffin.
Dr. Brennan was off the charts furious, demanding to know which of us had stolen the body. ”
“Everyone was there?”
Beryl nodded, but then shook her head. Tears filled her eyes. “Everyone but Lucien. I thought he might have had a class or hadn’t seen Dr. Brennan’s text, you know?”
“And campus police found no indication of who might have taken the body?” Oliver asked.
“Not from what I heard.”
“Was the door to the room forced?”
“Um, I don’t know. Nobody mentioned anything like that. I just heard the security guys say they were going to call the Glenmont police because it was out of their scope.”
“Dr. Brennan locked the door when you all left last night, right?”
“Ricky did. We all left at the same time.”
“Do you remember what time that was?”
“Midnight, I think? I was really tired.”
“Was anyone acting suspicious?” Robin asked.
“No. Nothing unusual. Dr. Brennan was still pretty cool to Vera for dropping the lid.”
Oliver thought a moment. “There seemed to be some tension between Dylan and Lucien. Is that the norm?”
“There’s no love lost between those two. Dylan is Dr. Brennan’s favorite. She selected him to accompany her on the dig even though Lucien and Samira both applied.” She hesitated, looking between them all. “If you’re wondering if Dylan murdered Lucien, I don’t think he’d do that.”
“Do you think he would have stolen the mummy?”
“But why? He was with Dr. Brennan when it was discovered. He was as excited about it as she was.”
“Maybe he was trying to get more exposure for their discovery? Could he and Dr. Brennan have planned all of this?”
Beryl let out a sharp laugh. “I don’t think Dr. Brennan was involved with any of this. You didn’t see her, but she was truly enraged. Like, boss level angry.”