“Don’t know. He was watching the house from the trees. He got away before I could get close enough to see his face.” Jake looked angry. One sleeve of his T-shirt was torn and there was a rip in his jeans.
“Should you call the police?”
“No. I doubt they’d find anything.”
“You think it was a burglar?” Kendall asked.
“I doubt it. More likely someone I’ve pissed off.”
“Have you pissed off a lot of people?”
“In my line of work, you make a few enemies. You go inside,” Jake said. “I want to look around for prints, just in case.”
“What about… Who’s the… I’ll just wait in the car,” Kendall said. It would be awkward waiting inside with the woman. The first time Kendall met Jake, when Nathan summoned them to the mansion to tell them they were going to Italy, she was almost certain Jake had been with a woman. The one upstairs?
“No. You’re not sitting out in the car alone. Go in the house. I won’t be long.”
Kendall was too rattled to argue. She went inside but didn’t see the woman. She must be showering or getting dressed. She had looked dirty. Kendall sat on a chair, her head spinning with confusion. Jake had come on to her fifteen minutes ago. He was coming on to her constantly. If Nathan hadn’t interrupted them at the inn in Italy, she and Jake wouldn’t have stopped at a kiss. But she had no claims on him; nor did he have any claims on her. The front door opened and Jake stepped inside. “Did you find anything?” Kendall asked.
“Nothing useful. Let me grab my clothes and we’ll go.” Still no mention of the woman. A minute later, he appeared in the living room, duffel in hand. He’d changed into a pair of camo pants and a T-shirt, but there was no woman waiting to be introduced. “You live here alone?”
“Yep.”
So the woman didn’t live here, but it was obnoxious for him to come on to Kendall at her apartment while he had another woman in the house. Even if she was someone he picked up in a bar after sneaking out of the mansion last night. Of course he wouldn’t know that Kendall had been upstairs and seen the woman. She was a little peeved that his attraction to her was obviously nothing more than just a thing for blondes.
“Ready?”
“You’re just going to leave her here after someone broke into your house?”
He frowned. “Leave who here?”
“The woman?”
His brows did a strange tilt. “What woman?”
“The woman upstairs. Who was she? Girlfriend? Hooker?”
“Hooker? What the hell have you been smoking?”
“Stop playing dumb. I saw her in your bedroom. Did you pick her up in a bar?” Kendall shrugged her shoulders. “Not that it matters. I’m just curious.”
“I was starting to think you were sane until now. There’s no woman in my house, other than you.”
“Yes there is.”
He stared at her for several seconds. “You’re serious?”
Kendall was the one frowning now. “Yes. She was upstairs.”
“Hell.” Jake bounded up the stairs. He searched the whole house, but the woman wasn’t there. “She must have been working with the guy out back. A lookout.” He picked up his phone and made arrangements for someone named Clint to come to his house and handle things.
“Who’s Clint?”
“A buddy.”
“Is he a mercenary like you?”
“I’m not a mercenary. I contract to the highest bidder just like any business would.”
“You carry a lot of muscle and weapons for a business.”
Jake’s phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and answered. After a short conversation, he ended the call. “Marco’s awake,” he told her. “Fergus says if we want to talk to him, we need to hurry.”
“Then let’s go.” She jogged to her car. If it weren’t for Marco, she probably wouldn’t be alive. It wasn’t just gratitude, or guilt. She was fond of the old man, even though she couldn’t remember seeing him at the castle when she and Adam were kids. And she had questions for him. If there was a curse that had caused Adam and both their fathers to die, why hadn’t she died?
Jake didn’t knock on Nathan’s door. He went right in. Nathan and Fergus were standing in the atrium. From their dour expressions, they appeared to have been arguing. Since their return from Italy, Fergus seemed as distracted as Nathan. Not such a surprise, Kendall thought since Fergus had been out of his element in the past week. He was a butler, not a fighter, though he’d done a darned good job fighting off bad guys.
Nathan’s dark gaze followed Kendall, and she wondered if he was thinking about this morning in his bedroom. Her gaze went to the arm that sported a tattoo, now hidden by an expensive suit. Fergus stepped forward when he saw them. “Kendall, Jake. The nurse says Marco won’t be awake for long.”
“Has he spoken at all?” Kendall asked.
“We haven’t seen him yet. The doctor just left. This way, if you please.”
Fergus led them toward the bedrooms on the second floor. Nathan followed, his face dark. Kendall considered prying. She wouldn’t get anything from Nathan, verbal or intuitive, but she might pick up something from Fergus. No fair, Kendall.
Marco lay in bed, hooked up to tubes. He looked old and weak, not the spry man with bright eyes. He still had his beard. The doctor had wanted to cut it, but Fergus of all people had insisted he keep it.
“We need privacy,” Nathan said curtly.
“Don’t be long. He’s tired,” the nurse said. She gave Nathan a sour look and walked to the door. She left and they all approached the bed.
Marco’s eyes fluttered open. They weren’t bright now. He looked frightened. When he saw Kendall, his gnarled hand reached for hers. “You are alive?”
Kendall touched his hand, careful to avoid the IV. A myriad of pictures flashed through her head. The castle in Italy, the statues, the secret treasure room. Raphael. “Of course I’m alive, thanks to you.”
“The spear? Is it safe?” Marco asked, his voice weak.
“It’s safe,” Nathan said. “The intruders are gone.”
Marco let out a relieved sigh that lifted his scrawny chest. “He’ll try again. He won’t stop.”
“The Reaper?” Nathan asked.
Marco nodded.
“We found the treasure at the castle. I think it needs to be moved before someone else finds it.”
“Yes, it must be kept safe. Can’t let him get it. Raphael knows how to move it.”
“Marco, Raphael is dead, remember?” Kendall said gently.
Marco frowned.
Nathan rubbed his chin. He seemed ill at ease. “I’ll have Kendall do it. There’s no one I trust more than her.” He met her gaze and Kendall felt a glimmer of something, as if she’d experienced this moment before. Then the sensation passed, leaving her with guilt at the thought of the crosses in her bag. She would have to tell him she’d accidentally taken them home. Turning, she saw Jake watching her. He was frowning, and so was Fergus. Everyone was frowning.
“I think it’s time you tell us about the Reaper and these relics,” Jake said.
“Water,” Marco said, his voice raspy.
Kendall helped him take a drink from the cup the nurse had left. He shifted in bed, sighed again, and spoke. “There are things in this world that cannot be explained. There are relics so powerful that in the wrong hands the human race could be destroyed.”
“More comic book stuff,” Jake muttered, too low for Marco to hear.
“Our order was formed many centuries ago to protect those relics, to keep them out of evil hands. We were called the Protettori after we moved to Italy. Once there were many of us, but one of our own turned on us. We were slaughtered and scattered like sheep.”
“One of the Protettori did this?” Kendall asked.