Page 82 of The Scarab's Game
Jenn nodded vigorously. “I was looking for the ladies’ room. Someone told me it was right beside the restaurant, but the cave walls… there was this painting. There were all these little nooks and crannies everywhere, and the lights, and…” She took in a shuddering breath.
Martine came closer, chin and brows drawn down as though attempting to put her prey at ease. “The architecture can be quite bewildering your first time here.”
Jenn tensed. She was even more scared than after the break-in or after finding out about Noah. Too many things were piling on top of each other, pressing her soul down.
Will’s voice came over my earpiece. “Little longer. Almost—location.”
I kissed Jenn’s temple and let go of her, holding my hand out to Martine. “A pleasure, as always.”
She held her hand out, expecting me to kiss it, which I did. “I’ll be in touch, Reginald.”
With my mother, she meant.
Martine withdrew her hand and held both of hers out for Jenn to take them. Martine blinked slowly as she wrapped her hands around Jenn’s, the faux smile not leaving her face, “You should track down a wedding ring, my dear.”
Jenn snapped her hands back, staring at the left one. “I know. I lost it?—”
I finished for her, “I suspect it went down the shower drain last night. We’ll do one more pass of the hotel suite, and if we don’t find it, I’m afraid I’ll be paying for a new one.”
Martine strolled back to her wall of windows and waved a hand over her shoulder to dismiss us. “Make sure he buys you a bigger one, darling.”
Sheknewwe weren’t married. SheknewJenn wasn’t a particularly convincing liar. So shemusthave known Jenn wasn’t part of the game. But Martine had kept up the ruse, for my benefit.
Which told me Martine was going to help us.
I took Jenn by the hand and escorted her out of the office. Her steps were tentative, so I held her as we walked down the stairs—partially to keep her moving, partially in case she tripped and I had to catch her. “You were supposed to stay at the blackjack table.”
“You didn’t say you were meeting with the manager.”
“She’s the auction coordinator.”
“I’ve met auction coordinators before.” As we reached the bottom step, she was still shaking. “They’re not usually scary women who watch out of an underground bank of windows like they’re a cartoon supervillain with armed guards and secret passageways inside a?—”
I stopped, spinning her to face me. “Secret passageways?”
Jenn raised her hand, pointing toward the ladies’ room. “It’s over?—”
I seized her wrist, yanking it behind me, attempting to make it appear like I was pulling her into a quick embrace. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?” She tried to pull away, but I held her tight.
Hopefully, I’d moved fast enough to disguise her pointing at the hidden tunnel. I leaned closer, both to whisper and so she wouldn’t see me turn my earpiece microphone back on. “Do you forget what just happened? A man was guarding a secret door you stumbled through. You don’t point it out to everyone else.”
“Two men.”
Will, I hope you heard that part.“Two armed men?”
“Yeah.” She stopped resisting, and her body went soft against me. This wasn’t fair to either of us. The cover was all wrong, no matter how right it felt. “There was a section of a fresco on thewall—it stood out. I pressed it, and the wall swung open. One guard was sitting behind a desk, and the other one jumped me.”
If Jayce was going to sneak in that way, we’d have to do something about those guards.
Will said over the comms, “—her by the?—”
What was that supposed to mean? Her by the what?
Think, man.
Will and the team were searching for a way through the tunnels between the Garden and the Rock. What were the tunnels like besides the beautiful caverns under the Garden? Narrow? Wide enough for supplies? It had been used as an escape tunnel more than once to keep the inhabitants safe so there’d be room for a lot of people to pass.