Page 140 of Cross & Crown

you get anything?”

“Not really,” Julian admitted. “Looking over the scene,

though, I felt as if they missed something. They went for the

case first, where they thought it would be, then they ransacked the place when it wasn’t there.”

Nick nodded. “Crime scene analysts came back with a

blow-by-blow. They said the shopkeeper surprised one man

coming out of the store. Guy opened fire, killing the owner.

And judging by the trajectory, he’s the one who clipped JD.

Meaning JD was walking away from the bookstore, toward

the street. The others were in the street, likely by their van

waiting. They opened fire on their own guy afterheshot the owner, blew him away, took out the windows, left everyone

for dead. Left the books the guy took. As soon as there was

bloodshed, they bailed. Complete mission failure.”

“This is the first murder to take place,” Julian pointed out.

“Perhaps they killed him to take the heat for it. Or perhaps he turned on them.”

Nick shrugged.

“Wait a minute, if the first shots clipped JD, that means

he was standing between the store and the van,” Kelly pointed

out. “What was he doing there? Why would they let him get

that close instead of diverting him? And why do you look so

pissy when you just broke his identity, what’s wrong?”

141

Nick sighed heavily. “He’s a professional treasure hunter.

He has a degree from Columbia University, works out of a

museum in New York. He’s got a reputation for going into

dangerous areas and getting out unscathed with local shiny

things. He’s also been accused of selling items on the black

market, but there’s no proof.”

“Oh,” Kelly said, and his shoulders slumped.

“And you’re right. They wouldn’t have let him get between