Page 34 of Ancient Obsession

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.