Page 51 of Ancient Obsession

Oliver glanced at Vera. She blushed and dropped her gaze, clutching the notebook to her chest.

Dylan backed off slightly, but still remained within Oliver’s personal space. “Yeah, all right.” He jabbed a finger at him. “But I know the police have been talking to you about Lucien and Dominic. And our mummy.”

“I had nothing to do with any of that. You’re wasting time trying to implicate me. You should be trying to figure out who else would want to kill members of your team or steal that body. Is someone here on campus who might hold a grudge against Dr. Brennan? Someone who would want to ruin her reputation?”

“A murderous grudge?” Dylan scoffed. “No. She’s the only professor who still goes out in the field.”

“What about Samira? Would she have a reason?” Oliver asked.

Dylan’s stare intensified. “What do you know about Samira?”

“What?” Oliver couldn’t help shrinking back a bit. “Nothing. She’s the only other member of the team, isn’t she? I haven’t seen her around, that’s all.”

“No one’s seen her around,” Dylan said. “Not for a day or two at least.” He looked between them again, lips pressed tight. He was big and powerfully built, and Oliver did not want to find out how hard he could hit. “Where have you two been?”

“Studying,” Robin said. “At home in Thorndale.”

“Can you prove it?”

“To the police, yes,” Robin said, their expression like stone.

When Dylan shifted his attention back to him, Oliver said, “I was inside the Glenmont police station being questioned.”

“Yeah?” Dylan crowded him again. Oliver could smell coffee and an onion bagel on his breath. “Maybe we should go back there and have them ask you all new questions.”

“I know you’re upset about everything going on.” He kept his voice low and even, trying to keep the situation from escalating. His breathing quickened, and his heart beat a little faster. “But I’m not the one responsible.”

“Who is?” Vera asked.

Her question distracted Dylan, and he took a step back. Oliver released his breath before saying, “I don’t know. Robin and I have been trying to figure that out.”

“Right. We didn’t do any of this shit,” Robin said. “We were there because Beryl and I are friends, and when she told me about it, I remembered Oliver saying how he wanted to do something different from his monster blog, because blogs aren’t really a thing anymore, right? I’d told him about TikTok, and I thought he could maybe get some video of the mummy and talk about it and how that would kind of go with the stuff on his blog.”

Robin beamed as Oliver’s muscles tensed. He couldn’t be angry at the kid, but they’d pretty much just made everything a lot worse.

Dylan clenched his fists. “That sounds an awful lot like a motive.”

Oliver tried to put more space between them, but found himself pressed against the wall. He assessed Dylan’s big hands and estimated how long it might take him to reach the door. With a steadying breath, he lifted his chin and stared back. “How is that a motive?”

“Seems like a good way to get yourself into the algorithms. A true crime murder mystery, complete with a missing mummy.”

“Who would kill someone and steal an archaeological discovery just to get more TikTok views?”

“I don’t know.” Dylan’s voice was low, practically a growl. “Someone desperate to be noticed.”

Oliver squared his shoulders. “Back off.”

Dylan raised his eyebrows. “You stepping up to me?”

“I’m telling you to back off. Now.”

“What’s going on here?”

Dr. Brennan’s sharp tone sliced through the tension. Dylan moved back, but kept Oliver pinned in place with an intense glare.

Vera spoke so quickly her words ran together. “Nothing. Oliver and Robin were asking about the material from inside the coffin, that’s all.”

“Were they now?” Dr. Brennan approached Oliver, hands behind her back and eyes like slits. “And what did you tell them, Vera?”