“I might be getting way ahead of the situation. Zoe could be fine.” Was Louisa’s concern more guilt-driven than logical? The stolen dagger was her responsibility.

A buzz sounded from his pocket.

“Excuse me.” He pulled out a cell phone and read the display. “I need to run an errand. If you want to keep talking, you’ll have to walk with me.”

She checked her watch. She’d taken a late lunch and was due back at work by three. “Will it take long?”

He shook his head. “Ten minutes. Come on. The fresh air will clear your head.”

She half wanted to run from Conor at full speed. But questions about the previous evening still lingered in her mind. “All right.”

As she followed him from the bar, she wondered if her agreement was based solely on her concern for her intern or if she was bowing to the part of her that didn’t want to bolt.

CHAPTER 6

6

An afternoon breeze swept down Oregon Avenue as they set off down the sidewalk through elongating shadows. Louisa buttoned her jacket and clutched her purse tightly under her arm.

“This way.” Conor’s hand brushed her shoulder as he pointed left.

Though warm enough, Louisa shivered all the way down to her aching toes.

“Where are we going?” Her fingers cramped, and she loosened her grip on her purse.

“Just a few blocks. Can you walk in those shoes? Do you want to wait in the bar?”

“No. Tell me about Zoe’s boyfriend. What did he do last night that was so awful?”

They stopped at the corner. Other pedestrians bunched around them as they waited for the light to change.

“He wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Conor angled his body between her and the crowd. “So, you’ve been at the museum for two months. An intern was kidnapped and murdered with a stolen knife, and now a second intern has vanished.”

“That’s how it seems.”

“How many people in the museum know what happened in Maine?”

“Apparently, everyone. Why?”

“It’s too much of a coincidence, especially now that I’m part of it too.”

The light changed, traffic stopped, and the crowd moved en masse across the intersection.

“There were numerous newspaper articles.” She thought of April’s statement. “Evidently, the staff was passing them around in the weeks between my hire and my move down here.”

“So our connection is public knowledge, even though we haven’t seen each other for six months.”

“Yes.” She stepped up on the opposite curb. “I almost called you,” she blurted out before she could stop herself.

A lazy smile tugged at his mouth. “Really?”