“Never!” Uma said, increasing the intensity of her fists beating against his arm. Her legs swung wildly as Julian turned and carried her back toward the house. He almost chuckled at her futile attempt to get him to release her.
A swing of her heel connected with his groin. Pain shot through him as he released his grip on Uma, his hand catching on the necklace she wore as she fell to the ground.
“Fuck!” Julian muttered, instinctively grabbing his nuts. In his hand was Uma’s necklace with the rusted bronze key he’d seen earlier around her neck. Bent over from the throbbing pain, he glanced to the right and watched Uma running back toward the beach. Frustrated, Julian stood slowly, waiting for the pain to subside. Even with a bruised dick, he’d be able to catch her before she got away.
Staring at the small key in his hand, Julian raised it to eye-level. It looked old and worn. Definitely not a house key. Perhaps it opened a mailbox or safe deposit box? He slipped the burner phone from his pocket and snapped a couple of photos of the front and back side. He could email the jpeg files to the computer in the basement of the Genesis Gallery and start the search remotely. By the time he got back there, he would know what the key opened and if that information could be useful to him.
Julian turned to check Uma’s location and stopped. She was running back toward him. What the fuck?
“Give me the key,” Uma panted as she reached for his hand.
Julian jerked it away from her grasp, lifting his arm high in the air.
Desperation clouded her eyes as she jumped and scratched at his arm.
“There’s only one way you’re getting this key back,” Julian said. “Tell me where Adam is.”
“I don’t know where he is! Give me that key!” Uma screamed, her face red and splotchy as tears flowed down her cheeks.
“That’s too bad,” Julian said, then pushed past her, headed for the trail to the black sand beach.
“No! You can’t take that. It’s too important,” Uma insisted, rushing up behind him. She grabbed at his shirt, trying to slow his speed.
Julian kept walking, increasing his pace as Uma struggled to keep up. She slipped to his right and stepped in front of him, placing her palms against his chest. Her eyes pleaded with him.
“Wait. Please. I’ll tell you what you want to know, just give me the key,” Uma said.
Julian looked down at her. The key was more important than he’d figured if Uma would give up Adam’s location to get it. What secrets did it unlock?
“Why is this key so important?”
Uma paused, glancing up at the canopy of tree branches overhead. She took a deep breath, then said, “It’s a key to a locker where the money is hidden. The money that I have to pay those two men. If I don’t have that key, I can’t get it and Adam dies. You know what it’s like to protect someone you love from dying. That’s what I’m trying to do. Protect the man I love from the same bitch that’s terrorizing you and Mena.”
Uma was lying. The key led to something more important than money. Something that made Uma desperate to get it back. But Julian needed to find Russell more than he needed to figure out what the key opened.
Snatching one of her hands from his chest, Julian squeezed her wrist as he turned it over. Dangling the key a few inches above her palm, he said, “Tell me where Adam is hiding?”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Mena’s sight grew blurry as she stared at the computer screen. Glancing down at her notepad, she checked her calculations. Punching numbers into the calculator, she confirmed the optimal setting for the laser. Turning toward the laser, she entered the parameters that she hoped would be successful in removing the outer layer of black paint from the totem arriving at the gallery later that morning. The meticulous work had been a distraction from worrying about Julian.
Finding out that he’d been in the basement of the Genesis Gallery since the attack at the prison had been bittersweet. She was happy she’d gotten a chance to be with him again. To make love to him. But she regretted not knowing sooner.
Closing her eyes, she allowed the memories of Julian’s hands on her body to soothe her. They’d made love over and over throughout the night, each desperate to sear the memory of the other on their minds and bodies. Neither had said it out loud, but she knew they were thinking the same thing. Last night was likely the last time they would see each other for a long time. The thought made her heart ache with yearning to be with him again.
At least she had the burner phone.
Julian could call her when it was safe.
Until then, she would wait and convince the world that she was still upset and concerned over his abduction from prison. She couldn’t mess up. One wrong move and the cops might figure out she knew Julian was alive and safe. She wasn’t going to do anything to put his life on the line.
Her cell phone lit up near the edge of the table, the ring filling the silence inside the Conservators Workshop. She glanced at the caller ID.
Uma Fischer.
Rushing forward, Mena grabbed the phone and answered. “Hello, Uma?”
“Try again, gorgeous.”
