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All too soon, he slowed the kiss and leaned back, his hand still in her hair, her nails digging into his shoulders. Julia fought to lift heavy eyelids, and what she saw made her heart stutter. There was pure, ferocious need in his eyes. Need and possession.
For her.
Without thinking, Julia was on her feet and running. This time, Joe didn’t stop her.
Chapter 4
Julia had never been so relieved as when her grandmother walked through the doors of their suite t
he following afternoon. Not only because she wasn’t in jail, but because it meant Julia wasn’t alone with Joe anymore. She rushed over to embrace her, but her gran held up her hands.
“I just spent almost a week in a cell with ten other women and no shower. You might want to wait with the hug until I’ve cleaned up.”
“I’ll take my chances.” Julia wrapped her in a tight embrace while they both laughed. When they eventually separated, Julia could see the dark circles under her gran’s eyes. Eyes that were filled with an equal measure of worry and relief. “Have all the charges really been dropped?”
“All of them,” Patricia said. “Now, we need to find Alice.”
That took the bottom out of their jubilant mood.
“We will,” Julia promised, knowing it wasn’t a lie. One way or another, they’d find Alice. She only hoped the woman was in one piece when they did. “We got your luggage from the police. Your bags are in my room. Go get showered and I’ll order food.” She pointed at the room they would share.
“Bless your heart.” Patricia waved over her shoulder at the two men who were watching her. “Won’t be long.” And then the door closed behind her.
Julia stared at the door for a moment, enjoying the fact her grandmother was free. Then she turned to the men. Taking all of her courage in both hands, she looked up at them. “Tell me what’s wrong. There’s no way she should have been released like that. Something is going on, and I don’t want to be kept in the dark.”
“Smart,” the lawyer muttered.
Julia fought a blush. Just because she had issues, didn’t mean she was dumb. Plus, his comment was insulting on so many levels.
“Would you say that to a man?” Julia asked him softly, her heart racing at her temerity. “With the same degree of shock you used with me?”
“My apologies,” Ed said.
Joe shook his head at the man, as he held out a hand to her. “Come on, babe. Ed will fill us in while Patricia is busy. There are things she doesn’t need to know right now.”
Not wanting to leave him hanging in front of Ed, she took his hand. When he sat beside her, it was just close enough that their thighs were barely touching. Julia wasn’t quite sure what to make of the whole thing, so she did what she did best: she pretended it wasn’t happening. She grabbed her iPad from the table beside her, opened a new document for notes and faced Ed. She stared at his chest, rather than his eyes, but didn’t hesitate with her questions.
“What happened? Was there new evidence that proved she didn’t do it? I went over the documents she sent, on the flight here. I might have missed some of the details because I ran them through a translation programme, but I thought the case against her was sound.”
Joe’s arm stretched along the back of the sofa, and she felt his fingers playing with her hair. She scooted forward an inch, out of his reach, bizarrely missing his touch once it was gone.
“Well.” Ed cleared his throat. “I would be interested to see what documentation you received, because the documents I got yesterday afternoon were full of errors and gaping holes. On top of that, there’s been a gross mishandling of the evidence. Based on everything I saw, your grandmother should never have been charged.”
Julia had been making notes as Ed spoke. She paused when he finished, her agile mind running over everything. “There was tampering. Someone wanted Gran out of jail.” She couldn’t quite look at Ed, but she found she could look up at Joe. “Does Gran know who’s behind this?”
“We’re missing some of the facts, babe. Your gran wasn’t exactly forthcoming.”
“She kept saying that the walls had ears,” Ed added.
“She knows, then.” Julia made a note. “Does the person who wants her out of jail also have the mummy?”
“We don’t know,” Ed said.
Again Julia addressed her question to Joe. Something he seemed inordinately pleased with. “Did Gran and Alice steal the mummy?”
“Someone filmed the break-in on their phone and sent it to the cops,” Joe said. “Your gran was on it, but Alice wasn’t. Patricia was seen talking to someone off camera.”
“Did it record Gran actually taking the mummy?” Julia asked.
