Page 27 of Chain Reaction

“How would this person know I’d be investigating?”

Jake shrugged. “Maybe he wanted to lure you here.”

“But why?”

“I have no idea.”

“Then that’s what we need to figure out.” Raven paused and traced her finger through the air as if mentally calculating something.

He hid a smile.

Raven always did that when she was deep in thought, and he didn’t even think she realized it. He found it adorable—like the air was her whiteboard as she mentally tried to visualize something.

“Iamthe leading expert in historical artifacts and weaponry on the East Coast—some people say in the US. I suppose it won’t be a stretch to assume I’d be called.”

“I agree.”

She paused from doing her mental calculations and sighed. “There’s clearly more to this story than we initially thought. We have to figure out what’s going on here before someone else is hurt.”

We, Jake realized. That was the word Raven had used.

Good choice. It seemed clear right now that the two of them needed to work together if they wanted to find answers.

That would be another challenge within itself.

CHAPTER 12

Awkward silence fell between them, and Raven searched for something to say.

Finally, Jake cleared his throat. “Have you eaten anything since you got here, Raven?”

Forgetting to eat was one of many of her bad habits. Did he remember that? She had no reason to think he would.

“No, I haven’t,” she told him.

“You need to eat to keep your energy up.”

She shrugged. “I’ll grab something later.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Did you bring any groceries?”

Good point.

Begrudgingly, she answered, “No.”

His gaze darkened. “It’s not safe for you to go out. Let me order something.”

Jake was making a big fuss out of nothing. “You don’t have to do that. Besides, they probably don’t even have any food delivery here on the island, except for maybe pizza.”

“You’d be surprised. There’s actually a woman here who takes odd jobs. She talked to a couple of restaurants about doing meal delivery for them, and they agreed.”

There went that argument.

Raven shrugged. “Now that you mention it, I suppose I’m kind of hungry.”

“I’d suggest the grilled cheese with peaches from The Crazy Chefette.”

He was just full of ideas, wasn’t he? But were they good ideas?