Page 82 of Southernmost Murder

Rogers had. And he’d even laid out their entire story—now someone simply had to assemble the clues.

The stars were theXs.

AndXalways,alwaysmarks the spot.

Chapter Fourteen

I REALLYhadn’t planned on napping, but between the Mallory Square fistfight last night, followed by the best sex I’ve ever had, a gunfight before sunrise, and scrutinizing every single little artifact in my database before we even opened the doors for the morning rush—who the fuck could blame me? And I crashed hard. We’re talking drool on the pillow and tongue hanging out of my mouth like a dog, hard.

I grunted when a finger prodded my chest.

“Aubs.”

“Uhn.”

“Aubs, wake up.”

I rolled away, putting my back to the intrusion.

A sigh. “Aubrey! Wake up!”

I startled and jumped, nearly hitting my head on the desk I was sleeping under. “What?” I asked, rubbing the sleep from one eye and turning to stare at Adam.Oh crap. Be cool.

“You alive?” he asked, giving me a less than patient expression.

“Er—yes. Thank you for that. I think my eardrums are still intact too.”

Adam scooted back a bit so I had room to get out from under the desk. “Your alarm went off twice and you didn’t get up. I had to take drastic measures.”

I crawled out on my knees before climbing to my feet, back popping as I straightened. I yawned and picked up my phone, which I’d apparently ignored, to check the time. “It’s already nine?”

“What happened to your face?” Adam asked suddenly, voice low and harsh. “And your neck? DidJundo that?” He sounded outraged.

“Huh? No. No! Well, the neck, yeah—but that was consensual,” I said, touching the remnants of the bite mark Jun had left yesterday morning. “Some drunk dickwad punched me at Mallory Square last night,” I continued, keeping my answer vague as I motioned to the bruise on my jaw.

Adam furrowed his brows, staring hard before he eventually changed the subject. “Bob Ricci is here.”

I dropped my phone. “He’s what?”

Adam jutted a thumb toward the gift shop’s main floor.

Fuck me sideways. What now?

I was in the funny position of being alone with two dudes who might or might not have killed some people. Frankly, if it had to be one over the other, whynotBob? Fucking asshole. I actually disliked him. Please let him be Mr. Baddie.

“When did he get here?”

“Last night,” Adam answered.

“Last—what?”

Adam narrowed his eyes a bit and pressed both of his big hands to my cheeks. “Are you sure you’re okay? You feel warm.”

“Whoa! Yes, fine! Thank you,” I said quickly, slithering out of his hold.

Adam awkwardly lowered his hands. “Sorry. Uh, Bob said he stayed at Turtle Bay Inn. He came in just a minute ago asking for you. Want me to tell him you’re busy or… something?”

“No, no. I can talk to him,” I said. I cleared my throat and finger-combed my wild hair.