Free Fountain of Secrets (The Relic Seekers) by Anita Clenney Page B

her?”
    “She didn’t need to. I watched him talking to her.”
    “She needs to stay at the mansion where I can protect her.”
    “Good luck convincing her of that.”
    “Someone with her talents isn’t safe. If anyone finds out what she can do…” Nathan trailed off, his tone worried.
    “I can’t argue with you there. Speaking of keeping tabs on people, I don’t suppose you sent someone to spy on me yesterday? I caught someone outside my window, and Kendall said there was a woman in my bedroom.”
    “What was Kendall doing in your bedroom?” Nathan growled.
    “Trying to save me from the intruder. You’ve got it so bad for her, it’s eating you up inside. I’d fight you for her, but I’m afraid you’d go Hulk on me and win. She probably went to check on the treasure. She wanted to when we first got here. I told her no, but you know how well she listens.” They walked outside. The guard at the front door said he hadn’t seen her.
    “She probably used the secret passageway,” Nathan said.
    Jake started walking toward the graveyard. “She’s the only woman I know who’d go wandering alone in a graveyard in the middle of the night.”
    “Yeah,” Nathan said, but his voice held a hint of pride.
    As much as her independent streak irritated Jake, he also admired it. “There’s the path,” he said, shining his flashlight on thestones leading to the chapel. But when they reached the chapel, the door was locked. “I don’t think she’s here.”
    “She’s got to be somewhere. Let’s look inside to make sure.”
    Jake put his cross—the secret key—in the opening and heard a click as the door unlocked.
    The chapel was dark inside. “Kendall?” When she didn’t answer, Nathan said, “We should look underneath the floor in the treasure room to make sure she didn’t get locked in.”
    “How could she be down there? It took all three crosses to open it.”
    “We don’t know that it was necessary,” Nathan said.
    “That’s true. And Kendall does have a tendency to get trapped in strange places.”
    “She’s smart,” Nathan said, sounding defensive. “But she’s too brave for her own good. Let’s try one of the crosses and see what happens. What can it hurt?”
    “You forgetting about booby traps?” The beam from Jake’s flashlight hit the center stone at the front of the chapel. It had been pushed back, exposing the steps to the secret room. “I guess we won’t need the keys after all. Kendall?” Jake hurried down the stairs with Nathan right behind him. He pushed the button on the wall, and the torches flared to life.
    The room was empty.
    “What the hell?” Nathan looked at Jake.
    “Don’t look at me. I didn’t take it, and there’s no way Kendall could have moved it that fast.”
    “It wasn’t Kendall,” Nathan said.
    “Who could get in here with those statues and your security guards?”
    “Someone who knows this place inside out could.”
    “Marco? He’s a strange little man, but I doubt he can move things with his mind.”
    “Not Marco,” Nathan said. “Raphael.”
    “Raphael’s dead.”
    “No he isn’t.”
    “I saw him,” Jake said. “He was dead.”
    “
Was
is the key word. He was dead when my men found him in the room where the round table is. Then he woke up.”
    “He woke up? There’s no way.”
    “I’m telling you he’s alive.”
    “How?” Jake asked.
    “That’s what I wanted to know.”
    “Did he tell you?”
    “He didn’t tell me anything.”
    “Where is he now?”
    “I don’t know. He escaped.”
    “Escaped? Hell, is that what all that roaring was about? You had Raphael in Virginia all this time and didn’t tell us?”
    “I couldn’t. You should understand that.”
    “How’d he get out?” Jake asked.
    “We’re still trying to figure that out. I wouldn’t have believed anyone could get past my security.”
    “Actually, one of the cameras on the north side of the mansion makes a three-second sweep. If you’re fast, you