Free Passage to Queen Mesentia by Dorlana Vann Page B

letter.”
    “You have got to be shitting me.” He waved her hand off of his. “I can’t believe you, Lilly. You’re all cozying up to me to get information, for him.”
    In a hushed voice and bowed head she said, “It’s not for him; it’s for me. That note was from my parents, or have you forgotten?”
    Wade looked around Lilly to Ben; he was flipping through a flight magazine. Wade sat back in his seat as he pointed to his head. “This information may be the only thing that is keeping us alive.”
    “I really need to know what it said. It’s driving me crazy. Besides, even if you don’t trust him, you can trust me.”
    “I do! I trust you to go straight to that creature and tell him everything.”
    Lilly huffed, crossed her arms, and looked straight ahead.
    “I have to think about this for awhile. All right? Give me till Cairo.”
    She kept her eyes forward, an ugly scowl on her beautiful face, and Wade knew saying anything else, except what she wanted to hear, wouldn’t do any good now that she had gone into her silent mode. He scooted down a bit in the seat, pulled his cowboy hat over his eyes, and took his nap.
    ***
    It had been six years since Lilly had traveled to Egypt, but she had visited so many times in her youth that it still felt familiar. However, she had never seen her parents’ fifth-floor apartment in Giza—her apartment now— except in the pictures her mom had sent to her over the years.
    A cozy yet modern kitchen greeted them as they opened the front door. The dining room sat to the right, and they had to walk through it to get to the main reception room. It had a white sofa, two maroon upholstered chairs, and an earthy mulberry scent. Lilly knew from the pictures that if she stepped out onto the balcony, she would be able to see the pyramids of Giza on the horizon.
    “How many bedrooms does this place have?” Wade asked as he dropped his bag on the floor.
    “My parents’ room and one guestroom.”
    “I’ll take the couch,” he said, plopping down on it.
    Lilly didn’t know if he was being generous because he was too tired to fight for the guestroom or if he wanted to keep an eye on all the activity in the house. Whatever the reason, she was happy he hadn’t made a fuss. She had her small duffle bag and her purse over her shoulder and searched behind doors until she located her parents’ room. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.” After being on the plane with so many people and dealing with Wade while in the presence of Ben, she needed some alone-time.
    Lilly glanced around at all her parents’ things, some of it recognizable but most foreign, like the room belonged to strangers. She wondered what her life would have been like if she had moved here with them instead of staying in Houston with Wade. Lilly tried to push the thought out of her mind that if she had come with them to Egypt, the events leading to up their deaths would’ve been different.
    She sat down and then fell back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She thought about what Wade had said that day in her apartment about her blaming him for their deaths. Until that moment, she had thought it had been the last straw of their relationship. Why? “Oh my goodness,” she whispered. She did blame him. The night her parents had been murdered had been so horrible, and he had made them late. It was possible that if they had shown up, on time, they would have scared the burglars away.
    Something would have changed. It wouldn’t have been the same situation. Burglars . That’s who she’d thought had killed them. But it hadn’t been a random crime. It had been those men in the park. They had wanted the statuette, no matter what.
    Even if it had been a case of the wrong place at the wrong time, Wade didn’t know. She didn’t know. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but the person who had pulled the trigger.
     
    “Are you all right?” Wade asked when she walked back into the living room a few minutes later.
    She nodded.