The woman’s expression turned stony. “I couldn’t. Cassie has been missing for some time now. She took a trip to Crete about six months ago and disappeared. Nobody has seen her since.”
“Well, that’s too bad.” Leroy tried to look mournful.
“Yes, it is,” the shopkeeper agreed. “A tragedy for the entire family.”
“You got any idea where Miss Hannah might of gone after she left here?” Leroy asked bleakly, already knowing the answer.
The shopkeeper shrugged, seemingly baffled. “I told her just what I told you and sent her on her way.” Her jaw tightened. “I have no idea where she is now.”
Hunt’s eyes narrowed. He tried to read any sign that she was lying. If she was, she would have made one hell of a poker player. He couldn’t find a tell to save his life.
At that moment, his cell phone rang. The sound made them both flinch. Leroy checked the number. It was Abe. “Excuse me, ma’am. I’ve got to take this.”
***
Leroy stepped outside the shop. “Yes, sir, what can I do you for?”
“Prepare to leave the country immediately. Daniel has found something at last. I’ll send someone to your apartment with your itinerary and plane ticket.”
“What about the search for your Missus?”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line, then a sigh. “I’ll assign that duty to someone else. Your skills are needed to retrieve the next artifact.”
“You got it, chief. On my way.”
Leroy paced back and forth on the sidewalk, impaled on the horns of a dilemma. He couldn’t help but grimace at the irony. He’d originally pitched a fit about searching for Hannah instead of tagging along with Daniel. Now, the last thing he wanted to do was drop her trail. That little gal was a loose end that begged to be snipped off.
It was some consolation to know there was no chance she would turn up before Leroy got back. If she was smart enough to give Hunt the slip, none of Abe’s minions was going to have any better luck in tracking her down. He eyed the storefront suspiciously. How the hell had she found her way here? The question buzzed around his head like an angry gnat. He swatted it away. This problem would have to wait. He had a doodad to dig up.
Chapter 39 – Lost and Found
“Well, that was a crash course in native history,” Cassie said as the car bumped its way back across the rutted dirt road to the highway. “My head is still spinning.”
“Perhaps I should give Erik a call to see how he’s faring,” Griffin suggested. He took out his phone but then thought better of it. “No reception here. I’ll call him after we finish up at the trove.”
“A trove,” Cassie exhaled the word reverently. “I’m so excited. You know I’ve only seen the Minoan trove so far.”
Griffin gave a mysterious smile. “You certainly won’t be disappointed with what you’re about to behold today.”
“What does that mean, exactly?” she asked suspiciously.
“You’ll see.”
They traveled along in silence except for Griffin’s periodic directions to “turn here” or “slow down.”
Eventually, they were travelling down a narrow asphalt road through dense woods.
“Yes, I believe this is it,” Griffin announced.
Cassie slapped on the brakes. “What’s it? There’s nothing here.”
“Make a right turn just ahead.”
She did as instructed and came to what appeared to be a gravel driveway that opened into a small parking lot. They parked and got out of the vehicle.
Cassie turned to survey the area. Dense forest on all sides. Railroad ties divided the parking area from the woods beyond. A footpath covered in cedar chips led farther into the trees. “This way?” she asked incredulously.
“Yes,” Griffin replied evenly.
They followed the path until they came to a wall of rock densely covered with ferns and undergrowth. A darker shadow in the rock wall revealed the entrance to a cave.
“Just in here,” Griffin said, indicating that Cassie should enter the cleft in the rock.
After looking at him askance, she climbed through the portal. Inside she could hear water. It wasn’t a soft trickle but a loud rushing sound. There were lights strung at intervals along the rock walls. At the far end of the chamber, Cassie could see a waterfall emptying into a pool which ran off into the depths of the cavern.
“Is that an underground river?” she asked in surprise.
“Yes, it is,” Griffin confirmed. “This way.”
He skirted the pool of water to the right until he came to a rock ledge that hung directly behind the curtain of water.
Cassie couldn’t believe her eyes when he took out his vault keycard and swiped it through a card reader mounted on the wall. There was a door behind the waterfall, and it slid open.
“Is this it?” she asked, impressed.
Griffin nodded. “Follow me.”
“Best trove ever!” Cassie exclaimed.
They walked down a long tunnel through the rocky hillside until they came to a second door. This one, too, had a card reader. Griffin repeated the process. The door slid open, and they stepped into a modern, well-lit room with racks of archaeological finds and three people cataloging artifacts.
Griffin seemed to know the trove team and introduced them to Cassie.
Several minutes later, Grace entered. “You beat me here.”
“That’s because I was driving instead of Griffin,” Cassie retorted.
“Why don’t we go into my office to talk?” The trove keeper indicated a door to the left of the main room, and they filed in after her.
The office was cluttered with books and native artifacts—mainly shards of pottery and several clay pipes with faces carved into the bowls. Aside from Grace’s desk and chair, the only other seating was a bench along one wall.
“I don’t get many visitors. I’d ask you to make yourselves comfortable, but I know that’s impossible. Please, just sit down.”
All three of them settled themselves. Grace folded her hands on the desk. “Now, what can I help you with?”
Griffin
