Asp of Ascension (A Nefertari Hughes Mystery #1)

Chapter Forty-Four

Terry rubbed her bare arms. The asp didn't feel warm enough to fight the sudden chill.

Fraser tucked the jar under his arm. "All right, Neffie," he said. "Maude and I will help you construct some kind of trap."

"Enough with the Scooby-Doo," Maude moaned. "Besides, Fred's plans never work."

"Yeah, but they always catch the thief," he insisted.

"Except in this case we're the thieves," Maude said. "Well, sort of." She pulled out a Tootsie Pop from her clutch and began to unwrap it methodically.

If Maude and Fraser were set on following her, it would be safer for them to at least know what she was about to do. She gave them the details of her simple plan. "I have to break through the bulletproof case first—"

"You're going to smash it with your Hulk fists?" There was admiration in Fraser's voice.

"Yes," she said. "Then I'll fit the asp into the grooves and leave everything else up to two-and-a-half-thousand-year-old engineering."

"Flawless," he said. "But who gets to unmask the thief?"

Maude groaned. "Why are you still talking?"

"You want me to shut up?" he asked her. "I'm wondering if your original offer still stands."

Maude wrinkled her brow. Terry sensed things were about to get crazy between her two friends. The elevator seemed stuck between the first and second floors.

"You told me that if I didn't stop talking you'd give me something..." He paused and pretended to look confused. "What was your exact wording? Something to suck on?" He waved a hand toward her outfit. "Once you put something like that out there—ugh!"

Maude had thrust the Tootsie Pop into his mouth. Fraser winced and swore around the sucker. Maude's look of satisfaction slowly disappeared, morphing into an expression of shock.

"I'm sorry," Maude muttered as she pressed the two button on the elevator panel. "I just..."

The elevator door opened. Maude pushed by him, running down the hallway.

Fraser looked stunned. "Where are you going?" he called out.

Terry followed Maude's flowing dress around the corner. She hesitated at the entrance to the dinosaur and fossils gallery. Maude was standing by a model of a triceratops with her hands covering her face. Terry could tell by the movement of her shoulders she was crying.

Fraser came up behind Terry, out of breath and still holding his glass jar. "It's not every day you see a Roman dancing girl leaning against something from the Jurassic Period," he said. "When time machines go awry."

Terry remained stone-faced.

"Why does she hate me?" he asked, his voice sounded small in the large room. "What's her problem?"

"She doesn't hate you," Terry sighed. "She likes you...really likes you. That's the problem."

"Hold my brains," he said, passing over the jar.

Terry hugged the jar to her chest and stayed by the doorway.

Fraser walked up to Maude, still holding the sucker. She kept her back to him. He lightly touched her bare shoulder. "Excuse me, there's no crying in the paleontology department."

Maude wiped under her eyes. "Go away."

He let out a ragged sigh. "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?"