How do you explain that, Dr. Epstein?
Honestly, she didn’t care. All she cared about was that Donovan thrilled her to her core, and that core was promising to burst into The Big O the second he got past her underpants. That objective was at the top of her list of Things To Do.
That, and figure out Wally’s metaphorical story and save the hostages. One didn’t have to negate the other. As her grandmother used to tell her, life was only as fun as the goals you set.
Chapter Eleven
Jess joined the others when she heard Mitch come in, and not just to hear the information he might have. He brought food. She smelled it within seconds of him entering the door, and realized how famished she was.
They spread the dishes on the low table in the living room, a mixture of unfamiliar sights and smells. At her uncertain look, Donovan began pointing and naming each dish. “Chicken, stuffed grape leaves—can’t tell you for sure what’s in them, but it’s good—hummus and pita, and tamiyya—that’s a fried bean patty.”
Avery ripped paper away from the final dish. “Baklava. Mitch, I love you.”
She wasn’t an adventurous eater. Picky would be putting it mildly. But she was familiar with hummus and pita, and seconded Avery’s sentiments on baklava, so she figured she could fill up on those.
“We’re informal,” Donovan told her. “Dig in.” He sat on the floor and patted a large pillow beside him. “Sit.”
He moved with the same ease as she would, and considering the thirty-four stitches she’d put in him, that didn’t seem possible. “Doesn’t your side hurt?”
“Kyle got me some pills, something with codeine. I’m feeling fine. Here, start with the grape leaves.”
He put two on a paper plate and handed it to her, then added a scoop of hummus and a hunk of pita bread. She eyed the plate in her hands. The rolled grape leaves smelled interesting, but foreign, which was generally a reason for Jess to avoid something. Donovan waited expectantly. Questions and cautions crowded her mind—had the meat inside been cooked well? Was it processed in sanitary conditions? Were the animals cage-raised or free-range? Were they fed antibiotics? Growth hormones? She wasn’t sure how people could blithely eat without such common sense information, but knew the questions would cause rolled eyes and disgusted head shakes. Normally she wouldn’t care, but for selfish reasons she didn’t want Donovan to find her obnoxious and picky. She had plans for him.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
Don’t say it. “Uh, where’s the silverware?”
“Don’t need any. Use your fingers, like this.”
She watched, took a determined breath, then imitated with a small nibble. Strange flavors and textures rolled through her mouth. She forced herself to chew and swallow. “It’s, um, different. Not bad.” Considering further, she took another nibble. “Kind of good, actually.”
“It’s goddamned delicious,” Kyle told her. “You can’t get this stuff in Chicago.”
If that was because it violated health codes, she didn’t want to know. Donovan shook his head but seemed amused by her hesitant acceptance, so she was happy.
“Fill me in, guys,” Mitch said. “What did we find out?”
“Not much.” Donovan gave him a quick summary of their visit to Hakim, ending with her stitching job.
“No shit? Let’s see it.” He made Donovan peel back the bandage so he could admire the stitched cut. “Nasty. And our Jessie did that patch work all by herself? Nice one, Jess.”
It took her a couple seconds to realize the hand he held up was meant for her. Hastily, she dropped her pita and slapped him five. It felt good, like she was part of the team.
Mitch popped a piece of chicken in his mouth and licked his fingers. “So what’s the news on the beaver lodge on the Nile?”
“If it’s there, we can’t find it,” Avery reported. She summarized their day of exploration. “We’re hoping you had better luck.”
“Then we’ve got a problem, ’cause I got nothing.” He took another bite, then wiped his fingers as he talked. “Like Evan told us, the two students are Jeffery Sidel and Alicia Kirkpatrick. They’re graduate students with a university in Tennessee, working with two other students and a professor and staying in a rental house near the Nile. Our two were doing studies of some tomb paintings in the Valley of the Kings, while the other two and the prof are working at Karnak, so they were going off in opposite directions every day. Apparently Jeff and Alicia always put in long hours and didn’t normally come back to the house until well after dark, so they’d been gone a good twelve hours before anyone knew they hadn’t shown up at the tomb that morning.”