A hand shot up in the crowd. “How big was the monster?” a lady wearing a wide-brimmed visor, a linen sundress, and hiking sandals asked.
“Well, Roberta, it would be huge,” Cosmo responded. “Picture the Minotaur, eight—no, ten feet tall,” he said, lifting his hand and standing on his tippy-toes to demonstrate the height of themonster. “Its head, this big.” He shifted and held his hands out wide in a half circle, letting their imaginations fill in the rest. “Now picture the size of an eye on a creature that large. It must be the size of a football!”
A few people gasped. Roberta clutched her chest.
“How old was it?” Roberta then asked.
“Thirty—no, one hundred years old!”
More murmurs.
“How many people did it kill?” she continued.
“At least a thousand!”
A few sharp inhales and more pearl clutching followed.
“If you’d like,” Cosmo said, lowering his voice to a whisper and huddling toward the group, “tomorrow, instead of visiting the archaeology museum in Heraklion, I can take you to a cave where it’s rumored they did religious rituals to worship the Minotaur. Though it will cost each of you another thirty euros. Sixty-five if you want a traditional Greek lunch prepared by my uncle Vasilios.”
Immediately, Roberta’s hand shot up again, and the group started clamoring for this little side venture. Something told Dani this sudden, unexpected side journey was part of Cosmo’s normal shtick. She had to hand it to him, though—he knew how to sell it to his audience.
Dani stood there for a moment as Cosmo went over the details—cave tour and lunch for those who wanted, or they could visit the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, which they’d already paid for as part of the overall tour package—but once Roberta persisted down the path of twenty questions, Dani slinked away from the group, hoping to catch a bit more of the grounds before they had to start making their way back toward the bus in another thirty minutes.
So while Cosmo and the others pressed on to check out the ramp that was supposedly used to cart in goods to the palace grounds, Dani wandered to the east side of the site, the area where it looked as though the excavation was still in progress. But as Dani drifted aimlessly, a figure caught her eye in the distance, climbing over the railing down into the restricted area below the palace.
A man.
She couldn’t make him out from the one hundred or so yards away other than that he had a beard and dark hair sticking out from under a baseball cap. But something looked familiar in his movements. The way he walked. The long length of his stride. He appeared in a hurry—and even though he walked with purpose, he clearly didn’t want to get caught.
A tourist going off the path? A thief?
Someone looking for the Minotaur?
Dani shook Cosmo’s voice out of her head.Don’t be ridiculous.
But something was definitely off. She’d witnessed enough people trying to sneak behind the stacks or into the private collections areas at the library to know when someone was up to no good.
Hell, she used to be one of those people.
Dani spun around looking for an employee, someone she could tell, before realizing she didn’t really even knowwhatshe saw. What if the man worked here? Wouldn’t that be embarrassing? Tattling on an employee?
If thirty-five years as a little sister taught her anything, it was that nobody liked a tattletale—though she’d argue Eddie was the bigger snitch between the two of them anyway. And this really wasn’t any of her business. She didn’t come on this trip so she could play Nancy Drew.
But…maybe she needed a closer look.
Dani picked up her pace and headed toward the area where the man had disappeared. Once she got to the railing, she crouched behind a placard, slowly peeking over the edge. There he was, now with two other guys dressed in all black carrying shovels.
Uh-oh. A sinking feeling filled Dani’s stomach. She couldn’t be sure, but whatever these guys were doing didn’t seem aboveboard.
Right then, the man with the beard turned around as if double-checking that he hadn’t been followed, and she dropped into a crouch. But when Dani saw the logo on his dark blue hat—a white Old EnglishD—she immediately fell backward, bracing herself with her hands behind her in the dirt.
The Detroit Tigers. Theo’s team.
Not only that, Theo’s lucky hat.
No, no, no.Dani shook her head. She had to have been seeing things. Harold’s prodding had her mind playing tricks on her. She had Theo on the brain, that was all. Besides, Theo had never sported a beard.
Oh yeah, and he was dead. Right?
