He joined her. “Is something wrong?”
“No. Not a thing.” Her voice, her bearing, her expression all matched her words. Her eyes told a different story. She walkedthe room, much as she had on Friday, and examined the paintings again. Then she pulled her phone from her pocket.
Seconds later, his phone buzzed. He stepped away from her and waited a minute before taking a look.
There’s a Janus in the bottom right corner of every painting.
Janus. Zane would never forget the first time he’d heard of Janus. The Roman god of portals and doorways, he was frequently depicted as having two faces, and it was his image on the cuff link Tessa found in the hotel room. In the time since, Zane had done everything he could to find out more about Janus and if he was a symbol for any particular group, but all his efforts had come up empty.
Zane made it a point to remain casual as he wandered through the room. This time he saw what Tessa had seen. The symbol was small and easily missed on most of the images. But on the restored painting, it was brighter and larger.
A signature.
But the signature of a dead man. Carmichael had made it clear that the artist, a man he called Toto, had passed away. And that this painting had been one of his last.
Toto had been in the same fraternity as the president and Carmichael. Was it possible that the man who’d been with Tessa that night had also been a member?
Tessa was a rock star over the next three hours. She interacted with Carmichael like the professional she was, and with no hint of the dual dramas Zane knew she was dealing with.
When they left, it was with the assurance that the guest list had been completed, the file was being emailed to them, and Carmichael was ready and excited to receive the president on Friday.
Tessa didn’t speak until they were two miles away from the estate. When she did, it was to say, “Not in the car. Not now. Later.”
He didn’t push her. He did, however, reach for her hand and was rewarded with her immediate acceptance of his touch. They rode with fingers laced and thoughts their own until Zane pulled the car to a stop in the parking area of his and Luke’s Monday morning run. “Walk with me?”
“Okay.”
He climbed from the car and jogged to her door as she opened it but before she climbed out. He blocked her in the seat. “Tessa.”
“Yeah.”
“I get the doors.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Since when?”
“Since last night.”
She considered his words and then extended her hand with an imperious look. He took it and helped her from the car.
“Thank you.”
He couldn’t stand it anymore. He pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “I’ve been wanting to do that all day.”
This time her smile was mischievous. “I almost kissed you in the parking garage, but I restrained myself. I’d already screamed like a frightened toddler. I didn’t want to look any less professional than I already did.” On those words, she rose on her tiptoes and kissed him.
Hers was not quick.
“Wow.” He tucked her hand in the bend of his arm and walked with her toward the trail.
She dropped her head to his arm, and they walked for ten minutes before she pointed to a small bench. “Let’s sit here.”
He joined her on the bench. “Talk to me.”
“Janus, the symbol, it’s not always the same. If it was Janus,but a different design, I would be inclined to think it was a bizarre coincidence. But it wasn’t. It was identical. Either the artist copied the symbol and used it in his art, or he designed it in the first place.”
“Janus wasn’t a Greek god. He was Roman.” Zane pulled up every bit of random mythological information he’d learned about Janus in the weeks after Tessa’s abduction. Because no matter what she chose to think, he remained convinced that she’d been abducted that night. “The fraternities are big on their Greek background. I don’t know if they would have used Janus.”
“Maybe. Not everyone knows he was Roman, so it could have been a mistake and once it was done, they ran with it. Or it could have other meanings. To the Romans, Janus was the god of doorways, pathways, and portals. Maybe they used his image in a symbolic way?” Tessa dropped her head into her hands. “I cannot believe this is happening now.”
