Only a close, homicide-detective sibling would tune into subtle cues and suspect she was holding back information.
But she ought to be able to divert him easier on the phone than in person.
“Would you like a progress report on my sabbatical?” She kept her tone chatty and conversational. “The translation is picking up speed, and I’m beginning to synthesize all the primary source material with my massive amounts of research. It’s a huge job that’s using all my brainpower. If you want more details, I’d be happy to share them. The historical data is fascinating.”
“Um ... that’s okay. You don’t have to rehash everything for me. I’m glad your time there has been productive.”
“Very.”
“So all’s well in the hinterland?”
It appeared she wasn’t finished playing dodgeball.
“Jack, I’m living a dream here. I get to spend my days in a historic house and work with amazing anthropological resources.”
“Better you than me.”
“I know history isn’t your thing. How’s Quantico?”
For the next five minutes he regaled her with tales of his training, then abruptly stopped as someone spoke in the background.
“Sorry. Gotta run to an exercise. Answer your texts from now on, okay?”
“I promise I’ll be more diligent. Take care.”
Jack ended the call, thank goodness.
Otherwise he could have circled back to whatever hint of trouble he’d picked up in her inflection.
She stowed her phone and returned to the table. Gathered up her papers and shut down her laptop.
Strange to have the rest of Friday stretching empty ahead of her.
Could she work in an extra ballet class today? That would be a treat. Even going to the studio for an hour to stretch instead of doing her routine at the condo today would be a nice change of—
Her phone began to ring again.
She pulled it out. Rolled her eyes as she skimmed the screen.
What were the odds Bri would be calling so soon after Jack unless their brother had planted a bug in their sister’s ear?
But letting the call roll to voicemail wasn’t an option. Bri was as persistent as Jack. If she’d decided not to wait untiltheir usual Saturday call tomorrow morning to get in touch, she was on a mission. One no doubt instigated by Jack.
Shaking her head at the all-too-familiar sibling tag-team drill, Cara pressed the talk button. “Hi, Bri. Jack put you up to this, didn’t he?”
Her sister didn’t try to evade the question. “Yep. He said you told him you were frazzled. What’s up with that?”
“Couldn’t this wait until our call tomorrow?”
“No. I was going to ring you later today anyway. I got pulled into doing a presentation tomorrow morning for a civic group. Jack didn’t buy your frazzled explanation, and he has solid instincts.”
“He also has a tendency to overreact in matters concerning his siblings, as you know from personal experience.” She repeated the story she’d told their brother, almost verbatim. “Wouldn’t you be frazzled if you had to make a two-hour trek back thanks to an oversight?”
“Yeah. I’d also be annoyed. But I’m more interested inwhyyou forgot the laptop. That doesn’t sound like the buttoned-up, make-a-list-and-check-it-twice professor I know and love.”
“Like I told Jack, I’ve been busy. The project is heating up.”
A beat ticked by.
