Read Online Last Breath by Mariah Stewart - Free Book Online

much time off meant too much time to think about things he didn’t want to think about. Like his dead brother, Dylan, and how he got that way.
    He swam his last lap, then drifted on his back to the side of the pool where he hoisted himself up. As he rose from the water, he realized he was not alone. He hesitated for less than a second, then held out a hand and asked, “Would you toss me that towel?”
    â€œAnd me without my camera phone.”
    â€œVery funny.”
    Connor caught the towel in one hand and wrapped it around his waist as he walked toward the lounge where his boss sat. Connor asked, “So, to what do I owe the visit?”
    â€œI was in the neighborhood and just thought I’d stop by.”
    â€œBuddy, there’s no one in my neighborhood.” Connor dropped onto the chair next to John.
    â€œTrue enough. Tough place to find.” John sat upright, one leg on either side of the lounge. “How did you find it?”
    â€œRealtor. I told him I wanted something secluded and quiet. I think he had me pegged for a serial killer, but he found it for me anyway.”
    â€œWell, secluded you got. I’ll have to stop back with Genna one of these days.”
    â€œYou and your wife are welcome any time.” Connor studied John’s face, looking for clues to the reason for his unannounced visit. Finally, he asked, “So what’s up, John?”
    â€œYou got a phone call last night at the office. Woman asked for you, wouldn’t speak with anyone but you. She finally left a message for you on my voice mail.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œAnd I called her back this morning.” John paused. “You know a woman named Daria McGowan?”
    Connor nodded. “Yeah. She called?” He frowned. “And you couldn’t have just called me with her number because…?”
    â€œBecause she has a problem, one that doesn’t fall into your normal field of expertise. But she insisted that she only wanted to talk to you.”
    â€œSomething happen to her?” Connor sat upright, aware that John would not be oblivious to his interest. “Is she all right? Did she say where she was?”
    â€œShe’s fine, it’s nothing like that. But she’s in a place called Howeville, Pennsylvania, and she—”
    â€œShit. She’s in the States?”
    â€œWhere is she usually?”
    â€œIran, Turkey, Syria…but go on. Why is she in Pennsylvania?”
    â€œShe was contacted by the president of Howe University, who asked her to take over a project at their museum. Short version—they want her to set up some displays, exhibits, whatever, in time for the hundredth anniversary of an archaeological expedition that her great-grandfather led sometime after the turn of the century. He apparently found some lost civilization in Turkey and brought back everything he could get his hands on.”
    â€œCool. Good for her.” Connor smiled.
And good for me. She’s within driving distance.
“So where’s the problem?”
    â€œThe problem is that when she opened the vault where her great-granddaddy’s stash has been kept for the past hundred years and started cataloging the artifacts, she discovered that some of the more important pieces were missing.”
    â€œStolen?”
    â€œShe thinks so.”
    â€œSo she called the FBI, that’s good. We have a whole department dedicated to—”
    â€œI told her all that. But she didn’t call the Bureau, Connor. She called you. She doesn’t want anyone else. She doesn’t want the publicity—feels it will look really bad for the university at a time when things apparently aren’t going real well.”
    â€œOkay, I’ll drive up there, I’ll look things over, see if I can confirm that there really was a theft. If these items have been stored away for almost a century, there’s a chance that over the years, a piece was removed to