“No, seriously. Look. Over there,” she said, pointing through the trees. “Is that . . . is that Sunny sneaking around?”
“What?”
Ford crouched next to Corrie as they inched toward the tree line. Sunny circled the artifact shed, her gaze shifting around like she was up to no good, checking to make sure no one was watching her before she slipped inside.
“That little . . .” Ford mumbled as he straightened up.
“You don’t think she’s the thief, do you? I mean, Sunny? Really?”
Memories from her interactions with Sunny over the last couple of weeks swirled through her head. Her bubbly personality. The fangirling. It didn’t make any sense. Not Sunny. Though maybe that was her cover. Play the sweet, awkward intern. Get people to love her so she’d be the last person suspected.
Yeah, this sneaking around the shed business didn’t look good.
“Sure looks that way. I thought it was a little strange that she was one of the only ones who didn’t get food poisoning.”
“You think she poisoned everyone?” Sneaking around was one thing, but poisoning?
“Hold on . . .” Ford then said, putting his hand on Corrie’s forearm. “Is that . . . is that Ethan?”
Sure was. Ethan, snooping around the shed, looking right as rain and not at all like he’d spent the morning puking his brains out. Were he and Sunny both in on it? No. No way. If Corrie felt she could trust anyone on this dig, Ford, Ethan, and Sunny—and possibly Agnes—were the ones.
Ethan checked his surroundings, then entered the same shed Sunny had entered.
“I . . . I don’t believe it,” Corrie said. A wave of nausea swept over her.
“I don’t know what the hell to believe anymore.” Ford sat on the ground, clearly upset by this revelation. As Ethan had said—they were like brothers. If Corrie was crushed by seeing Ethan sneaking around, Ford must have been devastated.
“What do you think we should do?” she asked.
He hopped up, as if her question had snapped him out of his thoughts. “I don’t know, but I’m not going to put up with this,” he said, marching toward the shed.
Uh-oh.
Corrie ran to catch him as they made a beeline straight for the shed. Standing outside the door, they listened for a moment as clanking and groaning sounds carried through the walls. What the hell was she doing in there? Trying to steal heavy equipment?
Not wasting any more time, Ford flung open the door . . .
And there was Ethan, on his knees, with his face buried between Sunny’s legs. Corrie’s eyebrows raised. Well, this got interesting.
“Dr. Matthews!” Sunny screamed, hopping off the workbench and pulling up her pants as Ethan scrambled to his feet. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
“Certainly looks that way,” Ford responded, and Corrie couldn’t help but snicker.
Or feel somewhat of a sense of relief. No, they weren’t stealing. They were fucking. All those moments seeing them together and Ethan’s comments about what were some extremely personal conversations with Sunny suddenly made sense.
“I mean, not as in right this minute,” Sunny continued, “but earlier, you know, before we came in here to . . . uh . . . to keep an eye on the shed. I mean, it’s not what you think. Or, I mean, that’s probably what you think,” she said, motioning between her and Ethan.
Ethan put his hand on her wrist to stop her from talking. “Ford, this is all on me,” he said, his voice solemn and apologetic.
“Ethan, I don’t give a shit about that, though I suppose I am a little surprised. But you’re both adults and she’s not your student.”
“Surprised about what?” Ethan asked.
“I thought she was into Corrie.”
So did I.
“Oh, I am,” Sunny chimed in.
Annnnd now I’m confused.
“Wait . . . I thought you said she wasn’t into men,” Corrie then said to Ethan.
“No, I said Ford wasn’t her type,” Ethan said with a smirk.
“Oh, yeah, totally. I’m into men, women, whatever. Blonds really aren’t my thing, though. Nor is that whole professor-student thing. I mean, how cliché. No offense, Dr. Matthews.”
“Why is it that every time you say ‘no offense’ I feel like I should be offended?” Ford said, playfully, and Corrie let out a full-throated Corrito Burrito laugh.
“Well, now that we got that out of the way, I thought you were sick with food poisoning?” Ford asked Ethan.
Ethan’s face twisted as if wincing inside. “Yeah . . . so, that may not have been true.”
“What the hell, man?” Ford said, now his tone agitated.
“What the hell, me? Where the hell have you two been all day? We were looking for you hours ago,” Ethan spat back.
“We . . . we were . . . exploring.”
Nice save, Ford. Real believable.
“Well, while you were out exploring,” Ethan said with a pointed look to Corrie, “we were here investigating our situation and keeping an eye on the artifact shed. I faked being sick with the rest of them so I had a reason to hang around camp, in case someone else was faking sick so they had an excuse to be alone in camp. The thief. It appears he’s back.”
Oh no. It seemed Ford had been right to be worried this morning. Corrie and Ford looked at each other, then back at Ethan.
“Come on. Follow me,” Ethan said, leading the charge out of the shed and around to the back, still within sight of everyone and everything but far enough that no one would be able to hear them. Aside from a few glances from the others, no one paid them any mind.
“Okay,” Ethan said once they were situated, “see the panel at the back here?”
Corrie and Ethan looked over, but, again, nothing seemed unusual or out of place. “Yeah, what’s the problem?” Ford asked.
“The whole thing has been removed. See?” Ethan said, easily lifting the wood panel from the frame.
“Did they take anything this time?”
“They did. Do you remember that wooden bowl? Well, it’s gone.”
A sickening sensation washed over Corrie’s stomach. That bowl had been a huge find. It was almost intact and even had a small amount of grain in the bottom.
“Well, then, that settles it,” Corrie said. “Ford, you’ve got to send everyone home.”
“Are you serious right now? We found—” Ford started but stopped himself when Corrie’s eyes widened and she started shaking her head.
“Found what?” Ethan asked, his brow furrowed.
“Maybe it’s better if we talk about this later,” Ford said, glancing briefly at Sunny then back toward Ethan.
“Maybe we all need to start trusting each other,” Ethan said, crossing his arms.
Ford opened his mouth as if to protest, but then quickly shut it. Good. If there was one person Corrie trusted on this dig as much as she trusted Ford, it was Ethan.
“Okay,” Ford said. “But trust goes both ways, man.”
“Fine. Sunny and I have been . . . keeping each other company for a while. I didn’t tell you because, well, because she’s your student. And, honestly, things haven’t really been the same between the two of us since your dad died.”