Mummies & Daddies (WAYHAUGHT)

Chapter 20

Mail lay on the mat as she entered her house, surprised to have so much even in the short time she had been away. Switching on the light, placing everything on the kitchen table, she checked the time, a little after two in the morning, way too early to ring Waverly even with the time difference. Her bed had never been so welcoming, collapsing on it fully clothed, pulling the duvet over her body, grateful for a few hours' sleep.

She woke late morning to the sound of her phone pinging with a message from Waverly. Still tired, her body still trying to work out which time zone it was in, she called. "Hey, how's it going?"

Waverly's voice was shaky. "Robert's mad at me for not returning his calls. Left a new message demanding I return to the complex immediately."

"Don't call. Send a text if you must saying you need time after what happened."

"What if he calls again?"

"Ignore the call. Waves, you had no choice other than to leave. If you'd stayed you faced the possibility of being arrested again. The necklace remember."

Waverly paused to consider Nicole's words. "I keep thinking they'll come for me."

Nicole sat up. "Hey, hey, it's going to be okay, you hear. Okay, okay, maybe speak to Ikram first, tell her what happened."

"I don't think I'll be working in Cairo."

"One step at a time. Let me know how it goes. Love you."

Nicole lay back on the bed, needing more sleep, glad Waverly was now in Chicago, glad to be far away from Luxor. Whatever Robert wanted, however pissed he might be at Waverly's dawn departure, at least she was no longer there to take the blame for whatever seedy activity was going on. Someone had decided to frame her in a way that would leave little doubt in anyone's mind she was the guilty party.

Did she want to know who? Hell yes. Did she have an idea who it might be? Hell yes. Perry was her number one suspect, his avoidance of Waverly once he knew they were back together adding to her suspicion he must be the culprit. And, the keys to the rooms. He knew, the creep knew cleaners left room keys in the linen room, yet pretended not to, the first time they met on their way to the research complex. Searching her memories of their conversation, snippets returned. He definitely mentioned someone had a key, and about not being disturbed. He fucking knew.

More sleep, followed by a shower and several mugs of coffee, she was ready to re-enter the land of the living, scrolling through her messages to find the one from her deputy with the details on Alex Connor. Calling the number she had for her at the museum a woman answered, Nicole introducing herself, explaining why she was ringing. "I can't talk now," she said. "Can you call me in an hour's time?"

Nicole called Waverly, listening to the sound of her voice as she answered, lost for a moment as to what to say. "Hey," was all she could manage, when words returned.

"Thank you."

"I've been in contact with Alex."

"What did she say?"

"Not much. She's in Seattle now."

"Maybe we could meet her."

"She wasn't keen to speak. Can't blame her."

"God, what she must have been through. It was bad enough the few hours I spent locked up. Never want to go through that again."

"Maybe that's our route in. I'll let you know how it goes."

A second call to Alex was even less successful, immediately going to voicemail, assuming whoever this person was she probably didn't want to drag up the past, assuming it would be too painful for her, assuming she wanted to forget what had happened, wanted to move on with her life.