Page 35 of Doyle

He’d hit the main road, glanced in the rearview mirror. No tail, and he let out a breath and eased off the gas.

Beside him, she said nothing, her jaw tight.

“What?”

“I just think—maybe you should be less... I don’t know?—”

“Brave? Daring? Heroic?”

“Impulsive! Are you kidding me? I could havenegotiated?—”

“Withwhat? He had your money. And in a second, he was about to grab Jamal again. We got the truck—and Jamal. And that’s enough. We’ll buy an X-ray machine, Tia. Sheesh, if you can’t afford it, Declan will?—”

“No!” She looked at him, and were those tears glazing her eyes? “Don’t. I’ll figure this out?—”

He turned onto the highway and picked up speed. “What iswrongwith you? This is not on you, Tia. For crying in the sink, we were robbed. At the very least, our insurance?—”

“We don’t have insurance.” She gritted her teeth, looked away. “The policy lapsed over a year ago. I should have checked when we ordered the machine. Anyway, yeah. That’s on me. And so is this entire fiasco. I should have done this myself, like I planned. Alone. I could have paid them off at the harbor?—”

“Are you even listening to yourself? I walked in on them nearly going to—” He glanced at Jamal, who had sat up, staring at them like they were squabbling parents, horror in his brown eyes. Doyle sighed. “They weren’t going to stop at extortion.”

She swallowed, and again looked away.

“You know that, right?”

Her hand went to her cheek, and she wiped away a tear. “I shouldn’t be here. This was a bad idea.”

Oh.“Yes. We should have let Stein handle?—”

“No. I mean here. On this island. Doing this job. I’m...” She shook her head. “I made another bad decision.”

“Another? As in... what? Yes, you shouldn’t have gone to Sebold, but that was... okay, it might have worked, maybe?—”

“No.” She looked at Jamal, smiled. “I shouldn’t have thought I could do this. I believed something about myself that”—sighing—“clearly isn’t true. And now I’m putting everyone in jeopardy.”

And he so wanted to reach out, take her hand, track down what on earth she meant. But Jamal turned to her. “I’m glad you’re here, Miss T. I was really scared.”

“Me too, Jamal,” she said, and then looked over at Doyle. “But Doyle wasn’t, was he?”

Oh really?That’s what she thought?

“Mr. D is sick.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I think that means good,” she said, and offered a slight smile.

“You’re sick too, Miss T.”

She wrinkled her nose at him.

What did she believe about herself that wasn’t true? The question sat inside him as they turned onto the road above the village, toward Hope House. Even after they pulled up and spotted Stein standing near the gate with a couple other men and Declan Stone, along with his sister and even Rosa. They stood in a circle, Austen with her hands on her hips, Stein’s arms folded, Declan looking out toward the sea. One man wore a uniform, and as Doyle got out and closed the door, he recognized the other as Indiana Hemsworth Jones, the bespectacled archaeologist from the party, the man with the pirate story. He’d overheard him telling the story while he’d been searching the boys’ dormitory.

And then he got it. Kemar had probably heard the story too and brought it to Sebold. Hence the crazy demand for some legendary gold.

Jamal ran into the courtyard, and Rosa caught the boy into her embrace and led him inside, probably ready to fill him with corn porridge.

Doyle glanced at Tia, who had shoved her hands into her pockets, walking over to Declan, her mouth a grim line.

---