“We’ll see what he says about that, but I’ll bet big money it was Korban.” Thorpe turned back to Daria. “I get the reason why these two targeted the owners of the artifacts they wanted to steal. But why you?”

“Apparently I asked the wrong questions when I was in Dr. Burnette’s office. When I asked about the photographs, Vita said she’d found them and taken them right to Louise, but Louise said she’d found them under some papers on Vita’s desk. There were photos in the envelopes of just about every artifact that Alistair found and brought back to Howe. Except for the ones that had been stolen.”

“So you figured that whoever had gone after the artifacts had taken the photographs so they’d know what to steal.” Thorpe nodded.

“I had figured out that the killers had access to the photos, and I’m pretty sure Vita gave the photos to Tabib so he’d know what he was looking for. But at the time, I didn’t know that Vita was involved. I thought that if the photos were just sitting on Vita’s desk, someone else could have found them. I didn’t put it together, especially since both Louise and Sabina had seen the photos, too.”

“But Vita-being guilty-assumed that you figured out it was her,” Connor said.

Daria nodded. “I guess when she heard me ask Louise if the name Dragonis was familiar, she figured I knew more than I did.”

She looked up at Connor and asked, “How did you figure out what was going on?”

“When our guy at the Bureau told me that Dragonis had a daughter named Vedat, the name was just too similar. Then, when I couldn’t find you and Louise didn’t know where Vita was, I thought you had to be at the museum. When I got over there, the guard gave it away.”

“How?”

“You know, there was a reason Cross named this dog Sweet Thing.” Connor sat next to Daria on the bench and rubbed the dog behind the ears. “She’s a very gentle, affectionate animal. But she totally snapped when she saw this guy at the museum door. She was snarling and growling, and it was pretty clear she wanted a piece of him.”

“You think she would have attacked the guy?”

“There’s no question in my mind. So there had to be a reason, right?”

“She remembered him from Cross’s.”

“That’s what I was thinking. He wouldn’t let the dog in the museum so I told her to sit while I went in. I left the door slightly ajar just in case she decided she needed to check up on things.”

“She’s usually so obedient.” Daria frowned. “How did you know she’d follow?”

“I didn’t tell her to stay.”

“You’re such a clever doggie,” Daria said, and rubbed the dog’s head.

“Hey, how about me?” Connor feigned indignation. “I’m a pretty clever guy.”

“Yes, you are. You’re my hero,” she told him.

“Yeah, well, I did have a little help from Tabib. When he heard Stefano talking about how the whole thing had been a ruse to recover the artifacts so that he and Vita could sell them, he realized that he and his brother had been used. Of course, he didn’t seem to have any scruples about killing in the name of the goddess, but killing for the sake of making someone else rich was apparently against his principles.”

“You have to understand, he believed that what he’d done was honorable,” Daria explained. “He’d been taught all his life that protecting his heritage-doing the bidding of the priestess-would be his life’s work. He’d been brought up to believe he had a special role to play, just like his father, and his father’s father. For him this was a privilege. A sacred duty.”

“Korban, having been brought up the same way, would have understood this completely,” Connor said, thinking it through. “So while he thought it was all bullshit, he knew exactly how to exploit it.”

Daria nodded. “For Tabib and his brother, knowing that Vita was a priestess would have sealed the deal. They’d have done anything for her.”

“He sure turned on her fast enough,” Thorpe noted.

“Once Tabib understood what she’d done, he was obliged to kill her, or Ereshkigal would send other gallas after him,” Daria told him. “She was a heretic. She’d committed a sacrilege.”

“Well, she’s still alive, so I guess he failed in this sacred duty of his.” Thorpe seemed to think that over for a moment. “You think there are more of these gallas out there? Think they’ll be coming for Tabib?”

“I find it hard to believe the entire Shandihar culture came down to just these four individuals after surviving for almost two thousand years, Chief,” Daria told him. “Surely there are others. Whether or not they’ll go after Tabib is anyone’s guess.”

“Swell,” Thorpe murmured. “So as long as the university has all their statues and things here, we’re going to have to be looking over our shoulders, worrying about some deluded guys who think it’s their duty to cut out people’s tongues? Or women who think they’re priestesses sending out these so-called guardians to cut off people’s hands?”

“The university has housed these artifacts for almost one hundred years, Chief. Up until Harry Dragonis put this all in motion by stealing some of them, there were no incidents of violence, right?”

“None that I heard about,” he conceded, “and I’m guessing something like this, I would have known about it.”

“These people-call them gallas or guardians-are only interested in preserving and safeguarding their culture,” she told him. “I’m not concerned about more murders.”

“Even though you’re going to be handling their sacred objects? And even though your great-grandfather was the one who stole their stuff away in the first place?” he asked.

“I think that as long as I show respect for the culture-and of course as long as I don’t try to steal anything-I won’t have anything to worry about. Besides,” she added, “only a priestess could give such an order.”

“How do you know Vita won’t do exactly that?” Thorpe frowned. “Not that they’re not welcome to Tabib.”

“I don’t think Vita will be the one giving the orders,” Daria said simply. “I think the mantle’s going to have to be passed.”

“Well, you change your mind, you let me know,” Thorpe said as he turned to walk away. “I’ll have someone watching you day and night.”

“That’s my job,” Connor told her.

“What about your real job?” she asked. “There isn’t going to be a whole lot for the FBI to do around here, once this is all cleaned up.”

“I’m thinking I could take the occasional stateside job,” he told her. “This running all over the world, sleeping on rocky hillsides, is starting to lose its appeal.”

“It has been kind of nice to sleep in the same bed-a real bed, that is-for more than two or three nights in a row.” She smiled. “Throw in a real roof overhead, and I could get used to it.”

“Well, you’ll be here for the next year or so, right?”

“That’s the deal.”

“Maybe I could visit. A lot.”

“I could get used to having you around. A lot.”

She looked past him to the drive where the EMTs were getting ready to lift Vita’s gurney and load it into the ambulance. He followed her stare.

They watched Vita hold up her hand, gesturing for the attendants to stop, just as Sabina Bokhari reached the gurney. She leaned over the wounded woman, who raised a hand and touched the young professor on the forehead. Sabina took Vita’s hand for an instant, then stood and backed away. The EMTs continued transferring the patient to the ambulance, and closed the doors. As the vehicle pulled away, Sabina stepped back onto the grass, her arms folded across her chest.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Connor asked.

“Probably.” Daria nodded. “This should be interesting. I’ve never worked with a priestess before.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was planning to ask Louise if Sabina could work with me on the museum. There’s just too much for one person to do, and there’s no one else who knows as much about Shandihar as Sabina.”