"Maybe, maybe not, but-"
"One more question: If Vicky were here, would you take her along?"
That caught her off guard. Her reaction was immediate: Of course not. But she didn't want to voice it.
"That's not the point. Vicky's not here, so-"
Jack tightened his hug. "Gia? Would you?"
She hesitated, then, "All right, no."
"Why not?"
"I'm not sure."
"I am. Because it's an unstable situation, and you wouldn't want to expose Vicky to an unpredictable outcome. Right?"
Gia nodded against his shoulder. "Right."
"Then why expose your second child to that same unstable situation?"
She sighed. Trapped by unassailable logic.
"Please, Gia" He backed away to arm's length. "Stay away. Give me a couple of days to help Lyle find her bones. Then maybe the circumstances won't be so unstable or unpredictable and we can reassess the whole situation."
"Oh, all right," she said. She didn't like it but she'd been backed into a corner. "I suppose a couple of days won't matter."
"Great." He let out a whooshing breath. "That's a relief."
"For you maybe. How about me?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if that house is potentially dangerous for me, what about for you?"
Jack smiled. "Did you forget? Danger is my business."
"I'm serious, Jack."
"Okay. I'll check in regularly."
"Leave your phone on in case I need to get in touch."
"Will do." He wriggled it out of his pocket and pressed a button. She heard a beep as it activated. He glanced at the clock. "Got to go. Pick a place for dinner-anyplace but Zen Palate-and I'll tell you all about Konstantin Kristadoulou's history of the Menelaus cellar and the findings of our archeological dig down there."
Gia sighed. All secondhand, but she supposed it would have to do.
"And the key ring," she said. That was what she wanted to know most of all. "You've got to tell me what happens when you cross the threshold with that."
"Yeah," Jack said softly. "That could be very interesting. But how do you top an earthquake?"