Read My Brother's Crown for Free Online

I’d left off. An hour later we were just finishing up when Dr. Underwood let me know he would be needing the pamphlet soon in order to determine placement and make his final adjustments with the lighting.
    â€œNo problem. I’ll contact Blake,” I said, and then I shot him a text asking him to come here ASAP if possible. Butterfly needs to emerge from cocoon , I added, smiling at my spy-talk and hoping he’d get the joke.
    He responded soon after.
    Be there in 15. Sustain diapause until my arrival.
    I actually laughed out loud, amazed that someone like him would know the term. Diapause was an extended state of rest that organisms, including butterflies, sometimes entered into. By telling me to sustain it, he was saying to leave the pamphlet in the safe for now. Too thrown to come up with a clever reply, I texted him back a simple Will do. Over and out.
    He showed up just as Dr. Underwood was dismissing his workers for the day and I was straightening the chairs in front of the portable movie screen.
    â€œThanks for waiting,” Blake said as he came into the room. Then, glancing around furtively, he stepped closer and added in a low voice, jaw set and lips barely moving, “Imago may now emerge from chrysalis.”
    Again, I couldn’t help but laugh. “Very impressive, Keller. Let me guess, you picked up the lingo during a previous assignment, one where you had to guard some rare species at a local butterfly conservatory?”
    â€œNope.” With a sheepish smile, he gestured to his phone and added, “Once I realized we were playing secret agent, I just googled ‘terms related to butterflies’ and found some code words I could use.”
    â€œClever. Very resourceful.”
    He shrugged modestly, sliding his phone into his pocket. “Comes with the territory. Kind of like it says in the Bible, I try to be all thingsto all people. You’re a scientist. I can do scientist—or at least pretend well enough to hold up my end of the conversation.”
    His eyes locked on mine, and I felt an odd shiver. Quoting the Bible? Throwing out scientific terms in an attempt to speak my language? Maybe there was more to this guy than I’d first given him credit for. The thought surprised me, sending heat to my cheeks. Breaking our gaze, I managed to mutter, “Be right back.” Then I turned and headed for the door, my pulse surging as I went.
    I tried to talk myself down as I walked across the wide entrance hall toward the study. There was a big difference between googling and knowing. Anybody with a smart phone and half a brain could do what he’d done. Other than being adaptable and accommodating, there was nothing special about Blake Keller, nothing at all.
    Except maybe those eyes, which were a deep green flecked with gold. And that hair, thick blondish-brown hair that almost made a person want to run their hands through it, if they went for that sort of thing.
    With a groan, I forced myself to put such juvenile musings aside and focus on the task at hand. At the door of my grandfather’s study, I paused for a moment then took a deep breath, pushed it open, and went in.
    Granddad.
    This had been his domain, and it still smelled like him, that familiar mix of teakwood and pipe tobacco and antique paper. The room looked the same as always, the dark leather swivel chair parked behind the massive wooden desk, rows of rare books lining the shelves along the right wall, and a pair of satin-upholstered antique chairs facing the desk.
    Taking a deep breath, I padded across the lush beige carpet to the safe, which was located in a supply closet on the far side of the room. As I knelt and began turning the dial—right twenty, left fourteen, right eight—I could almost feel my grandfather’s presence. What a fascinating man he had been, so intelligent, so generous, so paternal. He’d had eight grandchildren, but somehow he made each one of us feel