It Had to Be You by Bird Beverly

Author:Bird, Beverly [Bird, Beverly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

"They'll be there by eight-thirty. Count on it." The voice was nearly more offensive with good news than it was when it whined, the man thought. The caller was, of course, expecting a pat on the back. A nod of praise that would allow him to breathe more easily for a little while. The man would not give it.

He could not afford to.

He did, however, approve of the caller's initiative in going into Shawnalee's apartment once she and Marsden had gone.

The man swiveled in his desk chair, in leather that was soft as butter, smooth as a woman's skin. He reached for the fax again.

It was grainy. Shadowed. And far, far too small. The caller had warned that it was five years old. It was a photo from her college year book.

Shawnalee Collins.

The man's breath shortened until he deliberately caught it and steadied it again. He would not say that she was beautiful, but he did not care for beautiful woman. Like Julie's, her face was too unique to fall into that mold. Julie had been stunning, all angles, sharp lines. This woman possessed the aura of Eve—of the earth, born for man.

She had eyes that just hinted of laughter. An odd smile, not quite full, as though she knew a secret. She was the best of both worlds, he thought greedily—a dark-eyed blond.

She'd fascinated him from the start, from the time she had first popped up in the middle of this. Now he was beginning to crave her.

He would like very much to touch her, he decided. If everything worked well, that might happen soon now.

Apollo's was a public place. The caller assured him that it was on a stretch of four-lane highway, with an abandoned warehouse beside it. Even imbeciles such as he had working for him should be able to draw her off, away from Marsden, for a moment.

Perhaps, he thought, as early as this new day, he would meet her.

"Bring her directly here when you get her," he said.

"What about Marsden?"

But the man was no longer concerned with Gabriel Marsden at all.

He stroked a finger over the faxed photograph. She'd played games with him, of course—that note she'd left for her roommate was silly. But she was not a silly woman, so she would have known that.

It was her message to him, the man was sure. She had saved him unnecessary steps. Thanks to Shawnalee's foresight, it had not been necessary to waste precious time pressuring the roommate to find out where Shawnalee had gone.

Technology had taken care of that for him.

The caller had checked her telephone for the last number dialed. The New York Monitor. Reynold Austin, of course. And Austin's phone lines had been tapped for months.

Manhattan had been a shot in the dark. But Marsden would want to wait somewhere close by Austin, to minimize time when arrangements for the gun came through, and he would want to do it in his old, usual style. That narrowed it down even more. Marsden was predictable, the man thought sadly.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.