The Pearls of Sharah III - Leah's Story by Fayrene Preston

Author:Fayrene Preston [Preston, Fayrene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Scan; CR; Loveswept # 330
ISBN: 9780553550221
Publisher: Loveswept®
Published: 1989-06-02T16:00:00+00:00

❧

Leah's sensitive heart perceived changes in Rafael that would be barely perceptible to anyone else. The shadows beneath his eyes seemed darker, his brown skin paler, his lean, muscular frame thinner. And he was sitting in exactly the same position and place as he had been yesterday, as if when they put him in the cell, he had ceased to move . . . and to live.

"I'm trying to help you, Rafael, but you've got to help me."

He turned his head and exhaled a heavy stream of cigarette smoke. "You have all the help you need, Leah."

She was accustomed to the cryptic way the Gypsies often spoke, but she was lost now. "I don't know what you mean. I have so little to go on. I went to the jewelry shop today and discovered that a few days before she died Sheila had been looking at a man's signet ring with the initial M. Do you have any idea who she could have been thinking of buying the ring for?"

He shrugged. "No. Why did you go to the jewelry shop?"

She touched the pearl necklace that hung from her neck and fell over her breasts. "Because the clasp was in danger of failing off."

He nodded as if he understood, and drew on his cigarette.

"Rafael, you told me the night Sheila was murdered that your affair with her was over."

"It had ended last summer."

"Then why did she want to meet you at the cabin?"

"To say good-bye."

"You mean because you were leaving?"

"No. Because she was."

"She was going someplace? Where?"

"I arrived too late to find out." He drew hard on his cigarette. "She looked so pitiful. I couldn't stand the thought of her lying there all night by herself. I called myself all kinds of fool, but..."

"You phoned and told them where to find her, didn't you?" The nod he gave was a barely discernible movement of his head. "Then do you have any idea who the person was who called to say you were at the scene of the crime? And if he saw you, did you see him? Rafael?"

He leaned his head back against the wall and fixed his gaze on the small, barred window set high above him. "I can see a bit of blue during the day and a patch of black at night. But they won't open it so that I can get air."

He had told her all he was going to. She shifted along the cot and lay her head against his chest. "Somehow, some way, I'm going to find out who murdered Sheila, and then you'll be free. I promise."

His hand came up to tenderly hold her head and he placed a gentle kiss on her hair. Then he returned his gaze to the window.

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.