Charlotte Boyett-Compo- Wyndsheer by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page A

then turn around and put your palms flat on the counter where I can see them,” he hissed.
    Slowly, Jamie lifted his hands out to the side and up--the front of the leather bomber jacket he wore splaying open--then casually turned around. The look he gave Elspeth as their eyes met was as cold as the snows that dusted the higher elevations of the Pionós in winter and caused the old woman to shiver. When he lowered his hands to the counter, she saw a tick flexing his jaw.
    “Frisk him,” Wendt ordered his partner.
    Hobart moved in quickly, reached around the Lycant and confiscated his knife, tossed it to Wendt and then with practiced ease ran his hands over Jamie’s shoulders, along his arms then began patting his sides and hips and legs. “He’s clean,” he said, stepping back.
    “This is a helluva weapon,” Wendt observed, staring at the deadly black tungsten blade. The cutting edge was deeply serrated and looked razor-sharp. The tip was curved upward, the carved bone handle curled down and no doubt made to fit only one man’s grip. “This is an assassin’s blade.”
    Jamie shrugged indifferently.
    “Turn around. Slowly.”
    Doing as he was ordered, Jamie kept his hands up and in sight, having no intention of giving the federal agent a reason to draw on him.
    “We need a guide,” Wendt said, handing the blade to Hobart.
    “You need a lot of things,” Jamie said. “Manners being right at the top of the list.”
    Wendt took a few steps forward, his face a mask of anger. “I know all about you, MacGivern,” he said.
    “Then you know I don’t suffer stupidity very well,” Jamie told him. “If you want my help--which you don’t need, by the way--you’d better find a way to ask nicely or I’ll turn around and walk right out of here.”
    Before his partner could explode into a fit of fury, Hobart stepped between them. “Why don’t we need your help?” he asked.
    Jamie shifted his frigid stare to Hobart. “From everything I’ve heard the woman you’re looking for went over the ledge. If that’s the case, you’ll never find her body in the river.”
    “I don’t believe that,” Wendt snarled. He raked a hand through his thinning blond hair. “Not for a fucking minute do I believe my Ally is dead!”
    A strange look entered the Lycant’s eyes, but he said nothing to the outburst.
    “Why don’t you take a walk, Cody,” Hobart said, “and let me handle this.” He put a comforting hand on his partner’s shoulder. “Go on. Take a breather.”
    Wendt’s lips thinned but he spun around and stormed out of the store, his heavy tread making the bell over the jingle before he ever jerked the door open.
    “He and Allison have been friends since they were at the University of Corinth together,” Hobart said in way of explanation for Wendt’s behavior. “He’s worried sick about her.”
    “He’s in love with her,” Jamie stated, folding his arms over his chest, a hard gleam in his pale eyes.
    Hobart frowned. “I wouldn’t go that far. Allison has a husband waiting for her and we’d like something concrete to tell him about her disappearance.”
    Jamie stiffened. “She was married?”
    “Twelve years,” Hobart replied. He stepped forward and extended the dagger to the Lycant, who took it without a word of thanks and shoved it into the sheath at his thigh.
    “Married women ought not to be Federal agents,” Elspeth chimed in.
    Jamie glanced at her, his eyes narrowed.
    “I know we got off on the wrong foot, MacGivern but ….” Hobart began but Jamie made a rude sound, cutting him off.
    “You checked my record so you know I spent time in Draeton,” the Lycant snapped. “You also know I have no love for the government for what they did to me.”
    “It isn’t the government you’d be helping here,” Hobart told him. “It would be a good woman who just happens to be a highly-decorated lawwoman.”
    Jamie stared at Hobart for a long moment then turned away. “It’s too late in the