Copper Beach: A Dark Legacy Novel by Jayne Ann Krentz Read Free Book Online Page B

indicating that the situation had become complicated and that he would not be in touch for a while. There had been no further word from him. That was not unusual with consulting jobs for this particular client, a no–name government agency that paid well for talent and discretion.
     
    “Keep an eye on Radwell,” Elias ordered. “We need to locate that lab book. For now, she’s our best lead.”
     
    “Keeping an eye on Abby won’t be a problem,” Sam said. “She hired me to find the blackmailer.”
     
    “
Hired
you?” Sam was flabbergasted. “What the hell do you mean by that?”
     
    “I thought you’d be pleased that I have a new consulting job. I know you and Mom have been worrying about me lately.”
     
    “Now, just one damn minute. Your job is to find that old lab book before Lander Knox does.”
     
    “Got to go, Dad. I’m on my way to Seattle. I’ll update you later.”
     
    Sam ended the connection and went upstairs to pack an overnight bag. Anticipation crackled through him. He would be seeing Abby again soon.
     

6
     
    ELIAS TOSSED THE PHONE ONTO HIS DESK AND WENT DOWN the glass-walled corridor that overlooked the patio, the pool and the great red rocks beyond.
    He paused at the door of his wife’s study. Willow was at her computer. He knew she was working on foundation business. It had been her idea to set up the Coppersmith Foundation twenty years ago. Although she staunchly denied having any psychic talent, her intuition combined with her financial expertise ensured that the foundation was managed brilliantly. No one in the Coppersmith Inc. accounting department could follow the money the way Willow could. As a result, no one got far trying to scam the foundation.
     
    When he went through the doorway he felt the familiar sense of rightness that always thrilled him when he was in Willow’s presence. He’d experienced that same thrill the first time they met. Nothing had changed over the decades.
     
    He had fallen hard for Willow all those years ago, but he was pretty sure that he loved her more now than he had at the start, assuming such a thing was even possible. He had not had a dime to his name back in those days, just the land and mineral rights to a chunk of desert that everyone else thought was fit only for rattlesnakes and growing cactus. But Willow had believed in him. She had made a home for him in a secondhand trailer out there in the desert, never complaining about the lack of money, the blistering heat or the fact that the nearest mall was several hundred miles away. And Willow had kept his secrets. He counted himself the luckiest of men.
     
    Life was very different now. It had taken several years and a lot of sweat before the mining venture proved successful. But in the end, the rare earths that his small company had pulled out of the ground had formed the foundation of the family empire.
     
    He and Willow could afford anything they wanted these days. They enjoyed the money and lived well. But every time he looked at Willow, he knew an unshakable truth that warmed his soul. If he lost the company tomorrow and had to start over again, she would be by his side the whole way, even if it meant going back to that damned trailer.
     
    “He called her Abby,” Elias said.
     
    Willow looked up from the computer. She took off her reading glasses with a slow, thoughtful motion and contemplated him with her knowing eyes.
     
    “You’re talking about the young woman in Seattle who freelances in the book market? The one Thaddeus Webber sent to Sam?”
     
    “Abigail Radwell. Sam met with her today. Looks like someone is trying to blackmail her. I’m betting it’s Lander Knox. Somehow he found out she can break psi-codes. He thinks he can force her to help him find the lab book.”
     
    “There are other people who are after that book,” Willow said.
     
    “Yeah, Sam reminded me of that, too. But Quinn warned me thathis son was sick in the head. Evil sick. Blackmail is the