Liar's Moon by Heather Graham Read Free Book Online Page B

Connecticut?” Jamie asked.
    “That’s what I had in mind—yes.”
    Tracy wasn’t sure why, but little shivers suddenly went down her spine. Leif wasn’t looking at her; he was watching Jamie. Leif was leaning against the edge of the window, sipping his coffee. His stance seemed negligent but she knew it really wasn’t. Looking him over, she decided he really wasn’t slender at all—his height gave him that appearance. Clad in the knit polo shirt, the breadth of his shoulders was very visible, as were their muscles. She swallowed, suddenly remembering that when he was shirtless, his abdomen had little ripples of tautness, that he was wired and taut as a drum and his grip was like iron. He’d fought in jungle warfare, and he’d never forgotten the movements—how to stalk, how to spin, how to remain on guard—and how to snap shut a trap.
    “Is that why we’re going there tomorrow?” Jamie asked unhappily. “And why Sam and Tiger are coming in tonight and going with us?”
    “Yes,” Leif said simply.
    Tracy lifted her hands in her annoyance. “I still don’t see what you’re trying to prove.”
    “Who had a motive?” Jamie demanded.
    “Everyone,” Leif and Tracy replied simultaneously, bringing their eyes back to one another again.
    “But I don’t—”
    “Leif, Tiger, and Sam inherited Dad’s share of their mutual holdings,” Tracy said.
    “Right. The three of us are broke,” Leif drawled sarcastically, “so we were after more money.”
    Tracy ignored him. “Then there’s Lauren, the widow —she inherited the majority of his estate. And the last I heard, she’s writing a book on his one great and real love affair—theirs.”
    “Don’t forget Jamie’s mother,” Leif reminded her. “Sorry, Jamie, things never did go smoothly after that divorce.”
    “My mother didn’t—”
    “I certainly don’t think that she did,” Tracy said softly, simply because she cared for him. She owed Carol nothing—Carol hadn’t wanted her around when she was a child.
    “And then,” Leif announced, sitting across from Tracy and staring at her again, “then we have Tracy’s collection. Her grandfather—the great Arthur Kingsley. A man so irate that his daughter should fall in love with a penniless musician that he dragged her away and married her off to an accountant before the fruit of such an affair should appear. Only things backfired a bit because the steady and reliable accountant had a heart and a conscience. And we have Tracy’s mother—who never really forgave Jesse for not panting after her the rest of her life. Then there’s Tracy’s stepfather, Ted Blare himself. Perhaps he couldn’t bear the years of his wife yearning for the man she had lost.”
    Tracy was on her feet by then, her palms flat on the table while she glared across at him in a red fury. “Then there’s Leif himself! Did he ever tell you, Jamie, that there was a whole year when he and Dad didn’t speak to one another? Did he ever tell you that it became violent and physical between them and he was flattened out on the floor!”
    Leif was calmly watching Tracy, leisurely lighting a cigarette, inhaling, exhaling, and pointedly returning her stare. She was barely aware of what she was saying; he knew exactly what she was spewing, and was quite ready for Jamie’s natural question.
    “Over what?”
    Too late, she looked from Leif to her brother and saw his troubled frown. And, too late, she realized that she had practically spelled the whole thing out. She focused uneasily on Leif again and noted his satisfied smile and wondered suddenly if he hadn’t been maneuvering her into telling her brother exactly what he wanted her to tell him.
    He inclined his head slightly toward her and said quietly, “Well, Tracy? Go on. He wants to know why I might have wanted to kill your father.”
    What the hell was his game? she wondered. Should she call his bluff or what? She felt trapped, needed more time.
    “All right, Tracy,