Lover's Bite by MAGGIE SHAYNE Read Free Book Online Page A

a nod, she hit another button, and Reaper’s message played.
    Topaz saved the message. “I’m glad they’re okay. And especially glad they lost whoever was following them. That was creepy.”
    â€œAnything having to do with the CIA is likely to be creepy,” he said with a smile. “At least, it seems that way to me.”
    Jack nodded at the phone. “Why don’t you call this Rebecca person now?”
    She nodded and placed the call.
    Â 
    Rebecca Murphy agreed to see them that evening and gave them directions to her home, a small brick structure in an upscale suburb of Beverly Hills. It was a half-hour drive, and a surprisingly pleasant one. The Porsche was fabulous, and Jack drove it the same way he did everything else. Perfectly.
    Rebecca answered her door wearing a kaftan with huge pink flowers all over it, a pair of fur-trimmed high-heeled slippers, and diamonds dripping from her wrist, throat and earlobes. Her snowy hair was cut close to her head on the sides and in the back, while the top was longer, giving her the look of some exotic bird. Topaz suspected she weighed in at about ninety pounds, if that. The kaftan was too big, so she thought maybe the weight loss was recent. The woman had an aura of physical frailty, perhaps even illness, about her, but it was nearly overpowered by the sense of mental power and emotional stability that exuded from her like perfume.
    â€œThank you for seeing us, Ms. Murphy. I realize it’s after hours.”
    The woman waved a hand, glancing at Topaz, then, her attention arrested, staring at her.
    â€œThis is my friend Jack. I’m—”
    â€œTanya,” the woman whispered. “My God, you’re Tanya, aren’t you?”
    â€œI’m sorry?”
    â€œEveryone thinks you’re dead…or worse.”
    Topaz lifted her eyebrows. “What’s worse than dead?”
    â€œOh, child, there are plenty of things.” Rebecca took Topaz by the arm, leading her into her house, a one-story brick ranch with brown shutters and trim to offset its stark look. “I can’t believe you’re here. After all this time.”
    â€œI’m sorry, Ms. Murphy, but—”
    â€œRebecca. And don’t even try to tell me you’re not her. I’d recognize you anywhere. You look exactly as you did before you vanished, ten years ago. God, you look so much like your mother.” She shook her head as if to snap herself out of her reverie, and led them through her small, neat home, all the way to the rear. Topaz glimpsed a huge brown overstuffed sofa and chair, thick green carpeting, an aquarium and a ton of plants, and then they were being hustled through sliding glass doors onto a redwood deck in the back.
    â€œSit. Can I get you a cold drink? A snack?”
    â€œNo, thank you, we’re fine,” Topaz told her.
    At Topaz’s “we,” Rebecca looked at Jack as if she had forgotten he was even there. Then she shook her head again. “I’m sorry, young man. I’ve already forgotten your name.”
    â€œJack,” he said, not adding a last name. She narrowed her eyes a little, but didn’t ask. And then Jack pulled out a chair for her, and she forgot her suspicions as she smiled and took it, apparently pleased by the show of good manners.
    He could charm the spots off a leopard, Topaz thought. Especially if the leopard was female.
    â€œIt’s good to see you, Tanya. I kept tabs on you as much as I could until you disappeared—hard to believe it was ten years ago. No one knew what happened to you, but most of the speculation was that you died.”
    Topaz licked her lips. Admitting who she was had not been a part of her plan. But clearly this woman wasn’t going to be talked out of believing it now.
    Rebecca studied her, then tilted her head to one side. “You want to keep it that way, don’t you?”
    Topaz met her eyes. “For reasons I can’t