Mysterious by Fayrene Preston Read Free Book Online Page A

wanted him, just as much or more than he wanted her.
    Bad timing. Bad judgment. She was in the worst mess of her life, and what did she do? Walk up to the one man in the world who she could fall heart over head in love with.
    Despite her training, the lies hadn’t come easily. Besides that fact that her natural inclination was to be open and honest, nothing or no one could have prepared her for the devastation she experienced as she had looked into Jerome’s blue eyes and told one lie after another. She almost felt as if she had been rubbed raw. But although she regretted every single lie, each one of them had been totally necessary.
    And for all the precautions she had tried to take, he easily could have been killed tonight. Along with herself.
    All at once her head jerked up. The door! They had found her at the hotel when she didn’t think they would. They could find her again. She got up and hurried over to the door to check it. Good. There was a bolt lock and a chain guard, and both were in place.
    She walked tiredly back to the sofa and lay down. But as exhausted as she was, she didn’t want to shut her eyes for fear of the terrifying images she knew she would see. The same images she had seen the last two nights in her sleep. The images. The blood. Flowing so freely. So red. So much of it.
    She sighed and turned over. She had jumped from the fiying pan into the fire, but she didn’t want to take Jerome Mailer with her. First thing in the morning she had to leave. And it was with that final disturbing thought that she fell asleep.

     
     
     
     

Chapter Four
     
    The lone figure stood in the doorway of the newsstand, holding a cup of steaming coffee and watching the sky lighten from black to gray. Despite the cold, it felt good to be out in the open. The arthritis was bothersome, but still, there had been too many years when it hadn’t been possible to be outside and see the first light of dawn.
    The cab came slowly down the street and pulled to a stop at the curb. The young man climbed from the taxi, holding the usual greasy bag of doughnuts. "Mornin’, Leo."
    "Phil." The newsstand owner placed a cup of coffee on the counter along with a spoon and two packs of sugar. "Through for the night?"
    "Yup." He emptied both packs of sugar into his cup and began to stir with painstaking absorption.
    "Have a good night?"
    "Yup."
    "Talkative this morning, aren’t you?"
    The young man’s green eyes rose from his coffee and they were solemn. "I think you should know, Leo. There are two men asking around about Jerome Mailer."
    There was no sound for a minute, then, "Who are they?"
    "They didn’t say, but they definitely were to be taken seriously."
    Faded blue eyes shone with momentary amusement. "Give you trouble, did they?"
    "Not me." Phil shrugged. "And I didn’t tell them anything either, but that doesn’t mean they won’t find out somethin’ from somebody else."
    Leo took a sip of coffee. "Do you know what’s up?"
    "All I know is that I was cruising by Charlie’s and Jerome Mailer hailed me. I took him and a lady to the Randolph. An hour or so later a friend of mine drove them to his apartment." Phil gazed off into the distance. "Strange behavior for the man."
    "What do you mean?"
    "Mailer doesn’t ordinarily bother with hotels or cabs. But then, the lady was strictly out of the ordinary." Phil tossed his empty coffee cup over the counter and into the garbage can he knew was behind it. "See you tomorrow. I’ll let you know if I hear anything."
    "Sleep well, Phil," Leo returned, and watched the cab take off down the street. When it was out of sight, Leo pushed back the jersey hood covering the gray braids that encircled her head and raised her eyes to the top floor of the apartment building across the street. . . Jerome Mailer’s apartment.
     
    #
     
    Dawn found Jerome already awake, showered, and dressed, and sitting in a chair across from the couch, contemplating his deeply slumbering guest. Was she really