The Blood Lance by Craig Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

kill all three of them?'
    'I don't really think I've been given any other choice.'
    Bartoli offered him a sardonic smile. 'You might give the matter some thought before you try something that you could end up regretting. As I recall, the last time you decided to murder her, Kate tossed your assassins off a mountain.'
    Carlisle laughed pleasantly as if he had heard a fine joke. He turned to watch the streets of Zürich as they slipped past. 'This time she won't see it coming.'
    'I told her that. She doesn't seem to care, David, and from
    the look in her eyes, I am thinking you are the one who might not see it coming.'
    'She thinks she is close to finding out what happened. That's Malloy's doing. He imagines Jack Farrell can be made to talk.'
    'Are you so sure he can't?'
    'Quite positive. But tell me something I don't know, Giancarlo. You met Kate's new husband. Do you think she is in love with him?'
    Bartoli turned the palms of his hands up and lifted his shoulders. 'A woman arrives at a certain age, David, and suddenly she understands love quite differently. If she is honest with herself, she knows there is only one man she ever truly loved. It is why her husband is so eager to help her with this. He wants to take the place of his predecessor. He wants all of her love. Of course, he knows he can never have it, but he persuades himself that if he helps her that somehow he will be closer than before.'
    'Lord Kenyon, I think, was a very fortunate man.'
    Giancarlo Bartoli reflected on this observation. 'More than he knew, I expect.'
    'A shame he had to die so young.'
    'I have always thought so.'
    Kate found Marcus Steiner as he was leaving the party. She spoke to him in High German, using the formal Sie of strangers as she shook his hand instead of kissing his cheek as an intimate. To her thinking, Marcus Steiner was the quintessential Swiss, charming, reserved, diplomatic, and true to his word - especially in his criminal enterprises. 'Did you enjoy yourself, Captain?'
    'Very much, thank you, Mrs Brand.'
    'By the way, I'm curious. Are you still. . . ?'
    A look of recognition, a pleasant shrug of the shoulders. 'Nothing has changed since you have been out of the country,' he said.
    'Is my credit any good?' she asked sweetly. 'Or will you need cash in advance for my order?' 'If anything it has improved after today.'
    'I'm sorry I haven't given you much notice, but I am going to need something very soon, I think. I've put a wish list in your coat.' Marcus Steiner looked at his coat in surprise. 'Over your heart,' she told him, taking the lapel and laughing as if it were a fine joke.
    'Did you want anything exotic?'
    'Nothing too extraordinary.'
    'Will you want everything in the garage at your old flat, the way we used to arrange it?'
    'It's being watched, I'm afraid.' Marcus gave her a curious look. Not by the police, he knew, but then she didn't really concern herself with the police. She was too well liked to worry about secret investigations - especially after today. 'Ethan and I have a new place - close to the Gross Munster. I put my address at the bottom of the list. Just leave it all in the main room if we aren't there. I'll put enough money in an envelope to cover the debt and trust you to assign the rest to any future needs.'
    'That works for me. Will I need a key to get in?'
    Kate smiled. 'A man of your talent?'

Chapter Three

    New York, NY
    Thursday March 6, 2008.

    Thomas Malloy stepped off the subway at the 86th Street exit and joined a late afternoon crowd heading south on Fifth Avenue. He wore black loafers, dark, pleated wool slacks, a grey sweater, sunglasses and a black windbreaker. A few out-of-towners gave him a second look. They were trying to decide if he was someone important. They usually decided he wasn't but not always. Malloy caught his reflection in the glass of a building, indulging in a bit of vanity.
    His hair was over his collar, going to grey at a leisurely rate. The style was a bit artsy: actor,