Drowning Pool (Miss Henry Mysteries) Read Online Free

imagine, including but not limited to spitting, scratching below the waist, and using foul language. She also smelled like an ashtray in a gentlemen’s club because she carried and smoked cigars. Juliet was not a woman who clung to the trappings of youth and femininity with morbid hysteria, but she at least made an effort to comb her hair and slap on a little lipstick before going out in public. Guda had rejected all that. She was deliberately ugly in form and in manner. Even her hands were unattractive, which was not always the case with sculptures. Their hands might be strong and calloused, but not unkempt.
    Raphael was unfailing ly polite when she addressed him, pretending not to notice her avid eyes. He was polite to everyone when in work mode, but Juliet could tell by his pinched face that he was repelled by Guda. That hopefully meant that Juliet would not be forced into spending a great deal of time with her.
    In an effort to distract herself from her growing hostility toward her fellow travelers, Juliet gazed out the small window, hoping to see something of interest. By the light of the setting sun, the land was a dusty gold with occasional intrusions of what looked like obsidian blades. As the plane banked and began to descend, she saw four emerald patches that she assumed were the famous protected lakes of Quatros Cienegas.
    Then she saw the airstrip, which seemed impossibly short , and a limousine that was impossibly long. There was also another vehicle which looked a great deal like an armored car. And there were armed guards—just to add tone to the event. Other than that, there were no signs of life or movement in the light of the dying sun. It seemed to be a dead land, but at least it was land, so Juliet welcomed it.
    Juliet was so relieved to be getting off the airplane and away from the reek of Guda Stoss that she forgot to think about the possibilities of crashing more than seven or eight times as they bumped along the unpaved airstrip in the backend of nowhere.

Chapter 5
     
    Though there were people to meet them, their landing was not the usual happy airport reunion scene. In fact there were no happy faces in the crowd. No one in the landing crew looked happy either, and it momentarily subdued the bickering chatter of the artists.
    Juliet was the first person out of the plane. She did it graciously, but the need to escape the smell of the Stoss woman had become critical. Her headache was worse and she felt on the verge of nausea.
    The second vehicle was an armored car, and two equally armored guards climbed out and began stowing the carefully crated art as quickly as it came off the plane. Such caution seemed unnecessary, though she supposed the dollar value of the art in the hold was actually very high. Still, who was around to steal it? The only living things were the buzzards circling in the bare sky.
    Equal swiftness was used to tuck the passengers into the limousine , though Juliet could see no need for hurry unless it was to ply everyone with champagne and air conditioning. There was even a ramp for Raphael’s chair, which made boarding easy. On the surface it was all very thoughtful. Underneath, she sensed a compulsion for control that bordered on bullying.
    One of the guards overseeing the loading of the artwork was an early example of Homo erectus . Juliet knew it was not always accurate to judge a book by its cover, or the state of a person’s mind or soul by their fleshly exterior, but she found the man to be repellant. His right hand was severely scarred and looked like a topographical map. She had seen burns like that before. They were chemical. He seethed with suppressed anger and she was only too glad to avoid him and the oversized pistol in his shoulder holster.
    Juliet reminded herself that millionaires—billionaires—were more than people who had a lot of money. They had power and influence and private armies , and they thought nothing of ordering the world to suit their whims and