Medea's Curse Read Online Free Page A

too tough for relationships?’
    ‘I said I didn’t want to talk about your wife. Same goes for men in my life, okay?’
    ‘Not after specifics. Just wondering if you spit them out after one night or whether
they occasionally last a few.’
    ‘One’s a lot more fun.’
    ‘No care, no responsibility?’
    Natalie grinned despite her best intentions. ‘Something like that. Now, back to Travis—’
    Liam stood up. ‘Do you know what you want to eat?’
    Natalie wondered if the sudden need for food was to avoid talking about Travis and
Chloe because he didn’t actually have any need for her input, or to streamline the
pathway to the after-dinner possibilities. She went with him to the window into the
kitchen and ordered her usual: steak, salad and chips.
    ‘Same,’ said Liam. ‘Rare.’

    ‘I ended up in the Office of the Public Prosecutor because I couldn’t shake the idealised
view of justice I’d had as kid,’ Liam told her as they waited for dinner. She’d agreed
to listen if he’d get to Travis as soon as the food arrived. The truth was, he was
good company.
    ‘And what was that about?’
    ‘My da’. I guess you’d tell me that it was because I couldn’t stop him beating up
my ma, right? That I’m compensating now for what I couldn’t do then, by going after
the bad guys. Does that answer your question?’
    ‘Do you think it does?’ Natalie grinned. One point to her.
    ‘Well it’s working; little while ago I put a drug boss behind bars for a ten-year
minimum. Ice was scarce on the street for weeks. I have to confess that felt good.
I’d have done anything to get his brother as well.’
    ‘Anything?’ It sounded flirtatious and Natalie cursed herself silently. It wasn’t
as if he needed encouragement.
    ‘Almost. As long as no one innocent gets hurt.’
    Natalie looked at him sceptically.
    ‘I had a case when I was green,’ he said. ‘Guy named Tim Hadden; alcoholic, wife
beater, record as long as your arm. He always maintained his innocence.’
    ‘Don’t they all?’
    ‘Mostly, but in this case he was. DNA testing came in and we had another look. And
I’ll never be sure that when I first prosecuted him I didn’t let my dislike of the
man interfere with the facts.’
    ‘He got out?’
    Liam paused, and she found she couldn’t read him. Anger? Regret?
    ‘He was killed in gaol while they stuffed around with the paperwork.’
    It shed light on why he was open to reviewing Amber’s case.
    ‘My da’,’ he concluded, ‘was a walking Irish stereotype; the bad one, unfortunately.’
    ‘You think your father got in the way of your objectivity when you prosecuted Tim
Hadden?’ Natalie had put her observation into words before she remembered she was
out socially, not in her office.
    Liam drained his glass. ‘Same again?’ he asked as he headed to the bar. He returned
just as the food arrived. Natalie brought him back to the reason for the dinner.
    ‘So what happened to Travis’s daughter, this one with the new girlfriend?’
    ‘If I knew that I wouldn’t be asking for your help. Not that there aren’t other attractions…’
    It occurred to Natalie that he worked his sex appeal without thinking. A habit. ‘You
think I can help because…?’
    ‘The first priority is finding the child. We wouldn’t normally be involved this early
in a case but ever since the Leskie debacle we want to make sure we get everything
right from the beginning. They may not find the child. The police don’t have enough
points of proof for a charge. No forensic evidence, all hearsay. No one’s talking,
probably everyone’s lying about something and the obvious answer isn’t falling into
our laps.’
    ‘You make it sound like a Mafia hit rather than a missing child.’
    Liam shrugged. ‘Nothing that well organised. Stupid eejits behaving badly.’
    ‘Smart enough to keep you guys running in circles.’
    ‘Which is why I’d be wantin’ you running around with me.’
    Was it her imagination or did