Now You See It Read Online Free

appearance there might have been.
    Further, Harry had no notion that Brian could imitate his sister. Accordingly, it would have taken a glaring inconsistency on Brian’s part for Harry to even have conceived of it, much less noticed that inconsistency.
    Even further, Harry had been so thoroughly ego-aggrieved by Cassandra’s snub of him that he’d been in no state of mind to consider physical replication.
    For God’s sake, the man was so fundamentally obtusethat he never even noticed how Cassandra’s footwear went, in one fell swoop, from high heels to slippers!

    Cassandra obviously knew those things, because her tone of voice was totally unruffled as she moved to the drapes and opened them. “He really doesn’t like the drapes shut either,” she remarked, turning back to Harry with a confident smile. Oh, density, thy name is Kendal!
    “Finished with your little game now?” he inquired sarcastically.
    “Sweetheart
,” said my faithful daughter-in-law.
    Turning off the desk lamp, she moved to Harry, slid her arms across his shoulders and planted an intense and lingering kiss on his lips. (Do you require any further evidence that my existence was, to her, no more substantial than the presence of an artichoke?)
    Harry’s instant physical response was thoroughly predictable and Cassandra knew it, pressing loins and stomach to his calculable groin, his Achilles crotch. I had never known before that moment that Cassandra had been intimate with Harry, but, I must say, the discovery came as no bombshell explosion in my mind.
    Cassandra allowed the breathless grinding to go on for a while, then pulled free with a labored exhalation, feigned, I have no doubt. She drew back, grasping his hands in hers. “How
are
you, darling?” she asked.
    His response was to glance uncomfortably at me. “Are you sure—” he began.
    “He’s brain-dead, love,” she assured him.
    “But his eyes—”
    “—perceive nothing; he’s no more cognizant than a head of lettuce.”
    If you had only known, Cassandra
.
    “How
are
you, darling?” she repeated.
    “Provoked,” he answered.
    “Did I behave badly?” she asked.
    “I’d say dementedly,” he answered.
    “I’m sorry, I just—” She broke off and I thought:
You aren’t really going to say it, are you?
But she did! “—haven’t been myself today,” she finished.
    She kissed Harry on the lips again, lightly this time to prevent further excess groin provoking. “I’m sorry, love,” she said. “It’s everything that’s going on here. You understand, I know you do.”
    A grumbling “I suppose” from Harry, anxious to preserve his macho image even though he’d obviously succumbed to her already.
    Another peck to his pouting lips, an imploring look. “I’ve been so upset,” she said.
    He patted her back, his ego restored. “All right, all right,” he said. He looked around, shaking his head. “This whole
room,”
he went on. “It’s too damn much. That
casket
, for God’s sake. When did he put the figure in it?”
    “He wants to know what he’ll look like at his funeral,” she answered.
    “That’s
sick,”
he muttered.
    Her smile was cold. “That’s
Max,”
she amended.
    He looked at her again. “You said he was walking?” he asked.
    Cassandra hesitated, then realized that Brian must have said it. “Yes, he is.” She nodded.
    She reacted as, with an anticipating (ever sleazy) smile, he moved at her again. “He could be back any moment though,” she told him quickly.
    He frowned, then sighed, accepting. “All right,” he said reluctantly.
    She took his hands again. “Thank you for coming,” she said.
    “How could I resist?” he replied. “Your request as well as Max’s?”
    Cassandra stiffened noticeably.
“He
asked you to come as well?” she asked, clearly taken by surprise.
    Displeased, uncomfortable surprise.

chapter 4
    You didn’t know?” asked Harry.
    “No, I—” She could not complete her remark. All she could do was