Safe Harbor Read Online Free Page B

all. Eden had high, hollow cheekbones; this woman had more rounded ones. "And so you do. Look like her, I mean. From the description of her that I got, I mean."
    "I'm a brunette ."
    "Yes. You are."
    " Eden 's a blonde!"
    "No, she's not."
    "How do you know?"
    Shit. Caught. He wriggled free and made a dash for the end zone. "What did you mean, I might once have found her here? She isn't here anymore?"
    "Who are you?"
    Leery of what stories Eden might have made up about him, Sam lied and said, "Percy. Percy Billings." God, a Percy, yet. He couldn't have named himself Stone or Cliff or something.
    "Look, Mr. Billings—"
    "Call me Percy." Hey, what the hell.
    "Look... Percy..." She cocked her head sideways at him. "Percy? Honestly? You don't look like a Percy."
    Thank God for that. "Be that as it may..." he said with a smile. "I'm an attorney. A probate attorney named Percy Billings."
    Up came her left eyebrow. "Really? My father's a probate attorney."
    Holy shit. "Small world," he said faintly.
    "What firm are you with?"
    Holy shit. "None that you'd know. I'm from, uh, Austin ."
    "You don't sound like a Texan. You sound New England ."
    "I wasn't born in Austin ; I just practice there."
    "Are you looking for Eden on business?"
    Oh, yeah: she had the Attorney Gene, all right. And yet she looked so fresh, so winsome. "I'm not here to subpoena Eden or anything, if that's what you're worried about," he reassured her.
    "Attorneys don't serve subpoenas."
    "We can if we want to," he said. He didn't know if they could or not; he was flying blind and getting mo r e disoriented by the minute. Just his rotten luck to stumble onto a probate attorney's daughter who happened to know Eden .
    "Look, I appreciate your effort to protect Eden 's privacy," he said, "but it's really hot and—"
    "Shouldn't you be used to the heat?"
    "—I'd like to get on with my mission. Thank you for your time."
    He gave her a barely civil smile and turned to head back to the gallery.
    "Wait, Percy-if-that's-who-you-are!"
    Back around he turned. She looked completely undecided about whether to trust him or not. "Why are you looking for her?" she said in a voice that sounded oddly distressed.
    With a softer smile he said, "I'm afraid I can't breech my client's confidentiality."
    "Why are you looking for her?" she demanded, sounding genuinely anguished now.
    "I'm sorry. Really. If you would just tell me where I can find her..."
    "Find her? Sure. Just—look for the nearest married man!" she said bitterly, after which she suddenly burst into tears, changed her mind, stopped, turned, and ran away.
    While Sam, agape, watched her flee, three thoughts went through his mind. One: she was obviously the wife of Eden 's latest prey. Two: she didn't look anything like Eden, either from the front or the back. And three: Eden was now a blonde.
    Oh, and four: it stung like hell to know that Eden was still running around seducing other men.
    The only good news, and it was scant good news indeed, was that Sam's hunch had been right. Eden had taken off for Martha's Vineyard , and her trip had everything to do with the engraving. Had she brought it here with evil intent? That was a no-brainer. Where was Eden now? He didn't know. Where was the Durer? He didn't know.
    He was sure he was about to find out.
    Praying that she hadn't already fenced it, Sam stepped inside the quiet, intimate gallery.
    ****
    Holly Anderson escaped up Circuit Avenue and didn't stop to catch her breath until she reached the main entrance into the Camp Ground , the old revivalist meeting place that was now one of the most charming sites in New England . Ahead of her, in the middle of a large and soothing oasis of grass, stood the historic Tabernacle, a massive whimsy of iron and pipe and rafters holding up a corrugated roof that was topped by a spire, itself topped by a large, plain cross. Rimmed all around by tiny, wildly colorful and extravagantly scrolled gingerbread houses, the plain old Tabernacle beckoned