Touch of Magic Read Online Free Page B

Sam had always wanted and made a little payment on the side so the price came down to what Sam, with a family to feed, could afford.
    Sam was the gentlest and most decent man he'd ever known. They'd been partners for almost four years.
    Ellery shook his head. Must be the pain pills they'd given him in the emergency room that were making him entertain such random thoughts. Through the door to a connecting sitting room he could see the steel-gray hair and straight back of Oliver Lemming, director of special projects, his boss. On the phone already in their makeshift com mand post, and had probably been up all night. Going into the bathroom, Ellery scrubbed his face to alertness, combed back the healthy mop of hair he noticed again was getting too long, then made his way into the sitting room, fastening his slacks.
    "How you feeling?" Oliver turned at the first hint of sound. He was small and trim, plainspoken. Once an agent himself, he understood better than most the delicate balance between practicality and bu reaucracy. Ellery liked him.
    "I'll make it," he said, easing onto a couch.
    Oliver pointed to coffee.
    "Have some. Hope you don't mind my bunking where Sam was. It made most sense under the circumstances."
    Ellery nodded. One of the things he admired in Oliver was the man's sensitivity. Even faced with the need for expediency, Oliver didn't overlook the fact that a man had lost his life, didn't step in as though they were all interchangeable parts.
    The older man stood up to straighten his back, wincing a little. He looked worn, and his face was showing a stubble of beard. The phone beside sev-eral legal pads filled with scribbling rang again. Oli ver held a brief conversation.
    "Shouldn't have let me sleep so long," said Ellery when he'd hung up. "You get any yourself?"
    "Couple of hours." Oliver grimaced again, still rubbing his spine. "Haven't learned a lot. Ballieu's dropped from sight. I figured no point us both losing sleep." His shaggy eyebrows drew together. "We're in a real mess here. I'd feel better if you'd checked into the hospital with that shoulder, but I'm damn glad you didn't."
    The compliment did more good than painkillers for Bill Ellery. He took a long slug of coffee. Compli ments were something he'd never had many of while growing up.
    "What'd you find out about the girl?"
    In spite of weariness, Oliver's eyes gave a twinkle.
    "No wonder you don't have a love life, son. They like to be called women these days. Anyway, she's thirty-two."
    He drew a breath, and Ellery knew that whatever came next wasn't going to be to his liking and that Oliver knew it.
    "Bill. I think we can use her for bait. To catch Ballieu ."
    The older man raised a hand to silence his pro test.
    "I know. You saw her make Yussuf's gun disap pear. You told the police and they asked, and she told them she never saw a gun. I still think she's clean."
    Ellery could feel his jaw hardening. Barely ten days had passed since two government couriers on their way to the engraving office in Washington had been ambushed and killed, the passport film they were transporting stolen. Through Interpol, which had an informer, State had learned Yussuf had set up the sale of the film. He was the go-between. And Oliver wanted to trust the girl who'd been with him the night before?
    The gray-haired former agent sank into a chair across from him.
    "You saw for yourself, she's good at sleight of hand," said Oliver. "Fourth-generation magician, or would have been if she'd turned professional, I understand. She's traveled a lot...."
    Ellery was deciphering scribbles on the yellow legal pad in Oliver's hand. Notes on Channing Stu art. U.N. clearance. Ph.D. in hydro-geology   --   why the hell would a woman study something like that? It intrigued him. There was a list of countries she'd worked in ... people who knew her. Oliver had clearly put in a long night tracking this down. He was speaking again.
    "Bill. She could convince Ballieu she's taken over