Picture Perfect Read Free Page B

this. I hate the whole thing. And I never liked the FBI’s decision to place Sanders and his partner in this house. You know, Sara, I’ve been thinking. You don’t really have to go with me. I’m the one who has to testify, and I don’t want you to be upset.”
    â€œI’m going and that’s final. I wouldn’t dream of letting you go off without me. We belong together. That’s the way it’s always been. Where you go, I go. Final.”
    Andrew ran his fingers through his thatch of dark hair salted with gray. Sara smiled, knowing the gesture signified relief. “I don’t like the fact that our names are being splashed all over the papers. And calling me a hostile witness . . .”
    â€œAndrew, I don’t pay any attention to nonsense like that. The media is the media. Period. You know how they like to latch on to what they think is a story. Everything is going to work out, so I don’t want you losing any sleep over this. Promise me. After tomorrow, or the next day at most, this whole ordeal will be over.”
    Andrew drank his wine. “I never thought they’d link me with this business, Sara. Not after we took the precaution of moving out of Miami and coming here to New Jersey.”
    â€œI know all that, darling. I thought we’d escape this dreadful mess too, but it hasn’t worked out that way. Don’t blame yourself, Andrew.”
    â€œJason Forbes was a good student, Sara. Bright. Lots of potential. And now he’s dead. Maybe if I’d come between them there in the university library . . .”
    â€œIt wouldn’t have made any difference,” she assured him. “Kids make drug deals every day—in libraries, in classrooms, even in churches. You just happened to witness a buy. You couldn’t have known it would end up in murder.”
    â€œBut that doesn’t excuse the fact that I didn’t go to the police the minute I heard about the murder. Now, because I didn’t, and because Jason told his roommate that I’d witnessed his buy, it looks as though I was trying to cover up something.”
    â€œWell, we both know you weren’t doing anything of the kind. Mr. Sanders says that the only reason you’re called a hostile witness is because you didn’t come forward voluntarily but had to be subpoenaed. Once you testify, the State will have its case wrapped up, and we can go back to our normal lives. And Mr. Sanders and his partner can go home and leave us alone.”
    â€œI should have stepped forward voluntarily, Sara. I should have reported the threats I’d overheard as soon as the body was discovered.”
    â€œHush, darling, you’ll only upset yourself.” Sara cradled Andrew’s head against her soft bosom. “You were only trying to protect Davey and me, and we love you for it. Even the FBI recognizes that our lives are endangered, otherwise they wouldn’t have put us under twenty-four-hour guard. I love you, Andrew Taylor, with all my heart for all my life.”
    Andrew’s pulses pounded as Sara’s face swam before his eyes. It never failed to happen when Sara prompted their lovemaking with those words. God, how he loved her. He knew his life would be meaningless without her. They shared their lives, careers, and interests; theirs was a coming-together, a blending, a loving. His hand slipped beneath the soft velour of her robe, touching her breast. Through the years he had learned the special phrases and words that heightened her response and brought her to life beneath his touch. He told her how he loved her, how they fitted one another like hand and glove. How perfect she made his life, how perfect she was, her beauty, her womanliness. How complete they were, one with the other, inseparable. And Sara responded, listening, prompting his words with touches, kisses, and murmurs.
    Her eyes became liquid, her mouth ripe and open for him, accepting his kiss, his