Strangers and Lies Read Free

job however, to lead a Special Service detail in what seemed to be called the Southern Section, which was basically Brazil, as far as Gwen understood it. Beth had an investigation to look into, trying to find Doctor Erin Debussey. The bad guy. Woman? She was evil at any rate.
    The one that had kind of destroyed her life, as it turned out, so Gwen definitely wasn't a fan.
    True she had been mainly been telling the truth, that being the fact Gwen really wasn't Katherine Vernor, and that her world didn't have magic, meaning that Gwen couldn't have stolen anyone's body at all, but Erin had done it on the telesar in front of the whole Kingdom, so that she couldn't hide it any longer. Kind of a bitchy thing to do, since it was pretty much aimed at hurting the Vernors, and in order to destroy their massive shipping business.
    Which would also hurt the world's economy. Probably part of Erin's plan to make people scared and miserable, so that she and her buddies could open the void and bring forth the "Old Ones". A thing that even someone from Gwen's world could tell was a horrible idea. It was in all the movies of a certain genre after all. Call for the ancient gods and find yourself living in horrible torment. They didn't have that kind of thing here. Well, plays, but Gwen hadn't been to any lately. Or ever, come to think about it.
    "Bitch." The word was muttered softly, under her breath as she started to find some clothing to wear. She opted for a pair of dark blue trousers and matching shirt, along with black boots, since that was basically what the Westmorlands wore when on duty. She was, after a fashion, in the Special Service and while she could wear pretty much whatever she wanted, being the only female non-Westmorland member of that very elite crew, she tried to blend in. It made her feel a bit more like she belonged and wasn't just playing a game. Besides, it was that or a dress, since she had company. Wearing this would basically tell the world that she was on the job, or at least she hoped that was the message. Otherwise it was probably being rude.
    Women wore dresses here, unless they were making a statement. Gwen just wanted to be comfortable.
    After putting on some make-up, a thing that all women did here, if they didn't want to be a social pariah, she walked down to the drawing room, hoping she had the right place. The mansion they were in was huge, but at least now she didn't have to pretend it had been her childhood home anymore, so if she lost her way, she could just ask someone. It saved on wandering around and looking in every single room she found. If she could find anyone to ask, which wasn't guaranteed. It was still dark outside, and even here no one would be awake for another half hour or so. For all that the men had gotten her from bed, they'd also rousted Winslow, who'd managed to show up dressed and pressed in his work clothing, looking like he'd had hours to get ready. She'd have to ask him how he managed that trick. It was something she might need to copy soon, if people were going to be about at all hours.
    She heard the gently bantering men, all of them chatting in a fashion that sounded happy enough. Conversational and not like two of them were freaking out about Westmorlands being there at all. That was a good sign, since a lot of regular people here were terribly prejudiced against them. Just because some of them could explode and do roughly the damage of a nuclear bomb. Not that those people were allowed to just run around free. No, they were kept as virtual prisoners somewhere. Gwen had never even met any of them and she'd been around nearly a thousand Westmorlands over the last eight months or so.
    When she came into the room the men kept talking, except the Con-sev man, who stood and gave her a small bow. He was about fifty, she realized, though he looked and sounded younger than that. His hair was still dark and she realized that it was natural, since the men here didn't go in for vanity in that