The Sinister Touch Read Free

for a long moment. "Yes," he finally admitted. "I believe they are."
    There was another lengthy pause. Finally Guinevere asked, "Was anything taken?"
    Mason shook his head. "No. Nothing. Didn't touch the stereo or the paints or the cash I keep in the drawer of my workbench." He sighed. "Look, this isn't your problem, Guinevere. I shouldn't have bothered you with it."
    "I don't mind. We're neighbors. Going to call the cops?"
    "I'll report it, but I don't think it's going to do much good. What's a little malicious mischief these days when the cops have their hands full with real live murders?"
    "Real live murders," Guinevere repeated with a trace of a smile. "I think that may be a contradiction in terms."
    Mason stared at her for a second and then he laughed. "I think you may be right."
    "Has anything like this ever happened before, Mason?"
    His brief humor faded. "No."
    "What about the possibility of jealousy? Axe any of your friends resentful of your success?"
    "What success? I've got my first major showing tonight, down the street at the Midnight Light gallery. I'll be lucky if someone offers me more than a hundred bucks for one of my pictures. That doesn't qualify as sudden success."
    "Your first showing?"
    Mason nodded. "Yeah. I just hope I live through it. I've been kind of jumpy lately, waiting for it. Whoever did that hatchet job on my painting last night couldn't have picked a worse time to rattle me. It's all I needed."
    Guinevere drummed her fingers on the table, thinking. "You know, if there's anything more to this than a fluke case of malicious mischief, maybe you should do something besides just reporting it to the cops."
    "What more can I do?"
    "Hire a private investigator to look into the matter?" Guinevere suggested.
    Mason stared at her. "Are you kidding? When I can barely pay my rent? I don't have that kind of money. Forget it. There isn't much an investigator could discover, anyway. How's he going to locate a vandal?"
    "How about the little matter of how the vandal got into your studio? Was the door forced?"
    Mason's brows came together in a solid line. "Not in any major way or I would have noticed. I didn't see any pry marks, and none of the locks were broken. But my apartment isn't exactly
Fort
Knox
. It wouldn't have taken a lot of expertise to get inside. You sound like you've been watching a lot of TV lately."
    "Not exactly. But I have been keeping some questionable company," Guinevere said blandly.
    Mason's brows shot upward as he put two and two together. "Let me guess. That solid-looking guy with the dark hair and the super-conservative business suits?"
    "Zac is trying to dress for success. He's learning the fine points of making a forceful statement in the business world while upholding the image of his firm."
    "I see." Mason's dark eyes lightened with amusement. "Unlike me. How's he doing?"
    "At maintaining his image? Rather well, as a matter of fact. He's just landed a very nice contract with a local firm."
    Mason nodded. "So he's doing okay maintaining the image. How about in the category of making a forceful statement?"
    "Oh, Zac has always had a knack for making a forceful statement when he wants to do so," Guinevere said cheerfully. Memories of Zac hunting human game on a cold and windy island in the San Juans several weeks previously flickered briefly in her head. She had to suppress a small shiver. Zac was very, very good at making forceful statements on occasion.
    "I'm not surprised," Mason murmured. "I think he's made one or two forceful statements in my direction recently. The last time he closed your kitchen blinds I got the distinct impression that he would have preferred to have his hands around my throat rather than the mini-blind rod. So he's the questionable company you keep? What does he do in the business world that necessitates all this forceful-personality and image-building stuff?"
    "He runs a company called Free Enterprise Security, Inc. He does security consultations for