The Sinister Touch Read Free Page A

business firms."
    "How big is Free Enterprise Security?"
    Guinevere swallowed a scrap of her cinnamon roll. "To date there is only one employee."
    "Zac?"
    "Uh-huh." She grinned. "But he manages to get things done. You know, this isn't exactly his line of work, but I might mention your situation to him and see if he's got any advice. He's terribly discreet. He has to be. Businesses don't like their security problems publicized. That's why they consult outfits such as Free Enterprise Security."
    Mason looked at her askance. "I have a funny feeling he's not going to be overly sympathetic."
    "He has no reason to be jealous and he knows it. I've already told him that you and I have never met."
    Mason chuckled. "You won't be able to tell him that anymore, will you? I can't wait to hear his reaction when you tell him you've taken to meeting me for breakfast."
    Zac's reaction was forthright and to the point. He looked up in astonishment from the plastic bucket of steamed clams from which he was eating and stared at Guinevere as if she had just announced that she had made a brief trip to Mars. "The hell you did." He went back to his bucket of clams.
    Guinevere pushed her own lunch aside, leaning forward to get his attention. The lunchtime crowd was heavy down here on the waterfront. She and Zac were sitting in the corner of a small sidewalk cafe that enjoyed an excellent view of the harbor and the tourists who were strolling the broad sidewalk that linked the boutique-lined piers.
    "Zac, you're not listening to me."
    "I heard every word you said." He scooped another clam out of its shell. "You claimed you had breakfast with that artist you've been ogling for the past few months. There are laws against that sort of thing, you know."
    "Having breakfast with an artist?" She was getting annoyed. Deep down inside, Guinevere wondered if she'd hoped to see at least a spark of romantic jealousy inflame Zac's smoke-gray eyes. All she was detecting was irritation.
    "No, ogling artists." Zac forked up another clam. "Stop trying to bait me, Gwen. I've had a hard morning. You're just mad because I had to cancel our date last night."
    Guinevere set her back teeth very firmly together. "Contrary to what you seem to believe, I am not indulging in a fit of pique. I really did have breakfast with Mason."
    "Mason?"
    The name brought his head up again. This time there was something besides irritation in the steady gray gaze, and Guinevere wasn't sure she liked the too quiet way Zac said the other man's name. She shifted uncomfortably on the chair.
    "Mason Adair is his name. He's very nice, Zac, and he's got a problem."
    Zac stopped eating clams. "Is that a fact?"
    "Zac, I'm serious. This morning, when I looked out my window, I could see that the painting he's been working on had been terribly defaced overnight. Someone had drawn a huge black pentagram on it and then taken a knife to the canvas. Mason was shocked. He saw me looking just as shocked and held up a sign suggesting we meet for coffee. You know, that place with the cinnamon rolls just around the corner from my building?"
    "I know it," Zac said grimly.
    "Well, he was rather shaken up, as you can imagine. Has absolutely no idea who could have done such a thing. He asked me to meet him on the outside chance that I might have seen something from my kitchen window. He hoped I might have spotted someone moving around in his studio last night."
    Zac's gaze could have frozen nitrogen. "Did you?"
    "No." Guinevere sighed in exasperation.
    "Good." Zac went back to eating clams. "That's the end of it, then. No more breakfast meetings with naked artists. Hell, Gwen, I credited you with more common sense than that. You've lived in the city long enough to know better than to agree to meet absolute strangers. What got into you? Were you really that upset because I had to cancel our date?"
    "I hate to break this to you, Zac, but I did not rush out to buy cinnamon rolls for a starving artist this morning just