Read London Broil for Free Online Page A

hair parted on the side, she reminded Laura of a young
     Lauren Bacall, and her face had a similar striking impact with
     its straight nose and full, red lips. Her tall, slender figure
     was encased in what Laura assumed was a couture suit in navy
     pinstripes; the suit was carefully fitted to display her curves.
     On her feet were a pair of bright red, patent leather pumps with
     high platforms.

 
    "Hello," said
     Laura, and smiled in spite of herself. She'd been in the middle
     of tracking the complicated publishing history of an edition of
     Petronius and now had completely lost her train of thought. But
     this woman was such a vision of loveliness that she didn't mind.
     They gazed at each other for a few moments, and then the woman
     said, "Do you like this room?"

 
    "Yes," said
     Laura, simply.

 
    "I do too," said
     the woman. "It has a special smell that I like. Hamish says
     there is nothing in here for me, but sometimes I come and lie
     back in a chair and read one of the books. I pick one randomly
     off the shelves. Quite a lot of them are in Greek and Latin."
     Laura nodded; these were the ones she herself was occupied with.
     "I can't read those. But there are others... Once, I read about
     Julius Caesar and.... when they killed him, it was so sad that I
     cried."

 
    Probably the
     Dryden translation of Plutarch's Lives , Laura reflected.
     "Yes, I know. The idea that Brutus, the man he loved like his
     own son, would plot to kill him. He must have been terribly
     disappointed."

 
    "Yes!" the blonde
     said with animation, but then a voice behind her exclaimed,
     "Ellen, what are you doing here? Come along, you know we're late
     for the reception!" It was Hamish's voice, and he sounded
     exasperated, even angry. He appeared behind Ellen and without
     giving Laura a glance, hooked his arm around the woman's waist
     and drew her away. Laura went back to her work, but the image of
     Ellen stayed in her mind for the rest of the afternoon.

 
    6.Ceylon and Cigars

 
    James left a card
     in her mailbox on Wednesday. He had used a fountain pen; the
     card was a plain rectangle engraved with his initials. Meet me Friday at 6:30 at
     the Herald offices. I have a late meeting. We can leave
     straight from there . She didn't know their dinner
     destination, but she dressed in what she hoped would work for
     any type of establishment: a charcoal pantsuit with a satiny
     forest green camisole under the blazer, and a string of peridot
     beads with matching earrings. Her shoes were comfortable black
     pumps with only a low heel, but she had a limited wardrobe when
     it came to footwear, and was not about to spend her precious
     food allowance on expensive London shoes.

 
    When she arrived
     at the massive edifice that housed the Herald , and said that
     she was there to meet James Whelan, the receptionist picked up a
     phone and spoke softly into it. After a few minutes, a short,
     red-haired woman emerged from a pair of glass doors to meet her.
     "Hello, I'm Jenna Hicks," she said. "I'll take you back to see
     Mr. Whelan."

 
    "Thanks," said
     Laura, shaking hands with Jenna and smiling in recognition. It
     was the plump redhead from Roxana who had dined with James.
     "What do you do here, Jenna?"

 
    "I'm a senior
     crime correspondent. I write stories for the Herald about murder
     enquiries, bank robberies, that sort of thing. Do you read the Herald , Miss
     Livingston?" "Yes, indeed," said Laura, who had started reading
     it after meeting James. She had seen Jenna's byline on more than
     one story. "You're young to be a senior correspondent, aren't
     you? You must be very talented." Jenna looked searchingly at her
     as though weighing whether the comment was barbed, but she was
     apparently satisfied with what she saw in Laura's face, because
     she smiled warmly. "I never wanted to be anything but a
     reporter, ever since I was a girl," she said.

 
    They reached a
     large, high-ceilinged room