Read Richfield & Rivers Mystery Series 1 - Combust the Sun for Free Online Page B

fresh mauve tulips. Not a bad place to live, I thought, and rang
the bell to apartment 1201.
    The
door swung open to reveal a drop-dead gorgeous blonde. Her hair swept back off
her fabulous features as if some heavenly wind blew it in that direction as she
sailed across the sky on angel wings. Her pale and perfect skin and ethereal
blue eyes almost stopped my heart.
    "You're
Callie Rivers?" I asked breathlessly.
    "And
you're Teague." She hugged me, pressing her soft cheek against mine, and
to my delight bumped me ever so lightly with her pelvis, the kind of bump that
could have been accidental, or not.
    "Come
in, please." I followed her trail of orgasmic perfume, pretending to check
out the floor-to-ceiling glass that provided a nice view of the river, and the
beamed ceilings and white walls that gave the place the airiness of a chapel,
but mostly I was checking out her fabulously small, tight ass and wondering how
any one woman could have such a diminutive derriere and such voluptuous breasts
both at the same time. What an amazing package! The sexual tension on my part was
palpable. For the first time in my life, I understood how it felt to be a
teenage boy. I didn't care if she were the biggest psychic airhead on the
planet or if she could conjugate a verb, I just wanted to take her to bed right
now and make love to her, or fuck her, or both. The room felt full of her, and
that fullness danced around me like electricity.
    "That's
a very unusual ring." She took my right hand, and I hoped she'd never let
go.
    "It
was a gift I bought myself after selling my first script," I said to
impress her. It was a wide band of gold with diamonds of varying sizes set
alongside ruby and aquamarine teardrops. She studied it for a moment, her mind
somewhere in the past.
    "Lu
said you wanted to know about the Anthony murder. Should you pursue the story,
right? What time is it?"
    I
told her it was 12:47 a.m. She moved to a bank of computers, punched in some
data, along with the time, 12:47, and hit a button. A moment later a strange
circular wheel covered in astrological symbols rolled off the printer.
    "This
is a horary chart. You like documentation. Read this page," she commanded,
handing me a thick book on horary astrology.
    I
tried to read what was on the page. Something about ancient civilizations
employing crude forms of horary astrology to answer questions of import, like
who will win the battle at dawn, but I was too distracted by her to care about
battles at dawn unless they involved Callie Rivers and took place on clean
sheets.
    "The
king would call in his priests and ask the question. They would draw up a chart
at the moment the question was asked, because that was the moment of greatest
emotional intensity. The priests would interpret the chart and give the king
his answer," Callie explained.
    "So
if they were right, they lived and prospered. If they were wrong, they were
dead wrong. Hollywood should employ that practice during pilot season." I
wanted her to think I was funny, but it didn't seem to be working.
    She
studied the astrology chart carefully, picked up a pen and drew a few
foreign-looking symbols on it, then sank back onto a white leather couch.
"This is huge! Frank Anthony had something on someone. Oh, look at this,
Mars Combust the Sun."
    I
feigned interest in the chart so I could join her on the couch. "So, what
does that mean exactly?"
    "Murder
by fire, maybe? Well, that's really not the question, is it? I would say you
should drop the story if you're easily frightened." She leaned in to study
it more closely. Only a moment before, she had appeared to be a golden flea,
flitting across the room; now she took on an aura of light and strength.
    "No,
you can't avoid it. Mercury is retrograding toward Mars Combust the Sun. There
will be something explosive about this story. The Fourth House Cusp represents
the end of the matter. In this case, the Fourth House Cusp is ruled by Mars.
The Moon, co-ruler of the Ascendant,