Deadly Magic Read Online Free PDF Page B

hiding place. Grace bent forward as Abry raced straight toward her. Just as her fingers grazed soft fur, her Stetson fell to the floor, scaring the poor rabbit into changing directions and hopping as fast as his large bunny feet could towards the settee.
    “ He’s not rotting in jail. I spoke to him last week. He sounded fine.”
    “ Absolutely ridiculous.” Lily picked up the hairbrush and pointed it at Belle. “Don’t worry. I’ll have a talk with Ilya.”
    Picking up her hat and securely fastening it to her head, Grace got on her hands and knees and looked under the settee. Reaching out she made a grab for the rabbit. Instead, her hand connected with a piece of satin cloth. Bringing her hand out from underneath the furniture, she inspected the item she found. Women’s pink satin panties. “Bleeck,” she muttered disgustedly before throwing them back on the floor. Giving up on catching the rabbit, she got off her knees, and wiped her hands on her cowgirl skirt.
    Still angry, Lily pac ed the length of the room. “I can’t believe Ilya would do that. No. I’m going to have a talk with him as soon as the show is over. There’s no reason—”
    “ No. Please don’t,” Belle begged. “Everything will work out. Just stay out of it, Lily.”
    Trying to ignore what appear ed to be nothing more than family drama, Grace walked over to admire the pictures on the wall. There were thirty or forty pictures of past performances lined up in a nice grouping. The vast majority of them were black and white photos of Ilya Dragovich on stage performing. A couple of Belle. A few others of people she didn’t recognize. In the center was a large color picture of Dragovich on the stage with four women, in different colored costumes, suspended in midair over his head. “Lily, is that you?” Grace asked, pointing to the woman in the red sequin costume, directly over Ilya’s head.
    Momentarily stopping her frantic pacing, Lily walk ed over to Grace and looked at the picture Grace was pointing to. “Yes, that’s me. That was about twelve years ago. Right before I retired. That was one of our best performances.”
    Belle walked up behind them. “My mother is the one on the right.”
    Grace felt Lily stiffen next to her. Lily pointed toward the woman at the far end of the photo, wearing a purple costume, similar to the ones Lily and Belle were now wearing. “Yes. There’s Juliet.”
    “ That was her last performance.”
    “ No, Belle. This was taken a month before. While we were in Italy.” Moving to another picture, Lily tapped the frame and smiled. “Now, this is a good one of me.”
    The picture featured Lily, suspended upside down, and holding onto a silken scarf.
    “I was a bit of an acrobat in my younger days.”
    Hearing the door open, all three women turn ed around. Ilya was standing in the doorway. “Belle, I just saw Michael Talon.”
    “ Papa, I didn’t invite him,” Belle whined.
    “ He was hanging around the costume room, so I had security throw him out.”
    Belle groan ed. “What do you want me to do about it? He’s not here to see me.”
    Shaking her head, Lily grabb ed her robe off the screen. “How are all of these people getting back here, anyway? Your security used to be better than this, Ilya.”
    Instead of answering, Ilya turned his attention to Grace. Smiling he presented his hands for inspection. Turning them over, he showed her that they were empty. “Thank you so much for your cooperation. I hope you will join us again,” he said seductively, while two tickets magically appeared in one hand, and a red rose appeared in the other.”
    Happily, Grace took the tickets and rose.
    Taking her elbow, Ilya steered her to the door. “My daughter will walk you to your seat now.”
    Lily stepp ed in front of her and reached for the door.
    “ Where are you going?” Ilya grabbed her wrist and pulled it away from the door. “I need to speak to you.”
    Prying his fingers away from her wrist, Lily