Deadly Offer Read Online Free PDF Page B

endlessly, search the multiple listing system compulsively, contact clients constantly, and farm for prospects until the cows came home. Free time—now there was a concept that was new to Darby Farr.
    I could check out an art museum. Something normal people do.
    A harsh intake of breath from the other end of the room made Darby look quickly toward her assistant. Something about his posture—the way his back, always ramrod straight, was slumped—made Darby’s heart tighten.
    ET clutched the phone in one hand and held one of the wooden desks with the other, as if it was the only thing keeping him erect. Darby searched his face, normally so serene and smooth. What she saw made her wince.
    His skin was ashen, his handsome Latin features twisted in an emotion that was clearly pain of the worst sort. Without warning he slid to the floor, taking the phone crashing down with him.
    ———
    Dan Stewart felt trapped in a nightmare from which he could not hope to awake. First the discovery of Selena’s lifeless, bathing-suit clad body, and then the arrival of the emergency medical team, and finally the call he’d known he must make to Selena’s brother Carlos.
    It had been, without a doubt, one of the worst things he had ever done in his life. Right up there with the day he’d told his little girl Sophie that her Mommy wasn’t coming back—ever.
    Thankfully Carlos had been at his studio, and not on the freeway stuck in traffic or in the middle of a business meeting. Dan gave him the news, as gently as he could, that Selena was dead.
    “What?” Carlos’ deep voice was unbelieving, as if he’d heard incorrectly and was trying to understand. Dan repeated his awful message, listening to hear if the words had sunk in.
    “No …” It was a long, drawn-out denial, followed quickly by a painful “How?”
    “I don’t know. She was in her hot tub.” Dan nearly choked as he said it, remembering the image of her bloated face, burned on his brain like a brand. Would he ever forget the horrible scene? Would it be his new—and final—memory of his employer and friend? “It may have been a heart attack. The paramedics weren’t sure.” He swallowed. “I’m sorry.”
    Carlos was crying, big, racking sobs that filled Dan with despair. Snatches of Spanish words peppered his cries, and Dan knew, without understanding, that they were phrases of anguish.
    ———
    “I cannot believe it,” ET murmured from the passenger side of Darby’s vintage roadster. “I am trying to tell myself that it is true, that my sister is gone, but my heart will not listen.” He was staring straight ahead and as Darby stole a quick glance at him, she felt her own heart constrict with pain.
    She accelerated on the nearly empty stretch of highway. Despite the distance, they were driving from San Diego up the coast to San Francisco, and then inland to the Ventano Valley. They had departed immediately after ET’s younger brother Carlos had called, stopping only to grab overnight bags and a full tank of gas.
    Darby had called Claudia Jones from her cell phone, explaining over the din of chattering first grade voices about the tragedy.
    “Poor ET,” Claudia had clucked sympathetically. She admonished a child to share his Legos, and then switched to her professional voice. “I’ll be at the office in fifteen minutes. Drive safely, and don’t worry about anything on this end.”
    Darby thanked her and hung up. She glanced at her passenger, who was staring out the window. As if he felt her gaze, ET turned towards her.
    “I can never thank you enough for doing this.” His eyes were moist with tears. “I couldn’t face the airport. Not today.”
    Darby nodded. “I understand.” Her assistant was deathly afraid of flying, and although he had put his fears aside once or twice in recent years, she knew that in his present condition boarding an airplane would require more stamina than the poor man could muster. “It’s a beautiful drive. We’re