Lovers and Liars Trilogy Read Online Free PDF

love?”
    “No. Just a friend. But she’s not used to traveling. She doesn’t go out much.”
    “Don’t you worry. I’ll see she’s all right.” He bent his head into the cab and grinned at Mrs. Henshaw. “All comfortable? Right, you sit back now and relax. By the way, I like the hat.”
    “It’s my best.” Mrs. Henshaw quivered, and Genevieve felt a surge of pity for her. She leaned into the cab and planted a kiss on her whiskery cheek. A squeeze of her hand, another check through the purse to make sure the tickets were there, and Mrs. Henshaw was off. Genevieve stood, watching her disappear into the distance. She lifted her face to the damp gray air as the cab rounded the corner. She sighed and turned back to the basement steps.
    The uniformed courier was now mounting them. In his hand he was carrying a neat package. Gini saw that it was tied with string and sealed with red wax.
    The courier looked this Genevieve Hunter up and down. When she had opened the window above and called down to him, he had at first taken her for a young man. Now, on closer inspection, he could see some of the reasons for that mistake. She was tall and slender, and dressed in a mannish way: black trousers, black turtleneck sweater, flat boots. Her long, fair hair was tucked back beneath a battered khaki baseball cap, and she wore an odd, military-style trench coat that reached to mid-calf and was adorned with innumerable flaps and pockets and epaulettes. Now that he could see her properly, however, there was no mistaking her sex: this young woman had a grave, clear-eyed, and rather beautiful face.
    “Sorry I kept you waiting,” Genevieve said. She signed for the package, and was about to stuff it, unopened, into her bag, when she stopped and looked at it more closely. She might be in a hurry to reach the News office, but this parcel was unusual, to say the least.
    “How strange,” she said. “Can you believe it? Look…” She held the package out to the courier. “Someone’s stenciled the address.”
    She shook the package as the courier bent forward to inspect it. There was a small rattling noise. Genevieve frowned, and the courier shook his head.
    “Maybe it’s meant to be a surprise,” he said in an encouraging tone. “So you can’t recognize the handwriting, won’t know who sent it until you open it up. Boyfriend, maybe?” He gave her a shrewd glance. “A surprise present from the boyfriend, something like that?”
    Genevieve smiled. There was no boyfriend at the moment, and the last possible candidate for that title had left to edit an Australian newspaper a month back. Genevieve did not miss him greatly, and he was, in any case, not the kind of man to send surprise gifts. She felt a momentary unease, gave the package another tentative shake. The courier, who seemed as curious as she was, produced a pocket knife.
    “Here.” He handed it to her with a smile. “You never know these days, love—it could be a bad idea, carrying that around. Maybe you ought to open it up.”
    Genevieve did so. Carefully, she cut the string and removed the brown wrapping paper. Inside, there was a plain cardboard box. Inside the box there were sheaves of new tissue paper. Inside this was a pair of handcuffs. They were made of heavy steel. A small key was inserted in their lock.
    Genevieve drew them out with a cry of surprise. The sense of unease deepened. She felt around inside the tissue, but the handcuffs came with no accompanying message or note. Her mouth tightened in anger, and her cheeks flushed. “Great: No note.” She looked at the courier, who was shaking his head in disbelief. “I’m getting a pretty strong message all the same. What kind of a creep would send me this?”
    She frowned down at the handcuffs, trying to think of candidates: Who might find such an anonymous gift appealing? Who might want to play this kind of sick joke?
    She could think of no one. She had enemies as well as friends at her newspaper office, of