The Dark Glamour (666 Park Avenue 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

had hidden from the world due to the severe damage her magic had done to him during her last dangerous pregnancy. It had been a desperate attempt to have a daughter who could inherit Lynne’s power, but poor Charles had turned out less than satisfactory in absolutely every regard. When she had been imprisoned in the attic, Jane had persuaded him to help her by reorganizing the thoughts in his head, moving them around like squares on a Rubik’s Cube to convince him that they were friends. But she hadn’t tried to change anything in his memory; she had just used what was already there.
Could I make things up? Take things out? Can Lynne? Shit.
    Fortunately, the question was moot for the moment: a few seconds of searching turned up the realtor on the bedroom’s balcony, puffing away at a Virginia Slim as though her life depended on it. Jane slid the door open, causing the woman to jump a little.
    ‘I’ll take it,’ Jane announced firmly, and the realtor beamed so broadly that even her hair looked as though it got a shade brighter. ‘I’ll want to move in today,’ Jane went on, tipping the black leather case from the bank open to show the stacks of cash inside. ‘I’ve already got the security deposit and your commission, so let’s get right to signing the lease.’
    The agent blinked twice rapidly, and then crushed her cigarette out under the heel of her fringed white boot. ‘I’ll just get my briefcase from the kitchen,’ she agreed levelly, and followed Jane back into her new apartment.

Four
    ‘H AVE YOU SEEN this oven?’ Dee cheered from the kitchen. Her voice sounded strangely muffled, and Jane wondered idly whether her new roommate had, in fact, stuck her head all the way into that appliance, too, as she already had done with the refrigerator.
    ‘I heard there was one,’ she called back. ‘But this is like me asking you if you’ve seen the closet space.’
    ‘Gotcha,’ Dee acknowledged, wandering back into the living room. Her long black hair was tied up in a messy knot, and she had taken advantage of her new bedroom by changing into fuzzy purple pajamas within moments of crossing the threshold. ‘And I didn’t have time to pick up groceries, anyway, but this is the last night I’m going to let you get away with ordering takeout.’ The takeout in question (spinach pie, tabouleh, lamb gyros, stuffed grape leaves, cucumber yogurt, and four kinds of rice) was spread over the polished-driftwood coffee table, and Dee waved a pair of forks in the air triumphantly. ‘The equipment in that kitchen is better than Hattie’s.’
    Jane froze with a forkful of spinach and feta halfway to her lips. Because of all of the Doran drama, Dee had been forced to quit her job at Hattie’s SoHo bakery with no notice. She had also had to leave her cozy little apartment in Brooklyn, and had wound up living on a couch for three weeks. Jane felt a twist of guilt: she had been so busy feeling sorry for herself that she hadn’t even thought about how Dee had been coping in the meantime.
I had a plan,
she reminded herself.
I was going to send her money and a new ID once Malcolm and I were away.
But she hadn’t gone with Malcolm, and Dee had been left to fend for herself. It almost made it worse that Dee acted fine with the wreckage of Jane’s plan: a few professional-quality pots and pans and she seemed to be completely back on her feet.
    ‘I’m so sorry about that,’ Jane told her honestly. ‘You helped me so much, and I thought that me and Malcolm getting out of town would be the best thing for everyone. And then everything went to hell, and now . . .’ She waved her fork, too upset to go on.
    ‘Oh, eat your damned pie,’ Dee snapped, wrinkling her nose comically. ‘You can’t make speeches flinging feta all over the room. But what did go wrong at the wedding, anyway? I certainly didn’t get the real story from Page Six.’
    Jane swallowed thickly. ‘We got through the ceremony, and then I read Malcolm’s