Free Fear Familiar Bundle by Caroline Burnes Page A

surprisingly easy to talk to. "If ARSA didn't rob the lab, who did?"
    Magdalena rose. "Excuse me while I brew the tea. If I talk very loud, you can hear me." She continued to talk over the clatter of cups and the whistling of the teakettle. "ARSA has been officially inactive since last summer, when I was arrested on a fur protest and subsequently injured in the local jail. I haven't lost my heart for the work, but it has taken my ankle a bit longer to heal than I expected." She popped her head around the door. "This lab that was broken into, what was taken?"
    "I don't know for certain," Eleanor said. If the ARSA leader didn't know about the break-in, who did? Or it could be that Magdalena was playing the innocent? She made rapid calculations as she talked. "A cat that was being used in psychological experiments was taken, and I think that cat is Familiar."
    "Was ARSA's name mentioned?"
    "No. The CIA agent who questioned me didn't say what organization. It's just that you were the only person I knew who did animal rights work, and I thought this was as good a place to start as any. You have to admit, it's more than coincidental that Familiar arrives at my house and you show up not a day later."
    Magdalena returned with the spiced tea. "Yes, I do agree that more than coincidence is at work. Tell me everything," she said.
    An hour later, Eleanor gathered her gloves and keys. If Magdalena Caruso had been involved in the lab break-in, she was a very convincing liar. Eleanor had told her everything— except for the business with her dead husband. "Before I go, would you tell me how you first got my name?"
    "I've been thinking about that myself," the woman said. "I got a call from Charles Breck."
    "Breck? Is that the Charles Breck who's in the news every night? The man who's waiting for confirmation to head the CIA?"
    "Waiting and hoping. There is another candidate, you know, that Bueler man. Anyway, Charles doesn't publicly support my work. He can't afford to do that. In fact, I'd say he more than likely hates me because I hold his feet to the fire. But he has a good heart, and he gives me a lot of undercover support, such as leaking me the names of animal suppliers. He actually thought you were selling cats. Whoever gave him his information must have been confused." Magdalena let her head drop to one shoulder. "Or else old Charles is trying to use me for some gain. This is all interesting, and I think that maybe a meeting with Charles will clarify a lot of things. Are you game?"
    "Sure," Eleanor agreed. "At least this explains how the CIA got my name," she said. "This is beginning to make a little more sense."
    "I'll arrange a meeting," Magdalena promised. "I'll be back in touch."
    "Thanks." Eleanor hurried down the bordered walk to her car.
    "And one more thing," Magdalena called out.
    Eleanor's hand was on the gate. "What?"
    "Be very careful. I'd like to know what kind of research has got the CIA so concerned."
    "I just want them to leave me alone." Her face was grim as she got into her car.
    Flipping over the issue again and again in her mind as she drove home, she could find no solid answers. No matter how she linked the events of her life, she could not make a triangular connection between Familiar, the frightening phone call and herself. The business with her apartment and Carter had to be some nasty practical joke that was unrelated to anything else. Magdalena's warning was still on her mind, but her biggest sensation was one of relief.
    As she approached her apartment building, she was still engrossed in her thoughts. The winter night had fallen swiftly, and she noticed with a disappointed groan that all of the parking spaces on the street were filled. The afternoon wind, already brisk and cutting, had turned into a howling evening terror, and she shivered in anticipation of the damp chill that lurked in the parking garage. She cheered herself with an image of Familiar and a cozy fire as she spiraled down the ramp into the