Free Mistress of Magic by Heather Graham Page B

have,” Wes mused. He knew the story. He’d gone to the police station before he’d come near Max, the park or Reggie.
    He had just wanted to hear it from her. And he had wanted to hear the nuances in her voice. There were so many things he could learn from Reggie that he’d never learn from a black-and-white typed police report.
    “They found prints,” he said.
    “Yes. In her apartment. Daphne’s, mine—I had been there a few times.”
    “And Max’s.”
    “Yes, and Max’s. And Ozzie’s and Rick Player’s and even Jesse’s. She had a party once, and had someone con them all into coming. The prints were all there.”
    “You really hated her, didn’t you?” he asked.
    He hadn’t even seen her pick up the lobster cracker again. It crunched loudly.
    A shell flew across the table. A mangled claw landed in his plate.
    He looked at her.
    “Can’t finish it all, huh?”
    “Are you accusing me of something?”
    He smiled slowly. Her eyes were flashing. More dark hair was tumbling down. He was growing distracted. And damnably hot tremors were racing through his bloodstream.…
    For a brief moment he closed his eyes. God, he should feel good. Really good. If he could just forget the rest, and let the feelings wash over him! It had been so long since he had experienced anything like this.
    Even if it meant pain to come. Even the pain would be good. So much better than the numbness, the coldness, the emptiness that had haunted him for so long now.
    “Are you?” she demanded.
    “Reggie, you’ve got to look at everyone. Don’t you see, to clear Max, you find the real perpetrator of the crime.”
    “There may not have been a crime—”
    “You mean that Daphne may have trashed her own apartment and sunk Daphne’s Dare herself.”
    “Exactly.”
    “It’s possible.”
    “Possible, but—”
    “Give me a list. Give me a lineup of people who knew and loved her.”
    “Hated her.”
    “Fine.”
    Reggie stared at him balefully then set her cracker and lobster down. Her wrists rested tensely on the table.
    “All right, let’s see. There was Rick Player. He was always hanging around Daphne. He loved to be at the same spot with her any time Max might be around. He liked to torture Max.”
    “Did Max care? Was he bothered by Player’s attention to her?”
    Reggie shrugged. “I don’t think so. He seemed free from her once the divorce was over. But it was hard to tell.”
    “So go on.”
    “Um … ah, then there was Ozzie Daniels.”
    “The sensationalist reporter?”
    Reggie nodded. “He could have been a good reporter, I think. A really good one. Except that he was given much more money for working on a scandal sheet and given a free rein to do what he pleased. Daphne was a weak link to him. She’d always give him some kind of a story.”
    “What kind of a story did she intend to give him the day she disappeared?”
    Reggie shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said.
    “Sounds like this Ozzie Daniels needed her around. She was good for him. And it sounds like Rick Player liked her, too.”
    “Meaning?”
    He shrugged. “Who really hated her? Who stood to gain by her disappearance?”
    Reggie sighed. “I don’t know!”
    He leaned close to her. “You have to know! There has to be someone.”
    She lifted her hands. “There’s Niles, there’s Jesse! Both of them despised the way she treated people.”
    “And then …” he murmured.
    “Then what?”
    “There’s you,” he said softly.
    “What?” she exclaimed furiously.
    “Max’s twin, determined to defend him against a black-widow woman.”
    “Oh, you are despicable!” She gasped, leaning close to him.
    God, he liked the way her eyes flashed. He liked the tick of her pulse against her throat.
    “Then there’s you!” she returned. “Max’s financial backer, a man who met Daphne at their wedding! A man who stood to lose and lose big if Max was dragged through the mud! An ex-military man, a man with the strength and purpose and