Read Online The Secret of the Villa Mimosa by Elizabeth Adler - Free Book Online

murder attempt and a Siamese cat. Furthermore, she liked it. She liked having someone yell hello when she came home and the appetizing smells of cooking coming from the kitchen and Coco scampering eagerly to greet her, claws skittering on the polished boards. She didn’t even mind the cat hairs on her black jacket.
    Somehow in these weeks together they had helped each other. Phyl, the smart psychiatrist who locked away her own emotions and her past by burying herself in her work, and Bea, the girl with no past and a threat hanging over her future.
    Phyl yelled hi as she flung her raincoat onto the sofa instead of hanging it neatly in the closet, as she would certainly have done a few weeks ago. Today she was going to begin Bea’s rehabilitation. She had plans for her. And over dinner, after the shopping expedition, she was going to reveal what those plans were.
    She sighed when she saw Mahoney with Bea.
    “Not you again, Mahoney,” she said scathingly. “How are they ever managing at the police department without you? Or are you just on your way to solving the crime of the century?”
    Mahoney sighed exaggeratedly, and Bea grinned, watching them spar. He folded his arms wide and quoted in a melodious voice:
    Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,
Emprison her soft hand and let her rave,
And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes….
    Then he said solemnly, “Doc, someone should tell you that aggression does not suit you. Seems to me Swinburne had the right answer.”
    “I’m not your ‘mistress,’ so don’t quote European poets to me, Mahoney. And if you’re here to collect on that dinner I owe you, I’m sorry but I already have a date.”
    Mahoney grinned. “Yeah. Bea told me. Shopping and dinner. Sorry I can’t join you. I just came by to make sure you’re treating Coco right. And to tell you that we’ve drawn a blank at passport and immigration. Every Frenchwoman in Bea’s age-group entering the country prior to her—to the incident has been accounted for. Meanwhile, I’m still working on the thousands of names on the airline manifests of women traveling to San Francisco in the week prior to that. Every name is being checked against its real-life owner. We’ve also inquired about private aircraft. There were plenty that night. From Mexico, Baja, Palm Desert, and Hawaii. All were piloted by their owners, and none was carrying a female passenger.”
    Bea looked downcast; she’d had high hopes that he would find her name on the airline lists.
    Mahoney patted Bea’s shoulder comfortingly and said, “I have to go, or I’ll be late solving that crime of the century and miss my chance at being mayor!”
    Phyl was holding the kitten, and he stopped to tickle it behind the ears. “You’re looking good, Doc,” he said with an approving grin.
    “Oh, thanks, Mahoney,” she said sarcastically again. “But I’m not sure I need your backhanded compliments.”
    He laughed as he walked to the door. She turned her head as she felt his eyes on her.
    “I don’t know, though,” he said consideringly. “Maybe it’s all that sitting I warned you about, or maybe it’s the home-cooked food, but I’d say your butt looks bigger.”
    “Oaf,” she yelled after him as he slammed the door, laughing. “Beast. Asshole.”
    The door opened again, and he poked his head around, looking shocked. “Doc, Doc, really. Resorting to bad language. You must ask yourself what that means….”
    “Oh, you—you cop,” she yelled as he disappeared again, still laughing.
    Bea was laughing, too, and despite herself, Phyl joined in. “Why do I like him?” she asked half to herself. “The man is a conceited chauvinist.”
    But he had made Bea laugh, and she liked that. Her protégée was ready for her first outing, and she inspected her. She was pleased with what she saw.
    Bea’s soft copper hair was growing in, finally hiding the hideous scars. Now it feathered softly around her face, making her look like a young Audrey