Donovans 03 - Pearl Cove

you thinking about what I’m thinking about?” Archer asked huskily.
    “I hope so.”
    He gave a crack of laughter and reached for her even as she came up to meet him.
    When April Joy walked into the office she saw a long-limbed woman wrapped around Archer like a jungle vine. He was wrapped around her just as tight. April hadn’t believed it when Ian Chang had told her Archer and Hannah McGarry were lovers.
    She believed it now.
    “Full points to you on that one, Ian,” April said sardonically. “If they were any closer, it would take a surgical team to separate them. I didn’t know he had it in him. Or should I say, in her?”
    When Hannah stiffened, Archer broke the kiss and said very softly, “Follow my lead, okay?”
    She hesitated, then nodded, watching April Joy uneasily. The woman was petite, beautifully formed, with raven hair and matching eyes, delicate Chinese features, and a way of moving that could set fire to brick. The crimson wool suit she wore was both elegant and severe. Though there was no badge in sight, she wore authority and ruthless intelligence the way other women wore perfume.
    “What’s on your mind?” Archer asked April.
    “How to make the kind of pearls Yin’s brother is dying for,” she said coolly. “That would be the merry widow’s department, I believe.”
    “You knew Len,” Archer said, his voice hard. “You will apologize to Hannah for that crack.”
    “It’s not necessary,” Hannah said quickly.
    April’s smile was as hard as Archer’s voice. She turned to Hannah. “I’m sorry your husband was a prick. If he had been mine, I would have put him under years ago and danced on his grave. Now, how do you make those damned black pearls?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Bullshit.”
    “Wrong,” Hannah retorted.
    “Prove it,” April said.
    “How can she prove a negative?” Archer asked.
    “Good question, slick. I’m waiting for an answer.”
    Chang looked at Hannah, who was even now flushed from Archer’s arms. It galled Chang, but he didn’t allow it to get in the way of business. “How do you think Len got his black rainbows?”
    “I don’t know. He never told me.”
    “Once I got past the lick-me lips and ball-breaking ass, I learned that you’re a very bright lady,” Chang said coolly. “I want your best guess.”
    Archer gave Chang a look that had April’s hand sliding into her neat black purse.
    “I suspect some kind of cloning of the mantle material,” Hannah said. The neutral tone of her voice said it wasn’t the first time Chang had talked about her body.
    “Explain,” April said.
    “When we seed an oyster,” Hannah said, “we carefully pry open the shell and make an incision in the living flesh. That’s where the seed goes. With it we put in a bit of living mantle—the flesh that lines the shell and deposits nacre—from another oyster. It’s the bit of introduced mantle that starts the process of pearl formation around the implanted seed.”
    “So you think the secret was in the bit of mantle he inserted, which told the oyster how to produce the rainbow blacks?” Chang asked.
    “You told me to guess,” Hannah said. “That’s one of my two best guesses. The second possibility is that Len cloned the experimental oysters himself and used mantle from sacrificed experimental oysters for seeding.”
    Frowning, Chang absently shot the cuffs of his creamy linen shirt. The heavy wool and silk blend of his suit was an intense indigo that almost matched Hannah’s eyes. The realization annoyed him.
    “I know Len raised the experimental oysters himself,” Hannah added. “They were never wild shell. That’s why I lean toward the second possibility.”
    “Cloning?” April asked.
    Hannah nodded. “It would explain the narrow color variation among all the experimentals.”
    “Coffee,” Mitchell said from the door.
    “Bring it in,” Archer said.
    Mitchell wheeled over, put the tray on the low table next to the unusual glass vases, and looked at his boss.
    “I’ll take it from here,” Archer said. “Thanks. If anyone calls, I’m still in Australia.”
    “Is Ms. Joy here?” Mitchell asked.
    “Ms. Joy,” April said distinctly, “is not here. You’ve never heard of her.”
    “Mr. Ian Chang,” Mitchell said, “is he here?”
    “Who?” April retorted.
    Mitchell nodded and rolled out, closing the door behind him.
    While Archer poured coffee, April looked around the office. She tried not to stare at the vivid landscape,