Three Fates

some inquiries, started considerable legwork. One source, which appears to be valid, insists that one of the statues, the third one, is in Athens.”
    “If this is so, it’s not come to my ear.”
    “I’m tugging on any line at this point. I hate to disappoint a client. I was hoping you could make some discreet inquiries. If I can possibly get away in the next few weeks, I’d love to take a trip to Greece myself. Combine business and pleasure.”
    “Of course you must come, and stay with us.”
    “I couldn’t impose.”
    “The guest house here in Athens or our villa on Corfu are at your disposal. Meanwhile, I’ll be happy to make those discreet inquiries.”
    “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. My client is somewhat eccentric, and very much obsessed just now with these pieces. If I could locate even one, it would mean a great deal. I know Paul would be so proud to know that Morningside had a part in finding the Fates.”
    Pleased with herself, Anita made a second, personal call. She glanced at her watch, flipped through her day-book and calculated when she could most conveniently squeeze in the meeting she intended to set up.
    “Burdett Securities.”
    “Anita Gaye for Jack Burdett.”
    “I’m sorry, Ms. Gaye, Mr. Burdett is unavailable. May I take a message?”
    Unavailable? Stupid twit, don’t you know who I am? Anita set her teeth. “It’s very important I speak with Mr. Burdett as soon as possible.”
    Instantly, she thought. She had a second-tier plan to put into motion.
    “I’ll see he gets your message, Ms. Gaye. If you’d give me a number where he can reach you, I’ll—”
    “He has my numbers. All of them.”
    She slammed down the phone. Unavailable, her ass. He’d best make himself available, and soon.
    She wasn’t about to let Cleo Toliver and the second Fate slip through her fingers. Jack Burdett was just the man to run them down for her.
     
     
    HE WAS ON the phone himself. In fact, Jack had spent most of the trans-Atlantic flight on the phone, or on his laptop. For herself, Rebecca watched two movies. Actually, one and a half, as she’d fallen asleep during the second. And had yet to forgive herself for wasting a single minute of the flight in sleep.
    She’d never flown first-class before, and had decided it was a method of travel she could easily grow accustomed to.
    She wanted to use the phone herself, to call her mother, to call her brothers. But she didn’t think the current budget would swing for that sort of expense. And she could hardly ask Jack to pay for it.
    At the rate they were going she was a little concerned he’d think she was only interested in his money. That was hardly the case, though she didn’t consider his money a strike against him.
    She’d liked watching him with his great-grandparents. He’d been so sweet and so gentle with them. Not sappily so, she thought now. So many, to her mind, treated the elderly as if they were children, or inconveniences, or simply oddities.
    There’d been none of that with Jack. It said something about a man, in her opinion, when he had an easy and natural way with his family.
    Of course he was a bit too bossy for her usual taste, but she had to be honest enough to admit that men who fell in line whenever she snapped her fingers annoyed the very hell out of her.
    He was a pleasure to look at as well, and that was no more strike against him than his wallet. And he was smart—more, he was canny. Since she was trusting him with a great deal, it helped knowing she’d put her faith in a canny sort of man.
    She shifted, started to speak to him, and saw he was making yet another call. Although a bit annoyed, Rebecca promised she wouldn’t point out he’d barely said two words to her in more than five hours.
    “Message from Anita Gaye,” Jack said suddenly.
    “What? She called you? What did she want?”
    “She didn’t say.”
    “Are you ringing her back?”
    “Eventually.”
    “Why don’t you do it now so we know—”
    “Let her stew awhile, that’s one. Second, I don’t want her to know I’m on a plane, and we’re about to start the final approach with all the accompanying announcements. If she’s calling, she wants something. We’ll just let her want it for a while longer.”
     
     
    NEW YORK WAS a thrill, and though Rebecca didn’t want to behave like a slack-jawed tourist, she intended to enjoy every minute of it. There were important things to do, and vital business to attend to, but