The Sands of Time by Sidney Sheldon Page B

platter of cookies. She put them on a table. “Shall I pour?”
    “Let me,” Lucia said. Her voice was warm and filled with promise.
    Judge Buscetta smiled at Lucia. “You can go,” he told the housekeeper.
    “Yes, sir.”
    The judge watched as Lucia walked over to the small table where the tray had been set down and carefully poured out tea for the judge and herself.
    “I have a feeling you and I could become very good friends, Lucia,” Giovanni Buscetta said, probing.
    Lucia gave him a seductive smile. “I would like that very much, Your Honor.”
    “Please—Giovanni.”
    “Giovanni.” Lucia handed him his cup. She raised her cup in a toast. ‘To the death of villains.”
    Smiling, Buscetta lifted his cup. “To the death of villains.” He took a swallow and grimaced. The tea tasted bitter.
    “Is it too—?”
    “No, no. It is fine, my dear.”
    Lucia raised her cup again. “To our friendship.”
    She took another sip, and he joined her.
    “To—”
    Buscetta never finished his toast. He was seized by a sudden spasm, and he felt a red-hot poker stabbing at his heart. He grabbed his chest. “Oh, my God! Call a doctor…”
    Lucia sat there, calmly sipping her tea, watching the judge stumble to his feet and fall to the floor. He lay there, his body twitching, and then he was still.
    “That’s one, Papa,” Lucia said.
    Benito Patas was in his cell playing solitaire when the jailer announced, “You have a conjugal visitor.”
    Benito beamed. He had been given special status as an informer, with many privileges, and conjugal visits was one of them. Patas had half a dozen girlfriends, and they alternated their visits. He wondered which one had come today.
    He studied himself in the little mirror hanging on the wall of his cell, put some pomade on his hair, slicked it back, then followed the guard through the prison corridor to the section where there were private rooms.
    The guard motioned him inside. Patas strutted into the room, filled with anticipation. He stopped and stared in surprise.
    “Lucia! My God, what the hell are you doing here? How did you get in?”
    Lucia said softly, “I told them we were engaged, Benito.”
    She was wearing a stunning red low-cut silk dress that clung to the curves of her body.
    Benito Patas backed away from her. “Get out.”
    “If you wish. But there is something you should hear first. When I saw you get up on the stand and testify against my father and brothers, I hated you. I wanted to kill you.” She moved closer to him. “But then I realized that what you were doing was an act of bravery. You dared to stand up and tell the truth. My father and my brothers were not evil men, but they did evil things, and you were the only one strong enough to stand up against them.”
    “Believe me, Lucia,” he said, “the police forced me to—”
    “You don’t have to explain,” she said softly. “Not to me. Remember the first time we made love? I knew then that I was in love with you and that I always would be.”
    “Lucia, I would never have done what I—”
    “ Caro, I want us to forget what happened. It’s done. What’s important now is you and me.”
    She was close to him now, and he could smell her heady perfume. His mind was in a state of confusion. “Do—do you mean that?”
    “More than I’ve ever meant anything in my life. That’s why I came here today, to prove it to you. To show you that I’m yours. And not with just words.”
    Her fingers went to her shoulder straps, and an instant later her dress shimmered to the floor. She was naked. “Do you believe me now?”
    By God, she was beautiful. “Yes, I believe you.” His voice was husky.
    Lucia moved close to him, and her body brushed against his. “Get undressed,” she whispered. “Hurry!”
    She watched Patas as he undressed. When he was naked, he took her hand and led her to the little bed in the corner of the room. He did not bother with foreplay. In a moment he was on top of her,