A Touch of Minx Read Online Free PDF Page A

the hell. Even if curiosity killed the cat, she still had a couple of lives left. "Sam Jellicoe."
    "Aunt Sam?" a young voice asked. She scowled. "Olivia?" Olivia Donner, the attorney's kid, was the only girl who considered her a relation, and that was only because of her so-called Uncle Rick. "Is everything okay?"
    "No. Dad said you recover stolen treasures." Great. Had somebody stolen the ten-year-old's bubble gum? "For museums and stuff, yes."
    "Oh."
    Samantha waited for a second, listening to the silence. Then she took a breath. "Is something of yours missing?"
    "Not mine, exactly. My class just got a really great life-size anatomical man—you know, the one where his front comes off and you can see all of his internal organs and they detach? Somebody took it last night."
    "That's too bad," Samantha supplied. "Did your principal call the police?"
    "Yeah, but they don't care. And my teacher, Miss Barlow, was going to teach a unit on anatomy, and I want to be a doctor, but now we'll have to look at pictures or something instead of using Anatomy Man. It sucks."
    "Wow. I'm sorry, honey. How about if I buy a new Anatomy Man for your class?"
    "But somebody stole ours. Dad said he would buy a new one, too, and that whoever took it just has bad character, but it's not right, you know?"
    Bad character, eh! Had Donner meant that little crack for her? "I'll tell you what, Livia. I'll ask around and see what I can come up with. Okay?"
    "No. I want you to find it for us. I'll hire you."
    Great. "We'll discuss that."
    "Thanks, Aunt Sam. The anatomy unit starts Monday after next. And Anatomy Man's name is Clark. It's written across the back of his head." She giggled.
    "Ah. Was that Miss Barlow's idea?"
    "Yeah. She thinks he looks kind of like Superman— when he has his skull and his chest on and all his organs and bones in."
    Miss Barlow needed a boyfriend. "I'll let you know if I find out anything. Bye, sweetie."
    "Bye, Aunt Sam."
    Well, if Joseph Viscanti didn't actually have a gig for her, at least she had Anatomy Man to find. Yes, a former thief's life was a glamorous one.
----
    Chapter 3
    Friday, 3:52 p.m.
    When Richard reached the door with the plaque reading Jellicoe Security, he smiled. He always smiled at the sight of the tasteful embossed gold letters over the deep onyx background; he couldn't help himself. Samantha Elizabeth Jellicoe, his Sam, had gone straight. And while he knew she'd had myriad reasons for doing so, one of those reasons was him. And he'd never been happier to have influenced anyone into doing anything in his life.
    "Good afternoon, Richard," Aubrey said from behind the reception desk as he walked into the office.
    "Aubrey. Is Samantha available?"
    Pendleton glanced down at the phone, then stood. "She's still on a call. I'll let her know you're here."
    Giving a brief nod, Richard took a seat on one of the plush chairs in the reception area. Blue this month— Walter's source for furniture had apparently come through again. As far as he knew, Jellicoe Security changed furniture approximately every four to six weeks, and they'd never paid for a stick of it.
    "Miss Samantha will be right with you," Aubrey drawled, resuming his seat.
    "That's fine." He could go back into her office, but he tried to respect this space as her territory.
    "So you liked your present?" the receptionist and former escort to the lonely females of Palm Beach asked offhandedly, pasting some sort of labels on a half-dozen manila files.
    "Yes, I did. Samantha told you about it?"
    "She asked my opinion. I actually thought either the weekend in Daytona or the diving with sharks would work, but—"
    "But I'm still working on a way to combine those two," Samantha finished, pushing through the door separating the reception area from the offices. "I can get the scuba gear and the sharks, but I just can't figure out how to keep the driver compartments of the race cars filled with water."
    Richard stood as she approached. When they were apart, he