Domino Read Online Free PDF Page B

her
finger on it, except that she felt like a butterfly pinned to a
board whenever he glanced at her. He never spoke to her, or smiled
or acknowledged her presence except to give her that momentary
scrutinizing examination.
    His apartment over the garage was dark and the
usual strains of classical music that wafted from the windows when
Alex was home, was silent. There would be no help from him tonight.
He was probably at the meeting with Morgan.
    Clarissa picked her way over the lawn, around
to the side of the house and peered into Morgan's den. It was dark
and empty. She continued around to the back of the house and opened
the wrought iron gate to the pool area. The pool light was on and
Clarissa heard the faint strains of an argument coming from the
guest house. Lights blazed where Marco Camponello, Morgan's
personal bodyguard and chief of security, lived. Clarissa shivered
involuntarily at the thought of the man. She had one run in with
him when she first moved to the estate. She had mentioned to Morgan
her dislike of the swarthy, beady eyed guard and since then Marco
had not come near her, even purposely avoided her. It was his raspy
voice she could hear coming from the guest house and it made her
nervous and more eager to get into the main house.
    She tried the door handle of the french doors
leading to Morgan's office/den. The handle wouldn't budge, so
Clarissa assumed it was locked. She gave one frustrated shove to
the door, and it popped open. Startled for a moment, and smiling to
herself about the verbal abuse Marco would get from Morgan about
the office not being secured properly, she entered the dark
den.
    Morgan purposely left nothing of importance in
his desk so it was rarely locked. Everything was kept in the file
cabinets behind the wall of books Clarissa had seen it open only
twice. Spare car keys were kept in the top desk drawer for Alex and
Marco. Clarissa herself had once needed the spare key to the
Mercedes when hers had been broken by an overzealous mechanic.
Virginia had told her that the keys were in the top desk drawer and
to just let her or Morgan know if she took one.
    Clarissa flipped on the desk lamp and pulled
open the drawer. There were no car keys but a small black box
caught her attention. Clarissa opened it and nearly dropped it.
Inside was the most beautifully carved crystal angel. It was
delicately intricate, with a sweet face and hands folded in prayer.
She held it up to the lamp and the crystal split the light into a
magnificent rainbow.
    Glass crashed somewhere outside, followed by a
heavy thud and a strangled cry. Clarissa jumped and the angel slid
from her hand, falling with a crash onto the desk. The tip of one
wing broke off and skidded across the polished mahogany. Clarissa
caught it before it fell onto the white carpet. Suddenly, fearful
that Morgan would discover her, she put the empty box back into the
drawer, slipped the crystal angel and the piece of wing into her
purse, and turned off the light. Clarissa knew of a jeweler who
could repair the angel's wing. She could take it to him first thing
in the morning and have it back before Morgan knew it was
missing.
    Morgan had driven the Jaguar yesterday morning
and his set of keys might be upstairs on his dresser. Clarissa
snapped on the upstairs hall light, entered the bedroom, and turned
on the pink shell lamp by her side of the bed. She found the Jaguar
keys in the marble tray on Morgan's dresser. She turned out the
light and was about to leave the room when the argument outside
seemed right below her window. There were shouts and running, what
sounded like a scuffle, and Morgan's growling voice. Clarissa
separated the lace drapes and peered into the blue-green half-light
of the pool area.
    From her second floor vantage point, Clarissa
saw Byron Roth run from Marco's cottage. Alex was right behind him,
and landed with a flying tackle on Byron's back.
    "Got him!" Alex shouted to Marco who had run
around the pool to cut Byron off.