Jingle of Coins Read Online Free PDF

the room. At least she’d been spared that indignity.
    She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. It was silly to be afraid. She'd done nothing wrong. Surely they wouldn’t arrest her for winning at the slots.
    A cough behind her alerted her that someone entered the room, and she wondered how he’d gotten in. It certainly wasn’t through the door. There must be a hidden panel in one of the walls.
    Well, she fumed, two could play this childish game. She refused to be intimidated. If the man wanted to talk to her face-to-face, he’d have to come to her. She willed herself to relax, to not turn around.
    Her visitor finally appeared, and she studied him as he circled the conference table. Tall, muscular, between forty and forty-five, he had deep blue eyes and silver-white hair. She struggled to keep her lips from twitching as she wondered how long casinos had been using movie-star material for their security chiefs.
    "You certainly seem to be lucky today,” he began in a velvet soft voice. “Congratulations, Ms…" His voice trailed off, and he raised his eyebrows.
    She deliberately waited a few moments before replying. "Emily Sane. Why am I here? Is something wrong?”
    "You appear to be one of our luckier customers, Ms. Sane. Seems like you’ve had quite a streak of luck, hitting jackpots the last couple of times you've been in." He leaned closer. "Your luck wouldn't have anything to do with the objects in your ears, would it?”
    Emily reached up to touch her ears, fingering her hearing aides. “You mean my hearing aides?” She tried to look incredulous. “They muffle sounds, but that’s all.”
    He straightened and stretched out a well-manicured hand. “In that case, you won't mind if I take a look at them, will you?"
    She infused icy disdain into her voice. “Are you accusing me of cheating?”
    “No one is accusing you of anything, Ms. Sane. I merely asked to see your hearing aids.”
    Damn. She'd always realized this moment would come, but why did it have to happen so soon? He obviously thought she had some sort of cheating device built into her hearing aids. Her lips twitched, and she struggled to keep a straight face. Boy, was he in for a surprise when he examined them!
    "Mind sharing the joke?"
    Emily shifted nervously in her chair. "There's no joke, Mr…”
    "Hoyland. I'm Chief of Security."
    "Oh.” She expelled the breath she’d been holding. This was not going to be fun. “In spite of what you think, I’m not a crook and I haven’t been cheating.” She studied him for a few moments, wondering if he was smart enough to figure out what was going on. He didn’t look dim-witted, but she’d bet her life he wasn’t genius material. Better to say as little as possible first. Then, if it looked like she was going to get carted off to jail, she’d tell him about her “talent.” She cleared her throat one last time and plunged into her practiced explanation. “You might not believe this, but your slot machines talk to me."
    "You’re right, I don’t. That’s the oldest excuse in the book." His velvety tone disappeared, and he spoke in measured words. "Hand over the hearing aids. Now."
    She pushed them across the table. "Fine. You're welcome to look at them. However, if you put one scratch on them, you’re buying me new ones. And they are not cheap."
    Hoyland fingered the hearing aids nestled in his palm, glanced toward Emily, then back at his hand.
    Emily’s heartbeat quickened. Was he having second thoughts? Good. Maybe he’d return them and she could get out of here before he figured out how she knew which machine was going to pay out. She lifted her chin defiantly.
    A muscle twitched in his jaw, and a few moments later he dropped the hearing aids into his jacket pocket. “Wait here.”
    Her stomach twisted into knots as he strode from the room, and she wondered if she’d overplayed her hand.
    “Tell the lead technician to report to the lab right away,” Hoyland ordered as he entered