Partners in Crime Read Online Free PDF

fifteen seconds longer. And then he laughed, a short bark of humor that lessened the tension filling the car. “Now is not the time to pick a fight with me. We’ve got a challenging night ahead of us—we don’t need to be at each other’s throats.”
    “It keeps me from being nervous.” She slid down in the leather seat, stretching her legs out in a useless effort to relax.
    “Well, it makes me edgier. Cut it out.” Without warning he cut the wheel to the left, pulling into a narrow, vacant lot and stopping the car behind a billboard advertising Tanqueray Gin. Jane had a sudden, intense longing for a tall glass of the stuff, forget the tonic, as Jimmy the Stoolie bumped to a halt, flicking off the key with one well-shaped hand.
    “Am I allowed to ask questions?”
    “Feel free. I need blind obedience, not silence,” he replied, pulling on a pair of leather driving gloves that he hadn’t bothered to wear before. “Look in the glove box. There should be another pair in there.”
    “Why don’t I just promise not to touch anything?” Jane suggested brightly.
    “Put them on.” There was no room for argument in his tone of voice. “Your pal Tremaine’s building is just beyond that vacant warehouse. We’re going to walk from here.”
    Jane opened her mouth to protest, then shut it again. All she could do was trust this stranger and do as he ordered. Six hours ago she’d never spoken a word to the man, now she was in the midst of committing a felony. The Baraboo Board of Libraries wasn’t going to tolerate a felon in their employ, nor were most libraries in her experience. They tended to be a conservative bunch, quick to condemn and slow to understand. No, if they were caught her career was down the tubes.
    She could tell Jimmy the Stoolie she’d wait in the car. She could tell him forget it, she’d changed her mind. After all, Uncle Stephen doubtless thought he was doing the right thing. He must have good reasons for believing he had the right to sell the process to whomever he chose.
    But he was wrong. And she couldn’t let Richard’s life mean nothing. She pulled herself out of the car, taking a deep breath of the night air. It tasted of damp earth and autumn and the tang of exhaust. “I’m ready,” she said, meeting her companion’s curious gaze.
    If only he didn’t have such beautiful gray eyes, she thought. If only his smile wasn’t completely bewitching. He smiled at her then, and it took every ounce of effort to keep from melting. “Good girl,” he said. “Keep your head down and follow me.” And Jane followed.
    Technocracies Ltd. was a sprawling complex of buildings on Route 206 just north of Princeton. In the daylight it was beautifully proportioned, perfectly landscaped, a spacious, elegant place to work. At night, that moonless night in particular, it was a dark, ominous huddle of buildings. The decorative shrubs hugged the building, menacing shapes to add to Jane’s already terrified state of mind. The parking lot was empty, but somehow she failed to be reassured.
    The guards, and she truly believed her accomplice when he told her there were guards, must have parked somewhere.
    Jane did as she was told, following her companion’s tall, well-built figure as he approached the building, hiding in his shadow as he in turn hid in the shadow of the building. He moved with unerring instincts, directly to a bank of doors, and stopped in front of one of them.
    “Are you going to use a credit card?” she whispered. “I’ve never seen anyone jimmy a lock.”
    “Shhh.” He pulled something out of his pocket, and she leaned forward, curious to watch a lock pick at work.
    Her companion held up a key, inserted it in the lock, and opened the door, gesturing her inside. She went, stopping dead still inside and turning an accusing glare on him.
    “Where’d you get that key?” she demanded in a fierce whisper. “And don’t tell me it’s a skeleton key—I know better.”
    “I wouldn’t