No One Lives Twice (A Lexi Carmichael Mystery) by Julie Moffett Read Free Book Online Page B

talking code and playing pinball. In fact, other than Basia, the twins are my closest friends.
    Paul looked doubtful, but remembering we were talking about the wacky Zimmerman twins, he probably figured it was possible I wasn’t lying. He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, thinking.
    “It will cost you,” he finally said.
    “Cost me?” I exclaimed. “More? For God’s sake, Paul, I already agreed to dine and dance with you. What else could you possibly want?”
    He smiled, his lips parting slowly. “A kiss.”
    I rolled my eyes, leaned over and pecked him on the cheek. “There. Can we go?”
    He sighed. “No, Lexi. A real kiss. A good one. Friday night after dinner.”
    I shook my head. “Dinner, dancing and now a kiss? You’ve got to be kidding.”
    He took the keys out of the ignition and dangled them in front of my face. “Nope. No kidding. That’s how much it costs for a one-way ride to the Zimmermans’ house at one o’clock in the morning.”
    He had me good and he knew it. “Okay.” I was really, really desperate. “One kiss, no tongue.”
    “No deal. I said a good kiss.”
    “All right, all right. A little tongue. But that’s it!”
    He smiled, put the keys back in the ignition and started the car. “I can work with that.”
    It was my turn to sigh. I was going to kill Basia the moment I saw her. She had no idea what she was putting me through.
    Paul drove us in silence to the Zimmermans’ house. I was relieved to see a light on in one of the windows. The twins had nocturnal tendencies, not unlike many computer geeks I knew, including myself. I got out of the car, smiled at Paul and told him I’d call tomorrow.
    “I’m looking forward to Friday,” he said, leaning across the passenger seat. “Wear something sexy.”
    Yeah, fat chance I’d do that. I pretended I didn’t hear and waved as he backed out of the driveway and sped away.
    I walked up the gravel driveway and rang the doorbell. After a minute, Xavier answered the door. I knew it was Xavier because he had a small scar over his right eyebrow where his brother had clocked him with a keyboard when they were arguing over the answer to a monalphabetic code. They were only four at the time.
    “Hi, Xavier,” I said. “Can I come in?”
    He didn’t seem surprised in the least to see me and held the door open. “Hey, Lexi,” he said as I stepped across the threshold. “What’s up?”
    “I’m having the worst day of my life, and I need your help with something.”
    Xavier’s twin, Elvis, walked into the room. I never ceased to be amazed that their mother had actually chosen the names Elvis and Xavier for her two boys.
    Tonight the two brothers were dressed identically, which is really a miracle because they were two of the most absent-minded people I knew. I was surprised that they even remembered to dress, let alone coordinate what they wore. But it was just another mystery about the two of them that had already spawned a legend of mega proportions.
    “Hey, Elvis,” I said. “How are you doing?”
    “You here to play Quake?” Elvis asked as if it were normal to get visitors at one o’clock in the morning who wanted to play computer games. Maybe they did.
    “Not tonight, thanks,” I said. “What I need is a favor.”
    “Okay,” Elvis said. “What’s up?”
    I slid the bag off my shoulder and took out the documents from Basia. “Could you scan these and keep a copy on your drive?”
    Elvis took the FedEx mailer. “Sure. But why can’t you do it yourself?”
    “Long story,” I said, following Xavier and Elvis into the command room.
    They called it the command room because they had transformed the living room/dining room into a high-tech operating center. They worked out of their home, going in to the firm in Baltimore only on rare occasions when the CEO required it. It worked well for everyone since the twins preferred their privacy and the big shots at ComQuest would do anything to keep their star