Once Upon a Spy (Humorous Cozy Mystery) by Nic Saint Read Free Book Online Page A

really going to do this? Was she really going to forsake a great job to go work for some weird government spy operation? She could hardly believe it herself. She’d always been the sensible one. The one with two feet firmly planted in reality. And now she was going to turn into some kind of Jane Bond?
    She decided to wait before she told her folks. Tomorrow was her first day on the new job, and if things didn’t work out, she was sure she could still return to her old one. Oddly enough, she had a feeling she would miss trucking around with Izzy beside her. Even though she’d only been at it for nine months, she’d grown accustomed to the regularity and the relative peace the job afforded her. The hard labor didn’t bother her, either. She was a big, strong girl, and hefting garbage had only made her stronger still.
    She inserted her key in the door and stepped inside. Whatever the future would hold, she always had a place to call home, a family she could count on, and the best friend in the world in the form of Izzy.
    As she made her way through the hallway to the kitchen, she picked out her phone.
    “Iz? I’m having second thoughts about telling my folks. Think I’ll wait and see how it goes tomorrow.”
    “Same here, V. My dad will kill me if he knew I was leaving the best job in town.”
    “Tell me again why we’re doing this?”
    “To kick some ass, hon. And to make America a better and safer place.”
    “Oh. All right. Thanks. I forgot about that. A better and safer place. You really think we’re up for this?”
    “Of course I’m sure. With your muscles and my brains we’ll make a perfect team, V.”
    “Right. That’s true.” She hesitated. “Tell me we won’t regret this, Iz.”
    “We won’t regret this, V.”
    “Okay. I trust you.”
    “Now what are you doing tonight?”
    “Staying in I guess.”
    “Movie night?”
    “Sure. Come on over. I’ll get the popcorn.”
    “I’ll get the movie.”
    “Later, Iz.”
    “Later, V.”
    She disconnected and smiled. Even if this ASS thing turned out to be a big joke, she had one consolation: she would be working with her best friend.
    She stepped into the kitchen to find her mom stirring a pot on the stove. She looked up.
    “Home so early? What happened?”
    Yvonne darted a look at the big clock over the kitchen table. Dang. She was still early? “I, erm, we finished our shift early, Mom.”
    “Good girl.” Mom gave her a cursory peck on the cheek, then returned to her cooking.
    “It’s all that power food.” She flexed her right bicep and felt the muscle bulging under her sweater. She could swear she was getting stronger every day.
    “You always were a big girl, hon. It’s good genes, that’s what it is.”
    “Guess so.” She plunked down on one of the chairs. The kitchen had always been the hub of the Assenheimer family life, even though it was too small to fit them all. So Pop had taken out the wall dividing kitchen and living room at some point, and installed a big butcher block where the wall used to be. He placed a table big enough to accommodate a dozen on the other side of it.
    She dipped into the pot of potatoes steaming on the stove. “So what’s happening?”
    “Oh, nothing much, dear. Uncle Gerard is still sick with the flu, but the doctor promised he’ll be fine by next week. And Aunt Maybelline failed her driver’s test yet again.”
    “No, I meant, what’s happening with you, Mom?”
    Mom looked up in surprise. “With me? Why, I’m fine, of course.”
    Yvonne grinned. Her mother, a diminutive woman, never liked to draw attention to herself. “How’s the drawing going? Didn’t you have another lesson last night?”
    Mom raised her eyebrows. “Fine, dear. Just fine.”
    “Can I see?” Without waiting for a reply, she dug into her mother’s bag, still slung against the wall where she’d left it the night before. She took out the big carton folder and opened it to check on her mother’s latest. It was a pencil