Sizzle by Julie Garwood Read Free Book Online Page B

understand?”
    “Yes, sure,” he lied again. Guile? He’d never heard the word before. He wasn’t about to admit it, though, for showing his ignorance might diminish his standing with Mr. Merriam, and he couldn’t have that. Just as soon as he left the office, he would find out what guile was and where he could get some.
    “A business associate I once considered a friend screwed me. Screwed me good. Bill Rooney is his name,” he added with a sneer. “I took that weasel to dinner more than once, sat down across from him and broke bread with him, and what does he do in return? He stabs me in the back, that’s what. He’s got something I want.” Milo didn’t know if he should say something sympathetic or not, so he stayed silent and waited.
    “Just goes to show, you can’t mix business with pleasure. I learned my lesson, and Rooney’s about to learn his. I’ve got the edge here because Rooney doesn’t know I found out.”
    He pulled the chair out from behind the desk and sat down. “I discovered quite by accident where he’s hiding it. I knew he had a safe in his office. Everyone knows. It’s the first thing you see when you walk in the door. It’s big and must be a hundred years old.” He opened a carved wooden box on his desk and reached inside for a cigar. He stuck the stogie between his lips and continued talking as he struck a match and sucked the flame into the tobacco. “He doesn’t have to worry someone’s gonna pick it up, and run out the door with it. It would take a crane to lift it.”
    He motioned for Milo to take a seat before continuing. “Rooney wants everyone to see the safe. Naturally, they’d think that’s where he keeps his valuables. Right? The shmuck.
    It’s all a sham. Turns out he’s got another safe in his office. It’s built into the floor under the desk. I got the combination. Let me tell you, that took some doing.”
    “Do you want me to break into his office—”
    “No, no, I’ve got Charlie on that. I want you to take care of Rooney and his wife.” Though Milo knew Merriam’s office was soundproof and was checked for bugs at least once a day, he skittishly glanced around the room. “You want his wife dead, too?”
    “That’s right. Rooney might have told her what he did. Keep her alive, and she could go to the feds. Too risky. So here’s how I want it to go down. Rooney always leaves his office at four o’clock on the dot, and it takes him an hour to get home. He never goes out on Friday night. Never,” he stressed. “He’s predictable and that’s going to work for us. He takes his loudmouth wife out every Saturday night, and Sunday he rests up for his mistress.
    He sees her every Monday and Wednesday.
    “I want this to look like a murder-suicide. Wife kills husband, then kills herself. The police will investigate, of course, and they’ll find out about the mistress. They’ll assume the wife found out, too, and that’s why she killed him. Everyone knows she’s got a hell of a temper.”
    “When do you want this done?”
    “Tomorrow night at five o’clock. Charlie’s going into Rooney’s office then, and he’ll be in and out of there in no time. If there’s a problem, he’ll let me know, and I’ll call you.
    Take this cell phone,” he ordered, tossing it to Milo. “It can’t be traced. Don’t kill anyone until you hear from me. Got that?”
    Once again, Milo was being rushed. He didn’t have time to do much surveillance, but he vowed there weren’t going to be any glitches this time. He drove through Rooney’s neighborhood the next morning to familiarize himself with the layout and to see if there were any nosy neighbors. Once he’d checked out all the entrances into Rooney’s house, he drove to a grocery store about a mile away. Milo purchased a couple of pounds of hamburger meat he planned to stuff in his pockets just in case there was a dog lurking inside the house.
    He still had a lot of time on his hands, so he strolled back to