The Pandora Box by Lilly Maytree Read Free Book Online Page A

took a deep breath and sat down again. “I just didn’t expect all this.”
    “You didn’t expect it?” Hawk seemed dangerously close to the edge himself. “This is a bear of a situation to wake up to! What did you expect?”
    “Like I said”—Starr’s voice was like a calming hand on the rising turbulence between them—”a partnership is the only logical answer. We don’t need courts to settle this when we can do the same thing ourselves if we’ll just sit down and be reasonable.”
    He cast a warning glance at Hawk, and then continued. “We all want the same thing, don’t we? And we all have something the rest needs in order to pull it off. We’re talking fifty million dollars here. I think that’s enough reason to put our differences aside and cooperate.”
    Dee tried to determine Hawk’s nature. He was leaning against the counter with one hand in the pocket of his jeans and the other holding the mug around its sides instead of by the handle, looking back at her with equal scrutiny. He didn’t seem like the swindler type. But then, how many of them ever did? He gave her a certain feeling…almost as if they had met before…but of course, that was ridiculous.
    “Let’s have breakfast,” Starr suggested. “I’m starved.”
     
     
     
     

7
     
    Pandora’s Box
     
    “I was in the mood to look at everything through very serious glasses.” ~ Nellie Bly
     
    An hour later, Dee caught sight of her own reflection thrown back at her from the double glass doors of the First Interstate Bank. She hardly recognized herself. Yellow sundress, large floppy hat and sunglasses, all bought at a local tourist shop. She looked like something out of an old Alfred Hitchcock movie. The young assistant manager, who was accompanied by the effects of overindulgence in aftershave, had a rude glint in his eye when he looked at her.
    And he stared at her for entirely too long.
    “Well?” Dee lowered the dark glasses and gave him a firm glance. “Did I forget something?”
    “Sorry.” He held open the swinging wooden gate that led to the private viewing room. “Have a seat and I’ll bring it in to you. There’s a buzzer on the wall you can ring when you’re done.”
    Dee sat down on the smooth oak chair at an equally smooth oak table and did not comment. Young people these days. Entirely too cocky. If she wasn’t trying to keep such a low profile at the moment, she’d—
    The door opened, and he stepped back inside to set box number 127 in front of her.
    Then he left without a word.
    Not until she heard the click of the completely closed door did she dare insert the key. Her heart suddenly began to pound. She lifted the lid to look inside.
    There were the ownership papers to Pandora , neatly folded and official-looking and already signed over to...nobody. Only a blank line. How could that be? One certainly couldn’t bequeath something to “the bearer,” and any self-respecting notary would never even sign such a document. Not if they valued their license, they wouldn’t. Yet...if she did put her own name in there... At that point, Dee’s eyes fell on what had been laying underneath that document. She knew immediately what it was and couldn’t help a sudden gasp when she recognized the timeworn journal that held the exact location of the diamonds…in code.
    Every page was filled with the neat, distinctive handwriting she had already come to recognize as his. There would be plenty of time to examine it more carefully, later. Right now, she could hardly believe she was actually holding these missing pieces of the famous puzzle.
    “Thank you, Nels,” she whispered. “I’ll make sure it’s used in the best possible ways, just like you wanted it to be.” An almost physical sense of power swept through her.
    At the bottom of the box, she found another large envelope containing five thousand dollars in cash. A stab of guilt penetrated, but she couldn’t think why. Hadn’t the note said it was all hers?