Trouble and Treasure (#1, Trouble and Treasure Series) by Odette C. Bell Read Free Book Online Page B

least Elizabeth didn't act like
she did. She was kind, and once you got past the chalky smiles,
decent. So when she called late last night, not long after I
returned home from my ridiculously unsuccessful venture, I’d told
her I’d see her in the morning.
    “ I didn't think we should call the police
until we knew what we were dealing with,” Elizabeth waved me in
through the front door, the two antique ruby rings on her fingers
glinting under the morning sun.
    I narrowed my eyes. I was aware of
Elizabeth's eccentricities, as I was aware that my well-off clients
tended to be more suspicious of the police than those from the
lower echelons of the socioeconomic strata. They always thought the
police would take their money off them, Robin Hood style, just for
being rich. While I wouldn't necessarily disagree with the police
if they did, the economic stability of the modern age was built on
the riches of the few being drawn from the livelihoods of the rest.
Still, when you need to call the police, you need to call the
police, and even the most stuffy rich boy judge would uphold that
law.
    I played with the corner of my watch trying
to push it up and off the raw skin of my wrist.
    “ Elizabeth, what’s this about?”
    “ She is in the kitchen.” Elizabeth nodded
down the hall, her wild, never-kempt white hair bunching over her
shoulders.
    My stomach gave a kick, a full on kick. I
narrowed my eyes. “Who’s in the kitchen?” I tried to keep my voice
even.
    “ She is,” Elizabeth said, explaining
nothing.
    My heart beat faster as I followed
Elizabeth, and I kept playing with my watch. It couldn't be her,
could it? She would have gone straight to the police, right?
Wouldn't Maratova have found her hiding underneath a rose bush? Or
perhaps speeding around in my car? She wouldn't have run over to
the neighbors, would she? I had my misgivings about Maratova, but
as far as I knew he was a capable soldier. How in the hell would he
have let jelly-legs Amanda get away from him?
    The thought swilled around my mind as I
followed Elizabeth down the long hall. The scent of tantalizing
freshly-made pancakes seduced the air, with a hint of sweet apples
and blueberries.
    I entered the kitchen.
    She looked up at me, Amanda Stanton, still
in pajamas, even if they appeared to be new ones.
     
     

Chapter Six
    Amanda Stanton
    I looked up. I had loaded up another forkful
of pancake ready to finish off the delicious remnants of my
breakfast. I dropped it, the fork clattering against the Wedgwood
plate, the forkful of pancake tumbling onto the floor.
    I lurched up, the high stool behind me
clattering to the floor. I turned, on adrenal autopilot as I ran to
the kitchen door.
    I tried to yank it open, but it was
locked.
    “ Don't worry, Amanda,” Elizabeth said,
voice peaking with amusement, “He’s just a lawyer.”
    I turned from the door, pressed my back
into it, and stared at him wildly. He had the strangest expression
on his face. The moment he'd walked into the room, a half smile had
been playing on his lips, a distant look in his eye. Now that smile
had stiffened, those handsome eyes widening and fixing right on me,
his hands dead straight by his sides. “You don't have to do that,”
he put his hands up. “I'm here to help you.”
    “ You're her lawyer?” I asked, my voice
cracking as it leveled at a pitch that could crack
glass.
    Elizabeth looked interested and kept
turning from me to Sebastian Shaw. “Oh no, don't tell me that this
is the lawyer on your lawn last night? While the mercenaries were
in your drawing room, the burglars were in your hall, and the
soldiers were in your kitchen?”
    I nodded, head stiff, hands flat against the
cool wood of the door behind me.
    “ But Sebastian is such a good boy,”
Elizabeth pointed out with a flat nod, “He's always been there for
me when I've needed him.”
    For Sebastian's part, he hadn’t once taken
his eyes off me. While his hands were still raised, his fingers
still and