Read The Good Die Twice for Free Online Page B

set their glasses on a narrow table
under a trophy case and leaned against the wall. He seemed to have
to think hard for an answer and she wondered if the champagne was
the culprit. “Rachel went out sailing one night. Got a little too
tipsy and...” Nick motioned with his hands as if diving.
    “Was she alone?”
    “No. It was a sixty-footer with a two-man
crew. They ran out of wind and out of gas. Drifted for hours.”
    “Did anyone see her fall overboard?”
    Nick raised his eyebrows. “My, you are full
of questions.”
    “Sorry. I’m just naturally curious, I guess.
Someone that young and your father that rich, people might think he
would be a suspect.”
    “It would be the other way around, really. If
it was my father who fell overboard and my stepmom who got his
money, then it might draw suspicion to my stepmom.”
    “I take it they found her body.”
    Nick shook his head. “Never did.”

    “What do you want, Sheila? You usually cozy
up to me only when you want something.” Worm maneuvered Sheila
around the dance floor to a brass band tune.
    “You’ve always wanted a big assignment. Now
you’ve got one. I want you to find out everything you can about
Sara Morningsky.”
    Worm laughed. “Why thank you, boss lady. That
should win me a Pulitzer.”
    Sheila pressed her body closer to Worm,
letting her lips touch his ear. “Just think, you can ask her out on
a few dates, get her talking, a little dinner, a few drinks, loose
lips sink ships.”
    Worm pulled away from Sheila, digested what
she said, then smiled.

    “Is he asleep?” Sara asked as she sat down on
the black leather sofa.
    Dagger turned away from the aviary, making
sure the padlock was secured. It hadn’t taken long for Einstein to
figure out how to slide open the grated door to the aviary. Having
a fondness for chewing, he would leave gnaw marks on furniture when
they weren’t around to police him.
    “Yes, he’s asleep.” He eyed her yellow
jogging suit. “You didn’t waste any time getting out of those panty
hose.”
    “They were sheer torture.”
    Dagger stripped out of his tuxedo jacket and
sat down. He pulled the check from his pocket and handed it to
Sara.
    “That would be tempting to a lot of people,”
she said. “He probably thinks that rusty Ford is all you drive. He
hasn’t seen the van or the other cars in the garage?”
    “No, and neither has Sheila. I save them for
surveillance purposes.” He took the check back and tossed it on the
table in disgust. Leaning against the cushions, Dagger stretched
his legs across the coffee table, hands clasped across his chest.
There was many a night he fell asleep in this position. “The
absolute gall of that man. To think he could buy someone.”
    “And you want him to think he has?”
    Dagger nodded. “Until I figure out exactly
what I can do with the check that would do him the most harm.”
    Sara wanted to ask him if that meant he would
continue to date Sheila. Instead, she hugged her knees to her chest
and changed the subject.
    “Nick invited me to his birthday party
tomorrow.”
    “See, tonight wasn’t so bad after all, was
it?”
    “No. Once I focused my attention on the
mystery of Rachel’s disappearance, I forgot all about my
nervousness.”
    “Oh yes. Rachel.”
    “It was her, Dagger. I’m sure of it.”
    “Okay,” Dagger conceded. “We’ll go together.
Sheila invited me and I told her I would meet her there. This could
be good. We should be able to find out more about Rachel.”
    Sara picked up a pad of paper and jotted down
notes. “We should check to see if Robert Tyler had Rachel sign a
pre-nuptial agreement and what effect her death had on anyone’s
inheritance.”
    “Good idea.” Dagger stripped out of his shirt
and walked to his bedroom to change clothes.
    Sara tried not to stare at Dagger’s firm,
tanned torso. His arms were muscular, his stomach flat. She didn’t
understand the strange feelings that came over her whenever she saw
him.
    Dagger